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What Really Scared You As a Child?
I’ve always known that I have a terrible fear of spiders, but can you remember that one thing in life that truly terrified you?
I’m not talking about some irrational fear, but something that was deep-seated from your childhood, something that occasionally rears its ugly head in random nightmares…
Being back in Chicago, my childhood fear popped back into my subconscious the other night, prompting me to ask you all this very question.
As young as I can remember I was mortified of ventriloquist dummies. I’m not anymore, but I still have a reoccurring nightmare I’ve been having since I was 8 years old.
The earliest recollection of the fear I have is of the below 1984 McDonald’s commercial featuring Willie Tyler and his ventriloquist dummy, Lester. Any time that commercial would pop on I would be in my parents’ bed that night – and I want to go as far as to say my parents were so annoyed they mailed letters of complaint to McDonald’s (like that does any good).
While Tyler is my earliest memory, the one that haunted me the most was spawned by Paul Winchell, who has his own variety show called “The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show.” Jerry Mahoney, pictured above left, was the scariest looking doll I had ever seen – so scary to a child that he would haunt my nightmares for 30 years. I’m not exactly sure how I saw this 1950’s show in the 80’s, but clearly, it had a profound impact on me.
Ever since I can remember I’ve been having these lucid dreams where I walk out of my room, look to my left, and see Jerry Mahoney starring at me in the blackest of the corner with beaming red eyes. I begin to run and end up being chased through London-esque streets with layered brick as roads. It’s always the same nightmare, and I always wake up with my heart racing. As an adult, I think it’s hilarious and awesome, but holy crap did it scare the shit out of my when I was younger.
What scared you? I mean, what realllllly scared you? Tyler and Lester wanna hear from you below.
Image sources: Wiki and Democast News.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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