kindertrauma

Year: 2011

Name That Trauma :: Reader Kelly G. on a Maggot Filled Teddybear

Posted on By aunt john

When I was about 7 years old, I was watching T.V. and I thought the movie was about a leprechaun who wanted the family's gold. But I was so scared I kept changing the channel back and forth. It's definitely not one of the LEPRECHAUN movies. For all I know this could have been two separate things, but it's been bugging me for years.

There was a scene where a girl lays down on her bed and goes to reach for her teddy bear and it bursts open and maggots come out. I'm not the only one who remembers something similar. Might have seen the same thing, but I'm not sure that it is from GOOSEBUMPS. I'm guessing late '90s or earlier.

Thank you!

— Kelly G.

Name That Trauma :: Reader James L. on a Pesky Puppet

Posted on By aunt john

Okay… So I can't remember a lot about this movie, but I saw it on T.V. when I was about 7-9 years old and the puppet in it scared the hell out of me. It wasn't even a horror movie, it was a family film!

The puppet looks like some sort of cat/dog or mammal in a cartoony style. I don't recall ever seeing his legs, but they could possibly have been shown. (Most likely without his top half in the shot.)

He has the ability to appear random places and pop out of anywhere like cupboards, trash cans, lockers etc… just general holes/crevices/places the camera can't see into fully, so it gives the illusion that he disappears into some weird Narnia place like all the good creepy monster puppets.

The puppet is a good guy and helps this kid for some reason, or maybe the kid is helping him? …I just remember, he wasn't the bad guy/villain in the movie.

So the kid in this movie plays baseball or some type of sport because I remember a scene in which he was in the changing rooms in his uniform talking to the creepy puppet that had popped out of a dirty laundry basket or something.

There is another part I remember… The villains/bad guys in the movie that want to capture the puppet for some reason unknown, are in a magic shop or some place that happened to have an ancient scroll depicting the puppet in ancient Egypt, canoeing down the river Nile with the pyramids in the background.

This is all I remember of the movie, I hope somebody can help me! Thanks in advance!

— James L.

UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Special thanks to reader Matthew Hurwitz for naming it with MUNCHIE.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Mike M. on a Psycho Pianist

Posted on By aunt john

Dear Kindertrauma:

How're you doing, folks? I'd like to track down a movie I saw a bit of as a kid that burned into my brain. The movie, as I recall, was an "Orlac's Hands" kind of thing, with a brilliant pianist who somehow loses the ability to play… which of course makes him a dangerous psychopath who goes off with the slightest provocation. He goes to call on somebody, all normal and not-crazy-acting, and the only person at home is a little All-American kid of about 8 or 10. The kid says that the person the injured -hand/former pianist guy is looking for is out, and the kid and the pianist sit down at the piano in the living room to kill time until the person in question comes home.

This is a very, very, bad idea.

The kid plays the piano, and does a pretty good job tickling the ivories. Then the formerly brilliant pianist tries to play, and botches it. The kid says, "Gee, you're not very good, Mister!" Whereupon, the former pianist grabs the kid's hands in his own and crushes them, gibbering and shouting about how great he used to be, and the kid is screaming, screaming, screaming at the top of his lungs and the camera is tight on kid's face in agony. We cut to the next scene, the cops are there, and it turns out the kid died from his injuries.

It was a very cheap-looking, black and white number with a low-rent, 1950s vibe. Any help you guys could provide would be huge.

Thanks!

—Mike M.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Goorlap on a Suburban Sorceress & A Mutant Mutt

Posted on By aunt john

I will give you a short description of the movies I'm looking for.

Movie 1:

A creepy '60s or '70s (maybe '80s) film where an evil telepathic woman or woman involved with black magic lives in a creepy house on an average street and never goes out. Her husband does everything for her, and there's a young woman involved (I think it's the "good guy" of the movie).

In the end, an old man steps into his car, the car catches fire, and we see the man stepping out of it on fire and falling on the road. And that's the end of the movie.

Movie 2:

An '80s or '90s movie about a dog that went through some kinda genetic experiment in a laboratory. The dog escapes and becomes member of a typical American family, living in a suburban street.

The dog is very protective towards the family.

If I remember correctly, there is a fight between the dog and people in the laboratory, somewhere in the middle of the movie.

The movie ends with a dog giving birth, and the puppy's looking like the dog that was experimented on.

So, I hope you guys can help me out with these two movies.

Thanks in advance!

— Goorlap

UNK SEZ: Hopefully one of our astute readers can help you with the first movie you mentioned Goorlap! I'm not sure about that one but I do think the second film might be WATCHERS (1988) based on a novel by DEAN KOONTZ and starring the one and only COREY HAIM!

Name That Trauma :: Reader Mason on a Bathroom Hag

Posted on By aunt john

Thanks so much for your help with my last name that trauma, but I've got another one for you.

When I was younger I remember seeing something on the television that's haunted me for many years.

My memories are a little fuzzy but I'll try to explain it as best as I can:

A little boy is in the bathroom and there's this old woman (in my memories, she's a 'hag' but I'm not sure if that's just what I think of her as or if they referred to her as that) in the bathroom of a house. She's sitting, possibly naked, in the bath and this little boy walks in.

I think he screams and tries to tell his parents, who are downstairs, but they don't believe him. He goes back into the bathroom and she scratches him all over. The scene sticking most in my mind was of the little boy standing over a railing looking down at his parents in a living room, I believe there may be stairs at one side of the room leading from where he is to where they are. I think he's bleeding and looks pretty bad.

As I said, my memories are fuzzy so I'm not sure about this one, but I definitely know it's not something I dreamed this time.

I hope somebody can help.

— Mason

UNK SEZ: Thanks Mason! I'm guessing what you're looking for may be the television adaptation of STEPHEN KING's THE SHINING (1997). In that version little Danny comes face to face with a hag-ghoul in the bathroom. The confrontation takes place in the book but was only implied in the KUBRICK (1980) version. Hopefully the clip below will look familiar!

Name That Trauma :: Reader L.A. on the Decapitated New Girl in Town

Posted on By aunt john

I remember seeing a movie about five years ago I think. It must have been from the '90s or '00s. It was about a girl moving to a new town. The popular guy in the movie started to notice her, and hitting on her, and the guy's girlfriend gets jealous, and the movie ends with her killing the new girl.

The thing that really stuck in my head and has bothered me ever since was how she killed her. She cut off her head, but placed it on the neck where it should be, and covered it up with a scarf or something, so when her mother came home, the new girl was laying on the floor, still alive but her head was not actually attached to her body anymore.

The new girl was a redhead I think, and the jealous girlfriend was blonde. I remember one scene where they were at a party, and there was a pool and the blonde girlfriend sees all the boys admire the new girl in her bikini.

Do you know what movie this is from?

Thank you,

— L.A.

UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Reader chopmeup is on a roll and answered this one with THE STALKING OF LAURIE SHOW.

Traumafessions :: Jose Cruz of Mephisto's Castle on Deadly Dummies

Posted on By unkle lancifer

What is it about ventriloquist dummies that seem to scare people so? Is it their dwarfish human-like bodies, their wooden ligaments grotesquely moving in a mockery of life? Is it the cruel turn of their painted lips, the gleam of their wide, staring eyes? Or is it the fact that their purpose is to sit in one's lap, granting them the perfect opportunity to wrap their cold, hard fingers around your throat… laughing all the while?

I know I'm not the only one with this affliction. I've seen a few Traumafessions here already dedicated to the topic of those firewood automatons. So, why then, do people seem to cringe and shudder at the sight of those ghastly puppets sitting in faux innocence on a shelf or under a stage light's glare? To be honest, I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that they've terrified me all my life. And they show no sign of stopping.

I believe my first memory of animated marionettes came to me while watching television with the family one afternoon. There was a clip from what I believed for the longest time was MAGIC, but later discovered to be the cheapie British chiller THE DEVIL DOLL. I distinctly remember seeing that little bastard Hugo in crackling black and white, his beady little eyes narrowed with murderous intent and a dagger in his crafted hand. "No, Hugo!" his master commanded. Slowly, the dummy withdrew his weapon and I withdrew into the cushions of the couch. If I hadn't been officially traumatized before then, I was now.

My elementary school library was not any help at all. During this time the GOOSEBUMPS series was all the rage, and it was these that helped foster my love for horror fiction. But though I could easily brave the horrors of MONSTER BLOOD and even face down the REVENGE OF THE LAWN GNOMES, there was one that I simply would not touch. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DUMMY. Or as I thought of it, NIGHT OF THE SLEEPLESS BOY. Slappy the Dummy sealed the deal for me, and the cover of his respective volume was enough to scare me when picking it off the shelf, let alone considering reading the damn thing.

Full-on evil was manifested in that diabolically grinning face, his blood-red lips lining pearly oak teeth that I knew would eagerly chomp at my fingers and toes if I wasn't careful reaching into dark closets or getting out of bed. As cheated as I might have felt to discover that the actual book only contained a cameo appearance by the demonic dummy at the very end (?!), that cover was enough to tell me all the horrible stories I needed.

It didn't stop there. I was continuously haunted by these monsters, and even a peaceful lunch of PB&J couldn't stop the shivery horrors of "The Dummy" episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE from descending upon me. This was my first full viewing of a living-dummy story and I can never forget it. Even in the gleaming sunshine I was cold with terror, jumping every time that ringing, acidic cackle of the mischievous Willy erupted in Cliff Robertson's, and my own, paranoid mind.

Seeing Willy's eerie silhouette on the wall was a looming threat, a threat that I could hear lil' Willy himself whispering in my ear, "I know you see me, Jose. I want to let you know that I see you too. But you won't see me. Not at night, when I come to find you."

And still they persisted me. Even a film as unfortunately flawed as DEAD SILENCE can still get to me, still send waves of goosebumps down my arms. Walking down corridors, I can't help but wonder if that groaning creak I just heard was a stressed floorboard… or perhaps the sound of a dummy's foot stalking my shadow.

Who is it this time? Is it MICHAEL REDGRAVE's homicidal familiar from DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)? Is it the knife-wielding fiend from THE DUMMY ? Whatever foul creature it may be, they still bring on the trauma in me with the glint of their ceaseless smiles and the nod of their oiled throats. When I see them, I hear a sound, one that chills the marrow in my bones and makes me want to curl up in a sweating, terrified ball.

It's the sound of laughter in the dark.

UNK SEZ: Thanks Jose for sharing this ultimate ventriloquist dummy traumafesion! Folks, as long as you don't happen to be an animated ventriloquist dummy you are welcome to join Jose over at his main haunt MEPHISTO'S CASTLE as often as you please HERE! Tell 'em "Slappy" sent you!

Name That Trauma :: Jonathan A. on a Menacing Mystery Mug

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Not my trauma… but it must be someone's. The image (above) is a screengrab from the music video for INFORMATION SERVICES by MOON WIRING CLUB, found on YouTube, which appears to consist largely of clips from strange stuff that once aired on British television.

Some of the images belong to a reportedly very scarring episode of PLAY FOR TODAY called Robin Redbreast, which is notorious for being Brit TV's HARVEST HOME/THE WICKER MAN and is a bit of a holy grail for fans of the weird and obscure, but I have had no luck at all tracking down whatever production this creepy image appeared in. I'm pretty sure it was a TV production, so chances are pretty good that someone out there saw it at an impressionable age and has been dreaming about it ever since, so I was wondering if you could post the pic and the YouTube (video) and, hopefully, some kind soul could finally satisfy my curiosity about this thing, whatever it is.

Love the site!

UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Kudos to reader chopmeup for naming it with the SUPERNATURAL (1977) episode "Dorabella."

Traumafessions :: Reader Chuckles on That's Incredible "Haunted Toy 'R' Us" Investigation

Posted on By aunt john

I have not thought of this Kindertraumatizing event in many years, but I recently caught a few minutes of one of those cheesy "haunting reenactment" programs that somehow jarred it loose from the depths of memory. This Trauma involved an airing of the early '80s ABC show THAT'S INCREDIBLE! For those not in the know, this was a very popular but oddball variety show that featured people performing crazy stunts and demonstrating "paranormal" feats. It also occasionally, for whatever reason, featured a ghost story.

One ghost story concerned a haunted Toy "R" Us store. Legend had it that some old-timey farmer was killed when he accidentally chopped off his leg with an axe and when a Toys "R" Us was built on the site of his farm many years later, his ghost took up residence. It was alleged that after hours, the ghost would knock toys from shelves and generally play around with them. As ghost stories go this was not exactly the stuff of nightmares.

However, THAT'S INCREDIBLE! decided to perform a sort of prototype ghost investigation, using a psychic to call forth the ghost and a couple of cameras, including one that shot in infrared, to capture the action. The freakout came when the psychic, who was very sincere and creepy, sat in one of the store aisles with several other people and allegedly talked to the ghost, describing his deep and terrible sadness. The camera operator was snapping pics throughout. At the end of the presentation, the audience was shown side-by-side photos – one standard film and the other infrared – of the aisle where the psychic conversation had taken place. Alarmingly, in at least one of these sets, the very clear figure of a man appeared in the infrared photo where the standard film showed nothing!

Here it was. Indisputable proof of the existence of ghosts! I was thunderstruck. It had to be real if they were showing it on television, right? How could this not be front page news the world over? Someone call the President! Those readers with a good memory for the obscure might recall my prior Traumafession in which I explained my dismay with the children's book "All About Ghosts" which featured a spread of "Real Life Ghost Photos!" I was cursed with the terrible combination of a scientifically inquiring mind and hopeless naivety.

My shock from the fact that ghosts had been scientifically verified to exist was compounded by my confusion about the location of the featured Toy "R" Us. It was in Sunnyvale, California but for some reason I thought that it was the Toy "R" Us store in Merrillville, Indiana, which my parents sometimes shopped at! How far could ghosts travel? I did not know but this was important information that someone needed to figure out!

The whole thing can be seen here:

Skip to the end for the ghost photos and what may be the least skeptical analysis in the history of TV by John Davidson, Fran Tarkenton and Cathy Lee Crosby: "Keep in mind kids, these photos are real and could not possibly have been faked!"