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Childhood Fears Remain a Part of Our Adult Psyche by PITT DICKEY Precious memories. How they linger. The most festive time of year is once again upon us like a straitjacket constricted with happiness. It's a time when we all revert, if only briefly, to the glorious days of childhood. 'Tis the season to be young at heart, even if old in psychosis. Let us ponder the childhood fears which are the yin to the yang of Christmas. As I pondered weak and weary upon my own childhood fears, I decided to solicit childhood fears from friends, relatives and total strangers. Eureka, I struck a gold mine of phobias that may provide several additional columns of pre-pubescent paranoia. Everyone seems to have saved their favorite childhood fears in the old memory box under the bed next to the monster that crouched there. My primary childhood fear was blasting caps. The two TV channels we received constantly ran a frightening public service announcement warning children that if you see a blasting cap — "DON'T TOUCH IT!" Blasting caps are those silvery little tubes that nestle in the tops of dynamite ready to explode and set off the dynamite. I was certain that the Earth was sown with blasting caps just waiting for me to pick one up and blow off my hands. Although I was ever vigilant looking for blasting caps I never saw one. My other major childhood fear was leprosy. Sunday School constantly had stories about leprosy. I knew I was going to get leprosy resulting in my hands and nose falling off if they weren't already blown off from touching a blasting cap. Turns out leprosy was a common childhood fear. A surprising number of sources cited leprosy as a lesion on their childhood horizons. Subject A said she and her best friend became fascinated by Sunday School leprosy stories. They researched leprosy at the library. Armed with knowledge of what lepers do, they wrapped themselves in sheets and walked up and down the sidewalks ringing bells and shouting "unclean" in the hopes of attracting local lepers so they could interview them. Alas, no lepers appeared. She was also afraid of "hungry Republicans" who lived in the North Carolina mountains who would eat young Democrat children living in the Piedmont. The cannibal story was used to maintain good order and discipline by her parents. Subject B's major childhood fear was live turkeys. He had recurring nightmares about being chased around his neighborhood by a giant turkey which he believed was a hobgoblin. Subject C was traumatized by a June bug. When C was about 5, a little blonde girl who looked like the creepy daughter in the movie The Bad Seed got C to stand on a picnic table. She then lassoed C with a June bug on a string. The June bug flew around and around frantically trying to get away. The bug kept circling her legs and getting nearer with each revolution. C reports screaming in terror as the bug kept flying inexorably closer. She cannot recall her escape but the trauma lingers on. Subject D's interesting fear was a horror movie, Teenagers From Outer Space, in which teenagers from beyond sported ray guns which vaporized people into skeletons. The most frightening scene was when Sparky the Dog got zapped into a doggy skeleton. D also was afraid of his dentist who smoked cigarettes while working on him. D sat frozen staring at the dentist's cigarette ash wondering how long it would be before the ash fell into his mouth and burned him alive. Subject E was afraid of skinks. Skinks are members of the lizard family that are almost as common as blasting caps were once thought to be. As a defense mechanism, a Skink's tail comes off allowing them to escape hungry predators or a 6-year-old boy bent on capture. E was told that Skinks were actually scorpions and he would die if they stung him. He remains uncomfortable in the presence of Shinks to this day. Subject F was afraid of the Indian test pattern that appeared on TV late at night. She reports when it came on that she became "practically paralyzed with fear, shutting her eyes tight or hiding under the sofa or under a table." She thinks her fear of the test pattern had something to do with nuclear attacks or televisions being taken over by robots or space aliens. If you have a favorite childhood fear you wouldn't mind sharing anonymously with the world, send it to me at childhoodfears2012@gmail.com and it may find its way into a future column. If you let the fear PITT DICKEY, Columnist. go, the worst that can happen is that it will come back to bite you in COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com the middle of the night. 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30pm Family Friendly! "Kids Eat Free" on Tuesdays (with purchase of adult entree) Open Daily for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests APRIL 7-13, 2010 y's y n ing Weekl Up & Com VOLUME 15 ISSUE 14 P WLIXOFRP OHEHDX \HWWHYLO ZZZID Cumberland County Library ary Presents The Big Read d Now e! n Onli 201 2010 m com y.com comingweekl www.upand Fayetteville Bea You re You're A Good an G C Charlie B Brown at FSU PROUDLY SPON SORED BY HEY! THIS PAPER d et Guide FUN FAMILY EDUC ATIONAL RESOURCE *HSSF REE l Focus o U VOL. 10 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OF CUMBERLAND & HOKE CO BELONGS TO: AY 2010 HAPPY MOTHER 'S DAY! CAMP GUIDE INS IDE! 3 484-0261 Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 9LHZVUZ [V THYRL[ HUK HK]LY[PZL `V\Y I\ZPULZZ ^P[O \Z Pocket Guide 5V^ VUSPUL! ^^^\WHUKJVTPUN^LLRS`JVT DECEMBER 5-11, 2012 UCW 5