[PWD]

The 999 theme tune always gave me the heeby jeebies!  youtu.be 

[Neil Jones]

In my case, something that scared me a lot during my childhood was the MGM Leo the Lion logo, more specifically, the roar. I was a fan of the Tom and Jerry shorts during my childhood, however, the Leo logo (and the racist overtones of many of the classic shorts) was the cause that led me to stop watching these.

Technically "Leo" (as Leo, since the lion mascot is Leo but the lions had other names) only appears (for Tom & Jerry purposes) on the reissued "classic" Tom & Jerry cartoons (though a handful may have Tanner depending on when they were reissued), and the later Chuck Jones cartoons also went back to featuring Tanner.

On topic though, and while we're talking about the MGM Lions, some of the very early lions (pre=colour) manage to look very creepy, since black and white has that sort of effect.

[ptikobj]

As a kid in the 90s, I was absolutely terrified by the intro to Points of View.

[James2001]

I think the "blah bloopity blah" one was even worse!

[Nini]

These sorts of threads are a nice psychological profile on what scares people, most consistent is loud noises and cutting video to black before the audio is done. I don't know though about some, less fear inducing and more confusing which can lead to fear but like others it's the discordance which seems to do it. Fascinating in a strange way but also strange in how some have built an entire subculture around them.

[James2001]

Trumpets feature quite regularly in things that have scared people as well.

[Josh]

Trumpets feature quite regularly in things that have scared people as well.

?
www.youtube.com 

[MorganLamia]

I was too young to remember this (born 1995) but I've heard a lot of people say they were scared of the 1990-97 BBC Video ident:

youtu.be 

It's a *bizarrely* melancholic choice of music.

The 999 theme tune always gave me the heeby jeebies!  youtu.be 

These were two of mine when I was a kid. Also, this. I used to watch A LOT of Gerry Anderson in the '90s and it scared me every time.

www.youtube.com 

[Stuart]

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.

Yes, we never did find out where they went, or how they got them back afterwards.

The links on this thread have sent me down some wonderful rabbit holes on YouTube. Thanks to all.

[Neil Jones]

Going to plop this here:
www.youtube.com 

Always thought this looks like two entirely different ideas stuck together and somebody decided sod it, that'll do.

IIRC they stuck these either end of the main feature, so if you're scared at the beginning and forget to turn the tape off you can get scared again. Yay