[Transmission]

I have an early memory of being scared by a Thames TV programme slide for one of the lunchtime children's programmes, sadly can't remember which.

My 7-year-old was terrified of the Channel 4 block man and wouldn't like us to watch Channel 4 at all for fear it might appear at any moment.

[Steve in Pudsey]

In the early days of Channel 4 there was always a period of black and silence between 4-Tel and the start up announcement. Probably only 30-60 seconds but to a young kid it was ages.

Scary both for the fear of did I break the telly and the booming ident which appeared out of nowhere.

[Brekkie]

Is it too soon to mention sea swimmers?

[TheGregmeister]

Something that used to freak the bejeebus out of me when I was still of primary school age ... the opening titles for Near & Far.

Here's a somewhat lo-fi quality version with the last few seconds of the BBC Schools and Colleges clock ident which preceded it:
www.youtube.com 

A clean version of just the Near & Far titles sans ident ... made even creepier when to screen cuts to black near the end.
www.youtube.com 

The stuff of nightmares produced by some sadistic b*****ds that got pleasure out of scaring the hell out of small children!

[AndrewP]

When I was younger, I used to be scared of Pages from Ceefax when I woke up in the early hours

Strange, because I had no trouble using it during the day

[Rdd]

Is it too soon to mention sea swimmers?

It used to be we couldn’t have a scary pres thread but Yorkshire would be the first mentioned or for our US contingent the Viacom V.

[TheGregmeister]

It used to be we couldn’t have a scary pres thread but Yorkshire would be the first mentioned or for our US contingent the Viacom V.

[Neil Jones]

This used to scare the crap out of me, its so ominous sounding, particularly the first half:
www.youtube.com 

[James2001]

I remember being a bit scared by the ITV Schools on Channel 4 clock music at one point... not sure why, maybe because it's a bit loud and brash. The way the ITV logos flew apart just before the clock seemed a bit unnerving too.

[nareik91]

For me it was probably the off-air slate advertising Front Row on telewest digital cable - this would appear on the kids channels once they stopped broadcasting for the day. The bit that creeped me out was between 30 and 45 seconds, I've never forgotten that chain and statue. I'd rush to change the channel if that bit was coming up while looking through the EPG. I think this was eventually replaced by a static slide once on-demand Teleport and filmflex started.