How to get to Sesame Street

Like many American kids, there was a pre-education I received long before I ever set foot in a kindergarten class. That sort of knowledge-dropping, naturally, came from my parents reading books with me at a very young age (they'll swear to you I learned to read at age two; I'll tell you that I'm sure I memorized Hop on Pop and that's how I knew what words came next). And when they weren't reading to me, I was most likely getting my Sesame Street on.

Maybe it's because I watched a lot of that and The Muppet Show, but there's so much to love about Sesame Street. Kids learn letters, numbers, even a little bit of Spanish. They'll even listen to covers of Madonna songs that are thinly veiled PSAs to get kids to eat breakfast.

Yes, the Street was the bomb diggity in the late '80s and early '90s. It was long before Cookie Monster decided that cookies were only a "sometime food," long before Elmo was a merchandising, warm-and-fuzzy ticklish monster that now (I've heard) takes up like, half of the hour-long show these days. Yes, it was a simpler time when Katy Perry wasn't running around half-naked up and down the Street.

It was also filled with a few scant segments that would, for lack of a better description, scar you for life. Case in point: "Wet Paint."

I stumbled across this little gem earlier today whilst following the bread crumb trail of YouTube links of old Sesame Street segments. I don't remember much about "Wet Paint," save that for whatever reason, images of splattered paint against the back wall, combined with creepy Muppet feet stomping around in said paint splatters (because Muppets shouldn't have visible feet, doggone it), and distorted blood-on-the-wall fonts traumatized the bejeezus out of me as a small child. Imagine my relief when I read the comments on said video. It's safe to say that approximately 90% of the viewers were scared by this as a child. Why, Muppets? Why?

My aversion to the "Wet Paint" video confuses me in general, because I don't seem to mind Patrick Bateman splitting open Jared Leto's face with an axe. That could be because "Hip To Be Square" is a far better soundtrack than the overly synthesized "Wet Paint."

Anything out there that scared the heck out of you as a kid?