10 Nightmare-Inducing Kids’ TV Characters That Still Freak Us Out

Kids’ TV shows are supposed to be fun, educational, and, well, not terrifying. But somehow, certain characters slipped through the cracks and ended up scaring the bejeezus out of their young audience instead. From bizarre puppets to downright disturbing animations, these characters left us sleeping with the lights on despite their supposedly kid-friendly design. Let’s revisit the ten characters that probably gave you trust issues with your television set.

Related: Top 10 Bizarre TV Shows For Kids

10Mr. Blobby

You know a character’s bad news when it makes both kids and adults uncomfortable. This pink and yellow spotted monstrosity from the British show Noel’s House Party (1992-1999) is pure nightmare fuel. Picture a six-foot-tall blob with bulging eyes and a permanent grin whose only communication is screaming “BLOBBY!” while violently bouncing around like he’s escaped from somewhere he definitely should’ve stayed. He wasn’t just creepy, he was chaotic, unpredictable, and honestly felt more like a fever dream than a children’s entertainer. The guy crashed through walls and destroyed sets while maintaining that horrifying smile.

9Raťafák Plachta

If you’ve never heard of this Czechoslovakian nightmare, consider yourself lucky. This character from Slniečko (1979-1989) looks like what would happen if a bedsheet ghost had a mental breakdown. With massive googly eyes and a gaping black hole of a mouth, this thing was supposedly teaching kids moral lessons. Ironically, he was designed to encourage children to question authority during communist times, but instead probably just made them question why adults were trying to scare them to death. The only lesson most kids learned was how to check under their beds before sleeping.

8EC (The Faceless Doll)

Sometimes good intentions lead straight to horror. Australia’s Lift Off (1992-1995) featured EC, a faceless, genderless doll meant to represent “every child” so all kids could identify with it. Sweet concept, right? Wrong. The execution gave us what looks like a mummified child’s head on a cloth body. The blank fabric face with vague indentations where features should be hits that uncanny valley sweet spot that makes your skin crawl. Australian kids didn’t see themselves in EC, but saw it in their nightmares.

7The Puppets from Peppermint Park

The educational series Peppermint Park (1987-1988) proves that a low budget can be truly terrifying. These human-like animal puppets had this weird, unsettling quality with dead eyes that seemed to follow you around the room. That lion puppet, with its wide, unblinking stare and mouth that moved like it was possessed, gave many children the creeps. They weren’t cartoonish enough to be cute but weren’t realistic enough to look normal, leaving them in this disturbing limbo that made learning the alphabet feel like a hostage situation.

6The Nekross King

From the British series Wizards vs Aliens, this guy was basically a giant reptilian face that boomed about “feasting” on wizards’ magic. Voiced by Brian Blessed, this massive head displayed on screens throughout his ship made escape seem impossible. Between his intimidating appearance, booming voice, and weird cannibalistic overtones, he was exceptionally terrifying for what was supposed to be a kids’ show. His catchphrase “The Nekross will feast!” probably didn’t help anxious kids sleep at night.

5Noseybonk

If you grew up with British TV in the early 80s, you’re probably still in therapy from this character. Noseybonk from Jigsaw (1979-1984) was basically a silent performer wearing a white mask with an enormously long, pointed nose and a fixed, maniacal grin that would make the Joker uncomfortable. He’d prance around wordlessly in various scenarios, that permanent smile never changing, never speaking. Just watching. With that stark white face against dark clothing, he looked more like something that crawled out of a Victorian nightmare than a character designed to entertain children.

4The Phone from Téléchat

The experimental French show Téléchat (1983-1986) featured what sounds innocent enough: a telephone with eyes. But this wasn’t your friendly talking object. This was a regular landline phone that would whisper in this breathy, creepy voice that made you feel like it was telling secrets it shouldn’t know. It took something ordinary and made it feel deeply wrong. Kids’ shows typically make objects friendly and cute, but The Phone was like that one weird toy in your room that you’d swear moved when you weren’t looking.

3Wizbit

Imagine a floating yellow triangle with a face that speaks in a hollow voice and moves like it’s not quite bound by the laws of physics. That’s Wizbit from the British show Wizbit (1986-1988). While he was supposed to be a magical alien wizard, something about his unnatural movements and simplistic yet alien appearance just felt off. Add in the surreal setting of Puzzleopolis, and you’ve got a show that operated on dream logic rather than anything a kid could make sense of. What was meant to feel magical instead felt like a bad trip designed by Salvador Dalí.

2The Mascots from Mommi Ja’ Aabits

The Estonian educational show Mommi Ja’ Aabits (1977-1978) featured what might be the most disturbing educational mascots ever created: adults in animal costumes that only covered their bodies and heads, leaving their human mouths visible through the animal masks. Picture furry animal bodies with actual human mouths speaking Estonian. The combination of the stiff, unnatural movement of these hybrid creatures, their blank staring eyes, and those exposed human mouths created an effect so jarring it’s a wonder any Estonian child learned to read at all.

1The Empty Child

While Doctor Who walks the line between kids’ and family TV, The Empty Child from the 2005 episodes deserves a spot for the sheer number of children it traumatized. A young boy in a gas mask wandering through World War II London repeatedly asking “Are you my mummy?” might not sound scary on paper, but it tapped into something primal. The dehumanizing mask, the innocent question turned sinister, and the fact that his touch transformed others into gas-masked zombies created perfect childhood horror. It took something pure — a lost child looking for his mother — and twisted it into something that had kids checking their closets for weeks.