History NightmareFuel / SesameStreet

** Doubtful that it helps matters that this led to the inspiration of [[WebVideo/TheMandelaCatalogue Stanley]], [[spoiler: one of the many forms of antagonist The Intruder]].

* Even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQJmz3U1h60 the bumper for their website]] isn't immune from being scary. The crayon drawing's way too bright, Maria's voice is pretty loud and sudden, and it showed up at the end of every home video without warning until they stopped using it.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcxsrTJ2Dhg These kids]] are seen running and hiding from a ''giant mutant [[HareRaisingHare rabbit]]''. Even worse is when the (admittedly good) funky music score stops dead in its tracks when the kids hide behind trees and the rabbit passes by without seeing them, and then continues on as if nothing happened once it passes (and the kids run off).

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcxsrTJ2Dhg These kids]] are seen running and hiding from a ''giant mutant [[KillerRabbit rabbit]]''. Even worse is when the funky music score stops dead in its tracks when the kids hide behind trees and the rabbit passes by without seeing them, and then continues on as if nothing happened once it passes (and the kids run off).

** A Charlie's Restaurant skit from 1973 where, after admitting to waiter Grover that he had no intent to eat his hot dogs and that he simply wanted to count them (the skit was about simple addition), Grover balks at getting him more. Before Grover can ask the bouncer to have the Count thrown out and asked not to return, the Count zaps Grover, telling him "Go, go and bring me another hot dog." In a trance, Grover says, "Yes ... sir!" before fast-action music and film show Grover bringing out more and more hot dogs and the Count having the time of his life, before an exhausted Grover succumbs to delirium. Although intended to be comedy (due to the fast-action sequence of Grover getting hot dogs), the Count's hypnotic power proved so scary for kids that CTW removed it. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLDr_s5pcVU The skit can be viewed here.]]

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-NUkHKmYvs Alphabet Jungle]] sketch from the mid 1990's. The animation (done by ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' creator Creator/KlaskyCsupo) is flat out uncanny, especially the way the girl walks and the appearance of her face. Some of the letters here find themselves in gruesome situations, such as F and G sinking into quicksand, M melting from the heat, Q being crushed by a rhino, and a large grinning spider crawling over a pack of Ts. At the end of the sketch, the screen fades to black, the music fades out and all we see are the eyes of every character with the sound of crickets.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-NUkHKmYvs Alphabet Jungle]] sketch from the mid 1990's. The animation (done by ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' creator Creator/KlaskyCsupo) is flat out uncanny, especially the way the girl walks and the appearance of her face. There are also scary appearances by a rhino that crushes one letter and a giant smiling spider crawling over another. At the end of the sketch, the screen fades to black and the music fades out and all we see are the eyes of every character with the sound of crickets.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JVhNp6riBo The CTW]] VanityPlate from 1983 to 1997, which is seen on Sesame Street home videos. The loud, descending electronic keyboard music has creeped out some children, and it doesn't help that the background is black.

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* One song from the late 70's called "[[https://youtu.be/hdNqaFaqkX4 In and Out Fever]]" may have been intended to be a catchy disco dance song, though it could be frightening since the song is played in a minor key, and not to mention all the characters in it are monsters, plus the light glare is red giving the impression that it takes place in Hell.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQqEvQOJp4 "Wet Paint"]] by How Now Brown and the Moo Wave. The trippy background visuals alone, consisting of paint being thrown, splashed, and dripped onto white and blue backgrounds, would be off-putting enough to most young viewers. However, towards the end of the sketch, the paint suddenly starts ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou infiltrating the foreground]]'', followed by How Now Brown screaming like a maniac while the screen literally ''melts away'' like [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs an acid trip]] GoneHorriblyWrong. Some viewers note that How Now Brown's screaming sounds more like... [[TheImmodestOrgasm something else]], though it doesn't help matters much.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Rhm7kp-tk This particular sketch]], which was first transmitted circa 1986, is pure NightmareFuel. It features creepy wind-up toys doing things of their own accord and a mechanical arm that plays piano and spells out "SESAME STREET", intercut with footage of satellites. To top it off, it's all set to Janko Nilovic's "Portrait d'Un Robot", a creepy-as-heck piece of music (for any Australian fans [[JustForFun playing at home]], it was also the "Rocket Clock" theme from ''Series/PlaySchool''). It's implied that its purpose is to somehow teach kids about machines and mechanics, but it just ''smacks'' of WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs. And to make it even creepier, it's reminiscent of the freaky music video for "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock.

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* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx668Pevvfg The "Parade of Numbers"]] series, animated by the late Karen Aqua. Prior to 2020, many commenters admitted to being frightened of the carnival masks, along with how the characters walk.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVktxm3p7gI "Count to Ten with Nobody"]]. An odd little sketch from the early years of Sesame Street, where a floating face that looks like it's made of rubber bands, with quite possibly one of the scariest voices ever heard on the show, counts to ten while weird animations and sound effects play continuously in the background. WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs indeed. Also the face jerks around like it's a seizure victim and who can forget those high-pitched synth tones at the beginning? It was actually based off [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qePUsdTmzuc THIS]] early Jim Henson film. Yeah, you definitely don't want to hear the term "evil thoughts" on a show that toddlers watch.

* The computer animation in the Journey to Ernie and Hero Guy segments.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ9-1o4grJQ The "Milo Counting" skits]] featured a rather unfriendly looking man clad in a suit and tie counting to thirteen. The creepy stop motion effects and the way he comes out of the lake at the beginning of the sketch with the number 1 are very unsettling. No wonder the skits were retired in the late 2000s.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Mf003rZCw This skit]] circa 1995 animated by Ken Brown and Lisa Crafts, featuring a beatnik bat, has stiff, DerangedAnimation resulting in OffModel facial expressions. The ending line, "And that was that", is pretty eerie too.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ9-1o4grJQ The "Milo Counting" skits]] featured a rather unfriendly looking man clad in a suit and tie counting to thirteen. The creepy stop motion effects and the way he comes out of the lake at the beginning of the sketch with the number 1 are very unsettling. No wonder the skits were retired in the mid-2000s.

** The Creator/HBOMax releases of classic episodes replace the music with silent, still shots of the copyright screen from the year the episode was first aired. The way the screen abruptly cuts in following the end theme and before the current Sesame Workshop logo may be unsettling to some.
* The iconic dancing city credit crawl is remembered quite fondly even today. [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9buQq4N60H4 The same could not be as easily said for what followed it]]. In 1995 (Season 27), an after-credit sequence titled "Coming Soon on Sesame Street" was introduced. The words in front of a teal background with a spotlight would be followed by [[OnTheNext a clip from one of the next episode's street scenes]]. This was followed by Big Bird, seen from the head up, in front of a purple static background. He then says [[ThatsAllFolks "Toodle-oo!"]], before the funding credits and the copyright disclaimer are shown. A bombastic rendition of the theme, along with the aforementioned purple static and Big Bird, mixes everything together to create a rather infamous bumper among closing logo enthusiasts. In 1998 (Season 30), the "Coming Soon" gimmick was dropped, and the latter portion with Big Bird was tweaked into a copyright disclaimer. They [[https://youtu.be/pd3-sD_mmrg kept it for a little while after the Children’s Television Workshop rebranded to Sesame Workshop]], which led to the bumpers being slightly retooled again, even adding in slightly calmer music. Not enough to extinguish everything around it, but still. The bumpers were dropped in 2003 (beginning with Season 34).

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Z6njK-LGs Fire At Hooper's Store]] was the scariest episode in the series, especially since it was made in response to the September 11 attacks. At first, it starts out fine and well with Maria and Elmo at Hooper's store for lunch with Alan serving them but then they see smoke to which Alan goes to get the fire extinguisher to put out the fire while Elmo and Maria ran out of the store to call the firefighters with Elmo holding on to Maria while shaking and scared of the fire. Thankfully, the store is alright as the firefighters put out the fire (and it was mostly out by the time the firefighters came along anyway) but Elmo is still scared of going inside the store after that traumatic event and who can blame him after the hell he went through. Thankfully, the fire-fighters assure Elmo that everything is alright at the end and they even let him and his friends have lunch at the firehouse! If you ever went through a fire like that at any place and this might bring back unpleasant memories!

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx668Pevvfg The "Parade of Numbers"]] series, animated by the late Karen Aqua. Prior to 2020, many Youtubers have admitted to being frightened of the carnival masks, along with how the characters walk.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOCExQ2lrO4 The Vishnu Sketch]] showed a four-armed Hindu god or some such counting to twenty on his fingers while a female voice-over sang the numbers to a vaguely Indian-sounding tune. When you're 2, there is something indefinably creepy about that.

* There's something a little bit unsettling about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx668Pevvfg "The Parade of Numbers" these]] carnival masks and the way the characters walk.