The internet has gone into a tailspin over shocking new observations that everyone's favourite locomotive-themed children's show may have deeply disturbing undertones.
After a deep-dive into a Freudian reading of Thomas the Tank Engine by The New Yorker over the weekend, others are emerging on social media with their own scarring moments from the show.
Twitter user Tristan Cooper tweeted several clips from the beloved animated children's show, including an episode where a stubborn train is punished by "being entombed alive forever".
In the clip, a train named Henry was bricked into a tunnel, under orders from the Fat Controller, as punishment for being scared of the rain.
"It's worse than any horror movie," Cooper wrote.
It wasn't the only scene he found to be grimmer than should be appropriate for a children's show.
"One Thomas the Tank Engine episode features a character getting literally pulled apart. That's gore. This is train torture porn," Cooper wrote in another post.
He also pointed out the dark nature of the scrapyard, which features in many episodes.
"Those are dead trains, CORPSES rusting out in the open," he said.
Thomas the Tank Engine began in October 1984 and is still airing today.
Newshub.
