s/o: what were the first violent or disturbing media images you saw as a kid?

[AnnieW625]

I was born in 1977. My parents watched the CBS Evening News on a daily basis, which I think gave me such a huge interest in the news. What comes to mind was all of the plane hijackings in the mid to late 80s so I was between 8 and 12 then. They always happened in the middle of he day too during The Price is Right or the lunch time news (watching TPiR was a special summer treat). When I was 8/1/2 when the Challenger exploded, the school had moved the tv out to the cafeteria to watch the coverage and our 3rd grade teacher didn't know of the explosion so for 9 am recess many of us walked brought the cafeteria and we remember seeing the replay of the explosion. I remember being very saddened by Pan Am 103 when I was 11 and I saw that on the Today Show, which I watched religiously from 7 to 7:30 daily if my schedule allowed from the 4th grade through high school (I think I was probably the only 4th grader in America who viewef Jane Pauley as a hero). I think my never having wanted to fly on a 747 comes from those images I have seen, but in general I don't have a fear of flying. I had seen the JFK Assasination film reel in the 5th grade because I know in the 6th grade it was the 25th anniversary of his death and it was a big deal and the focus of our 6th grade history lesson that fall.

Images of the Holocaust and Vietnam I saw somewhere between the age of 10-12, same thing with some of the battle shots of WWII.

[queenmama]

The Challenger explosion is so vivid in my mind, I distinctly recall sitting on my knees right in front of the TV. I know it was a school day but I was home, by my own whims (I faked sick a lot) or my mom's, I can't say.

I'm not sure about what they showed in school at various grade levels, but when you saw it I probably did. ;)

Lara

[Momit]

I'm a little older than you, OP, but I remember a lot of the same things. especially the Challenger explosion. I also remember a TWA hijacking in particular where a body was thrown onto the Tarmac (maybe early 80s?). Pam Am 103, and also a horrific US Air crash in Pittsburgh in the early 90s. And when Budd Dwyer committed suicide during a televised press conference (this has been discussed in other threads, huge news in PA but also national coverage). Most other things I remember are from hearing about them and not seeing them - Charles Manson (murders happened before I was born but I remember people talking about it and the book Helter Skelter) and those awful child murders in Atlanta in the late 70s.

ETA another poster reminded me about the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

And also the hostages in Iran, again not so much images but hearing about it.

[hellokitty]

I was born in '73. My first vivid memory of violence/traumatic event on tv was the challenger explosion. The next one after that was when the gulf war started and the footage was splattered all over tv when I should have been studying for final exams.

[BunnyBee]

Saw the Challenger explosion live. There was no school that day because of snow, otherwise we would have been watching it in school. Hellokitty, I remember trying to study for exams when Desert Storm started too! It was impossible.

[mom2khj]

Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade and we were watching it live.

Pan Am 103 too, one of my aunts was supposed to be on that plane, but something happened and she missed the flight.

[khalloc]

I was in 2nd grade when the Challenger exploded. I dont remember seeing it when it happened (I was in school) But i remember hearing about it at school and I probably saw it at home on the news.

[hillview]

challenger explosion we saw live on TV at high school. TWA hijacking as well. oddly I have a vivid memory of when my mom heard that john lennon had been shot (we were in a cab and it came on the radio)

[joonbug]

I grew up in Eastern Europe and the first big catastrophic event I remember was Chernobyl, not really news coverage but all the terrifying stories of radiation and victims (I was 8 at the time).

[JElaineB]

Apparently when I was very young I saw footage on TV related to the Vietnam War and they talked a lot about "guerillas." I would never watch Planet of the Apes, because I was very afraid of the guerillas/gorillas!

[american_mama]

I was born in 1970. I remember the Challenger explosion, although think I heard about it rather than saw it live. It was like 9/11 in the sense that it was live and a great shock, but unlike it in the sense that the images were so remote. 9/11 felt so much more visceral... so much easier to imagine what it was like on a plane or in an office buildings, the panic of the people on the ground, the desperation of the people trapped at the windows in the Twin Towers. That is why I am concerned with the images my children have seen of that day.

For similar violent images, I remember President Reagan being shot, the look on his face as he realized it, the pool of blood on the sidewalk from the other two? victims, the guns that came out of nowhere and the frenzied pileup on the sidewalk on Hinckley. It was fascinating and scary to me. I remember a still image from the Vietnam War of a Vietnamese soldier shooting what appeared to be a civilian - that moment of death shot was always very shocking to me. The footage of JFK being shot was also very shocking for similar reasons, although I don't recall how old I was when I first saw it. I would have been much older, but there was a terrorist hijacking where the terrorist was in the cockpit with the pilot on the ground, and he was waving his gun around the pilot while leaning out the window. That one got me too, in part because I could so visualize being on a plane.

Also, Ethiopia was in the midst of a huge famine when I was in high school and we saw daily images of starving, emaciated children, including a famous one where a vulture waits for a starving child to die. The vulture appears the same size as the child. Those were very painful images. (eta: Turns out the vulture photo was in 1993 from a Sudanese famine, so different time and place. But there were still many horrible images from the Ethiopian famine in the mid 1980's... that's the one that led to the "Do They Know It's Christmas?" charity song.)

[Momit]

Apparently when I was very young I saw footage on TV related to the Vietnam War and they talked a lot about "guerillas." I would never watch Planet of the Apes, because I was very afraid of the guerillas/gorillas!

Funny. On a similar note, I remember wondering what "cereal" killers were.

[hopeful_mama]

The one that comes to mind for me was when the city of Philadelphia bombed a fortified bunker on top of a row house where a group called MOVE was holed up. 11 members of the group including 5 children died, and a fire spread and destroyed about 60 homes. I was home sick from school that day and watched on tv all day and night. I was almost 12.

[carolinacool]

oddly I have a vivid memory of when my mom heard that john lennon had been shot (we were in a cab and it came on the radio)

I do, too. I guess we didn't hear about it until the next morning because I remember I was getting ready for school (I was in kindergarten) and it came over the radio. I remember my mom being sad and telling me that John Lennon had a son who was my age (Sean).

I also remember clearly the day that plane that crashed into the Potomac River in January 1982. I was 6 about to turn 7 later that month. I was glued to the coverage when I got home from school. I have stronger memories of that than I do the Challenger.

Other than that, I remember the Challenger crashing as well. I was home, but don't remember why.

[eagle]

i remember watching parts of the movie "the day after" and being very affected by that.

[maestramommy]

Born in 1968, my first memory was pictures of bodies lined up from the Jonestown massacre in TIME magazine. I read parts of the story, but it wasn't clear to me whether people were forced to drink the Koolaid or just did it. I remember a couple of years ago I saw a documentary in which they played audiotapes of women crying while lining up to drink. It was just chilling.

The Iran hostage crisis pretty much dominated our TV soon after.

[SASM]

The Challenger. :(

[lizzywednesday]

The one I always mention is Challenger. We heard about it in school, but I didn't see the footage 'til I got home from school. I was 2 months shy of 8 years old.

I remember coverage of Chernobyl and being vaguely aware of hijackings, but I didn't really consume media as a kid - we didn't have cable, so we got the NYC CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS (WNET) affiliate stations, local networks WPIX and WWOR, and, occasionally, the Long Island PBS affiliate (WLIW). Dad watched the news, but I don't remember taking any interest until I was 10 or so ... and even then I'd get my news from the paper, not TV.

Before that, most of the "disturbing" images I had seen were from book covers (Dad had a vampire novel, I've forgotten the title, but it bothered me so much that he'd had to put a book cover over it so he could read it) and PBS dramas that I didn't quite understand. (There was one that had begun with an industrial accident involving a young girl in either a pencil or silk mill during the Industrial Revolution, so pre-child-labor laws, and that upset me, but I don't remember what the context was.)

[StantonHyde]

oh gads, I am soooooo old. I was 21 when I saw the Challenger disaster--I remember being in the dorm living room and watching it. Images from the Vietnam war, the picture of the naked Vietnamese girl running down the road. Then there was the hostage crisis. For some reason, Reagan getting shot wasn't a big deal to my teenage brain (?????). I remember seeing pictures of concentration camp victims. All of those were "far away" though.

[flashy09]

Probably watching the Challenger crash in class.

[lovin2shop]

I was also home "sick" the day the Challenger exploded, so watched it live. I lived in Waco when the David Koresh compound burned down, we could see the smoke from our building and everyone went to find a TV to see what was going on.

My parents were major newshounds and I watched hours of news each night, and ready Time, Newsweek, US News weekly. I now pretty much avoid news with my kids completely, as I don't particularly think this was a great way to experience life as a kid. Now that my oldest is a tween, I think I will try to involve him in current events a bit more, but nowhere to the extreme of what I experienced as a child. It is still a problem when my parents come to visit as they want MSNBC blaring constantly through out the day.

[MamaMolly]

[QUOTE=BunnyBee;3864844]Saw the Challenger explosion live. There was no school that day because of snow, otherwise we would have been watching it in school./QUOTE]

This is the first one I thought of, too. We were also home due to a snow day. I remember my sister knowing immediately what was going on but that I didn't get it at first. I thought it was just a regular part of the lift off. :(

I grew up in Atlanta and remember the child abduction and murders (Wayne Williams) and the news ending with 'It's XYZ o'clock. Do you know where your children are?'

[A1icia]

I was born in 1970 and generally have a great memory but really don't remember actually media images of most of the events people have mentioned until Desert Storm.

My parents weren't big TV people - we had one 13" TV (b&w until 1980) which was kept behind the couch in the family room most of the time because my mom thought it was ugly. We almost never watched the news on TV, we got out news from the radio (npr) or The Washington Post. The only time I really remeber watching news was presidential election debates and the Carter inaugaration and the first Reagan inauguration which was full of updates on the Iran hostage crisis.

I remember quite well when Reagan was shot - I was outside the school office when they heard so found out right away and then my mom was really late picking us up from school because she was caught in traffic near the hotel. But I don't remember watching it on TV.

It's the same for the plane crashing into the Potomac and the Challenger explosion, I remember the events but not TV images. I do have a static photo of the Challenger explosion forever emblazoned in my mind.

ETA - Not current events but I do remember being shown videos of extreme poverty in other countries in about the third grade which remain vivid in my mind and in 5th or 6th we whiched footage from the atomic bombs in Japan - it had a big impact on me as well as an autoboigraphy of a survivor who had been about that each at the time of the bombings.

[KrystalS]

I was born in 1983 and the first major event I can remember is the Oklahoma City bombing. I was born and grew up about an hour from OKC. I was in 6th grade, I remember coming home every day after school and watching the news reports to see if they had pulled out anymore survivors. The images of those children will be in my mind forever.

[Gena]

I saw the pictures of the Jonestown massacre in Time Magazine when I was 6. I didn't understand it, but it affected me deeply. I even studied cult groups in grad school because of those images.

My parents had no idea that I had seen the photos until I told them as an adult.

[AngB]

I was born in 1983 and the first major event I can remember is the Oklahoma City bombing.

This is exactly what I was going to say as well. '83 and OKC bombings. The tragedy that affected me most "growing up" was Columbine, I was a freshman that year and it really freaked me out that high schoolers could just kill their own classmates like that.

[BabyBearsMom]

I must not have a good memory. I was burn in 1981, I vaguely remember the Oklahoma City bombings and I vaguely remember the stuff with the unibomber. The first tragedy I have a strong memory of is Columbine because I was a senior in high school and home sick that day watching tv. I also remember we had a bomb scare a few days later. I have zippo memory of the Challenger or any of the flight hijackings that others remember.

ETA - Oh and I remember Waco TX

[megs4413]

When I was like 5, a man brandished a gun outside of the airport when we dropped my Grandma off. I still remember that. He didn't shoot anyone, but my Dad and I were crossing the street and he held it outside of the window of his van. The police intervened and my Dad scooped me up and kind of ran me the other way. I don't even know what the circumstances were surrounding that incident, but I've never forgotten it.

In terms of national news events...the first one I probably remember clearly is the siege at Waco with the Branch Davidians. I would have been 9 years old when that happened. I also remember coverage from Desert Storm, but I don't remember seeing anything graphic specifically. I would have been 7ish when the war started and I know we talked about it in school. I remember the Waco stuff pretty clearly, though.

[dogmom]

OK ladies now I just feel old.
Images on the news from Vietnam. The Munich Olympics.

[rlu]

OK ladies now I just feel old.
Images on the news from Vietnam. The Munich Olympics.

Not quite there with you. I vaguely remember Nadia, but not the rest. Hm, the Hostages (I was 11), Reagan being shot and then a long jump until Challenger (high school), OKC, etc. My folks sheltered us.

eta: we watch The Day After freshman year in high school, scenes from that stay with me.

[wallawala]

Challenger. Live...

I grew up in florida, close enough to see the smoke trail but not the actual shuttle. Our entire school was outside on the football field watching the smoke trail, and then it just stopped. We didn't know what had happened until we went inside and saw the TV feed. I was in Geometry and my teacher had set up a TV for us to watch the coverage. We watched it the entire class period as she sat in the back and sobbed. Not sure she even said anything. She had applied to go, and was so excited for the event. It was wrenching.

I remember going home and watching the footage loop and loop and loop. Feeling numb. Still makes me tear up.

I held my breath watching every shuttle launch since, even do watching footage on TV on ones I know were ok.

[ladysoapmaker]

When I was young (3 to 5, I wasn't in school yet or had just started) a babysitter let me watch the end of Poltergeist, from the point she's in the bath to the house collapsing. My Mom was pissed. I couldn't sleep for weeks.

After that it was the Challenger & the Oklahoma City bombing, Didn't watch too much from Desert Storm (the TV had died and my parents hadn't replaced it yet).

Jen

[klwa]

4th grade Challenger Explosion.

We were walking back from lunch or the playground & a teacher down the hall came running into the hall to tell our teacher she needed to turn the TV on. So, Mrs. Jenkins went & got a TV from the media room & we watched that afternoon.

I know my parents watched the news every night, but I never stayed in the room during it.

ETA: I was in high school for Desert Storm. They had TV's going in all of the common areas that first day & we'd stop & watch in between classes. Some teachers let us go to the common areas rather than try to get our attention that day.

[Globetrotter]

The IMAGE I remember vividly was the Challenger Explosion, and that was in college. Of course, also the graphic images from Ethiopia. Otherwise, I remember events vaguely (Reagan being shot, Lennon) but not necessarily the associated images.
The Day After really scared me, too.

[brittone2]

Baby Jessica in the well
The Challenger-we watched it live in school and I remember my teacher turning it off. They really didn't know what to say to us. I don't really remember much discussion afterward, just tears from the teacher.
Starving children in Ethiopia
Gadaffi and the Libya issues back in the 80s, as my brothers are much older, and one was in the Navy during that time. He was on a ship heading for Libya. I didn't understand, but I knew it was bad and my brother was in danger. I remember some of the news coverage.
Desert Storm because a different sibling was in the Navy during that time, but worked in the Seabees. He worked closely with the Marines and was in lot of danger. He also was stabbed during the conflict in Somalia. I recall news coverage of both, and again that sense of terror because a loved one was in danger. I was far too young to really understand.

I remember thinking a lot about war as a young child, and I was convinced the tanks would be rolling up in my backyard, kwim? I remember thinking about it a LOT, and then finally talking to my dad about it and he reassured me that tanks would not be descending on our backyard. I'm sure this all stemmed from the coverage of various conflicts, as my parents were keeping up to date due to my siblings' involvement in the various conflicts. Clearly as a kid it left me feeling rather baffled and scared about how war works.

[ilfaith]

I was born in 1969, and the first disturbing news story I really remember was the Son of Sam murders. We moved from NYC (where the crimes took place) to New Jersey in the summer of 1976, around the time the shooting spree began. I remember at the time they were calling him the ".44 Caliber Killer"...I think the name "Son of Sam' came later. I remember being a little obsessed with the news coverage...certainly more interested than a 7-or-8-year-old ought to be.

Of course for sheer impact, the Challenger explosion was the touchpoint of my generation. The Gen-X Kennedy assassination. At least until 9-11.

[IansMom]

[QUOTE=BunnyBee;3864844]

I grew up in Atlanta and remember the child abduction and murders (Wayne Williams) and the news ending with 'It's XYZ o'clock. Do you know where your children are?'

:yeahthat: i grew up in Atlanta too, and I was a small child but I remember the fear around the Wayne Williams murders.

I also remember watching the Challenger explosion live (was it a snow day? I always thought it was a teacher planning day). My mom had gone to the store and I just kept thinking that the astronauts would be okay. I just couldnt believe they were dead.

[cagey]

'73 kid, and the first one for me was the TWA hijackings and the terrorist holding a gun to the head of the pilot.

I remember a friend's mom picking her daugher and I up from Brownies and telling us about Reagan, but most of the images I think I saw a few years later.

We lived in Italy when Challenger happened and I think we saw it break on the evening news, but the more local-to-us was Chernobyl which freaked me out a lot, especially when we'd get wind reports to see where the radioactive plumes might go, and we were in the danger zone.


We had friends that would send us VCR tapes of shows when we were overseas (things like Cheers, St Elsewhere, whatever was big at the time) and one tape was 6 hrs of the Baby Jessica in the well which we'd heard about but since we didn't have US news coverage had NO idea the media hype about this. We had no clue why stations would go minute by minute coverage of this, or watch it live, let alone record it. (and, ha, send it weeks later!!!)