What are you afraid of??

[Lilith Vine]

I have this fascination with knowing what people fear. I thought with it being Halloween season this would be a good time to start a thread about this.

I have the common arachnophobia and claustrophobia (the fear of spiders and closed spaces, if you didn't already know.) I'm also afraid of things happening while I'm sleeping. I'm neither a light nor heavy sleeper but somewhere in the middle so sometimes I wake up when I hear the littlest noise and sometimes I don't wake up at all. The third would have to be loud noises. When I go to a haunted house I'm not scared because some clown/zombie hybrid just jumped out and started chasing me, I'm scared because some clown/zombie hybrid just jumped out and started chasing me while screaming.

I would love to read about your fears. I've been fascinated with this subject for as long as I can remember!

 

[JordanBlack]

For as long as I can remember I've been afraid of birds (ornithophobia). I believe it started when I was about 4 years old and my mum had an obsession with Hitchcock's movies, one of them being The Birds (1963). She replayed that movie so many times right before bed time, I was having nightmares with birds eating my eyes. That movie marked me for life! And in the same period my next door neighbor with which I used to play had this horrible parrot that will attack any non-human family member. Ricky, the parrot was even attacking his house mate, which was a huge Great Dane dog mind you and even my own cat was terrified about that evil-evil bird. To this day I avoid any heavily populated pigeon areas, squares, parks etc.

 

[CharlotteLace]

In horror movies, I get all panicked about werewolves. Pretty much anytime they have the point of view of a hairy beast running through a forest, I get a little skeeved out. Really my only irrational, monster fear though.

I'll agree with Jordan on the birds- but I'm only like that with chickens. I used to take care of a friend's hobby farm, and they had chicks in a pen neighboring adult chickens. Finding dead baby chicks who had gotten through the fencing was unpleasant. Especially because the hens would peck the eyes out of the babies. Poor little guys. Chickens are assholes. I would have to raid some of the nests daily to get eggs from the hens, and it would take way longer because an angry hen would stand her ground.

 

[Lilith Vine]

In horror movies, I get all panicked about werewolves. Pretty much anytime they have the point of view of a hairy beast running through a forest, I get a little skeeved out. Really my only irrational, monster fear though.

I'll agree with Jordan on the birds- but I'm only like that with chickens. I used to take care of a friend's hobby farm, and they had chicks in a pen neighboring adult chickens. Finding dead baby chicks who had gotten through the fencing was unpleasant. Especially because the hens would peck the eyes out of the babies. Poor little guys. Chickens are assholes. I would have to raid some of the nests daily to get eggs from the hens, and it would take way longer because an angry hen would stand her ground.

Geez, chickens sound horrible. I knew a girl in high school who was afraid of birds to the extreme. A bird flew into the school cafeteria and she got under the table crying.

 

[eyeteach]

Vampires, just...vampires.

 

[AlanaTaylor]

Clowns. I literally cannot go near a circus or anything that has clowns around. I couldn't sleep after reading IT for three nights. My husband didn't think to tell me it was about a clown. When I was like four or five I saw a clown and it stepped on my foot by accident but hard enough to bruise and that's where my stupid fear started.

 

[LailaBaise]

Flight of the Navigator situation when you go out and then return home to find years have passed and someone else is living in your house and you have no idea what the fuck happened or where your loved ones are!

 

[AmberCutie]

Spiders
The dark (and much like Zombeee, things that might happen while I sleep, in the dark)
Heights, to an extent
Pain (I think this is why I can't handle horror movies focused on gore/torture type stuff)

Biggest fear: Losing the love of my life. When I'm having a really deep dark day, sometimes I have awful fits of depression thinking about the future and wondering when we'll no longer have each other. Man that's an awful thing to think about.

 

[NoelleBright]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a fear, but clusters of holes really really freak me out. It makes my skin crawl and turns my stomach so bad I feel like I want to puke.
A lotus pod is a really good example of what I'm talking about.
ukeright:

 

[Lilith Vine]

Spiders
The dark (and much like Zombeee, things that might happen while I sleep, in the dark)
Heights, to an extent
Pain (I think this is why I can't handle horror movies focused on gore/torture type stuff)

Biggest fear: Losing the love of my life. When I'm having a really deep dark day, sometimes I have awful fits of depression thinking about the future and wondering when we'll no longer have each other. Man that's an awful thing to think about.

I have a hard time watching gore/torture stuff as well. I can handle demon/ghost type scary and I love it, but if it's people kind of scary I absolutely hate it. I watched Hostel the other day and it just made feel uncomfortable for days! The scariest thing is that things such as that really happen and it's usually for money.

 

[Lilith Vine]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a fear, but clusters of holes really really freak me out. It makes my skin crawl and turns my stomach so bad I feel like I want to puke.
A lotus pod is a really good example of what I'm talking about.
ukeright:

I just googled that and I highly regret it haha.

 

[BarbieLuv]

~Blood - Specifically human blood, either real or simulated in movies; oddly enough if it's animal blood, I don't panic/pass out.
~Vomit - Seeing it, hearing retching, vomiting myself... my emetophobia was once severe enough that I had anorexia in high school that had *nothing* to do with my weight; I was just terrified that if I ate before/during school, I would puke it back up. :? Obviously I've gotten better since then, but I still get nervous if my stomach hurts even a little/I think I might puke.
~ Heights - I think this one is a normal survival instinct, haha.
~ Darkness - Fear of what's in it, more than the darkness itself. Again, normal survival instinct.
~ Getting 'stuck' somewhere - So like an elevator getting stuck while I'm in it, going hiking and getting injured on the trail, car breaking down in the middle of nowhere. Anything that makes me unable to get home ASAP.
~ Sturgeons - Dunno why, but those fish friggin' terrify me!
~ Drowning - I can't swim, so... yeah.

 

[LovelyLucille]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a fear, but clusters of holes really really freak me out. It makes my skin crawl and turns my stomach so bad I feel like I want to puke.
A lotus pod is a really good example of what I'm talking about.
ukeright:

Ugh ugh ugh ugh.
This gets me too.
So much.

I looked into it once and I guess it's some sort of left-over from old primal instincts we used to have. Things with those kinds of patterns were typically poisonous or bad for us so we'd have that reaction to avoid what could hurt us. Most of the population lost that "trait", I guess, but some people were left with it.

Of course, knowing that there's a reason behind it doesn't make my skin crawl any less.

I've got the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

I've also got a very weird, very irrational fear of rabbits. Cute pictures of bunnies and such online aren't an issue... but put me in a room with an actual live rabbit? hsjkdfhjsdkfs.

 

[HarmlessSquirrel]

Life.

 

[AmberCutie]

I've also got a very weird, very irrational fear of rabbits. Cute pictures of bunnies and such online aren't an issue... but put me in a room with an actual live rabbit? hsjkdfhjsdkfs.

Maybe it's their teeth. They freak me the fuck out. Any rodent or animal with those teeth scare me a bit. Which is funny because I had 2 rats and a bunny when I was a kid and I wasn't all that afraid back then. They ALL bit me though... maybe it's a PTSD thing from being bitten.

 

[xDollPartsx]

Bugs that jump, like grasshoppers... Seriously.. One of those lands on me and I do about 30 minutes worth of tai chi in a nano second complete with the shaking of the hands after going.... Eeewwwewwewww!! But I suppose my biggest thing is the thought of anything happening to my daughter. I have trouble watching or reading anything having to do with kids being hurt or sick in any way. Makes my stomach turn cause I just think of it being her and the deepest feeling of hopeless doom enters my body. Even when I have dreams something happens to her I get thrown off and weepy the whole next day. Just fucks with me.
I also have a fear of drowning, not really consciously that, just water I can't see the bottom of or touch the bottom of. I flip out. I can't even take my daughter swimming cause I get so anxious I just end up yelling the whole time and no one has fun. Luckily my mom and sister were both competitive swimmers so they take her. And she is the kid who would live in the tub if I let her.
This comes from (and I don't recall it funny enough my mom made a comment about it a few years ago to my surprise) that I actually drowned and was brought back when I was really young. So funny how those stick with you.
I also do that weird thing where I can't stand someone running up the stairs behind me. Walking is fine, but the second they pick up their pace, I instinctually take off as fast as I can up the stairs like my life depends on it.
Among the weird things, I guess there are more than I realized, I have a weird thing with my nec . Its not always, but once its triggered it doesn't go away for a while(which can irritate people if they are trying to kiss on my neck haha) if someone breathes on it while hugging me or talks on it or tries to make the fart noise thing on my neck I flip out. Instant panic attack(I'm also this way with tickling it almost hurts and is NOT funny)and I pull my shoulders up to hide my neck like a turtle haha. I am hard to startle tho. But when someone does my instinct is to laugh hysterically. I don't screa . Just burst into laughter. My kid is the same. Her favorite game when she was little was for me to sneak up on her and startle her and she would just die laughing. Poor thing never had a chance.

 

[RoseGranger]

Clowns. I had a couple incidents as a child that fucked me up.

Anything that resembles a tiny human. Baby dolls, porcelain dolls, ventriloquist puppets, etc. Same thing I had a huge traumatic event when I was little a man who was dating my grandma would buy my sister and I porcelain dolls. I'm talking like 20 a piece and we had to display them all. The guy turned out to be a crazy stalker guy who tried to hurt my grandma. So at night I would try to sleep but I'd look up and just swear they were looking at me.

Also enclosed spaces. Caves, elevators. Got stuck in an elevator for a couple hours by myself. No way to call for help.

 

[LilyEvans]

I'm afraid of tornadoes. A tornado siren going off will reduce me to tears...under a mattress in the bathtub, of course. :lol:

I also have a fear of heights that didn't develop until a couple of year ago. I used to be totally fine with being up high, or on ledges, but not anymore. Now I find even a staircase to be a little intimidating. I get terrible vertigo, nausea, and the fear that if I get too close to the edge I'll slip or be blown off by a gust of wind. I would never, ever, EVER in a million year go skydiving or bungee jumping. I don't even like looking at photos taken from tall buildings looking down, they make me sick. Strangely, this DOES apply to buildings-- I cannot get to close to a window without freaking out, especially a floor-to-ceiling window-- but it does NOT apply to airplanes.

Oh, and moths. FUCK MOTHS.

On an abstract, cosmic level I guess I'm afraid of being alone and losing my closest loved ones. I have nightmares about it.

 

[AmberCutie]

OH I forgot, I have a seemingly unnamed phobia. Fear of objects underwater. Specifically manmade objects submerged or partially submerged in water, and especially mechanical objects.

There are forum posts around the web with the same thing, but I don't think I've ever (nor have the other posters) read an official name for this.

The worst would be the water rides at theme parks. Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney - the submerged cannonball simulator things, the track under the boat, etc. I have nightmares about falling in that water. Very close second would be the underside of boats, buoys, and the posts of docks and such under water at lakes/beaches/the ocean. And lastly would be seeing sunken shipwrecks or other metal items.

When Jawbs and I went to the Queen Mary in Long Beach (documented via a few pics and videos on my blog and youtube back then), there was an exhibit that showed the partially submerged propellers.... /heebiejeebies.

 

[NoelleBright]

OH I forgot, I have a seemingly unnamed phobia. Fear of objects underwater. Specifically manmade objects submerged or partially submerged in water, and especially mechanical objects.

There are forum posts around the web with the same thing, but I don't think I've ever (nor have the other posters) read an official name for this.

The worst would be the water rides at theme parks. Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney - the submerged cannonball simulator things, the track under the boat, etc. I have nightmares about falling in that water. Very close second would be the underside of boats, buoys, and the posts of docks and such under water at lakes/beaches/the ocean. And lastly would be seeing sunken shipwrecks or other metal items.

When Jawbs and I went to the Queen Mary in Long Beach (documented via a few pics and videos on my blog and youtube back then), there was an exhibit that showed the partially submerged propellers.... /heebiejeebies.

I actually just came here to mention this!
It's not one of my fears but one of my best friends is scared of submerged man made objects. Stuff like sunken ships really bother her. I've seen it called submechanophobia but I think that was just a name coined by people who have it and not anything thats professionally recognized or anything.

 

[AmberCutie]

I actually just came here to mention this!
It's not one of my fears but one of my best friends is scared of submerged man made objects. Stuff like sunken ships really bother her. I've seen it called submechanophobia but I think that was just a name coined by people who have it and not anything thats professionally recognized or anything.

Yeah THAT'S the name I found once, I was trying to find it just now! Thank you. But yeah it seems it's more coined by people with it than by any phobia experts. if there is such a thing. :I

 

[helloimc]

This is rather complex but I have signs of Angrophobia. I get irrationally scared to the point of tears and panic attacks when anyone around me is verbally angry (yelling) and it doesn't have to be directed towards me at all. I'm rarely angry myself and I've probably "truly" yelled out of anger twice in my life and felt bad for days afterwards.

 

[Emmalie]

Ghosts scare the crap out of me. You can't hit them with anything.

 

[Lilith Vine]

Ghosts scare the crap out of me. You can't hit them with anything.

but they can definitely hit you with anything :lol:

 

[SaffronBurke]

Someone or something coming to get me in the dark.

Car doors popping open and me flying out.

 

[NoelleBright]

Is there a fear of being a passenger in a car?
If there is I have that. My anxiety goes sky high when someone who isn't me is driving.
:lol:

 

[Emmalie]

Is there a fear of being a passenger in a car?
If there is I have that. My anxiety goes sky high when someone who isn't me is driving.
:lol:

Me too. I would rather drive 8 hours then have someone else drive 10 minutes.

 

[Nordling]

Claustrophobia. Intense fear of suffocation. MIght be because when I was a kid, my older sister locked me in a closet for two hours. :lol: Oh, and when I was two, I almost drowned--saved by my favorite aunt; probably the only thing I remember from that age.

 

[AerynShade]

Ghosts scare the crap out of me. You can't hit them with anything.

Salt and iron, baby!
(I watch too much Supernatural.)

 

[Emmalie]

Ghosts scare the crap out of me. You can't hit them with anything.

Salt and iron, baby!
(I watch too much Supernatural.)

Burn them Bones.