To whom it may concern

For the discerning horror fan there are plenty of quality series on the box right now: American Horror Story, Stranger Things, The Terror, Channel Zero, the list goes on...

But no matter how unsettling these adult-oriented shows might aim to be, they can never quite match the trauma inflicted by a childhood favourite. Somehow, a spooky kids' TV show can dig deep into a young mind and leave a psychological scar like nothing else.

What we're trying to say is... we still have nightmares about the Demon Headmaster.

It's one thing to be unintentionally creepy – like the horrifying Noseybonk from '70s series Jigsaw – but the following shows all set out with the express purpose of leaving children traumatised, and more than succeeded. Brrrr.

2: Eerie, Indiana

Something of a tonal precursor to Stranger Things, this early '90s series starred Hocus Pocus actor Omri Katz as Marshall Teller, a teenager whose family moves to desolate Eerie, Indiana (population: 16,661).

Tongue-in-cheek but still terrifying, the show saw Marshall and best pal Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow) embark on unnerving adventures involving werewolves, hauntings and a classmate who dies in a gruesome accident, with his spirit being transferred to a classmate via a heart transplant.

Chock full of references to scary movies from The Fly to The Wolf Man, Eerie, Indiana had a strong horror pedigree of its own, with Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) serving as a creative consultant and also directing several episodes.