Donald Pleasance narrated a swimming Public Safety Announcement that gave children nightmares

The 1973 PSA is actually pretty chilling

Did you know that in 1973, Donald Pleasance narrated a public safety announcement regarding the dangers of swimming?

Not only that but t advertisement was so scary it apparently gave children nightmares.

In it, he plays "the spirit of dark and lonely water, ready to trap the unwary, the show-off, the fool..." and proceeds to show children in danger around a deep body of water.

What follows is actually quite chilling, capped by the appearance of a cloaked grim reaper-type figure.

The clip has resurfaced via Vimeo user Jackson and you can watch it for yourself below; if there are any children nearby, it'd probably be a good idea to shield their eyes.

At the time, securing Pleasance for this advert would have been a huge coup.

The decade previous, the actor had starred in The Great Escape (1963) and as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in 1967's You Only Live Twice. Later that same decade, he would go on to star as Sam Loomis in John Carpenter's horror classic Halloween (1978).

Nothing in that film is scarier than this.