Scaredy cat

I was tagged by the lovely Jlee. As the result of said tagging I must write about five things that used to freak me out as a child. Here goes.

1. The Banshee from Darby O'Gill and the Little People: I used to love this movie. I mean it had everything. Playing upon the stereotype that the Irish are a bunch of filthy drunks this Disney film included the legend of the leprechauns in a cute family fashion. The movie even stars a pre-Bond Sean Connery and he actually sings after he whoops some Irish ass. Brilliant storytelling.

For whatever reason the screenwriters decided that the movie must take a dark turn and introduced us to the banshee. I'm not sure if it was the image of the howling ghoul or the sound it made, but many a nightmare was due to that devilish ghost.



2. Spiders. Daddy Long Legs specifically. Damn I hated those creepy little things. Still do actually. I used to imagine they were outside my bedroom plotting my demise as I sleep. I had an over active imagination.

I used to have nightmares about spiders. Sometimes there would be half man, half spider people coming to attack me.

3. The mutants from Beneath the Planet of the Apes: Not only did it freak me out seeing a mass bastardized after a Catholic service, but to see a bunch of people take off their faces and reveal the effects of radiation really gave me the heebee jeebees. I remember asking my parents why the people on TV were worshipping a nuclear missile. They didn't answer.



4. My Grandma's dog: She had a little dog named Toby who unfortunately was abused by his previous owner. As a result the dog would love to attack my feet. I mean love it. I imagined the beast taking much glee in gnawing my lower appendages. As I got older I learned how to stop the miserable animal from biting me, but it took a while to get over it.

5. KISS: When I was very little I had old Uncle Scrooge comic books. In it they had ads for Kiss memorabilia, cause that band will whore for anything. Regardless the makeup and outfits they had on scared the piss out of me, especially when you consider my ultra-conservative folks decrying all rock music to be the devil's work. In their narrow minds Kiss was the worst. Still after all their bellyaching about how all our nation's youth would suddenly become Satan worshippers because of mass marketed corporate music they never warned me about how crappy their music was.



"Rock is about finding who you are. You don't necessarily have to play your instrument very well at all. You can just barely get by and you can be in a rock band." - Gene Simmons