Adults Are Sharing The "Harmless" Memories From Their Youth That Feel Disturbing Now, And I'm Emotionally Wrecked

    "Just thinking about all the ways that could've ended badly makes me nervous."

    Warning: This post mentions murder, violence, and child sexual abuse.

    We sometimes bury the bad memories in life, but as we get older, we realize something that seemed harmless turned out to be really, really, REALLY uncomfortable when you look back on it. On the popular r/AskReddit subreddit, u/Tobias-Tawanda asked users: "What’s something small and innocent from your childhood that, looking back now, gives you the creeps?" Here are some answers that stood out:

    Person sitting with a surprised expression wearing a robe while getting their nails done, hands outstretched in a salon setting

    1. "I grew up in Florida in the '80s/'90s. Not many houses around. One morning, on the edge of our property by a woods lot, my sister (5) and I (8) found a pile of women's running clothes, neatly folded and stacked. Sneakers, socks, shorts, shirt, underwear, bra, and radio headphones (still on). We told our mom, who called the police. He came out, bagged the clothes, and left. We never heard anything back, and there weren't any reports of missing women in the area. Looking back, it's really, really creepy."

    u/MissWitch86

    2. "Way back in the '70s, we visited my dad's aunt in San Diego. She lived in a retirement community on the beach. It was beautiful. One night, we heard horrific screaming, then it just stopped. My dad was a cop (not in SD) and knew something bad had happened. We could see it in his eyes. He told us it was just kids having fun, so don't worry. Go back to bed, yadda yadda. We got home and I could still hear that scream. I can hear it now. That wasn't some kids playing. I'm pushing 60 now, and I'll never forget that."

    u/SnuggleInn

    3. "My friends and I, in elementary school, would explore the storm drains that led to the river. Just thinking about all the ways that could've ended badly makes me nervous."

    u/secondofmyname

    Collapsed bridge over a rushing stream with visible erosion and large drainage pipe nearby. Rocks and debris surround the scene, highlighting flood damage

    4. "As a child in the '90s, I'd spend the summers with my dad. We went to a bar nearly every single day after work. I had my own 'spot' at a side table where I could watch cartoons on one of their TVs, and they would serve me my 'usual'. As an adult it really hit me how fucked this really was, but I can't help but be grateful to a group of bartenders who kept me safer than my dad ever did. I also discovered they'd put the cartoon channels on their cable package just for the summers, specifically for me."

    u/Craven_Hellsing

    5. "My little sister really idolized male family members. Our grandfather? She adored him. Obsessed with him. An uncle? She became obsessed with him, always asking about him, and wanted to be his favorite. At the time, everyone thought it was adorable. Looking back…our father wasn't great. And he was often absolutely terrible to my little sister. He was angry, violent, emotionally volatile…Looking back, my sister was clearly desperately seeking a father figure from other male members of the family. She wanted a dad. Because our own was failing her."

    u/Exciting_Regret6310

    6. "The amount of 'compliments' I got from older men. Yeah, they seemed nice at the time. They made me feel 'grown up.' But now? Creepy as f*ck. What kind of grown ass man tells a 12-year-old in Winnie the Pooh coveralls that she has nice legs.

    "Also, the number of family and friends my mother told me I wasn't to be alone with is astounding. Like, if they're creepy enough to warn your kids about, how in the hell do they keep getting invited to family events?"

    u/adriesty

    Person sitting on a bed, looking out a window at trees. The scene conveys contemplation or relaxation. Bedroom has an open notebook nearby

    7. "My friend Leah used to catch the bus at the same bus stop as me for middle school. It was really cold one day, and she told us the man whose house the bus stop was basically right in front of was her friend, and that he would let us stand in his garage to get out of the cold. We did it a couple of times, and I felt so lucky that he was so nice. Leah died in a car accident in high school a few years later. My mom had been childhood friends with her dad, and she told me about her passing. She mentioned to me that Leah had been molested…by the guy whose garage we stood in."

    u/the_real_dairy_queen

    8. "I dressed up as a Playboy bunny for Halloween when I was 10. Everyone thought it was cute."

    u/georgiemaebbw

    9. "The (grown male) camp counselor who got my AIM screen name when I was 9, then messaged me constantly. It wasn't until he asked to meet up that I brought it up to my mom."

    u/Feisty-Ad-9250

    Two people focus intently on laptops on a table, with hands typing; blurred background suggests a home setting

    10. "There used to be a store near us called LaBelle's. They sold everything from fancy dishes to toys. Behind the store, they had dumpsters. We kids used to dumpster dive to find 'treasures,' from toys to partial sets of dishes, and those pallets. We would tear them apart and build forts. One day, a couple of years into our foraging, we discovered the four dumpsters were locked. We thought someone might have left a mess (not us...we were clean and always put everything back after digging). As it turns out, someone had thrown the body of a dead child in the trash. We foragers never found the body, but we did destroy evidence. Now, if I see a large dumpster that has a lock on it, I can picture the dead child."

    u/CarmenDeeJay

    11. "When I was around 13, I hired a random developer I found on a forum to come to my apartment and update the firmware on my Siemens A56 phone to turn it into a C56, just so I could get polyphonic ringtones and a couple of new games. My mom was always home, but I knew she’d be out one Thursday afternoon, so I told the guy to come then. This dude shows up, probably around 40, and I just let him into the apartment. He asked where the computer was, sat down, popped in a CD, ran the update, and I paid him 25,000 Colombian pesos (like $12 at the time). He stayed for about 40 minutes, chatting and watching the process, then left like it was the most normal thing ever. Now I think back and realize I was just a clueless kid alone in an apartment with a grown man I met online, and all the terrifying what-ifs hit me like a truck.

    "Thank god he was just a nerd and not the dangerous kind. Still got my ringtones though. Totally worth it?"

    —u/IndividualHearing310

    12. "When my daughter learned the truth about Santa, she came to me and said, 'So you’ve just been making me sit in some stranger's lap this whole time?!' Which kinda made me have the realization that, uh, yeah….we put our children on some random man’s lap for pictures. Kinda weird."

    u/Temporary_Cold_1579

    Christmas tree with ornaments and lights in focus, with a person dressed as Santa Claus seated in the blurred background

    13. "Seeing my dad's girlfriend with two black eyes, and her telling me that she stepped on two rakes. It seemed reasonable to a 7-year-old. I guess that gives me the creeps for a very logical reason. Both that he hit her, and that she lied. My father was a very troubled and fractured man. The world does not miss him."

    u/Fit-Sentence7729

    14. "There was a bachelor in his 30s who loved to play with us neighborhood kids every day. This other girl and I often went to his house to play with him. He was super friendly to the girl and often commented that she was pretty. Whenever we were alone, he barely paid attention to me. We were 7 and 9 years old at the time."

    u/poshbritishaccent

    15. "I remember in fifth grade, I was playing in the front yard, and a car full of guys drove by honking, and my mom made me come inside. I thought they were just happy. No. They were pervs."

    u/sunflower8731

    Person pressing a car horn with their hand on the steering wheel, sunlight illuminating the dashboard

    16. "When I was probably about 12 or 13, AIM was huge. My friend gave me her cousin's online boyfriend's screen name for whatever reason. I started talking to him, and he was really nice and funny. Over the months, our conversations progressed from basic getting to know you to deeper. We eventually started 'cybering,' which in today's terms would be sexting. Eventually, we just stopped talking. I don't remember how or when, but I'm pretty sure he just stopped being online one day. I found out years later that the screen name was my friend's mom's screen name; it was literally her initials and birth date. I don't know if it was my 'friend' having those conversations with me, or if it was her mom. Either way, it creeps me out."

    u/Several_Yam_6490

    17. "My summer camp made us dress up like Britney Spears in the school girl uniform and dance to it."

    u/Interesting_Salad129

    18. "My local swimming pool had a lovely little children's pool with a tiny slide and swing. Very sweet. Except one of the bars that kept the slide up was about the perfect size for a kid to get their head into, but not out of, and if this happened and they got their head stuck in a downwards-facing position, they would be trapped with their mouth and nose underwater, drowning them. Understandably, the slide has since been changed to a much safer design, but it was like that all through the 2000s."

    u/RandomRamblings99

    Yellow "Caution Wet Floor" sign by a swimming pool, casting a shadow on the tiled ground

    19. "When my parents let just about anybody with free time babysit me. I feel like back then, there wasn't as much screening when it came to childcare. You were babysat by any teenager, older person, etc., who wanted to make some extra cash."

    u/thevampirechrysalis

    20. "The very affectionate adults in my family who guilt-tripped me if I didn’t hug and kiss them."

    u/i_am_dana

    21. "My best friend and I were going to a matinee on a Saturday afternoon. A very kind man approached us at the ticket booth and paid for our tickets. We were thrilled! He accompanied us into the theater, but shortly thereafter, the police came and took him away. We thought that was so unfair. 70 years later, I now understand."

    u/NANNYNEGLEY

    View from behind cinema seats, focusing on a drink with a straw held by a person, facing a bright movie screen ahead

    22. "In my childhood home after my parents split, it was just me and my father. I have dozens of memories of being up as a 10- to 11-year-old after he went to bed. His room was next to mine, and he snored with vigor. It became a normal thing for me. I'd shut my door so I could have my light on to read with my father's snoring in the background. We had a dog, but he slept downstairs, as his hips were getting bad. Every night, I'd hear footsteps work their way from the bottom of the stairs to the top. No carpet, old creaky house. They'd get to the top of the steps and go silent. I have many memories of lying in bed, listening to my father snore, and waiting for something to knock on my door or enter (the door didn't really shut fully). Years later (as a college-aged adult), I brought this up to my father. He brought up that at a certain point, he had the house cleansed. I don't know exactly when, but I do recall the nightly footsteps ceasing."

    u/SirSilentscreameth

    23. "My mom making me check if my dad was still breathing when he was asleep. I hadn’t realized at the time that it was because he was drinking so much that she wanted me to make sure he was still alive. Thank god he’s sober now."

    u/glwithluck

    24. "When I was around 6 or 7, I used to make a lot of noise in the house — running around, laughing, yelling, just being loud like most kids are. My parents never really minded before. At most, they’d just tell me to take it outside or calm down a bit, but it was never a big deal. Then, all of a sudden, my mom’s tone changed. She started warning me in this odd, almost serious way: 'If you keep being loud like that, the hyenas will come and steal your voice.' At the time, I just assumed she meant I could lose my voice from yelling too much, like straining my throat or vocal cords. That made sense to me as a kid, and I didn’t think much more of it. But about a year ago, I was catching up with a childhood friend from the same neighborhood. We were reminiscing, and he mentioned something that made my stomach drop — how there had been a string of child abductions around that time. Kids were being taken at night, and to this day, the people responsible were never caught."

    "What really unsettled me was realizing that the timing lined up almost exactly with when my mom suddenly became strict about me making noise indoors, especially at night."

    u/Academic_Offer_6298

    Two children silhouetted against the evening sky, joyfully running on a grassy hill

    Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.

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