What scares you?

WordCount · 02-11-2012, 05:55 AM

What scares you? Is it the creepy monster under your bed? Or is it the vampire waiting outside your window?
What I'm basically asking is, out of the classic monsters, which are the "scariest." And I primarily mean the archetype, not the character itself.

AKyber36 · 02-11-2012, 06:06 AM

As a child, after seeing "Gremlins", it was the monster underneath the bed ready to bite my fingers off. Now as an adult, I still have to close the closet door and I don't like mirrors (especially full-length ones) in my room, either. I attribute it to a carryover of the boogeyman in the closet and the haunted mirror (aka Bloody Mary) when I was a child.

Canotila · 02-11-2012, 07:04 AM

My sister is freaked out by zombie taxidermied things. Regular zombies with bits rotting off don't bug her though.

Out of traditional monsters I find creepy homicidal dolls to be the most unsettling. They have no discernible weakness, and are small enough to catch you unaware and eviscerate you before you know what's happening. Ugh.

Ari Meermans · 02-11-2012, 07:18 AM

It's not a vampire or a zombie. They're not real. I don't know what "it" is, but it's been outside the window all my life. Everywhere I've ever lived. Waiting. Not every night mind you, but when it is out there I know it. I refuse to even look at a window after dark. Just in case.

cornetto · 02-11-2012, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ari Meermans

It's not a vampire or a zombie. They're not real. I don't know what "it" is, but it's been outside the window all my life. Everywhere I've ever lived. Waiting. Not every night mind you, but when it is out there I know it. I refuse to even look at a window after dark. Just in case.

Me, too.

One night my husband and I were watching the X-Files--the flukeman episode. I heard something outside. Hubby went in the office to look out the window and I checked the living room window. I couldn't really see anthing because it was all fogged up--on the outside of the glass. The fog started to clear off, so I leaned closer to the window and this huge eye appeared, pressed against the window. It snorted and the window fogged up again, like that scene with the T-rex in Jurassic Park. Scared the crap outta me.

Hubby was laughing in the office, so I went in there and looked out the window. The "monster" was one of our horses with his face up against the glass, seemingly absorbed in the TV show. Judging from the piles of poop around his feet, he'd been there awhile. So we went outside, real quietlike, sneaked around the corner of the house, jumped out and yelled "AHHHH!" That horse--a 1000 pound, wide-assed quarter horse gelding--squealed like a little girl and jumped straight up in the air like a cartoon, hair on end, eyes bugged out...we laughed our asses off. Then we ran like hell, lol.

Ari Meermans · 02-11-2012, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cornetto

The "monster" was one of our horses with his face up against the glass, seemingly absorbed in the TV show. Judging from the piles of poop around his feet, he'd been there awhile. So we went outside, real quietlike, sneaked around the corner of the house, jumped out and yelled "AHHHH!" That horse--a 1000 pound, wide-assed quarter horse gelding--squealed like a little girl and jumped straight up in the air like a cartoon, hair on end, eyes bugged out...we laughed our asses off. Then we ran like hell, lol.

Shame on ya, though.

jclarkdawe · 02-11-2012, 06:17 PM

Squirrels.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

ladyleeona · 02-11-2012, 07:28 AM

My own imagination is what scares me, mostly. But the boogyman would be the closest actual embodiment of my fears.

It's dreadful to have an overactive and slightly twisted imagination.

Vamps and werewolves--pah. I hear those all have really nice bodies and sensitive sides. Hell, sometimes they even sparkle

Laineywrites · 02-11-2012, 07:51 AM

I've not been able to figure out why, but driving through tunnels freaks me out. The Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, you name it, I hate it. When I have to drive through a tunnel I feel a strange weight on my head that makes me hunker down like a hunch back. I imagine that any second its going to get flooded with water and I'm going to drown. Please don't let me see a puddle. With a death grip on the steering wheel, I drive as fast as the I can (what speed limit?) all the while praying there's no traffic jam.

The weird thing is if someone else is driving or I'm on a subway train (which does nothing but pass through tunnels), I'm not afraid at all.

As far as monsters are concerned, I'm deathly afraid of tribbles.

Lainey

WordCount · 02-12-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laineywrites

I've not been able to figure out why, but driving through tunnels freaks me out. The Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, you name it, I hate it. When I have to drive through a tunnel I feel a strange weight on my head that makes me hunker down like a hunch back. I imagine that any second its going to get flooded with water and I'm going to drown. Please don't let me see a puddle. With a death grip on the steering wheel, I drive as fast as the I can (what speed limit?) all the while praying there's no traffic jam.

The weird thing is if someone else is driving or I'm on a subway train (which does nothing but pass through tunnels), I'm not afraid at all.

As far as monsters are concerned, I'm deathly afraid of tribbles.

Lainey

Tribbles, oh they're the scariest things of all. I think they were Dracula's (ahem) "Creatures of the Night!"

Drachen Jager · 02-11-2012, 08:01 AM

Any kind of monster that might erase all the back-ups of my manuscript. That terrifies me!

Seriously though, the last monster to scare me was The Thing. The whole idea of a Doppelganger that can transform into anyone and walk among us, could be your best friend, your wife, or your kid. That's scary, you leave yourself open to those people.

BRDurkin · 02-11-2012, 09:11 AM

What scares me most is the beast which lurks within man. Call it melodramatic if you will... but of all the archetypical "monsters" we've created in our fiction, none are capable of the savagery that mankind inflicts upon itself every day.

The most frightening antagonists in any book or movie, to me, are the regular people who choose to take out their anger, hate, and ill-intent on their fellow people.

Mclesh · 02-13-2012, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRDurkin

What scares me most is the beast which lurks within man. Call it melodramatic if you will... but of all the archetypical "monsters" we've created in our fiction, none are capable of the savagery that mankind inflicts upon itself every day.

The most frightening antagonists in any book or movie, to me, are the regular people who choose to take out their anger, hate, and ill-intent on their fellow people.

This. (Just what I was thinking. People are the scariest things out there. I mean the deranged brutal twisted ones.)

contrariwise · 02-11-2012, 01:42 PM

Things that are immaterial are the scariest. I'm not scared of vampires or werewolves or monsters. Things I can easily see and touch aren't scary. But if I start hearing disembodied whispers or things start moving of their own accord, that's when it gets scary.

Archerbird · 02-11-2012, 01:51 PM

I have a fear of glowing eyes in the dark after I saw Terminator as a kid. Also, dolls. Had a nightmare about them when I was a kid.

contrariwise · 02-11-2012, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archerbird

I have a fear of glowing eyes in the dark after I saw Terminator as a kid. Also, dolls. Had a nightmare about them when I was a kid.

Dolls are some creepy, messed up stuff, mate. Especially when they're broken in such a fashion as to appear completely inhuman.

amlptj · 02-11-2012, 01:55 PM

What scares me the most are... well they dont really have a name but shadow people or things.

When i was a small child i had night terrors. Alot of the time i had the same dream. I'd wake up to see a dark shadow of a man standing at the bottom of my bed perfectly still. Then i'd look up to see one at the top of my bed coming out of the wall. I dont have night terrors anymore but some night when I have trouble going to sleep the memory of those nightmares comes to me and it freaks me out to open my eyes and see something at the bottom of my bed. That's why i got at bunk bed!

Creepy shadows of things and people still kind of give me the creeps. Like that quick glimps of "something" you see out the side of your eyes. Always reminds me of that damn nightmare.

Also terrified of dolls beyond all rational reason, and bugs aswell.

Shakesbear · 02-11-2012, 02:06 PM

I've been trying to think about what scares me the most whilst reading through the comments already posted. I can't think of anything that scares me in the sense of creatures real or imaginary. What does scare me is when an author is able to build up tension in such a way that I am scared to turn the page. Susan Hill did that with The Woman in Black, and P.C.Doherty in The Haunting.

scarletpeaches · 02-11-2012, 03:09 PM

No monsters ever scared me because I always knew they weren't real.

Vornad · 02-11-2012, 03:24 PM

As someone previously mentioned, the evil inside I find most scary. Like Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr Hyde or maybe a demonic possession.

WordCount · 02-12-2012, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vornad

As someone previously mentioned, the evil inside I find most scary. Like Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr Hyde or maybe a demonic possession.

It's funny that you mention that, I was thinking about going for a Jekyll/Hyde type thing.

Jadeyn M · 02-11-2012, 03:31 PM

I'm terrified of planes at night. I live beside a nuclear plant, and after 9/11 (I was just a kid at the time) I became afraid that a plane would crash into the plant and blow it up. My anxieties became so bad that I literally dreaded going to bed at night; it's come down to any noises at night that I can't immediately identify are somehow meant to threaten me.

Shakesbear · 02-11-2012, 03:36 PM

Jadeyn M I understand about the noises at night and not being able to immediately identify them. When I first moved into my present home I had no idea how much an old house (it's over four hundred years old) could creak and moan. The house had also been empty for over a month and a family of mice had moved in. They were noisy as they investigated the various boxes and packages. They moved out when Mr Cat started to investigate them!

jaksen · 02-11-2012, 05:00 PM

Not much. I've read so much horror, sadly so, that I find it hard to find a really scary book - or movie.

But zombies still scare me. The fact they could be anywhere-everywhere in a good zombie flick or book. The fact anyone anytime, even your fav. character could get bit or eaten or surrounded anywhere, any time...

That still scares me. I watch 'The Walking Dead' with a pillow in my lap, the same way I watched scary movies when I was a kid.

LilliCray · 02-11-2012, 05:24 PM

Agree with the dolls. Freaking. Creepy. Also, clowns. *shudder* I read It, and through the whole thing--at least until it was clear the thing wasn't going to show up as a freaking clown anymore--I had to read it in basically a corner so I wouldn't be afraid something was coming up behind me.

Hm, beyond that, anything that doesn't confront directly. Anything that stalks, that there are little clues you can tell that it's there, but you don't see it, at least until it kills you. Basically, the unknown, the unseeable.

When I was a kid, I used to be unable to go up a flight of stairs without becoming convinced if I didn't get upstairs fast enough, a tiger was going to come eat me. Strange. Random. On the one hand, I knew there wasn't a tiger, and on the other, I was absolutely convinced. Actually had a recurrence of this feeling a few months ago, which was really, really weird...

02-11-2012, 05:55 AM	#1
WordCount You don't have coffee? Go away. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Smalltown, USA Posts: 697	What scares you? What scares you? Is it the creepy monster under your bed? Or is it the vampire waiting outside your window? What I'm basically asking is, out of the classic monsters, which are the "scariest." And I primarily mean the archetype, not the character itself. __________________ Carpe diem, bro. WIPs: Some SF Horror piece--in progress, 1000 words Part of the Job: An Edward Shelton Murder Mystery--editing, proofreading. The works. Here is my latest idea for a project. It's in the works. Any thoughts and comments will be extremely appreciated, whether you tell me it's gold or utter crap. Leave a comment and get a +1.

02-11-2012, 06:06 AM	#2
AKyber36 practical experience, FTW Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: USA Posts: 226	As a child, after seeing "Gremlins", it was the monster underneath the bed ready to bite my fingers off. Now as an adult, I still have to close the closet door and I don't like mirrors (especially full-length ones) in my room, either. I attribute it to a carryover of the boogeyman in the closet and the haunted mirror (aka Bloody Mary) when I was a child. __________________ Current WIP: Untitled short story - 5,663 words Four Stars, No Stripes (working title) - 31,175 words (On hiatus)

02-11-2012, 07:04 AM	#3
Canotila Sever your leg please. Join Date: May 2009 Location: Strongbadia Posts: 1,181	My sister is freaked out by zombie taxidermied things. Regular zombies with bits rotting off don't bug her though. Out of traditional monsters I find creepy homicidal dolls to be the most unsettling. They have no discernible weakness, and are small enough to catch you unaware and eviscerate you before you know what's happening. Ugh. __________________ Dog in a swing score: 108 reps. Go dog go!

02-11-2012, 06:17 PM	#7
jclarkdawe Feeling lucky, Query? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 8,714	Squirrels. Best of luck, Jim Clark-Dawe __________________ EQUINE LIABILITY: WHAT EVERY HORSEOWNER NEEDS TO KNOW Published 2002 sold through ~~GEORGE'S STORY~~ MORTON'S FORK Let's see how many agents I can catch with the query ~~THE NEXT STEP~~ ~~ASHES TO ASHES~~ INTO THE VALLEY (~~48,000~~79,000 words) Need to up my game. THE PICTURE Might be my next project.

02-11-2012, 07:28 AM	#8
ladyleeona fluently sarcastic. Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: wherever the Jose is. Posts: 770	My own imagination is what scares me, mostly. But the boogyman would be the closest actual embodiment of my fears. It's dreadful to have an overactive and slightly twisted imagination. Vamps and werewolves--pah. I hear those all have really nice bodies and sensitive sides. Hell, sometimes they even sparkle __________________ blog here///tweet here.

02-11-2012, 07:18 AM	#4
Ari Meermans MacAllister's Official Minion & Greeter AW Moderator Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: The Prairies and Lakes Posts: 4,360	It's not a vampire or a zombie. They're not real. I don't know what "it" is, but it's been outside the window all my life. Everywhere I've ever lived. Waiting. Not every night mind you, but when it is out there I know it. I refuse to even look at a window after dark. Just in case.

02-11-2012, 07:51 AM	#9
Laineywrites Just doing it. Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: The Big Apple Posts: 73	I've not been able to figure out why, but driving through tunnels freaks me out. The Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, you name it, I hate it. When I have to drive through a tunnel I feel a strange weight on my head that makes me hunker down like a hunch back. I imagine that any second its going to get flooded with water and I'm going to drown. Please don't let me see a puddle. With a death grip on the steering wheel, I drive as fast as the I can (what speed limit?) all the while praying there's no traffic jam. The weird thing is if someone else is driving or I'm on a subway train (which does nothing but pass through tunnels), I'm not afraid at all. As far as monsters are concerned, I'm deathly afraid of tribbles. Lainey

02-11-2012, 08:01 AM	#11
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,867	Any kind of monster that might erase all the back-ups of my manuscript. That terrifies me! Seriously though, the last monster to scare me was The Thing. The whole idea of a Doppelganger that can transform into anyone and walk among us, could be your best friend, your wife, or your kid. That's scary, you leave yourself open to those people. __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

02-11-2012, 09:11 AM	#12
BRDurkin Trigger-Happy Pyromaniac Writer Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Lakeview, OR Posts: 689	What scares me most is the beast which lurks within man. Call it melodramatic if you will... but of all the archetypical "monsters" we've created in our fiction, none are capable of the savagery that mankind inflicts upon itself every day. The most frightening antagonists in any book or movie, to me, are the regular people who choose to take out their anger, hate, and ill-intent on their fellow people. __________________ Latest Blog Post - Query Letter Hell: The Return (05-27-13) WIPs: Kricket's Song - Query Letter Hell! (Steampunk Fantasy) Kricket's Key - 65,525/90,000 (Steampunk Fantasy) "Abyss" - Sci-fi Short for Kindle, Rated 5 Stars (7 Reviews)

02-11-2012, 01:42 PM	#14
contrariwise The hours passing Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 76	Things that are immaterial are the scariest. I'm not scared of vampires or werewolves or monsters. Things I can easily see and touch aren't scary. But if I start hearing disembodied whispers or things start moving of their own accord, that's when it gets scary.

02-11-2012, 01:51 PM	#15
Archerbird Nightowl Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 1,599	I have a fear of glowing eyes in the dark after I saw Terminator as a kid. Also, dolls. Had a nightmare about them when I was a kid. __________________

02-11-2012, 01:55 PM	#17
amlptj Speling & grammer murderer, Sorrie! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Philadelphia PA Posts: 10,272	What scares me the most are... well they dont really have a name but shadow people or things. When i was a small child i had night terrors. Alot of the time i had the same dream. I'd wake up to see a dark shadow of a man standing at the bottom of my bed perfectly still. Then i'd look up to see one at the top of my bed coming out of the wall. I dont have night terrors anymore but some night when I have trouble going to sleep the memory of those nightmares comes to me and it freaks me out to open my eyes and see something at the bottom of my bed. That's why i got at bunk bed! Creepy shadows of things and people still kind of give me the creeps. Like that quick glimps of "something" you see out the side of your eyes. Always reminds me of that damn nightmare. Also terrified of dolls beyond all rational reason, and bugs aswell. __________________ Legend of the Freaks YA Horror/Thriller Series 8 of 12 books complete WiP Re-write of first book FREAKs Unsung Zeros Psychological Thriller Rewrite -1/2 done On Hold The Amnesia Journey YA Fantasy RBSL Contemp/romantic comedy Legend of a Freak (Blog!)

02-11-2012, 02:06 PM	#18
Shakesbear knows a hawk from a handsaw Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Elsinore Posts: 3,211	I've been trying to think about what scares me the most whilst reading through the comments already posted. I can't think of anything that scares me in the sense of creatures real or imaginary. What does scare me is when an author is able to build up tension in such a way that I am scared to turn the page. Susan Hill did that with The Woman in Black, and P.C.Doherty in The Haunting. __________________ And my large kingdom for a little grave, A little little grave, an obscure grave . . .

02-11-2012, 03:09 PM	#19
scarletpeaches Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 48,359	No monsters ever scared me because I always knew they weren't real.

02-11-2012, 03:24 PM	#20
Vornad figuring it all out Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Oklahoma, USA Posts: 51	As someone previously mentioned, the evil inside I find most scary. Like Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr Hyde or maybe a demonic possession.

02-11-2012, 03:31 PM	#22
Jadeyn M New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Chicago, USA Posts: 27	I'm terrified of planes at night. I live beside a nuclear plant, and after 9/11 (I was just a kid at the time) I became afraid that a plane would crash into the plant and blow it up. My anxieties became so bad that I literally dreaded going to bed at night; it's come down to any noises at night that I can't immediately identify are somehow meant to threaten me.

02-11-2012, 03:36 PM	#23
Shakesbear knows a hawk from a handsaw Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Elsinore Posts: 3,211	Jadeyn M I understand about the noises at night and not being able to immediately identify them. When I first moved into my present home I had no idea how much an old house (it's over four hundred years old) could creak and moan. The house had also been empty for over a month and a family of mice had moved in. They were noisy as they investigated the various boxes and packages. They moved out when Mr Cat started to investigate them! __________________ And my large kingdom for a little grave, A little little grave, an obscure grave . . .

02-11-2012, 05:00 PM	#24
jaksen Caped Codder Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: In MA, USA, across from a 17th century cemetery Posts: 3,957	Not much. I've read so much horror, sadly so, that I find it hard to find a really scary book - or movie. But zombies still scare me. The fact they could be anywhere-everywhere in a good zombie flick or book. The fact anyone anytime, even your fav. character could get bit or eaten or surrounded anywhere, any time... That still scares me. I watch 'The Walking Dead' with a pillow in my lap, the same way I watched scary movies when I was a kid. __________________ Just sold Story No. 28! To EQMM! I am so happy. (New grandson, too. Life is good. ) Eeyore was saying to himself, “This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it.” A.A. Milne

02-11-2012, 05:24 PM	#25
LilliCray 私は、自分でいいの Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Lost in the red tape Posts: 702	Agree with the dolls. Freaking. Creepy. Also, clowns. shudder I read It, and through the whole thing--at least until it was clear the thing wasn't going to show up as a freaking clown anymore--I had to read it in basically a corner so I wouldn't be afraid something was coming up behind me. Hm, beyond that, anything that doesn't confront directly. Anything that stalks, that there are little clues you can tell that it's there, but you don't see it, at least until it kills you. Basically, the unknown, the unseeable. When I was a kid, I used to be unable to go up a flight of stairs without becoming convinced if I didn't get upstairs fast enough, a tiger was going to come eat me. Strange. Random. On the one hand, I knew there wasn't a tiger, and on the other, I was absolutely convinced. Actually had a recurrence of this feeling a few months ago, which was really, really weird... __________________ I reject that plot hole and replace it with a bush. 伝勇伝が大好きよ～。 Bloggery

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