21 scenes from classic movies that probably scared you as a kid

"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) follows Dorothy and her dog, Toto, as they land in the magical land of Oz after a tornado rips through her farm in Kansas. Along the way, they meet a variety of characters, including the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West.

There are several moments of the film that might have seemed scary to young viewers, but the flying monkeys were on a different level of creepiness.

In one scene, the Wicked Witch instructs her army of monkeys to find Dorothy and bring her back alive. Between the creepy music, the vintage special effects, and the flock of flying monkeys, the scene is downright terrifying.

The 1971 film is based on the children's book by Roald Dahl and follows Charlie Bucket, a young boy who finds a golden ticket hidden inside a chocolate bar and gets to visit a magical candy factory.

The whole film features scenes that could be scary for children — for example, Violet blowing up like a blueberry — but the "tunnel of terror" part is by far the most haunting.

What starts as a charming boat ride through a river of chocolate goes horribly wrong. As the boat zooms through the darkness, hallucinogenic scenes pop up on the walls and their guide, Willy Wonka, starts talking like a madman.

All of the characters — and perhaps everyone watching — are just screaming for it to stop the whole time.

The 1940 Disney animated film is about woodworker Geppetto and his puppet, Pinocchio. Throughout the film, Pinocchio has to prove himself worthy of being turned into a real boy by showing that he is brave and unselfish. But when the wicked Honest John gets his hands on him, he's led to Pleasure Island, a cursed amusement park.

The creepiest scene takes place after Jiminy Cricket sees where all the donkeys on Pleasure Island came from.

It's bad enough to understand that the donkeys are actually children, but it was even worse to see one of the boys turn into the animal right in front of Pinocchio's eyes.

"The Witches" (1990) is another Dahl adaptation that centers on a group of witches who want to turn children into mice.

The premise of the movie is unsettling on its own, but Anjelica Huston's famous unmasking scene only makes it worse. Huston's character slowly removes her "mask" — which actually just seems to be her entire face — and as her skin is peeled off, a truly horrifying witch is revealed.

It's so disturbing that it's hard to believe it was ever in a movie geared toward children in the first place.

"The Brave Little Toaster" is a 1987 animated film about sentient home appliances living in an abandoned cabin.

There's something off-putting about the whole film, but the "Worthless" song scene really sticks with viewers. When the titular toaster and his friends end up at the dump after their owners toss them out, they watch other broken appliances get crushed and torn apart while awaiting their similar fate.

Watching the appliances sing about how they once meant something and are now just considered trash is strangely disturbing and sad.

In the 1988 live-action/animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," viewers watch as a private eye investigates a scandal between cartoon characters Jessica and Roger Rabbit. When the owner of Toontown is found dead, the evil Judge Doom makes it his mission to destroy Roger.

It turns out the villain is even eviler than viewers thought though. After masquerading as a human, Judge Doom is crushed by a steamroller, so he reinflates his flattened body with helium and reveals himself to be a toon with piercing red eyes.

In "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (1989), four-legged casino owner Charlie is killed by a gambler named Carface and ends up returning to Earth to get revenge on his murderer.

Although the evil Carface is pretty scary for kids on his own, the scene where Charlie dreams he's in hell is nearly traumatizing. As voices whisper, "You can never come back," Charlie is transported to what every child probably assumes hell looks like: A fiery pit of huge monsters and boiling-hot lava.

For an adult, this scene might come off as clichéd, but for kids, it's basically a confirmation of their own worst nightmares

The 1968 film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is about an inventor with really bad luck who turns an old car into a fancy, flying vehicle for his family. Among other plot points, they end up on a magical adventure in a faraway land.

When they arrive, the family happens upon the Child Catcher, a man who offers the children lollipops and other sweets to try and lure them out of the house so he can capture them. Once he gets them outside, they climb into his fanciful car — which turns out to be a giant cage — and he speeds away with a wicked laugh.

The 1989 Disney hit centers on Princess Ariel, a mermaid who desperately wants to be a human. After she falls in love with a man on the land, the evil sea witch Ursula pretends to help her. But it's all part of her plot to take over the ocean from Ariel's father, King Triton.

In one of the final scenes of "The Little Mermaid," Ursula goes from being a quirky, sassy Disney villain to a genuinely scary monster.

After stealing all of King Triton's powers, the sea witch morphs into a gigantic octopus, rising from the sea with a large glowing trident and deep, menacing voice.

"Toy Story" (1995) centers on the lives of Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys when their owner, Andy, isn't watching.

At one point in the film, Woody and Buzz get captured by Andy's sadistic neighbor, Sid, who's known for destroying toys and turning them into creepy objects.

One particularly scary toy is the spider baby, which is a bald baby-doll head with a missing eye and a mechanical spider-looking body.

The 1941 Disney film follows young circus elephant Dumbo who is taunted because of his large ears. When his mother gets locked away in a cage, Dumbo is forced to dress like a clown and perform dangerous stunts — until he realizes his huge ears can allow him to fly.

In one scene, Dumbo and his friend Timothy Q. Mouse accidentally drink water mixed with champagne. After becoming intoxicated, they start imagining pink elephants singing, dancing, and playing marching-band instruments all around them.

There's just something about the haunting song alongside the images of the trippy pink elephants. It probably even made some kids afraid to drink alcohol.

"Jumanji" (1995) follows two kids who find a magical board game. But when they start to play it, they release a man who's been trapped inside for decades and face off against jungle terrors that can only be stopped when the game is finished.

It's safe to say the entire movie is pretty scary, with dangerous wild animals on the run and the constant threat of being trapped inside a deadly game, but certain scenes still stand out.

At one point, the wooden floor of the house suddenly turns into quicksand during an unfortunate turn. Everyone begins rapidly sinking until the next move is made, and Robin William's character almost falls all the way in.

This may be the scene that made every child think quicksand was going to be a much more prevalent problem in their lives.

The "Harry Potter" series follows a young wizard who spends his childhood trying to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort.

The films are full of terrifying monsters and villains, but in 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," there's one specific battle scene that's probably hard for young viewers to watch.

Quirrell, the mousy professor who seems scared of his own shadow, is shown throughout the film wearing a turban. It seems innocent enough until he reveals that underneath is a tiny, barely human version of Lord Voldemort living on the back of his head.

Disney's oldest animated feature-length film from 1937 tells the story of Snow White and the Evil Queen. The villain orders someone to murder the girl, but the huntsman doesn't have the heart to do it, and instead, leaves her in the forest alone.

In the blink of an eye, the scene goes from a charming forest full of sweet wildlife to a dark place where tree branches lurch out and everything seems ready to attack.

Every twist and turn reveals a new spooky obstacle in Snow White's way until she finally collapses into a sobbing mess on the forest floor.

This scene likely even inspired one of Disneyland's spookiest attractions of all time — Snow White's Scary Adventures.

The 2004 holiday film "The Polar Express," based on the children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, is about a young boy who takes a magical train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

In one of the scenes, the boy walks through a train car of abandoned toys and comes across a huge collection of old puppets — which, thanks to the realistic animation, are extremely creepy-looking. He then confronts an aggressive Scrooge doll being puppeteered by the mysterious man he met earlier on the train.

As he's trying to escape, a sea of puppets seems to stand in his way, and it's enough to frighten viewers of any age.

"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) is about a childish man who sets off on a journey to find his stolen bike and meets a slew of odd people along the way.

One of the characters he comes across is Large Marge, a surly truck driver who gives Pee-Wee a ride. As they drive through the fog, Marge starts telling a scary story, which ends horrifically with her eyes and tongue popping out of her distorted head.

"Anastasia" (1997) tells the story of the evil Rasputin, who puts a curse on the Romanov royal family that causes the young Princess Anastasia to disappear and forget her past.

The song "In the Dark of the Night" features Rasputin singing about capturing Anastasia once and for all, with lines like, "In the dark of the night terror will strike her/Terror's the least I can do."

As if this wasn't ominous enough, Rasputin is a pretty eerie-looking villain. Throughout the song, there are so many scary visuals, like Rasputin becoming a disjointed skeleton bobbing through the air.

"Bambi"(1942) is about a young deer who explores the forest with his friends, Thumper and Flower, while also learning about the dangers of the world.

The sweet movie takes a devastating turn when hunters come for Bambi and his mother. As they run away as fast as they can, a shot sounds through the air, and Bambi never sees his mother again.

This is certainly terrifying for anyone watching, but it's even worse to see little Bambi waiting for his mother in the cave, knowing that she'll never come back.

The 1994 film "The Lion King" tells the story of Simba, a young lion who's next in line to be king of Pride Rock.

Despite having a murderous villain, Simba's uncle Scar, the scariest characters in the film might be the three hyenas. They make viewers laugh and are super wacky, but they quickly turn terrifying, with wild, yellow eyes and huge, sharp teeth.

The worst scene is when they're chasing Simba, and he falls into a large ditch. To make everything even more devastating, that's when Simba's father comes to save him and ends up getting killed.

In 1992's "FernGully," Crysta the fairy doesn't believe humans actually exist until she sees them with her own eyes. When she accidentally shrinks one, turning him into a fairy alongside her, they set off on an adventure to stop the devastating damage a company is doing to her rainforest home.

Throughout the film, Hexxus, an evil entity who feeds off pollution, continues to destroy the ecosystem. When the bad guy sings "Toxic Love," the scene is full of disturbing images that make viewers feel like they're hallucinating.

In 1984's "The NeverEnding Story," a boy named Bastian comes across a strange book about a fantasy land called Fantasia.

In one scene, the hero of the story, Atreyu, enters the Swamp of Sadness with his beloved horse, Artax. Although Atreyu is protected against the evils of the swamp because of his magic, Artax is not.

Viewers watch as the horse begins sinking, and Atreyu desperately tries to pull him out. But no matter what he does, he can't save the horse.

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