If you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s, your memories of Sesame Street likely consist of more than just Big Bird, Mr. Hooper, and friendly neighborhood lessons. Before Elmo took over the street, the iconic PBS children’s show was a breeding ground for avant-garde art, experimental music, and some truly bizarre indie animation.
For many Gen Xers and older Millennials, certain vintage Sesame Street segments felt less like educational programming and more like a glitch in the matrix. They were strangely hypnotic, undeniably psychedelic, and sometimes downright unsettling.
Let’s take a trip down a surreal memory lane and look back at the strangest, creepiest, and most mind-bending Sesame Street segments from the 70s and 80s.
Why Were Early Sesame Street Animations So Weird?
When the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) launched Sesame Street in 1969, creators Joan Ganz Cooney and Jim Henson wanted to push the boundaries of educational TV. To capture the attention of a generation raised on fast-paced commercials, they commissioned independent animators, experimental musicians, and pop artists to create short, catchy segments.
The result? A collision of 1970s counterculture and preschool education. The era was defined by analog synthesizers, Moog sound effects, pop-art aesthetics, and slightly eerie stop-motion. It was a golden age of creative freedom, but it also accidentally spawned a host of childhood nightmares.
The Most Unsettling and Psychedelic Segments
1. “Cracks” (aka The Crack Master) (1975)
For decades, “Cracks” was the ultimate piece of internet lost media. Many adults recalled a terrifying short about a girl staring at the cracks in her bedroom wall, which come to life as animals (a camel, a monkey, and a hen). The jazzy, moody animation takes a dark turn when they encounter the “Crack Master”—a grotesque, screaming face made of plaster that eventually crumbles out of sheer anger.
For years, people thought they hallucinated the segment, likening it to the Mandela Effect. It wasn’t until around 2013 that the short was finally unearthed. Narrated by Dorothy Moskowitz of the experimental 1960s rock band The United States of America, “Cracks” remains the undisputed king of creepy Sesame Street lore. It was reportedly pulled from the airwaves by 1980, possibly due to its frightening imagery or the unfortunate rise of the crack cocaine epidemic.
2. The Face Morph (1973)
If you want a masterclass in the “uncanny valley,” look no further than the surreal face-morphing animations from the early 70s. Utilizing early, rudimentary morphing techniques, these shorts featured human faces seamlessly and unsettlingly melting into other faces or bizarre abstract shapes. Paired with jarring, electronic sound effects and zero dialogue, these segments felt like a fever dream that interrupted your afternoon alphabet lesson.
3. Pinball Number Count (1976)
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… 11, 12!”
You can probably hear the funky bassline just reading those numbers. Directed by animator Jeff Hale, the “Pinball Number Count” is a masterpiece of psychedelic pop-art. But beneath the incredibly catchy vocals provided by the legendary Pointer Sisters, the animation is a chaotic sensory overload. The pinball travels through wild, trippy landscapes—from haunted houses inside giant clown heads to bizarre circus freak shows. It’s a funk-fueled acid trip masquerading as a math lesson.
4. Jazzy Spies (1969)
Before the Pointer Sisters counted to 12, Sesame Street taught numbers 2 through 10 with the “Jazzy Spies.” If the vocals sound familiar, that’s because they belong to Grace Slick, the powerhouse lead singer of Jefferson Airplane. Watching frantic, abstract spies pop in and out of strange geometric shapes while an acid-rock icon wails the number “SEVEN!” is the most quintessentially 1960s/70s thing to ever happen on public television.
5. The Baker Clips
A staple of early Sesame Street, the “Baker Clips” featured a clumsy baker carrying a precarious number of pies or cakes (e.g., “Nine coconut custard pies!”). Without fail, he would trip and violently tumble down a flight of stairs in a chaotic crash of pots, pans, and pastry. While undeniably funny, the sheer suddenness and volume of the crash—often voiced by Jim Henson himself—startled a whole generation of unsuspecting toddlers.
The Legacy of Sesame Street’s “Glitch in the Matrix” Era
Today’s children’s programming is heavily sanitized, focus-grouped, and digitally polished. But the Sesame Street of the 70s and 80s was an untamed frontier. Animators and musicians were allowed to be weird, bringing a sense of surrealism to the living room.
While segments like “The Crack Master” might have given us a few nightmares, they also taught us to appreciate art, abstraction, and the delightfully strange. They are a true glitch in the matrix of our childhood memories—unsettling, unforgettable, and entirely unique.
What was the strangest Sesame Street segment you remember from your childhood? Did the Crack Master give you nightmares, or were you mesmerized by the Pinball Number Count? Let us know in the comments below!