Most funny animal stories are filled with actions and events that could possibly scare young children, the primary target group for the stories. It could be anything ranging from a bad guy's grim face to a primary character being horribly mutilated. This is especially true in more violent series such as Tom & Jerry, and you would not expect the more extreme shock effects in a Donald Duck story where the very name of Disney would seem to guarantee a mellower story.
But Carl Barks worked in many shock effects in some of his stories and you are presented with a collection of them on this page. When reading, please observe two important things: 1. The examples should be seen as through the eyes of children - on a child's level, and 2. The stories were all published before the big blood'n'guts era got started; many of them relate to very human events that are somewhat out of the grasp of small children and could consequently be seen as both dangerous and scary.

SURPRISE
WDCS141 'The Think Boxes' Things are not always what they appear to be; the nice man is in fact a disguised, bloodthirsty wolf.	WDCS199 'Bigger and Bigger' Even the nephews are scared silly by these oversized chicken pox germs from another dimension.	U$50 Rug Riders in the Sky Magica de Spell has changed her whole appearance numerous times to both human impersonations and scary creatures.

FRIGHT
FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo An undead being travelling the streets of Duckburg? The perfect scare for a small child.	WDCS283 Captain Blight's Mystery Ship The ducks are forced onboard a perilous ship and forced to slave their days away. Scary stuff...	VP1 Vacation Time Are the ducks about to be roasted in a blazing forest fire? We are only told several panels later...

CLOSE-UP
U$62 Queen of the wild Dog Pack A very realistic wild dog	FC0275 Ancient Persia An extremely scary professor	FC0108 Terror of the River An overpowering sea serpent

PSYCHIATRIC
FC0108 The Firebug Donald's personality changes radically after a bump to his head; he becomes a reckless pyromaniac.	FC0108 Terror on the River A mentally disturbed scientist has captured Donald. I like to scare people, he cackles ominously.	WDCS101 'Nightmares' Donald is unable to sleep without having severe nightmares. Many children know about this - they have them also...

SUICIDAL
WDCS180 'The Billion Dollar Policy' This highly thoughtless - not to say terminal - action is really a case of Don't-Try-This-At-Home-Kids!	WDCS213 'Spring Cleaning' Donald would rather risk his life diving into a tiny pool of water than to be captured by the pursuing hound.	FC0308 Dangerous Disguise The only time (if this isn't enough!) Barks showed us a real death - and moreover it was a suicide!

NEAR-DEATH
WDCS177 'The Bathysphere' Donald is slowly but surely suffocating and dying from thirst inside a hollow pearl from a giant clam.	U$44 Crown of the Mayas The ducks are slowly perishing in a deep well. In U$06 'Tralla La' they all experienced a similar fate when landing in a whirlpool.	WDCS066 'The Ice Fisherman' Donald is not able to find his way up through the ice on the lake. Goodbye, cruel world, are his final words...

DEATH
U$063 House of Haunt Scrooge wanders aimlessly about tormented by the firm belief that he has died and is now a ghost.	FC0189 The Old Castle's Secret The villainous caretaker of Scrooge's ancestral home is faking his own death very convincingly.	FC0199 Sheriff of Bullet Valley Donald is apparently shot dead in the last panel of the page, and he only 'resurrects' later on the next page.