Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

Sometimes I find myself dumbfounded by the television shows and movies that we watched as children that were absolutely terrifying.

Or at least they were to me.

I’m not even referring to those more mischievous moments where the parents would go out to run a few errands and leave us to our own devices for a while, so we took advantage and watched things we weren’t supposed to.

I’m talking about programs that were created, marketed and rated to be viewed by children.

Now, I should note that I’ve been a pretty easy scare for most of my life, so the things that I found terrifying may seem slightly milder than others with tougher constitutions than I.

But with the Halloween season in full swing, I thought it might be fun to look back and revisit some of those shows that had me hiding under a blanket.

1. The Halloween Tree

I had almost forgotten about this one until I recently found it while scrolling through the channels trying to find something to watch. 

Released in 1993 as a television special, The Halloween Tree is based on the Ray Bradbury story of the same name. Bradbury actually narrates the special as well. It tells the story of four friends who journey through time to try and save the soul of their friend Pip who was unable to go trick-or-treating with them due to appendicitis.

Along the way, they learn about where several Halloween traditions come from, and eventually save Pip by offering to give a year from the end of each of their own lives to save him.

The special has some pretty dark moments, but the most terrifying part of the special to me was the children’s guide on their journey, Moundshroud. With his long pointy nose and vulture-like appearance, Moundshroud absolutely terrified me as a kid. Add to that his menacing voice provided by Leonard Nimoy, the character was the stuff of nightmares for my young self.

2. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure

I’ve previously mentioned my affection for all things Garfield as well as how this special from the late 80s left me shivering as a kid. I think I may have even broken down in tears.

It starts out pretty innocent with Garfield and Odie deciding to go trick-or-treating in order to collect candy. They both dress as pirates and make their way out on the town. About halfway through, they see an old house out on an island and decide to go trick-or-treat there. Inside the house, they find an old man sitting by a fire, his face unseen by the audience. He tells them about how a group of pirates buried a treasure on the island over 100 years ago and that their spirits would be returning that night to reclaim it.

The man then reveals his horrifying face and reveals that he was a part of the pirate crew that had buried the treasure. The man escapes on the boat Garfield and Odie rowed to the island on, and they are left to contend with the haunting spirits of the pirate crew before eventually escaping.

Much like The Halloween Tree, the old man’s appearance was what did it to me. I immediately burst into tears when his face was finally revealed. Go ahead and look it up and tell me it’s not terrifying. I’ll wait…

3. Every Halloween episode of Hey Arnold!

The chronicles of everyone’s favorite football-headed preteen was one that I very much enjoyed and still go back to and watch when I can.

As much as I love the show, though, every year they would release a Halloween episode that had my skin crawling. The Haunted Train, Four-Eyed Jack, Wheezin’ Ed and the Headless Cabbie episodes all started the same. Arnold and usually Gerald were told a story about a ghostly presence somewhere around town.

Being the adventurous duo that they were, they would go out and try to find out if the stories were true. Spooky things would happen during their investigations that hinted towards the stories being real but right at the most suspenseful moment, it would be revealed to be a misunderstanding. For instance, the moans they thought were Four-Eyed Jack were actually Grandpa Phil in a secret downstairs bathroom.

The part that always got me was that there would always be a twist at the end that revealed that the stories were true and the ghosts would reveal themselves in different ways.

I can distinctly remember sleeping over at an aunt’s house and waking up in the morning to turn the T.V. on only for the Haunted Train episode to be on. I immediately covered my eyes and ears because I didn’t want to see or hear it, all while blindly trying to find the remote to turn it off.

There are probably many more of these programs that probably came just short of psychologically scarring me for the rest of my life, but these are just some of the ones currently floating around in my mind.

My threshold for horror may not be high, but I challenge anyone to watch any of these and not at least get a shiver down your spine.