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Sci-fi and horror author John Wyndham excelled at dropping the truly horrific into the heart of the ordinary. In his 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as the chilling classic Village of the Damned in 1960), the female inhabitants of a quaint English village discover themselves to be pregnant with a brood of golden-eyed, pale-skinned offspring who possess the ability to read minds and force people to act against their will. Especially if displeased.

Unless brutally destroyed, The Children (as they are called in the novel) will replace the human race and a new alien lifeform will soon dominate the planet. But it's their emotionless approach to killing and mayhem that is especially unsettling.

A proto-goth and role model for sullen teens the world over, the daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams first appeared (initially unnamed) in Charles Addams' acclaimed cartoon in the 1930s. She was later named Wednesday after the rhyme 'Wednesday's child is full of woe'. Played by Lisa Loring in the beloved 1960s TV version and later, a 10-year-old Christina Ricci in the 1992 movie (joined by the mustachioed Addams baby Pubert in the 1993 sequel Addams Family Values), Wednesday is unemotional, unflappable and obsessed with the macabre.

She enjoys the company of spiders, has an unnatural interest in the Bermuda triangle and is rumoured to have literally scared certain playmates to death. She was portrayed once again, in an older version of the character, to creepy effect by Jenna Ortega in the recent Netflix reboot Wednesday, adding infectiously jerky dance movements to her repertoire in a memorable dance sequence set to Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps that went viral.

Merricat – We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Although Mary Katherine 'Merricat' Blackwood is almost an adult when we meet her in Shirley Jackson's disturbing classic 1962 novel, she appears completely childlike in her actions and was certainly a mere youngster when she poisoned and killed her entire family several years before.

Now she lives in a dilapidated mansion with her beloved sister, who took the rap for the murders. Though their home is slowly decaying, and their neighbours grow more hostile and threatening, they are happy in a strange, claustrophobic way. This all changes when their cousin Charles comes a-wooing and Merricat feels obliged to take, dramatic, and destructive, action.

As well as having a name that would have made Prince proud, M3GAN is an AI driven childlike humanoid doll initially created to comfort an emotionally damaged child, but soon turns into a violent, creepy, homicidal android.

Played by child actress Amie Donald in this cult horror favourite from 2022, the doll-robot is sadistically ruthless, while also releasing her fair share of sassy on-liners and – in a reoccurring theme – bizarre dance moves. Anyone creeped out by dolls, or the thought of future AI derived human oblivion, can't help but be disturbed.

The Grady Twins – The Shining

While the murdered twins of the Overlook Hotel's caretaker appeared bloodily in Stephen King’s original 1977 novel, it's their monosyllabic tone and truly noxious blue taffeta dresses that really unnerve in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation.

One of the creepiest moments in one the creepiest films ever, the sudden appearance of the Grady twins to the psychic child of writer Jack Torrance, who is slowly going insane in the remote hostelry, disarms you with its blandness and seeming innocence.

Roger – Lord of the Flies

There are quite a few little beasts in William Golding's celebrated 1954 novel concerning a group of schoolchildren trapped on a desert island and their descent into barbarity. Certainly, the rebel leader Jack is a candidate, but it's his sadistic sidekick Roger that probably takes the creepy plaudits.

He's quiet, cynical and sullen until his pal Jack takes power, when he begins to bully and terrorise the other boys in earnest. He plans to kill the rival tribe's leader Ralph and mount his head on a pike, as they had done earlier to a captured pig, and gleefully murders one of the other children as madness engulfs the island’s inhabitants.

It's not really her fault. Turned into an undead ghoul by the vampire Lestat, seemingly on a whim, in Anne Rice's classic 1976 horror novel, Claudia matures mentally, but is trapped in the body of a young girl.

Despite her diminutive stature, she takes to murdering and blood-sucking with relish and is soon plotting revenge on her wicked creator. But just like herself, he's not that easy to bump off. Played by a young Kirsten Dunst in the 1994 film adaptation, she was lauded for her incredibly off-putting performance, seeming to emanate maturity beyond her years, despite only being 10 at the time.

Damien – The Omen

I mean, he's the son of the devil and the Antichrist, so it's fair to say that young Damien Thorn has more than a tinge of creepiness to him. Just hearing that name, Damien, sends shivers up the spine of anyone who has seen 1976 horror classic The Omen. And let's not even get into his creepy, rictus grin, often offered during the grisly deaths and subsequent funerals of those poor souls that try to get in his way.

After, as a child, pretty much wiping out his entire family – often while seated on a tricycle – to ensure the smooth running of his actual father's (Satan) plans, he cleared the path for numerous Omen sequels, prequels and reboots.

Get spooked by the antics of another creepy tot by listening to the second series of the Limelight drama English Rose here.

Or go back to where it all started by listening to the first series of English Rose on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sounds now.