What Really Scared You As a Child?:
I am slightly offended at Bloody Disgusting.. Not by the name, but by some the content. Actually on a regular basis. For a horror site it pales in comparison to others.. for a mainstream locale for the latest in scary news, it is not the best.
That all being said, an article appearing today is even worse.. they offended one of my favorite childhood toys: The Lester Doll.
Here is what “Mr Disgusting” writes,
As young as I can remember I was mortified of ventriloquist dummies. I’m not anymore, but I still have a reoccurring nightmare I’ve been having since I was 8 years old.
The earliest recollection of the fear I have is of the below 1984 McDonald’s commercial featuring Willie Tyler and his ventriloquist dummy, Lester. Any time that commercial would pop on I would be in my parents bed that night – and I want to go as far as to say my parents were so annoyed they mailed letters of complaint to McDonald’s (like that does any good).
While Tyler is my earliest memory, the one that haunted me the most was spawned by Paul Winchell, who has his own variety show called “The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show.” Jerry Mahoney, pictured above left, was the scariest looking doll I had ever seen – so scary to a child that he would haunt my nightmares for 30 years. I’m not exactly sure how I saw this 1950’s show in the 80’s, but clearly it had a profound impact on me.
Ok, I get it.. the doll is a wee bit creepy to some. But for me, as a kid, it provided comfort and solace. It was my friend.
I actually recall two distinct memories of Lester. First, a Christmas when he was under the tree.. I was as sick as a dog, vomiting from Christmas Eve straight through Santa and into the night the next day. Lester was cradled in my arms.. The second memory is another Christmas. The year prior, I cracked his face. And thankfully under the tree was a brand new Lester. Either from the Sears Catalog or Santa . . I have a photo of me somewhere with the doll .. I will try to find it and post it for you to see, as proof that Lester was not scary but quite friendly indeed.
Lester was a fine toy. There were plenty more nasty memories of toys and creepy things from childhood.. Don’t pick on Lester.
You want something really, really scary?
TRY LADY ABERLIN FROM MR. ROGERS.. Now that was creepy.
