Childhood is full of silly fears, but even if we grow up, some of them still seem plausible at night.

Childhood fears we mostly grew out of

The monster under the bed

That empty space underneath our beds was like a portal to unknown dimensions when we were young. Putting one foot out from under the blanket suddenly felt like leaving your foot there for something to snatch up. The only logical solution was to keep all limbs tucked securely beneath the covers.

We learned, with age, there was nothing lurking underneath except dust bunnies, misplaced socks, and lost belongings we didn’t remember we had.

Something hiding in the closet

Having your closet door open turned any mundane bedroom into a nightmare when you went to sleep. Suddenly all of your clothes hanging in the dark started to look vaguely humanoid, and every little shuffle was confirmation that something was in there. Just closing that narrow piece of wood made it all okay again.

Being sucked down the bathtub drain

Pulling the plug could turn bath time into a heart-pounding ordeal. Watching the drain suck the water spiraling down had some kids wondering if they’d be next to go. We eventually learned we were bigger than the drain hole, but evacuating before the last of the water drained away always felt like the logical choice.

Swallowing a watermelon seed

Children were sometimes told that swallowing a seed would make a watermelon, or some other fruit, grow in their stomach. It made no earthly sense, biologically speaking, but who cared when you were six? Swallowing one accidentally left you with a few minutes of panicked wondering if you’d grown your own personal greenhouse.

Quicksand

Movies and cartoons set us up to expect quicksand way too much as children. People kept falling into it and couldn’t get out. So we thought quicksand was something we were all going to inevitably face when we grew up. Then we grew up and realized avoiding quicksand is easy when you rarely ever come across it.

The basement after turning off the light

Getting downstairs wasn’t always frightening. Heading back upstairs with the basement light turned off was another story. As soon as darkness sprang up behind you, every childhood fear yelled that something was behind you. The last few stairs were sometimes taken faster than the Olympic hundred-meter dash.

Getting lost in a store

One second your parent was standing beside you; the next, they had apparently been abducted by aliens. Few childhood fears triggered panic like realizing you didn’t see your family in a crowded supermarket or department store. Parents were usually only one aisle over, but those moments seemed enormous.

Childhood fears that can still haunt us

Something being outside the window at night

When we were kids, we thought there were monsters staring back through that glass. We know as adults that’s highly improbable, but a bizarre scraping sound outside a dark window can still make us pause before yanking on the curtain. Turns out growing up doesn’t entirely kill that voice saying, “Maybe don’t look.”

Hearing a strange noise downstairs

A mysterious sound in the night at 2 a. m. instantly triggers the imagination. It’s probably the house settling, the fridge, the wind, or something knocking over. But for a second, every scary movie you’ve ever seen applies. The fear of unexplained noises at night never really goes away; we just learn to rationalize.

Looking into a mirror in the dark

Mirrors are harmless during daylight hours, but at night they can seem suspicious. Shadows and faint light make common shapes and reflections more difficult for your brain to process, so your own reflection can seem alien for a second. Rational adults know there is no otherworldly stuff going on, but that still doesn’t make a dark bathroom mirror very comforting.

Letting your feet hang over the edge of the bed

You know there isn’t a monster lurking underneath. You may even have been the ones who bought and built that bed. But having a bare foot hover over the side of the bed in pitch black can still create a fleeting moment of panic. Apparently our childhoods trained us exceptionally well to think that blankets work as a security force.

Walking through a dark house alone

You turn off the kitchen light, and suddenly that hallway looks twice as long. Maturity tells you your own house isn’t scary just because the lights are off, but in the absence of visual cues your mind can fill in some creative blanks. It’s amazing how long that instinct to walk just a little bit faster can linger into your adult years.

Dolls or toys looking at you at night

Your favorite doll could look perfectly adorable in the daytime and deeply suspicious after midnight. Human-like faces can look especially creepy in low light when shadows change their features. Most of us have outgrown legitimately thinking that our toys moved on their own accord- but an antique doll gazing across a dim room can still be oddly menacing.

Seeing something move in the corner of your eye

You’re alone in a room. Suddenly, you think you see something move out of the corner of your eye. When we were kids, we would have probably thought it was a monster or ghost. As adults, we know it’s likely just a shadow, something moving, or our eyes playing tricks-but we still look anyway.