"The notion that such persons are gay of heart and carefree is curiously untrue. They lead, as a matter of fact, an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats."
- James Thurber, My Life and Hard Times

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tell me about your first time

The first time you were scared. Geesh, what did you think I meant?

I was frightened at an early age, and I actually remember it. I don't recall my exact age (it was a rather moving target, since everyone kept measuring it in months), but I was still in a crib. My mom had a 45 record of Tennessee Ernie Ford. One side had, I think, John Henry on it. The other side was 16 Tons.

John Henry I could take. 16 Tons made me want to leap from my skin and run to safety. I still don't know why.



It convinced my mom that I was a rather fragile thing, emotionally, so she never allowed me to watch horror movies, which only perpetuated my fear of being frightened. Tomorrow I'll tell you of the first time I enjoyed the thrill of fear, or at least of being creeped out.

In the meantime, what was your first scare? Tell me in the comments. I promise I won't use it for evil. Only good.

2 comments:

Ali Trotta said...

The first time I remember being scared was when I was about five. My mom was cutting my brother's hair, and the tv was on. He'd put on a black and white vampire movie. I was TERRIFIED of vampires (you know, back before they sparkled and day-walked). I remember the scene vividly, of the vampire being staked in his coffin. Why did I stay and watch it? I don't know. But from then on, I swore there were vampires in my closet.

Wow, I can't believe I just admitted all that. Ah, well.

Gayle Carline said...

Bela Lugosi didn't frighten me as a vampire, but that creepy Nosferatu sure made me want to sleep with one eye open. And the book, Dracula - I thought that was actually scary.

You know whose fault it is that we have sparkly vampires? Frank Langella. He made vampires sexy. Naughty, naughty Frank.

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