JFF - Are You Afraid to Go into Your Basement?

Funny. Yes, in the home I grew up in and then my husband's and my first house and my grandmother's house. All were built in the 1920's and I didn't like being down there, but was fine once down there but when I'd go up the stairs, I'd always have to run up them because I felt the same way like someone was always behind me. Always gave me a shudder! ICK.

Ha ha! Funny topic. In my first home, before we remodeled, the basement was dark and gray and filled with stuff. My dad told me, "I think I can hear Freddy breathing down there." He was referring to Freddy Krueger and the boiler room, lol.

In the house I live in now, no. In my last house, which was 100 years old, it was terrifying. The bulkhead door didn't have a real knob or lock, you had to pull it shut and lower a bar across it to "lock" it. The walls were stacked stones, the floor was dirt, the support beams running across the ceiling were whole tree trunks, and there were 13 temporary lally columns holding the whole house up. The stairs were just planks with no backs and were very steep and narrow. There was a section that was dug even deeper than the main floor, a pit about 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. We never figured out what that pit was for. The whole thing was lit with two bare light bulbs that swung from the ceiling. It was always moldy and damp down there. Worst of all, there was one section of my house that had just a crawl space underneath. Nothing creeps me out like crawl spaces, and this one opened into one wall of the basement. Shudder.

I don't mind going down during the day but I will not go down if it's night and my DH is not home. If that happens the load of wash will have to wait till morning.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ummm, guilty over here too :)

My parents' house has an unfinished basement, and the stairs were not solid, and we used to think that there were monsters or scary people living under there and that they'd grab our ankles as we walked up/down.

I also go as fast as I can and try my best not to look around--even though I know no one is ever going to be down there. There is one portion of my basement that is just a crawlspace, and I can't see all the way to the back because there is a wall in the way. I suspect that's where the laundry monster lurks, waiting for me to go upstairs so he can sneak into the washing machine and steal my socks.

hee!

I don't like basements at all. Not because of nightmares, just because that seems to be where all the spiders and creepy crawly things reside. I go down to change the furnace/ac filter and feel webs all around me, even though I can't see them!

The house I'm renting now has a very nice basement for this part of the country, at least it's partially finished with concrete walls and floor, a toilet, sink and shower that were put in by the previous owners and never really hooked up to anything, but it's still not a place I want to spend any amount of time. Ever.

*shivers*

Not too many basements in CA... when I went to visit my friends in boston they thought it was funny how interested I was in their basements. Those things are huge! You can fit so much stuff down there. In CA it's all about the garage.

So, no basement to be scared of, but I do get scared going downstairs in the middle of the night for any reason.

Bug, scared of twins! That's so funny. My sisters are twins, The concept is kinda creepy when you think about it. Sometimes we'll snap a picture of them together and will just look too creepy in it's twinliness.

I'm more fearful that we don't have a basement! We get a lot of twisters in this area. Was told tonight by a neighbor that the back of our house was ripped off as it was being built several years ago.

Now some of you with those very old basements that you can barely stand up in, and you can see the dirt, forget it! Not doing it, except when the twister comes, and even then I'm not sure!

Lol that's so funny; I'm sorry, it's just funny bc I can totally relate! xD
If I had a basement I'd be the same way. Sometimes I get spooked like that just running out to my car at night! I don't go in our attic--never have, never will. But it's mostly bc I hate bugs, and there's nothing I need up there anyways ;)

Not for the same reasons!!!

Mine flooded last year when my son was sick (and I was in the hospital with him) and my husband never took care of it. The sheer amount of WORK to be done down there is staggering. I've only gone down twice in 7 months. It's going to take weeks to deal with, and that needs sunny weather. Which means next month I have to pull everything out, throw out about half or more, pressure wash/ tear out/ rebuild... and put what's left back.

Of course, if it had been taken care of when it flooded it would only have been an afternoon's worth of work. Now? Weeks.

This probably won't make you feel any better, but if you ever watch any of the ghost hunting reality shows (which I'm hooked on)...the ghosts they capture are usually hiding in out of the way places like basements or attics.

Maybe your fear isn't so irrational!

deathly afraid and always have been. Dont know why though

We don't have basements in houses here, but they seriously creep me out. My grandmother had one, and I refused to go down there. I have an irrational fear of twins. I think I have watched too many horror movies. I am so glad none of my friends have twins.

Only at night...hahaha. And it is a fiinished basement! But even still, at night, forget it!

The house I grew up in was built in 1900 and had a very scary basement. Just as someone described below - stone walls, dirt floor, bare light bulbs, exposed beams overhead absolutely coated with cobwebs. If I recall correctly, there were 3 or 4 "rooms" down there. I was petrified of spiders, so I was hard-pressed to even go down to the main "room", much less back into the narrow, dark hallways leading into the smaller back rooms. I remember my dad made us stack wood down there one year and I was just terrified the whole time. I would grab a piece of wood off the huge pile he had chucked through the basement window, crouch way down so errant spiders wouldn't land on my head, and RUN to the next room where we were stacking the wood against the wall. I'm sure the basement was loaded with black widows and brown recluse spiders.

Even scarier, just off the main room was a walled off cistern. Someone had broken a jagged hole across the top, so you could shine a flashlight in to look around. I was never interested in looking back there - I'm sure I thought that was where the monsters lived.

The basement in my current house was cinderblock with concrete floors - very dusty and dirty and, naturally, full of big spiders. I had it finished last year - what a difference! It just looks like part of the house now. I don't mind going down any more, though I do still encounter spiders there.

We don't have a basement! (which is common in my region).
But all those scary movies and books, always have a basement!
No wonder people are scared of them.

Me: I get a bit "scared" when I am the only one awake in the house and everyone else is sleeping... and it is like some odd hour..... like 2:00am.

Hey why not paint your basement a nice BRIGHT cheerful color?
Like lemon yellow? And put some FLUORESCENT lighting, down in your basement? With a central light switch?
And maybe some scented essential oils?

Wish I had one! They don't have them out here :/

lol. Our basement used to be kinda spooky. Go down the tall flight of stairs with that 1 long cord to turn on the light type of spooky. But my hubby re did it and turned it into a very nice man cave.

haha...what is it about basements!

when i was growing up my grandparents had THE MOST SPOOKY basement! it was dark and rundown and was only used for storage - and as a haunted house one year for halloween! but i had to hear stories about how my mom and her sisters had slept down there and woke up to find spiders and snakes in their beds!!!

then when i was a teenager we got a house with a brand new basement and i slept in it - and it was okay because it was brand new, we got to paint our bedrooms, it was well lit, etc.

now in my 30's the basement at my mom's is unused, although still kept up pretty nice. and we used it for a halloween party last year too lol! and yes, there are snakes and spiders. UGH!

long story short, i can't be in a basement without being creeped out and paranoid about critters! for good reason!

but i'll tell you what, i would sure love to have one during storms. being in your area it's probably not a huge deal - but here (in kansas) it is a HUGE comfort to know it's there during tornado season....

(and to riley, girl make sure you take care of that basement - it costs THOUSANDS to fix a basement with water damage, if the walls start shifting! HUGE hassle...my mom had to do it a couple years ago. )

I do the same thing! I know why I am afraid to go down in the basement - those dang horror flicks!!!!!!

So funny- I thought it was just me!! Actually, I'll go down during the day no problem. But once it's dark.... nope. If I have things to go down there after dark, I just pile them by the door and wait until morning. So silly!!

hahaha...sometimes..yes.