Hey guys,

I’m a regular visitor to Kindertrauma, but this is my first time to write in.

Thanks to the Internet, I’ve been able to track down and re-visit pretty much all of my childhood traumas. There’s just one trauma I have never found, and I’m hoping someone can help me.

My trauma was either a PSA or commercial that I saw several times as a kid. It aired sometime between 1983 and 1986.

There was a black silhouette of a child’s head (maybe an infant’s head and shoulders) against a totally white screen. I’m not sure if the silhouette was a cartoon or not, but I think it was more like a real shadow cast against a white surface. The shadow of a hammer would come down from the side of the screen, causing the child’s head to crack down the middle with an eerie, eggshell-smashing sound. Then the silhouettes would fade and words would appear against the white background.

The silhouette reminded me of my younger sibling, and I remember thinking that this was a commercial for a special hospital that would repair a child’s head if you accidentally cracked it open with a hammer. The ad didn’t horrify me so much as my own interpretation of it did.

I’ve looked through hundreds of PSA’s from the early ‘80s and never found it.

— Wes H.