This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Most of us don’t associate kids’ cartoons with the horror genre. Childhood is supposed to be a time of innocence after all, and horror’s heart belongs to darkness. But throughout the years, cartoons and the horror genre have been frequent bedfellows, and animated works featuring ghosts, ghouls, and monsters can be traced back to the early days of the medium.

Making fright fare for younger viewers is necessary. As children, our imaginations were more active and our curiosity was strong. We wanted to learn about the world, but as we began to discover that life wasn’t all teddy bears and candy bars, watching horror-tinged cartoons gave us a safe space to explore our inner fears. Sometimes, though, they just catered to our inner burgeoning geeks who were developing a fascination with the fantastical. At the end of the day, those of us who fall in love with horror do so because we think it’s cool.

If we had to list all the horror-themed cartoons aimed at young viewers we’d be here forever. That’s an endless rabbit hole right there. However, cartoons based on horror movies children shouldn’t be watching is a smaller medium, but you might be surprised to find how many there are out there, just waiting to be rediscovered.