History NightmareFuel / TheBabySittersClub

* The mystery ''Kristy and the Missing Child'' is FULL of this. Jake Kuhn goes missing for two days. His recently divorced mother thinks that his father has kidnapped him (Mr. Kuhn had wanted to take Jake with him on a business trip and, per his ex-wife, hates taking no for an answer), and then Kristy briefly contemplates the even more grim possibility that someone ''other'' than Jake's father could have kidnapped him. It turns out that Jake wasn't abducted after all, but what really happened is just as unsettling: Jake had ducked into an under-construction house for shelter when it started to rain (he had stopped by the site to pick up some wood for a project) and ended up falling into the basement through the opening in the floor where basement stairs were set to eventually be put in. But there were no stairs yet, not even the basic framework, so he was unable to climb back out and sat down there for multiple days, unable to do anything but yell for help and hope someone would hear him (which Kristy's search party finally did). Fortunately he receives nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, but it's still terrifying. It gets even worse if you think about what ''could'' have happened if the search team didn't think to look there when they did -- unless Jake had a source of water down there (which there's no indication of), he probably only had a day or two left before it would've been too late.

* The mystery ''Kristy and the Missing Child'' is FULL of this. Jake Kuhn goes missing for two days. His recently divorced mother thinks that his father has kidnapped him (Mr. Kuhn had wanted to take Jake with him on a business trip and, per his ex-wife, hates taking no for an answer), and then Kristy briefly contemplates the even more grim possibility that someone ''other'' than Jake's father could have kidnapped him. It turns out that Jake wasn't abducted after all, but what really happened is just as unsettling: Jake had ducked into an under-construction house for shelter when it started to rain (he had stopped by the site to pick up some wood for a project) and ended up falling into the basement through the opening in the floor where basement stairs were set to eventually be put in. But there were no stairs yet, not even the basic framework, so he was unable to climb back out and sat down there for multiple days, unable to do anything but yell for help and hope someone would hear him (which Kristy's search party finally did). Fortunately he receives nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, but it's still terrifying nonetheless!
** Not to mention the thought of what ''could'' have happened if the search team didn't think to look there when they did. Without access to water, he probably only had 1-2 days left before it would've been too late.

** In the same novel, Mary Anne (who narrates the book) suffers from horrible nightmares involving fires burning out of control. The other girls admit they're being similarly affected by the trouble, losing concentration and sleep over their anxiety. (Much, much HarsherInHindsight where Mary Anne is concerned.)

* The mystery ''Kristy and the Missing Child'' is FULL of this. Jake Kuhn goes missing for two days. His recently divorced mother thinks that his father has kidnapped him (Mr. Kuhn had wanted to take Jake with him on a business trip and, per his ex-wife, hates taking no for an answer). It turns out that he didn't, but what really happened is just as unsettling: Jake had ducked into an under-construction house for shelter when it started to rain (he had stopped by the site to pick up some wood for a project) and ended up falling into the basement through the opening in the floor where basement stairs were set to eventually be put in. But there were no stairs yet, not even the basic framework, so he was unable to climb back out and sat down there for multiple days, unable to do anything but yell for help and hope someone would hear him (which Kristy's search party finally did). Fortunately he receives nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, but it's still terrifying nonetheless!

*** Not to mention the fact that Mr. Barrett confesses to police that he was originally going to take ''all three kids'' (when he found Buddy playing in the yard alone, he realized it would be a lot easier to take just him than to try and locate the girls without his ex-wife seeing him).

How could a series of books about teenage girls starting a babysitting service be scary? Two words: AdultFear!

* In one of the early books, a serial thief was breaking into houses in nearby towns, making calls to prospective targets and instantly hanging up if anyone answered. The club starts getting calls where the caller hangs up once they answer, and later in the book, Claudia's babysitting and realizes that there's a prowler outside. [[spoiler: It's one of the guys from her class, being a moron, and the calls were from another guy who couldn't work up the courage to ask her out]], but it's a pretty AdultFear-ridden situation.
* The [[AdultFear whole main conflict]] of ''Baby Sitters' Island Adventure''. Imagine in real life two 13-year-olds and their younger charges were stranded on an island? [[FromBadToWorse Then a preschool-aged child comes down with a high fever?]]

* ''Mary Anne + 2 Many Babies'' features an EggSitting plot, with Mary Anne coming to class one day to find two of her classmates in tears because they lost their egg in a park. Mary Anne is unsettled when she realizes how easy it would be for a real child to go missing, and it's an effective source of AdultFear for the reader too.

** Not to mention the fact that Mr. Barrett confesses to police that he was originally going to take ''all three kids'' (when he found Buddy playing in the yard alone, he realized it would be a lot easier to take just him than to try and locate the girls without his ex-wife seeing him).

* In ''The Truth About Stacey'', the BSC finds Jamie, age 4, outside in the winter without gloves, hat, or scarf, unsupervised and playing in the street, thanks to the negligence of one of the sitters from the rival Babysitters Agency. The BSC manage to get him kitted out and safely into his fenced-in backyard, but all of them are horrified at [[FridgeHorror what could have happened if they hadn't come by]].

* ''Happy Holidays, Jessi'' is rife with this. The main arc is that before Christmas and Kwanzaa, Jessi, Becca, and Squirt go shopping with Aunt Cecelia and get involved in a car accident on the way home. Squirt ends up in the hospital for the majority of the book, and Jessi thinks it's her fault because she took off Squirt's car seat belt right before the accident (because Aunt Cecilia told her to); this ends up stirring up some major family tensions as the various family members shift from blaming themselves to blaming each other.

* The mystery ''Kristy and the Missing Child'' is FULL of this. Jake Kuhn goes missing for two days. His recently divorced mother thinks that his father has kidnapped him (Mr. Kuhn had wanted to take Jake with him on a business trip and, per his ex-wife, hates taking no for an answer). It turns out that he didn't, but what really happened is just as unsettling: Jake had ducked into an under-construction house for shelter when it started to rain (he had stopped by the site to pick up some wood for a project) and ended up falling into the basement through the opening in the floor where basement stairs were set to eventually be put in. But no stairs had been put in yet, so he was unable to climb back out and sat down there for multiple days, unable to do anything but yell for help and hope someone would hear him (which Kristy's search party finally did). Fortunately he receives nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, but it's still terrifying nonetheless!

* The mystery ''Kristy and the Missing Child'' is FULL of this. Jake Kuhn goes missing for two days. His recently divorced mother thinks that his father has kidnapped him (Mr. Kuhn had wanted to take Jake with him on a business trip and, per his ex-wife, hates taking no for an answer). It turns out that he didn't, but what really happened is just as unsettling: Jake had ducked into an under-construction house for shelter when it started to rain (he had stopped by the site to pick up some wood for a project) and ended up falling into the basement through the opening in the floor where basement stairs were set to eventually be put in, and since there were no stairs in place yet, he was unable to climb back out, and sat down there for multiple days, unable to do anything but yell for help and hope someone would hear him (which Kristy's search party finally did). Fortunately he receives nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, but it's still terrifying nonetheless!