When was the first time you saw a scary movie? We want to know.

It was a rite of passage. When you were young, you stayed up late, curled up on the couch with a snug blanket and buttered popcorn, and watched Linda Blair get possessed by a demon in “The Exorcist.”

But were you able to sleep afterwards?

Regan MacNeil, played by Blair, is 12 years old in the movie. And while kids have been in a ton of horror movies (see also “The Ring,” “The Shining,” and “The Omen”), are they too young to watch them? Parents, do you need to adjust your streamer’s control settings to avoid scarring your kids for life?

These questions seem timely as Halloween movie season approaches. We ask our readers to help us answer them. How old were you when you first saw a scary movie after you were really scared and couldn’t do anything by yourself? It doesn’t have to be “The Exorcist.” Some of us (I won’t say which) were exposed to Freddy Krueger at the age of seven. And I still shiver when I see brown gloves. The first time I saw “The Silence of the Lambs” was when I was in college, late at night. I asked her friend Seth to stay the night so I could sleep. She forbids him from using the word “want” and after he throws away all the bottles of lotion.

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