I just discovered your website and I can't stop reading it! I'm reliving a lot of childhood horrors seeing THE EVIL HULK, MAGIC movie trailer, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE opening, and so many others. But the thing that scared me the most as a kid (and I was quite the scaredy-cat) was Bigfoot!
Although I grew up in New England, I believed Bigfoot would come cross-country from the Pacific Northwest to get me in my sleep. The blurry black and white film clip of him trudging along in the woods was my first introduction, followed by what seemed like a never ending series of movies, T.V. shows and commercials throughout the mid ‘70s that would keep me up all night. The IN SEARCH OF episode featuring Bigfoot certainly didn't help. But I didn't know true terror until I saw the ultimate monster: Bionic Bigfoot!
There were two versions. The first was played by ANDRE THE GIANT, the second by TED CASSIDY. Both were slightly different but equally terrifying. I was a huge SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN fan and had all of the action figures, except for the hard to find Bigfoot. Despite my utter fear, I had to have him. My parents went all over Massachusetts and Rhode Island trying to find him in time for Christmas and had him under the tree Christmas morning. However, I was not only terrified of the T.V. version, but the action figure also scared the hell out of me too! My parents went to all this trouble to find the damned beast and I couldn't even look at it!
In the end, Bionic Bigfoot became friends with Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers. They may have grown to love him, but I never could. He will always be my childhood nightmare.
— Tim
I can relate to this one. I loved big foot on Six million dollar man but the big foot beast in "The Legend of Boggy Creek" scared the crap out of me!
MAN can I relate too! Awesome.
The eyes were what bothered me most about Bionic Bigfoot. I was convinced I'd see them peeping in my window or an arm would shoot through the window like Boggy Creek. I think they must've used the same contacts for the Salem's Lot vampire eyes. Definitely closing the blinds tonight!
I was just playing a video game (red dead redemption-undead nightmare) and there's a part in it where you have to hunt down and kill the Sasquatch. Now unlike the boggy creek monster who I am scared of, I kinda like/feel sorry for the Bigfoot. Once you get to the last Sasquatch in the game he is crying and lamenting the death of his people. I could not kill him. Finally my PS3 pal Matt grabbed the joystick out of my hand and blew the Sasquatch's brains out leaving nothing but a red splotch on the ground.
I was semi mortified but it's very hard to convey disapproval when you are laughing like Lisa Simpson at an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon.
LOL!
But forget Bigfoot. That damned show "In Search of" was the death of me as a kid. Between the incredibly creepy music, grainy film stock and constant feeling of claustrophobic isolation the show meted out, I still can't watch it to this day without getting freaked out.
Wow – I remember that Bigfoot doll…um, action figure!
And if "Bionic Bigfoot" isn't the name of an indie rock band out there somewhere, it should be.
I totally feel this traumafession…
In grade school I went to a bizarre "open learning" school where there were no walls (it was the late '70s/early '80s and that was how education in the northeast rolled) and in the mornings all of the classes would congregate in a sunken area know as the pit.
In the pit, teachers would make homeroom announcements, and then the floor went to the kids where we could share our feelings… (again, it was the late '70s.)
At the height of the Bigfoot/ Six Million Dollar Man/ In Search Of craze, I remember the smartest kid in our grade making an announcement that he had it on good authority that a pack of Bigfoots was headed from the Pacific Northwest to our small town in Pennsylvania.
All the kids freaked out and I was convinced that our town was soon to be under a Bigfoot attack.
It never happened… a I kind of wished it had….
Bigfoot, if you are reading this… please make true on the promise of that smart kid who, according to my Mom, is now a brain surgeon or psychiatrist or something super fancy.
Pennsylvania needs you.
I need you…