While Disney is commonly associated with family and love and all American apple pie, the studio is also responsible for a great deal of our childhood trauma. Since the cackling witch in 1937’s Snow White, Disney’s had our vulnerable psyches in its vice-like grip, intentionally – and sometimes unintentionally – squeezing hard enough to cause stress fractures.

Here are our most traumatic Disney moments, from the studio’s animated catalogue. Please note that as a joint studio venture we did not include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for it would have made up places one through ten.Spoilers ahead.

10 Gurgi's Sacrifice, The Black Cauldron

Yep, he dies.

During the ‘80s, Disney was suffering from something of an identity crisis. Those left in charge since Walt and his brother Roy passed on struggled to recapture the magic of the studio's past efforts. With its poor box office and PG rating, 1985's The Black Cauldron nearly killed the studio's animation arm altogether, and the film’s surprisingly (or refreshingly?) dark themes are now somewhat legendary. A moment of particular note is the ‘self- sacrifice’ of adorable sidekick Gurgi, who, claiming he has no friends, leaps to his death in order to save the film's heroes. Despite the fact he is brought back to life in a kind of cruel 'a ha tricked you!' twist, the brief shot of his crumpled body will destroy the poor minds of any child under 8.

9 Pink Elephants on Parade, Dumbo

This isn't actually a sequence from The Wall.

The moment where Dumbo experiences something akin to a bad acid trip stands in such stark contrast to the rest of the film it’s hard to believe Pink Floyd hadn’t hijacked the studio and slipped the animators a little something. The sequence, which sees a drunken Dumbo visited by squishy, stretchy pink elephants marching in a sort of ominous death-parade, is a terrifying reminder that infant elephants should stay away from the bottle.

8 The Ending, The Fox and the Hound

Dooooooooooooooooooooooooomed

In a movie full of heartwrenching moments as two childhood best friends are forced apart by circumstances beyond their control, you’d think that at the end there’d be some salve to soothe the pain at the end. You know, best buds are reunited, still friends despite their differences in breed (or race or colour, which of course are the larger implications.) But it seems that Disney weren’t in the mood for happy endings that year, and what we got instead was unexpected cynicism as the pair realise they must go their separate ways; it is the Natural Order, after all.

7 Lampwick Turns Into a Donkey, Pinnochio

Also doomed.

Nothing says Don’t Do Drugs Kiddies like this little gem of a moment in Pinocchio, when the eponymous puppet, drunk off beer and dizzy from cigar smoke on Pleasure Island, sees his friend Lampwick suddenly – and violently - turn into a donkey. It’s horrifying to watch as Lampwick, unable to speak, frantically bray for help, and then succumb to the final transformation that will secure his fate.

6 Night on Bald Mountain, Fantasia

Oh him? He's just Satan.

The final chapter in Disney’s classical music-driven Fantasia was just a little reminder from the studio that not only does evil exist, but also it parties hard. The sequence, which has Satan himself summoning all sorts of horrors from the depths of hell to take part in a death-dance on earth, implies that this sort of thing happens every night while kids are asleep. Who knows? Maybe it's happening in their closets.

5 The Evil Queen Transforms, Snow White

While the face of Snow White’s old hag has since become a Disney icon, the scene depicting her transformation is still terrifying. This is partly because it looks so painful; a small price to pay, no doubt, for Snow White’s downfall, proving The Evil Queen really is one of the most sadistic villains in Disney’s vast catalogue.

4 The Beginning, Up

Want to make a grown man break down? Show him this.

The beginning of Up is storytelling at its finest; an entirely non-verbal portrait of life and death and love in ten entirely moving minutes. And while ‘traumatic’ may not be entirely right, many grown-ups were reduced to tears, shocked that something so poignant and truthful could be found in a ‘kid’s movie.’ But of course, Pixar’s movies aren’t kid’s movies. Not at all.

3 The Furnace, Toy Story 3

Say goodbye to Woody, kids.

Oh god, the furnace! There was something so human about this moment, driven by animated ‘children’s playthings,’ which just reinforces Pixar’s enduring mastery of its medium (this was the dreaded threequel, and it was a homerun.) The moment where the toys hold hands in acceptance of their fate in a fiery inferno was the most sophisticated – and traumatic – in the series so far, the coda in the message that weaves throughout the series: one day we all have to “say goodbye to childish things.”

2 Bambi's Mother Dies, Bambi

MAKE IT STOP

While animated films have dealt with dark subject matter since, Bambi remains the poster child. The death of Bambi’s mother in the 1942 animated classic was, for many children, the first time they’d encountered death on the big screen, and there was a chilling subtlety about it that wasn’t easily forgotten. The cracking shot that kills her is heard off-screen, and while we have immediately figured out what has happened, little Bambi has not, and we can only cry as we watch him call out “mother?” into the snowy night.

1 Mufasa's Death, The Lion King

How could it have been anything else? The death of the noble Mufusa was so unexpected and brutally executed that a little bit of innocence in every child watching withered away forever. Part of it was the explicitness of the wildebeest sequence that preceded the death itself – the film didn’t shy away from violence – and the other part was that horrible, terrible aftermath. When a disbelieving Simba lifts up his father’s paw to place it around his tiny body? Heartbreak city.What Disney moment traumatised you? Let us know in the comments.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN or Twitter.