My fears growing up and definitely still not a problem included quick sand, the Bermuda Triangle, and refrigerators.

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isometrix@reddit

The triple threat of “Rescue 911”, “Unsolved Mysteries, and “America’s Most Wanted” got me growing up. The “dungeons and dragon murder” also stirred a lot up. My parents were convinced they D&D and Magic the Gathering were the devil.

I remember them returning my brother’s Coolio cassette to Sam Goody for being “inappropriate” and instead he got Hootie and the Blowfish.

Does anyone remember the escalator or toothbrush episodes or was that just in my head?

Throw in “Fact of Fiction” and 10 year old me was preparing for an imminent invasion haha.

Wasn’t that “Magic Revealed” or David Blaine on Fox around then too?

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MetaVulture@reddit

Rescue 911 fucked me up. The pool drain episode made me terrified of pool drains for the rest of my life.

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CheezeLoueez08@reddit

Is that why I’m afraid of pool drains? It’s from Rescue 911?? Omg.

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isometrix@reddit

Was that the hot tub one or were those separate? I forgot about that fear!

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MetaVulture@reddit

This one was where the lifeguard drowned after trying to get some goggles some kid lost in a drain.

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isometrix@reddit

I found a few of the ones that really hit home:

[The Lifeguard Incident] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULrE6focCUQ)

Toothbrush Trauma

[Escalator Traps Boy] (https://youtu.be/t5c9e6uAUF8)

[Son in Spa] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4buUOVNjzzk)

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MetaVulture@reddit

You remember all the messages about running with scissors, and the super graphic things they showed us where kids were just straight up shanking kids with knives because they ran with them?

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isometrix@reddit

We were taught by a combo of fear and FAFO to keep us safe. Sure- go hide in that coat rack but we will leave you at the mall for the dude in the man to snatch.

Trauma videos like Louie the Lightening Bug or that one with the duck and the 6 pack ring…

Mulaney really gets it right with Street Smarts. I faintly remember cartoons like Inspector Gadget or Ninja Turtles having weird tops at the end of the show. Didn’t they change a lightbulb in one?

The 90s: when running with scissors, child predators in vans, and rap albums were our greatest concerns

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Petraaki@reddit

I posted Death Zones on here a while back, it was a horrifying bus safety video that had little kids dying left and right. It was a required watch for Elementary aged kids at my school, I was so shook

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MetaVulture@reddit

Don't forget needles and razors in Halloween candy that gave our parents an excuse to eat some while they inspected it.

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shortergirl06@reddit

I still, at 40, will not swim anywhere near a pool drain. The fear is immeasurable and absolute panic.

And I will not walk while brushing my teeth. Period. It's like if I were to move a single foot I'd trip and lodge the sucker in my throat.

Funny how these things stick with us?

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Sorry_Consequence816@reddit

If you really want to watch one horrible D&D type propaganda go watch Mazes and Monsters, it was Tom Hanks first staring roll. It was horrible. It’s on a bunch of streaming apps for free.

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nixtamalized@reddit (OP)

I had an image of Amy Fisher pointing a gun at me burned into my head for many years

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TwistingEcho@reddit

Tbf I nearly died in a Fridge. When my mum found me I was blue.

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Arrabbiato@reddit

Y’know, I’ve had this conversation with several friends over the years…

Every time someone brings up refrigerators being an unfounded fear, I just mention this: when I was younger, like 5-10 I think, I grew up in not the best of places. It was definitely a suburb and not super dangerous violence-wise, but it was not a great area. (Just for reference, this was in WA state.)

There was easily 1-3 of these latch fridges living in every cul-de-sac. Behind houses, in garages, laying on their side in the green belts; none of which were working (I even saw one being used as a “gun safe”).

So the PSA’s and episodes in our TV shows were ABSOLUTELY aimed at my neighborhoods, and were sorely needed.

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Dog_Baseball@reddit

I still don't fly my prop plane over the Bermuda triangle. I'm not taking any chances.

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Bakingsquared80@reddit

The hold this episode had on our generation. Meanwhile I don't think they have made latch refrigerators like this in decades

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graveybrains@reddit

Latching refrigerator doors were banned in the US in 1958.

We got this PSA because the refrigerators made before that were reaching the end of their lives and getting put to the curb or dumped wherever.

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TheLastBlakist@reddit

I think they were legally requried to have their doors removed to prevent this, but a lot of people... didn't.

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Aetherometricus@reddit

Where they then got picked up and put in shitty apartments.

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DadPool79@reddit

Came here to say this!

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Kittypie75@reddit

But things LASTED decades back then. You weren't buying a new fridge every 8-10 years or whatever. You had them for AT LEAST 20+ years.

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burf@reddit

My family still has a working latch refrigerator at our cabin.

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SwampDiamonds@reddit

This scene is burned into my brain!

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nixtamalized@reddit (OP)

You mean my parents could have just told me we didn’t have that type of refrigerator?!?

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bends_like_a_willow@reddit

I couldn’t watch anymore Punky Brewster after this episode. I was totally traumatized.

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pleasefixyourself@reddit

I definitely remember watching this episode.

As an adult, I obsessively double-check that my refrigerator door is fully closed so that my cats can't get trapped inside.

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drkittymow@reddit

Even if you had this kind of refrigerator, the obvious question remains…why go inside it? I saw the episode too as a kid and although I appreciate the depiction and solidarity for people like me who grew up in a neighborhood with junk piled up, I still didn’t know any kids dumb enough to lock themselves in a refrigerator.

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JeepnHeel@reddit

Have to say, the amount of flak I got for just buying a simple household grappling hook is really making me reconsider getting the one rated for multiple people

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plotholesandpotholes@reddit

Don't forget spontaneous combustion!

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DebiMoonfae@reddit

! People were just out there turning to ash in their beds!

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breastplates@reddit

First thing I thought of when I came across this discussion.

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Kittypie75@reddit

I remember watching this as a child from the comfort of my suburban home and thinking "who tf gets locked in the refrigerator?". Well, my parents informed me it was actually pretty common, as the old "ice boxes" had locks. And as they were being thrown away all over deserted parts of uptown (NYC)... well kids were getting stuck in them.

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Wrong-Jeweler-8034@reddit

Forgot all about this episode (and fear) until now. Thanks (?)

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feckoffimdoingmebest@reddit

Oh, man! Refrigerators are the best hiding spots!

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unbalancedcentrifuge@reddit

Haha. My sister (a fellow Xennial) and I have referred to this episode for years!

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momofwon@reddit

Excuse me can you please put a trigger warning, I am still traumatized by this 40 year old TV episode 🤣

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GladosPrime@reddit

... also kidnapping. Stranger Danger!

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allmushroomsaremagic@reddit

OK we got some soda, OJ, purple stuff, little cold boy - Alright!

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DarkenL1ght@reddit

The Rodents of Unusual Size turned out to be a real problem for New Yorkers though...

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tungy5@reddit

Punky knew CPR, I was never worried

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jambr380@reddit

Allen shouldn’t have messed around during class. Punky came in clutch here!

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Maanzacorian@reddit

My aunt and uncle own my deceased Grandparent's house, and they still have the old latch refrigerator in the basement, and it runs. I can remember being a kid and we all knew not to play in it because of this episode.

You could absolutely die in that thing.

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ijustsailedaway@reddit

Yeah, I think this was a good episode. At the time those fridges were still in lots of grandparents houses, or like this, sitting behind them outside.

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beebsaleebs@reddit

Or discarded in the woods or landfills, where we were, completely unsupervised.

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Far-Slice-3821@reddit

I already new modem appliances were safen by the time I saw this, but only because I'd climbed into a latching chest freezer in my cousin's junk yard. The lectures and lectures and lectures I got...

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anOvenofWitches@reddit

Don’t forget blowing up in a rocket explosion!

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BlazedGigaB@reddit

OMG! My partner found QUICKSAND last week! It was wild to watch her stick her foot in it and watch it sink.

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Swimming-Trifle-899@reddit

My grandparents had a latch fridge like this in their basement (where we kids played unsupervised literally all day long) that worked perfectly. I bet it’s still running, honestly, thing was a TANK. I don’t remember if we ever got a talking to about it, but a tv show warning was probably was sufficient, right?

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