History FridgeHorror / NewspaperComics

* Fridge/CalvinAndHobbes
* Fridge/TheFarSide
* Fridge/ForBetterOrForWorse
* Fridge/{{Garfield}}
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* ''{{Garfield}}'' might actually be [[http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/05/death-of-garfield.html starving to death]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/mobile/garfield/1989/10/23/ in an abandoned house]].
** [[FridgeLogic If you think about it]], the house Garfield is trapped in has been abandoned for years, which suggests that Garfield is ALREADY DEAD and his spirit is bound to the place, a strong sense of denial is the only reason [[AndIMustScream he doesn't scream]].
--> "You have no idea how alone you are, Garfield"
* ''TheFarSide'' - One strip features anthropomorphic ketchup bottles are at the movie theatre. The gag is that they're watching a horror film, in which an on-screen ketchup bottle is broken and oozing in the street. A father bottle tells his son, reassuringly, that "that's not real ketchup" in the film. Of course, in real life ketchup can be used as fake blood, hence the joke. This stops being funny, even by Gary Larson's morbid standards, when you think about it for awhile and wonder what they're using INSTEAD of ketchup.
** Wait, [[CompletelyMissingThePoint what's so morbid about strawberry jam?]]
*** Stage blood. Nobody uses ketchup in film or theatre.
* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'': After Howard [[AttemptedRape went after Elizabeth]], they decide to simply fire and send him away instead of pressing charges for the assault. Elizabeth is actively coached to ''not'' report what happened. Later on, she's called in to testify during his trial for another crime. Who's pressing the charges -- and '''when''' he committed the crime he's being charged for now -- is never discussed. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Just where did he go after Anthony, Liz and the others let him go]]... and what did he ''DO'' afterwards?
* ''CalvinAndHobbes'': A strip has Calvin's mother ask what happened to a kid that mocked Calvin for bringing a stuffed tiger to school. His response: "Hobbes ate him". Calvin - of course - believes Hobbes did, and the fact seems to be no one mocks Calvin about that. Assuming Calvin isn't just making that up, that leaves us with two options: If Hobbes "is" real, that means he ate a kid. If Hobbes "isn't" real, that means Calvin might have done something really gory to said kid.

* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'': After Howard [[AttemptedRape went after Elizabeth]], they decide to simply fire and send him away instead of pressing charges for the assault. Elizabeth is actively coached to ''not'' report what happened. Later on, she's called in to testify during his trial for another crime. Who's pressing the charges -- and '''when''' he committed the crime he's being charged for now -- is never discussed. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Just where did he go after Anthony, Liz and the others let him go]]... and what did he ''DO'' afterwards?

* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'': After Howard [[AttemptedRape went after Elizabeth]], they decide to simply fire and send him away instead of pressing charges for the assault. Elizabeth is actively coached to ''not'' report what happened. Later on, she's called in to testify during his trial for another crime. Who's pressing the charges -- and '''when''' he committed the crime he's being charged for now -- is never discussed. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Just where did he go after Anthony, Liz and the others let him go]]... and what did he ''DO'' afterwards?
* In a strip of ''{{Peanuts}}'', Linus explains to Charlie Brown that he makes sand castles to cheer himself up. Behind him are a dozen or so sand castles, about which he says "I've been feeling pretty depressed lately." Is this a cute joke about a little kid accidentally misusing the term, or Linus's attempt to hide a terrible secret?
** ...What?

*** "You have no idea how alone you are, Garfield"
** Dude, that was scary enough to be a creepypasta. The only reason I know it was real is I read it on the Garfield website.

* CalvinAndHobbes has [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe examples in the form of some of Calvin's more morbid snow art.
** Also in Calvin and Hobbes, whenever Calvin has a fight with Hobbes Calvin gets beat up pretty badly. Now, knowing that Hobbes isn't real, does that mean Calvin is beating ''himself'' up?
*** Except we don't know for sure that Hobbes isn't real, as the [[WordOfGod author]] has stated before that the comic presents two different versions of reality.
---> '''Suzie:''' I don't know what's weirder: That you're fighting a stuffed animal or that you appear to be losing.
*** Not to mention Hobbes has done some stuff to Calvin that would be blatantly ''impossible'' for Calvin to do to himself, like tying him to a chair so tightly (and with so many rope loops) that he can't move.

* In a strip of ''{{Peanuts}}'', Linus explains to Charlie Brown that he makes sand castles to cheer himself up. Behind him are a dozen or so sand castles, about which he says "I've been feeling pretty depressed lately." Is this a cute joke about a little kid accidentally misusing the term, or Linus's attempt to hide a terrible secret?

*** Except we don't know for sure that Hobbes isn't real, as the [[WordofGod author]] has stated before that the comic presents two different versions of reality.

* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'': After Howard [[AttemptedRape went after Elizabeth]], they decide to simply fire and send him away instead of pressing charges for the assault. Elizabeth is actively coached to ''not'' report what happened. Later on, she's called in to testify during his trial for another crime. Who's pressing the charges -- and '''when''' he committed the crime he's being charged for now -- is never discussed. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Just where did he go after Anthony, Liz and the others let him go]]... and what did he ''DO'' afterwards?

[[quoteright:329:[[CalvinAndHobbes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snowart1_8814.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:329:"You sure take the pleasure out of waiting for daffodils..."]]

* CalvinAndHobbes has [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe examples in the form of some of Calvin's more morbid snow art.

[[caption-width-right:329:"This piece speaks to the horror of our own mortality!"]]

[[quoteright:292:[[CalvinAndHobbes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snowart2_4347.jpg]]]]

* CalvinAndHobbes has a [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe example with some of Calvin's more morbid snow art.

** Wait, [[CompletelyMissingThePoint what's so morbid about strawberry jam?]]

* ''Rock a Bye Baby'': "Rock a bye baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow brakes, the cradle will fall. And down will come baby, cradle and all." Seriously, look at it. It's a song about a baby ''falling'' off a tree! And the original wasn't any better. The original was about a BODY swinging on a cradle (noose) hanging from a tree. Sleep tight, kiddies.
** Lampshaded by Seven of Nine in ''StarTrekVoyager'': Do you intend to soothe the child or traumatise it?
** Likewise, the German rhyme "Hoppa Hoppa Reiter", which loosely translates to "Hop hop goes the rider, when he falls he screams. If he falls in the ditch he'll be eaten by ravens, and if he falls in the swamp he'll go splash." Other versions translate ditch as grave, and add a couple lines about being bitten all over by mosquitoes. This is a song that's used to entertain children. Oh, those cheerful Germans.
*** It's mostly a game, with a small child as the rider and the parent's knees moving up and down as the horse. At the end, the knees move apart, but the parent prevents an actual fall.
* ''Stan'' by {{Eminem}}. Not for the listener, but for the Eminem character in the song. Upon getting a letter from the eponymous Stan, Eminem writes a response back to him. Near the end (and for the character's fridge horror, keep in mind that the events of the song have already concluded while Eminem is writing the letter), Eminem writes this:
-->I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick\\
Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge\\
and had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid\\
and in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to\\
Come to think about, his name was... it was you\\
Damn...
* WeirdAlYankovic's version of ''Peter and the Wolf'' invokes this with regard to the Duck being swallowed whole by the Wolf, and therefore being alive to have its LeitMotif played at the end, pointing out that this meant that the Duck died a slow, painful death as the Wolf's digestive juices broke him down. Of course, anyone could have had that reaction to the end of the original as well.
* "The Song That Doesn't End."
-->This is the song that doesn't end.\\
Yes it goes on and on my friend.\\
'''Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was\\
[[FateWorseThanDeath And they'll continue singing it forever just because...]]'''\\
This is the song that doesn't end...
* "The Trial" from PinkFloyd's ''TheWall'' takes place entirely within Pink's head. Think about that for a moment. Even creepier when you see [[DerangedAnimation the movie]] and find out his mental representation of himself is a dead-eyed ragdoll...
** The biggest FridgeHorror of ''TheWall'' is that ''you'', like Pink, could build a wall and go the same way. Some schzophrenia sufferers go through that ''every day''.
*** Remember, though, Pink's wall was his defense mechanism. It just so happens that this defense mechanism stopped him from leading a complete life. Besides, ''every wall can be torn down as easily as it can be built.''
**** But his was never torn down...
* Pretty much every song by The Paper Chase, though especially prominant in their album Now You Are One of Us.
* Pretty much the entirety of ''The Black Parade'' by MyChemicalRomance could be seen as FridgeHorror, depending on how you interpret the album's storyline.
* The timeless "Baby It's Cold Outside" seems to be, on closer inspection, about date rape.
** How close do you need to get? "Say, what's in this drink?"
* The entire body of [[ToshimitsuDeyama Toshi's]] solo work from 1996 to 2010, the "iyashi-kei," the healing music, the duets with Kaori and the formation of the "eco rock band T-Earth" all engineered by [[PathOfInspiration Masaya]].... who stole every bit of the money Toshi made from all the effort he put into these years of work, and used them to promote his fraudulent "self-improvement seminar" Home of Heart.
* ''[[GetHimToTheGreek Bangers, Beans, and Mash]] just seems to be a DoubleEntendre-laced love ballad poking fun at how British [[strike:Russel Brand]] Aldous Snow is, but a close listen to the progression of the lyrics gives the impression that the line "I feel so fucking dead" isn't exactly a metaphor.
* Then there's [[ObsessionSong all the stalker songs]]; ever really listen to "[[ThePolice Every Breath You Take]]"? "Every breath you take/every move you make/every bond you break/every step you take/I'll be watching you..." ItGetsWorse.
* One of the biggest hits of Brazilian band Titãs is "Flores". Many people take long to notice it's about a suicide:
-->I looked until I got tired of seeing my eyes in the mirror\\
I cried for tearing apart the flowers in the garden\\
The fists and wrists cut, along with the rest of my body\\
There are flowers over the roof and under my pillow\\
There are flowers everywhere, there are flowers in everything that I see
* One for the protagonist in [[JonathanCoulton Jonathan Coulton's 'The Future Soon']], who in one verse expounds upon his desire to [[MadScientist perfect(ing) his warrior robot race.]];
-->I will do my best to teach them
-->About life and what it's worth
-->I just hope that I can keep them
-->From [[RobotWar destroying the Earth!]]
** Later, he meets the woman he was an UnluckyChildhoodFriend to, and this exchange happens;
-->She looks the same except for bionic eyes
-->She lost the real ones in the [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Robot Wars...]]
-->I'll say I'm sorry,
-->She'll say, [[FalseReassurance "It's not your fault..."]]
-->[[OrIsit Or is it]]?
* A popular urban legend has it that ''Ring Around the Rosie'' is a song about the Black Plague. Scholars generally regard this as a recent interpretation that has no basis in historical fact, but still, how many tropers can claim they haven't believed the myth at one time or another?
* Tom Wait's "Lullaby", particularly this line: "Nothing's ever yours to keep." In context of the song, it's undoubtedly a [[TearJerker tearjerker]]; the song's supposed to be a [[IronicNurseryRhyme disconcerting lullaby]] telling a child that [[spoiler: their father is gone and very unlikely to come back]]. But take that line out of context and apply it to your own life. Think about it. Everything you consider to be 'yours' -- your glasses, your room, your dog, your friends, your mother, your father, your memories, your personality -- is going to be taken away from you. ''And there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening.''
* The melody of "Lovin' You" by Minnie Riperton was written as a lullaby to her daughter. The song includes the lyric "Makin' love with you is all I wanna do". [[ParentalIncest Think about that]].
* More Fridge {{Squick}}, but Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" opens with the lines
-->I said he's so sweet
-->Make her wanna lick the wrapper
-->So I let her lick the wrapper
* A lot of James Keelaghan's songs are a combination of this and {{Tear Jerker}}. In ''Cold Missouri Waters'', the narrator is a man dying of non-Hodgkins lymphoma who does not know whether or not he was responsible for the fire that killed thirteen of his men. This is based on a true story; the man's record was cleared, but not until after his death. ''Railway Tune'' is a happy bouncy tune about a railroad worker on a train that loses traction on a mountain pass in the rain: "No brakes and no traction/ Just equal reaction/ On a hellbound bullet of steel." But the one that hit me hardest was "Captain Torres." This is another true story, about a freighter caught in a gale in the Cabot Strait. The storm was bad enough that rescue was impossible, so each man lined up for his turn in the radio room to say goodbye to his family. That's hellish enough, but the song is sung from the perspective of one of the wives. [[ItGotWorse Then we reach the bridge]]: "Do I count myself lucky/ I was home the phone was ringing/ What of other's wives who missed it/ came home to red lights blinking". That's right- coming home to a recorded message telling you that your loved one is going to die and you'll probably never even get a body to bury.
* "Benny the Bouncer" off of [[EmersonLakeAndPalmer ELP's]] ''Brain Salad Surgery'' is often treated as a gag-song, a silly filler with Greg Lake singing in a heavy, obscure voice while Keith Emerson is playing a honky-tonk piano. The song itself is about [[CaptainObvious a bouncer named Benny]] who meets his fate during a fight with a fellow named Savage Sid. If you focus on the lyrics, however, the song becomes much more macabre, as it describes Sid cutting apart Benny with a switchblade and a hatchet. The worst part about it is that it's stated the crowd who watched the fight tried to "put him back together" but was unable to because he was missing pieces, suggesting he was ''[[AndIMustScream still alive]]'' for a short time after he had been cut into bits.