Did you fear witches growing up?

[Lark]

I think even between my own generation and the next there's been a paradigm shift in what scares people, spooks, ghosts, witches have been replaced with UFOs, shady conspiracies, terrorists what do you think and what's your experience?

I know that when I was little I was totally afraid of witches and witchcraft and most of the time it was simply old age or neglected gardens which frightened me and I associated with those things. I was afraid of the Devil too but I think that's a slightly different story because I had no idea what the devil looked like and was a total metaphysical fear.

 

[Totenkindly]

No, I wasn't scared of witches and witchcraft. It's too tangible.

I was more scared of things that I weren't sure whether they were true. Like aliens, ghosts, etc. But typically only when I was in environments where such things might be. (I lived next to a graveyard, for example; and some nights I was fine walking my dog down along the crumbly cemetery wall, and other nights I just wanted to run as fast as my legs could carry me.)

 

[Reverie]

Witches...No I thought I was one. ...and there'd been a mistake because I had been born in the wrong place and family.
As irrational fears go: I was slightly afraid of my shadow and not metaphorically. And ghosts and spirits.

 

[KDude]

I kind of did, but not in a way that I put much thought into.

There was actually some rumors of a witch in my neighborhood growing up. I broke into her house when she was gone.. there was nothing spooky there. No frog eyeballs and cauldrons of boiling hands. I looked into her freezer and all she had was the usual. But I ended up thrashing the place anyways. Damn the witch!!

 

[kyuuei]

Considering my religion now-a-days, it is no surprise but I was fascinated by them growing up. Ghosts as a concept did not scare me.. but evil ghosts did. Demons were scariest for me. Shadow monsters and under-the-bed monsters.

My brother told me a story (when I was pretty young) about a monster that attacked people when they used the toilet, right after they tried to flush.. For a month straight I'd flush and then sprint from the bathroom as fast as I could. it seems silly now, but I was terrified of the thought of a toilet monster eating me.

But I digress.. witches, if they did frighten me.. it was again, the concept of 'bad' witches and evil witches that were scary, not the being itself.

 

[Thalassa]

Not in the slightest. I wanted to be a gypsy or a witch. I remember reading Ghosts I Have Been when I was 8.

I was scared of clowns, mean looking porcelain dolls (not the "little girl" kind, but the ones that looked like sophisticated grown women, I collected them and my grandfather bought me this one doll that gave me the creeps) ...and I believe ventriloquist dummies were the first, I remember being as young as about six and thinking Lester from ABC Storytime was going to jump out from under my bed and inject me with poison needles.

I have no idea. I always preferred stuffed animals to dolls, and this is probably why. On the other hand, I actually was obsessed with Barbies and had a talking doll that didn't scare me in the slightest - but probably because she looked like an innocent small child rather than an adult.

 

[Lark]

I kind of did, but not in a way that I put much thought into.

There was actually some rumors of a witch in my neighborhood growing up. I broke into her house when she was gone.. there was nothing spooky there. No frog eyeballs and cauldrons of boiling hands. I looked into her freezer and all she had was the usual. But I ended up thrashing the place anyways. Damn the witch!!

Seriously though I hope this is made up

 

[KDude]

Seriously though I hope this is made up

Nope. I must've been around 9 or 10.

This is what happens when you don't leash your kids.

 

[EJCC]

I was afraid of the scarier things that I had seen in movies, as well as real life things. I think if I had seen anything that scared me, that involved witches, then I would have been scared of them -- but I wasn't, really.

One thing that I was absolutely terrified of, when I was about 5 or 6, was mirrors. I was terrified that when I looked into them, I'd see either something behind me, or an altered/creepier/malevolent version of myself. I think I saw it in an ad for something -- maybe one of the Chucky movies -- and I had nightmares about it later.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Not at all, and probably due to my exposure to literature, films etc. in which witches were heroines.

• Practical Magic
• The Harry Potter Series
• Hocus Pocus - though they were the villains in this one
• The Worst Witch

etc.

I was less afraid of the supernatural than I was of other people - murderers, abductors, rapists etc. I do remember feeling paranoid though that someone, somewhere might be able to read my thoughts, so sometimes I would totally avoid certain thoughts that I thought were dirty or that I wanted to keep to myself... I suppose that's a bit 'witchy'. I did feel that ghosts/spirits were around, though, and sometimes I even tried to listen to what they wanted to communicate, or I'd attempt to communicate with them.

 

[UniqueMixture]

No. I was not. I remember seeing one movie about the devil impregnating a girl with a child that was meant to be the Antichrist. I remember being afraid that was me.

 

[Patches]

No, I'm totally freaked out by aliens, though.

 

[Cimarron]

No, wasn't afraid of witches because I never believed they were even possibly real. Not in the "evil witchcraft" sense. Same reason I wasn't afraid of vampires or werewolves. I was afraid of amorphous "monsters" or spirits or whatever. Wasn't afraid of aliens, either, because the event of them coming to Earth and then waging genocide seemed unlikely (not because I doubted their existence).

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

No, wasn't afraid of witches because I never believed they were even possibly real. Not in the "evil witchcraft" sense. Same reason I wasn't afraid of vampires or werewolves. I was afraid of amorphous "monsters" or spirits or whatever. Wasn't afraid of aliens, either, because the event of them coming to Earth and then waging genocide seemed unlikely (not because I doubted their existence).

This. It would have been like being afraid of unicorns.

 

[Giggly]

No, not at all. I'm not very superstitious.

 

[Coriolis]

No, never. I was more afraid of real, concrete things like my parents dying before I grew up and having to live with an uncle I disliked; or a fire destroying our house. Nothing really bad like this ever happened, though.

 

[Intricate Mystic]

I wasn't afraid of them. I usually dressed up as one every Halloween! I just remember being scared of the dark when I was alone in my bedroom at night. So, I lined up stuffed animals all along the side of the bed next to the wall, to protect me from whatever might lurk there.

 

[Randomnity]

I was only afraid of things that were real (but exaggerated forms). Wolves, bears, fire, murderers, etc.

 

[Ponyboy]

Was never afraid of witches, or anything of the like. I can relate to those that have said they were afraid of real but exagerrated stuff. Showing my age, I remember when the movie "The Day After" was shown on TV. That scared the bejeezus out of me. It was about nuclear war and its aftermath. It was a huge sensation and in school most of the teachers didn't bother with any lesson plans the next day because they felt it was more important to discuss that. I realize how ridiculous it was now but back then....I don't know, I guess just times were different

Edit: I am now also terrified of ever having to spell "exaggerated" again! And yes, I did have to scroll up to see how Random spelled it

 

[CrystalViolet]

No, I'm totally freaked out by aliens, though.

This.