The Noon Witch

I've been receiving emails from my brother throughout the week in light of my recent blog post about TV shows and movies that scared us as kids, and during the discussion about old school Sesame Street skits that gave us nightmares he hipped me to some old segments that I had partially forgotten about, or more likely tried to forget about over the past thirty years, thank you very much. Revenge, I assume, for the traumatic childhood I inflicted upon him, to be sure.



I remember that there were a few variations of this one skit on the show -- one about big objects and I think one about some other kind of shape as well, but it was the one about the small objects that sent my brother and me bolting from the room. At least the two of us could agree on some things in life.




This one was kind of scary to us, perhaps more so for my brother than for myself. Jim Henson's been pulling this gag for almost 15 years before this skit came around, but you know us kids and how we're a sucker for the same old horrorshow. I think it was the final scene with the monster and the creepy synth music that left me unnerved, but watching it now just cracks me the fuck up. I mean, how could it not? "OH YEAHH!" :D



And how could I forget the most traumatizing Sesame Street skit of all time? For me at least. Curse this evil Swedish porno knock-off song and everybody affiliated with it as far as I'm concerned. This original Sesame Street version from 1969 I found far scarier than the more well-known version that aired on a prime time variety show that same year, or the similar version from The Muppet Shows's first season in 1976, with its rudimentary muppets and unsettling energy, especially at the end with its subtle "dun-dun-dun" bass rumble that makes you think the scary muppet is going to do something horrible, just when you think its all over. JUST WHEN YOU THINK IT'S ALL OVER!

Luckily Sesame Street stopped rerunning this skit after a few years, but there were times when I wouldn't even watch the show for fear that this segment would come on suddenly and I'd have no time to escape. Having never told anyone this, when my friend Just Dave was over in Germany visiting his girlfriend back in 1990 he saw this very same skit while skimming Sesame Street on German television, and he was genuinely disturbed by what he saw. He told me that it was so weirdly scary to him, even as an adult, that after a minute or two he could no longer even look directly at the TV screen, laughing nervously as he told me this. In fact he told me this almost as soon as he got back from Germany, that mental image out of everything else fun he got to do in the olde country more vivid in his mind than beer and the Brandenburg Gate. If that tells you anything.

And YESS! I felt vindicated. I wasn't a batshit kid after all. This skit really once was pure, 102% nightmare fuel! And I am pleased to help spread the horror to you all once again. Because Auntie Melpsie loves you all. Yes she does. To pieces.

Happy Sunday, everyone. I'm off to Hell's Kitchen for brunch.

*devil horns*