this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2024
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Mom hung a mass produced art print on my bedroom wall when I was about 8. It's of a little girl holding her puppy.

oil painting titled Miss Bowles and her dog by Joshua Reynolds

Cute, right?

Thing is, this painting terrified me. And I was raised in the time where you just kind of swallowed any complaints and didn't bother mom or dad with kid foolishness.

Here is a copy of the thing I actually had hanging on my wall. This same frame. Probably came from Service Merchandise or some such.

larger crop of the same work of art

What in the everloving hell is lurking just over her shoulder?!?! To me it always looked like a skull wearing a hat on the side of his head, like a little old timey jaunty hat a clown would wear.

It's a wonder I got any sleep. I was too afraid to tell mom I hated it. I never considered that I possessed the agency to take it off my wall and hide it at the bottom of the closet.

I think of this cursed painting still.

Did you ever have something in your childhood that unnecessarily scared the bejeezus out of you?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I found a voodoo doll in somebody's free pile and hung it up in my room where it could watch me sleep.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Was it kinder to you than its last keeper because you willfully adopted it?

'That was a bold move, Cotton. Let's see how it plays out.'

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 week ago

Parents are dogshit I will never be one

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