Scariest memory from your childhood?

We lived on a small army base just outside a small village in Yorkshire. I was 7, my sister 5. Because it was so safe there( it was the early 1950s) and we were usually with the 12 year old boy who lived next door, my parents let us run free.

In a rough area of land just beyond our houses there were a number of steepsided water filled holes that we used to play round. One day my sister leaned over too far to pick a reed or something and fell in. She couldn't reach the bank, couldn't swim and the pool was too deep for her to stand.

The 12 year old realising he could do nothing, legged it for home to get help. I stayed with my sister and gingerly started trying to get into the hole, while keeping a firm hold on the edge to try and reach her. Thankfully I got hold of her hand and got her to the edge and then got out and helped her get out.

We started walking home, both very worried that we would be in trouble for falling in and getting our clothes all wet and dirty. We hadn't gone far before we saw the 12 year old and my parents rushing across the rough grass towards us.

Our parents were just so glad that we were safe and alive, that the state we and our clothes were in never arose, instead we were cuddled and loved and bathed, with hot drinks and a few extra sweets (sweets were still rationed)

I do not think I have ever been more scared than when I thought my sister might drown.

Nearly drowning at Southend my dad was throwing water at me from my bucket & spade set and I was going backwards into the water , I was suddenly sucked under as a big wave came in. My dad rushed in suited & booted and managed to grab me out of the water. Needless to say I have always feared the water and never learnt to swim it’s something I have always regretted and now in my 70’s still wonder if it’s to late to learn

That was very scary BabyPink.

The only time I remember being very scared was one foggy November afternoon in the 60s when I was 14.
My parents had had to go out leaving me to look after my younger sister but a few days before a 12 year old had been murdered in a house not far from where we lived. The police had not yet caught him.
I kept checking the doors were locked and looking through the windows but couldn't see much as the fog was so thick.
I was scared for the whole afternoon until my parents returned home.