Today a friend of mine told me about how she used to be terrified of “the Joker” from Batman, and how her older brother used to hide behind the shower curtain and jump out when she walked into the bathroom, yelling, “The Joker’s got you!” Naturally, this did not make my friend very happy.
Last night, another friend told me about the time her brother and his friend, who were babysitting her and her sister, convinced them that there was a man outside waiting to KIDNAP them. Great babysitters, those.
I think I got pretty lucky in the older sibling department. The worst thing my brother ever did was indoctrinate me with his fallacious beliefs that clear Christmas lights and gravy are evil.
What about you? Any sibling horror stories?
(P.S. I do not really mean to suggest that brothers who torment their younger sisters are not good brothers; both of the friends I mentioned adore their big brothers. Just so you know. 
)
November 29th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
When I was 6 or 7 my brother used to chase me around the yard with hedge clippers and threaten to cut off my hair (which was very long.) Around the same age he got a plastic sword for his birthday and convinced me that it was real, and then of course proceeded to chase me around the house while I was screaming my head off. Now we’re both grown up and we’re great friends. That didn’t happen until he went off to college though.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Thank you for considering me and my fellow only children Erin. GOSH. *Goes in corner of room and cries*
November 29th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
well. once my brother wrestled me to the ground and shoved some grapes up my nose. or made a valiant effort at it, at least. i have no idea what posessed him to do that.
another time he made me run up and down the garage stairs 20 times. don’t know why he did that one either.
he’s nice to me and thinks i’m cool now. but, like rachel, i think that didn’t happen until he went off to college.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Yeah, my older brother one year gave me a present with a false bottom. And I was pretty little and not very bright at that sort of thing, so when I opened the present to discover that it was indeed, an empty box, I promptly burst into tears.
And, speaking as an older sibling (and an occasionally evil one at that), one of my brothers and I convinced our little brother one year (on April Fool’s) that he was going to win a million dollars and his own private island and that the people were just outside on the porch to give it to him. Yeah, I harbor no respect for my little evil self, I believe that I laughed at him when he ran out there with wide-eyed expectancy to find an empty porch.
*shame*
*guilt*
November 30th, 2006 at 8:12 am
My son, you might know him, told my daughter, doubt you know her, that the world used to all be in black in white and that only some places have upgraded their towns to color, such as Eugene/Springfield. “See, the old John Wayne movies were filmed in places that haven’t upgraded, like Idaho.” Yeh, she believed it. For a long time.
Wanna write a book about sibling deception? Call me.