FYI: It's called "Coulrophobia"

Halloween is just around the corner.

Waiting.

For you.

'Tis the season of terror, so what better time to talk about things that terrified us as kids?

When I was a kid, I was a bit of a neurotic.  I went though a period where I had some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.  Those of you who know me personally are probably thinking, "Went?  Past-tense?"  If I wasn't so afraid of getting your face germs on my hands, I'd slap you for saying that.

Anyhoo, along with my mild o.c., I was also terrified that someone was waiting in the shower.  Not a family member or anything.  That thought wouldn't terrify me until I was a teenager.  No, I was scared there was a stranger in the bathroom, hiding behind the shower curtain.

Waiting.

For me.

This, coupled with my o.c., meant that I would sometimes check behind the shower curtain every single time I went in or by the bathroom.  I'm not sure where this fear came from.  Probably the movies.  To this day, the scariest scenes for me are the ones where someone's alone in the bathroom looking in the bathroom mirror.  They open up the medicine cabinet to get something and when they close it, there's someone behind them.

I was going to put a movie clip here, but I searched for "scary bathroom mirror scene" on Youtube and then chickened out.  You're welcome.

Everything seemed more potent when I was a kid.  Funny things were funnier.  Exciting things were excitinger.  And scary things were petrifying.  Maybe that's because you don't have as much life experience as a kid.  Adult baggage tends to be heavy.  By the time you have a couple of decades' worth of travel under your belt, your bags are crammed full of the memories.  Some of them are warm and fuzzy.  Some are depressing.  And some are downright frightening.  So, as an adult, when you're minding your own business and you run into a man in a clown suit outside a crowded party supply store in the outlet mall, it startles you.

But he's no Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, clowns are terrifying.

The point is, if you're a kid this Halloween, enjoy the fact that the only bags you have to carry around are full of candy.

Cheers.