19 retro pictures of Lancashire's scariest childhood characters from Freddy Krueger to Michael Myers and Pennywise
By Claire Lark
Published 25th Oct 2023, 14:40 BST
Updated 26th Oct 2023, 08:22 BST
We asked the people of Blackpool and Preston which movies and characters from their childhood were the scariest – the ones that gave them the nightmares.
In the realm of cinema and TV, some characters are etched in the childhood memory as terror-inducing figures. They are the stuff of nightmares, villains which haunted us as kids. You responded in your hundreds and alongside Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger, with his disfigured face and razor-sharp glove and Pennywise with his malevolent smile and ominous red balloons from IT, there were other forgotten characters which played on fragile minds too. Worzel Gummidge, the witch from Wizard of Oz and who can forget Watership Down? These might bring the bad dreams back…
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra during a rehearsal of "The Wizard of Oz". The Wizard of Oz in general, but particularly the Wicked Witch of the West, was one of your scariest characters Photo: Patrick Riviere
Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher in the supernatural horror film Poltergeist II. He had a spine-tingling presence in the movie, and you thought so too. The picture also shows Heather O'Rourke as Carol Anne in the film Photo: Send in