Do you have a really weird or silly fear? Not a mainstream fear or one that's very common, a totally random one?
Posted by SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 751 comments
I do, I'm scared of empty swimming pools. I can't even look at photos of them because they scare me. I can't work out why I have this fear but I do!
GeggingIn@reddit
People dressed up as mascots or animals in those full costumes where you can’t see their face.
Rowanx3@reddit
I used to be terrified of these as a child and my mum would always call them over to say hi to me
GeggingIn@reddit
If they clock you are not enjoying yourself, they come over and hug and sometimes make you dance.
Whoever is in there is just being nice and but it chilling if you fear them.
damnallthejellyfish@reddit
Me too. Most likely its a murderer in there.
winebookscats@reddit
The late, great Robin Williams had a stand-up joke about that - "Mickey Mouse to a 3 year old is a six foot fucking rat!'
SelectTrash@reddit
My cousin has this one, I told her the masked singer must be a nightmare for her.
BrutalOnTheKnees@reddit
There's an episode of Bob's Burgers about this. Well worth a watch.
GeggingIn@reddit
Madly never seen any Bob’s Burgers. Will definitely give it a watch.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
Iv'e watched Bob's burgers, but I don't like the way the animators drew tge characters. They look hideous.
BrutalOnTheKnees@reddit
Ah it's amazing, the early seasons used to have me pissing myself.
SnooGadgets5130@reddit
Did not expect the movie to be a musical either, went to see it in cinema and was pleasantly surprised.
rabid-fox@reddit
When i was in security bad a cleaner scared of clone trooper masks. Had some star wars charity thing on one day had to ask them to avoid her
GeggingIn@reddit
Mum doesn’t like those either!
it is the sort of cute ones with smiles I don’t like.
They are usually at really nice events involving charity which makes me feel really bad.
Green-Froyo-7533@reddit
I was once Pudsey Bear for the day and kids loved Pudsey, the adults not so much. 😂 those suits are so damn hot as well, I felt like I’d been waking the desert without water for days after and my skin was so dried out. Hats off to anyone who completes a marathon in one that’s serious dedication!
germslayer2112@reddit
I wore one for only an hour or so to collect money for the World Wildlife Fund at a summer fayre. It was really hot and the face was plastic- all my sweat gathered in the nose.
Was quite amusing how many kids were scared of me though. Despite temptation, I did behave!
Juuudes@reddit
I hope you don't find this triggering, but I read a thing in the football fanzine When Saturday Comes where they showed teams with their heads solemnly bent during the minute's silence, panned along the line and the mascot was at the end with a big grin on its face. There were loads of them and they just got funnier and funnier, I was in bits.
arrowtotheaction@reddit
I love this too haha. There was/is a twitter account dedicated to them: Mascot Minutes Silence. They’re so funny 😂
GeggingIn@reddit
To be honest, that does sound really darkly funny.
NotASockPuppet88@reddit
You REALLY dont want to google or look up the furry fandom, then.
Reignbeaus@reddit
I took my daughter as a toddler to a fun day at the local library where they had one of these, she freaked and screamed the place down. We'd booked to go to eurodisney a few weeks later and I did have some apprehension about what would happen there but the only mascot there she was afraid of was Darth Vader.
arrowtotheaction@reddit
I remember an old colleague saying her daughter loved the show Fifi & the Flowertots, they went to a shopping centre where Fifi was doing a meet & greet and her kid got more and more freaked out the closer they got to this character, crying “no, no, she’s too big!” so they had to turn around and get away 😅
GeggingIn@reddit
Glad to hear you all had a nice time once you got there. Maybe exposure therapy is what is needed.
narnababy@reddit
I used to be part of a dance school and one of the students had this fear. The kids got the chance to dance at Disneyland Paris and we had to guide her across the park with her eyes shut to the performance area in case she saw Mickey Mouse or something. I did feel sorry for her, she was absolutely terrified poor kid.
Stabbykarp@reddit
Same here but the ones at Disney don't bother me at all, it's the cheap TEMU ones I get the heebies about
TNTiger_@reddit
Same, ever since that incident in '82
Moppo_@reddit
I would agree, but I don't fear them, I just hate that someone did it.
QuarrieMcQuarrie@reddit
Yes! I hate it. Also, very large things- especially man made ones
Wild_Region_7853@reddit
Anything stationary that has a face, the bigger the thing the worse it is, and the more realistic the worse it is too. Can’t go to the dinosaur bit in the natural History museum without having a panic attack
Reesy@reddit
A guy I used to work with told us as a child he had a serious phobia of Michael Jackson, he said to the point his parents put him in therapy it was that bad. I asked him like could he listen to his music at the time and he said he could, but any image or thought of him would trigger severe episodes of fear and panic 🥴
Wild_Region_7853@reddit
My friend’s husband showed their 5 year old the Thriller video around Xmas time last year and she’s still having nightmares almost every night
cheese_bruh@reddit
Right now would be a terrible time for him, with the movie being advertised everywhere lol
No_Opposite7757@reddit
Tbf, is a young boy having a fear of Michael Jackson all that silly? Seems logical.
LeftSaidTed@reddit
Did he have it bad, bad, really really bad?
moodybishhhh@reddit
I am terrified of big pipes going over a body of water, and big pipes in general lol
BeanOnAJourney@reddit
Swimming pool drains. I am getting prickly armpits just thinking about them. My local pool has big criss-cross grates spaced along the length of the pool floor, and an extra large metal one in one corner of the deep end. I used to be able to avoid them all by swimming along one side of the pool but during maintenance a few years ago they added more, bigger ones, and they're unavoidable. I haven't been able to go swimming since, they're just horrific to me.
ChallengingKumquat@reddit
I have heard about people dying because they got stuck to a swimming pool drain, and the suction was so hard they couldn't come up for air.
BeanOnAJourney@reddit
It's not even the potential danger they bring, it's just that they're underwater. My local pool has the same grates over the spill drains on the ground all around the edge of the pool and I have absolutely no problem with them, but underwater? Fuck no.
CarpeCyprinidae@reddit
I once saw the pool lifeguards at the pool in Hemel Hempstead - as the pool opened in the morning - yell "there it is" and go running to the deep end of the pool with a rod and pull out a weighted-down fake shark
Epic level trolling aimed at people who worry about the drain-grates
acacnhlover@reddit
Just wanted to show some appreciation for “prickly armpits”
Affectionate_Fig6812@reddit
I am afraid of Mr Bean and his voice sends shivers down my spine 🤢 and by association, have taken a dislike to Rowan Atkinson
anacrucix@reddit
I cannot touch cotton wool, the thought of it makes me shudder
X2seraphim@reddit
Clowns…dwarf clowns in particular.
kt0n@reddit
Aliens
ghostlight1969@reddit
Serrated edges, like the circumference of an old 10p or a guitar string. Cannot bear to touch a serrated surface, let alone run a fingernail across it. I’ll run a mile if someone else threatens to (I’m getting anxious just writing this!)
Far_wide@reddit
My wife is horrified by pigeons that are sitting down. No, I don't know.
KatAstrophie-@reddit
I found out pigeons (both male and female) produce milk to feed their young - effectively breastfeeding - and never looked at them the same.
cafffffffy@reddit
you have clearly never played animal crossing and been offered pigeon milk in your coffee by Brewster 😆
KatAstrophie-@reddit
Eeewww!
Potsysaurous@reddit
Oh my gosh. What legends. Step up, boy pigeons.
Beautifly@reddit
Also flamingos and emperor penguins!
RelationshipLife6739@reddit
Literally any bird in the street and my partner has to hide behind me. Like just keep walking and they’ll fly off they’re scared of u hahaha
SelectTrash@reddit
I've got one of those when they're all flying from watching bits of the Birds film when I was really young.
king_ofbhutan@reddit
do NOT go to australia during magpie season
Missus_Nicola@reddit
It's when they fly off that I don't like it
No-Extension-2378@reddit
I've only recently got over my bird phobia. Spent most of my life terrified because of some creative domestic abuse my father came up with 35 years ago.
FinancialBread4660@reddit
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pigeon sitting down 🤔
blissnabob@reddit
His wife is thoroughly envious.
Most_Moose_2637@reddit
Never heard of a stool pigeon?
Sybs@reddit
They keep asking who. Maybe she knows who.
iDidNotStepOnTheFrog@reddit
Your comment creeped me out, my own idiocy is giving me a good laugh now
tishkat@reddit
This is my favourite. Sorry to your wife for laughing so much
GrabbedByTheGhost@reddit
Aahhahahahaha
sapphire-sky-dragon@reddit
I used to be scared of my bed because I thought it had piranha fish 🐟in it that would eat me if I moved 🤷♀️
Thankfully i grew out if it lol
No-Lawfulness1159@reddit
44M To this day I’m convinced a snake may be laying under the toilet seat every time I open it.
Poethegardencrow@reddit
I’m very scared of frogs , also empty swimming pools, I can actually explain why but I’m afraid it might be uncomfortable for others.
Cantbearsed1992@reddit
Me too, I could never go to a house with a pond. My husband had to give me a piggy back to the toilets on a camping holiday! Frogs are the only thing I let out an involuntary scream at
Poethegardencrow@reddit
I even scream at pictures or when a post of frog comes on , I don’t hate them at all i just physically can not look or see one. When we go camping we actively stay away from ponds 😂
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Please explain why!
Poethegardencrow@reddit
Here >! An empty swimming pool makes me feel like a thin sharp razor slicing into me the warm smell of blood seeping out, hitting the bare tiles, then the blood smell and smell of decay is so high while I hear and see the blood being dragged between thin sheets of glass and the tiny grains of sand at the bottom of the empty tiles.!<
bladefiddler@reddit
Smashing your teeth into the washbasin tap when you slurp to rinse after brushing your teeth.
I use a glass or my hand, but it's still an intrusive, horrifying thought.
AdThat328@reddit
Never rinse after!
kettlejuices@reddit
My issue with this is, what happens to the dislodged food which is now hanging around in the residual toothpaste foam? I can't count the amount of times I've rinsed and has flecks of herbs 'n such appear. Wouldn't exactly want that left on my teeth.
AdThat328@reddit
Swish the toothpaste in your mouth before you spit? Or wait 20mins then rinse.
fillerbitch@reddit
Well you're not meant to rinse so just omit that step and you'll have to worry less!
Free_Ad7415@reddit
No one is leaving the house with a white frothy mouth full of toothpaste, whatever the packaging says
m205@reddit
You can spit it out, just don't need to rinse your mouth after.
darcsend_eu@reddit
Better even. Move it elsewhere in the routine. Rinsing first thing in the morning then swallowing apparently is incredibly good for your gut bacteria.
Recommended as one of the easiest things to implement to improve your bodily functions.
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Where did you read/see that? Interesting! Gross but interesting:)
darcsend_eu@reddit
Andrew huberman
slinkysoft@reddit
I would love a source for this/more specific search terms to look into
darcsend_eu@reddit
Andrew huberman
Glittering_Vast938@reddit
I rinse before I brush my teeth.
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
Use cheap generic mouthwash after flossing and before brushing!
Supslick@reddit
Komodo dragons. I can't look at them.
TobsterVictorSierra@reddit
Generic swimming pool infrastructure as a creepy liminal space is actually a thing; and exists as a spinoff of The Backrooms.
jeanclaudecardboarde@reddit
What's "The Backrooms"? This is the second time I've seen it mentioned. I've searched but it's just coming up with a movie....
koalaty3@reddit
It's a creepypasta/horror concept of liminal space - basically rooms "behind" the buildings in our world that can be accessed accidentally. They're dull and empty and there's no way to escape. It probably originated on r/nosleep. Here's an example, not sure if it's the original story.
confuzzledfather@reddit
I think it was a 4chan post originally. But I might be wrong. Some dude posted some images of various weird liminal spaces that were an old mall or office space.
jeanclaudecardboarde@reddit
Similar themes to Hauntology in a way?
koalaty3@reddit
Hmmm, I can see that. I think the point of Backrooms though is the sheer, inescapable loneliness. You can't go back to your life, you can't engage with anything because there's nothing there. You just wander through these endless samey old rooms for eternity (I think in most adaptations you can't die).
In retrospect that was a bad example since the random floating thing takes away from the more indirect unease of the Backrooms concept. It was just the first one that pulled up when I searched lol
Hyper_Lamp@reddit
Check out the channel ‘Kane Pixels’ on YouTube. Hes created a great youtube series on it and is the one directing the movie.
It’s basically a place full of endless, liminal and uncanny spaces with the most common being a murky yellow office block that anyone can “fall” into if they make the wrong step.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
The backroom are a kind of creepy YouTube videos.
TobsterVictorSierra@reddit
Worth saying; you also start seeing it everywhere.
m205@reddit
Mmm I do love a windowless room, me.
sophiemoores@reddit
It's more than a movie. It's a series. Put backrooms explained into Google. It's well worth. Extremely creepy. Basically it's an endless office people can get lost in and never find a way out. A movie is coming out but it had a big scary series on YouTube.
Illustrious-Plum1766@reddit
I’ve had these dreams many times, since I was a child…it seems someone else did too!
jeanclaudecardboarde@reddit
I'm intrigued.
sophiemoores@reddit
This will give you background on the backrooms. It's so worth it. https://youtu.be/el3u0y-vNzk?si=f4kj7nwiD4aELkQl
TobsterVictorSierra@reddit
In a nutshell: an infinite empty dreary office. There's a movie coming, but the concept has been around for about 8 years. This describes the history a bit: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-backrooms
sophiemoores@reddit
They also have a few games to.
SelectTrash@reddit
To this day I can't walk across the deep end of pools I have to start at the shallow end because I used to have nightmares of it swallowing me up as a kid.
catssocksandcoffee@reddit
Steep roads or driveways. I used to have a recurring dream as a kid where I was in the back of my dad's car going up a steep road and we started rolling backwards.
My niece has recently moved into a beautiful house but the drive slopes quite steeply upwards and it makes me feel queasy walking up it.
Then last weekend I was going to pick something up from FB marketplace and had to drive up a really steep road, I was sweating and nearly in tears by the time I got up to the top. Horrible experience.
I'm fine with steep trails, it's just paved/tarmaced surfaces that creep me out.
damnallthejellyfish@reddit
Prunes and dates, i avoid that aisle and cannot touch or look at them it makes my fingers and toes go all fuzzy . The shininess and wrinkliness is horrendous
Spark3yy@reddit
So random but I'm scared a volcano will open up underneath my house. Even though there's no volcanoes in the UK.. literally had nightmares about it lol
HalfYankHalfBrit@reddit
Mannequins.
MotherFatherOcean@reddit
I have a bit of those myself, got it from a Twilight Zone episode
OwlExpress2843@reddit
I’m scared that slugs are going to jump up at me, even though I know it’s biologically impossible.
chuill@reddit
Bruno Mars
SelectTrash@reddit
He was rude to my aunt at an airport once.
chuill@reddit
See! I had a feeling he was a prick. A scary little prick.
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Fear?!
chuill@reddit
Terror
Unusual_Resident_784@reddit
Chimps scare the shit out of me. People love watching them in the zoo and think there comical and loveable but its a different story if there missed off. Google Travis the chimp to see they're not quite as funny or loveable as people think they are.
MotherFatherOcean@reddit
Jane Goodall was asked what surprised her most about chimps in her research, and she said it was their violence and willingness to kill other chimps. She said she was shocked the first time she witnessed it.
nicskoll@reddit
Chimps and baboons are terrifying
Unusual_Resident_784@reddit
Yep. There was a video on here a while back out of India where a baboon scalped a man very easily. Also, there pictures of hairless chimps out there revealing there pure muscle underneath.
Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit
My late father had a baboon as a pet when he lived in Africa ( Mombasa). Mind you, when he returned to the UK, he got a seagull and a stoat too ( he didn’t capture them- they chose to live with him). He had a special way with animals…
BobKickflip@reddit
Their muscles are also way more efficient than ours... I have 3x in my head. So look at how ripped they are and imagine they're three times as strong as a person with the same physique. Do this after you've gotten out of the enclosure and the door is closed behind you and not them.
blissnabob@reddit
I think it's to do with how their ligaments and tendons are attached to their skeletons. Further down than ours, giving far more leverage.
MPD1987@reddit
Have been to India…can confirm that the wild monkeys are terrifying
Adventurous-Dog-3786@reddit
As someone who has come across baboons whilst working in Africa, I strongly agree ! They can literally tear a human body apart.
nicskoll@reddit
We used to go to cape town for holidays quite a lot. One day, walking up cape point, a baboon wouldn't let my mum and I pass mum handed me to dad and bribed the baboon with simba chips (crisps) so that she could pass. He wasn't there on the way back, thankfully
Bloatville@reddit
This isn't a silly fear. They can be very dangerous.
The__Pope_@reddit
It's silly in that you'll never be in a situation where you're able to be reached by an angry chimp unless by choice
Bloatville@reddit
I am scared of plenty of things I'll never encounter.
EitherOrResolution@reddit
Or hope to beJesus won’t
Bloatville@reddit
Indeed!
JayR_97@reddit
Yeah, people really underestimate how quick wild animals can go from calm to wanting to rip your face cos you looked at them wrong
SelectTrash@reddit
I remember watching a video of a chimp grabbing a seagull, bashing its head in and then eating its brains, I'd prefer not to be around them.
Loose_Avocado4670@reddit
I understand this fear. When chimps are angry they can be extremely dangerous and violent.
I'm curious though, if you're in a zoo, they're I an enclosure so it's extremely unlikely they will get to you.
narnababy@reddit
One realistic thing about Jurassic Park was the animals escaping. And I say that as a former zookeeper.
WanderWomble@reddit
Jurassic Park bugs me because there's no catch pens on the gates!
Loose_Avocado4670@reddit
Oh really?!
Could they escape easily?
narnababy@reddit
It’s not unheard of and I wouldn’t say easily but there’s a legal requirement to do regular animal escape drills in the UK, and have someone with firearm training (and firearms) on site for a reason. Human error is the most likely cause (accidentally leaving a door open), I’ve known animals escape because a storm blew a tree into their enclosure and they waltzed out, overhanging branches, electric fence not working, people leaving the gates open to walkthrough exhibits. Obviously the more dangerous the animal the tighter the security but humans are humans at the end of the day and we all make mistakes.
narnababy@reddit
I used to work at a zoo, on the primates section. I hated going near the chimps, they are way too fucking clever. One of them used to find the pointiest sticks possible and try and stab people she didn’t like. I used to have nightmares that the chimps had gotten out and no one was concerned about it except me, I had a hiding place planned out and everything for if I ever got the animal escape call over the radio. I’m locking those doors and fuck anyone who wasn’t on the inside of it, AND I had a secret hiding place beyond that just in case.
Orangutans are muppets though; they could hurt you if they wanted but mostly if you gave them squash and biscuits they’d do whatever you asked. I once traded a length of metal rebar from our big male (who was, I will admit, trying to stab my male colleague with it and jam the door open to get at him, but he was a 40 year old hand-reared orphan - the orangutan, not the colleague - and he just didn’t like men), and he happily gave it me for a couple of digestives, a drink of squash, and a lick of my fingers (he was a bit of a perv). They are absolutely ruled by their stomachs for the most part. Chimps are ruled by rage.
yazshousefortea@reddit
This is an amazingly well written comment. 👏
VickyAlberts@reddit
What about gorillas? Are they more like the orangutans or the chimps?
narnababy@reddit
Never worked with them but I’ve heard they are also pretty chill unless you upset them
Illustrious-Plum1766@reddit
You reminded me of a long-buried childhood memory, of being at a zoo in the late 80s/early 90s, likely in a region where they still don’t have close to the same level of animal welfare as the UK.
There was a concrete moat at ground level, then bars and mesh, with plastic covering that. But the chimps were kicking off and throwing literal shit, as they do, and were crossing the moat to get to us.
I was swiftly and nonchalantly hustled away as one slammed against the barrier, but they were REALLY pissed off. As a child I felt safe because of the bars, but they really wanted to kill us all.
I guess that’s why I’ve never seen chimps as being cuddly guys you teach sign language to.
blodblodblod@reddit
I read one of the Famous Fives to my daughter recently, and in this particular book, two bad guys get attacked by a chimp. It's very much written, not exactly for laughs, but like the two guys are making a big fuss about nothing. My husband said "that thing could rip their faces off, what the hell is Blyton playing at?"
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
You have a posh husband.
blodblodblod@reddit
I do Kent_Doggy_Geezer. I do.
q-the-light@reddit
Posh husband solidarity... I'm a working class northerner and he's a privately educated Oxford toff. I know the struggle.
blodblodblod@reddit
Welsh valleys comp Vs Privately educated Surrey boy. His mum wouldn't let him watch TV when he was younger, lest it affect his accent. And then I came along.
q-the-light@reddit
Haha oh the similarities are painful! My MIL thinks I'm a right povo and bad influence. Truly horrifies her ther my husband has picked up some Yorkshirisms from me, but I think it's hilarious when he says normal words in his plummy voice.
Toffee963@reddit
Love Enid Blyton!
GirlMcGirlface@reddit
Same! Apes creep me out so bad
JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit
DR ZEUS DR DEUS
CMDoet@reddit
I don't like apes for this reason and monkeys also make me uneasy. Part of it might be their similarity to humans though.
spittingparasite@reddit
Chimps are arseholes.
cragglerock93@reddit
I'm not scared of chimps to look at behind glass, but I really don't like them. They remind me of people, but only the bad bits.
Pircster38@reddit
If you stare at a chimp it will take your eyes out.👀
tricks_23@reddit
Like the one on that emergency call where the woman had a pet chimp and it attacked her. The woman's friend called 911 and you could hear it going crazy. She said something like "it's eating her face".
Unusual_Resident_784@reddit
Yep, the Travis the chimp incident. There was also another attack in the States with the chimp ripping of its owners nose and even worse, his genitals though i can't recall the name of the fellow.
Illustrious-Plum1766@reddit
I literally shivered reading that.
Unusual_Resident_784@reddit
I just googled it, the man was called St James Davis and the chimp did indeed rip off most of his face and genitals and also severely injured his limbs resulting in his foot having to be amputated.
Illustrious-Plum1766@reddit
This is reminding me of a long-buried childhood memory, of being at a zoo in the late 80s/early 90s, likely in a region where they still don’t have close to the same level of animal welfare as the UK.
There was a concrete moat at ground level, then bars and mesh, with plastic covering that. But the chimps were kicking off and throwing literal shit, as they do, and were crossing the moat to get to us.
I was swiftly and nonchalantly hustled away as one slammed against the barrier, but they were REALLY pissed off. As a child I felt safe because of the bars, but they really wanted to kill us all.
spookystarbuck11@reddit
Yes, this one was awful. I don't think the operator knew how serious and urgent this was at first.
aaarry@reddit
Bet you loved the intro to 28 days later.
InYourAlaska@reddit
Chimps that escape at a zoo are a “shoot to kill” level threat over big cats iirc
Honestly if one got a hold of me then just shoot me. They don’t even aim to kill you, they aim to grotesquely maul you.
It always freaks me out that at my local zoo the only thing they have stopping the chimps escaping their outside enclosure is an electrical wire and some water. I’d hazard a guess and say if you really pissed one off enough they’d manage to swim pretty fucking quick, if not just jump the damn thing.
arjay555@reddit
Chimps, monkeys and apes/primates in general scare the shit out of me. My friends always find it strange that I have a phobia of monkeys, but I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.
Maxi-Moo-Moo@reddit
I 100% get this! They are too human like for me. Too strong and they just give me the hell no.
philsrice@reddit
My MIL has the same fear and I made the mistake of turning on 28 days in front of her
Unusual_Resident_784@reddit
You should watch the recently released Primate with her for a laugh.
JustStraightUpLost@reddit
Let her watch nope next.
RonBonxious@reddit
That scene from Nope was the scariest bit of the whole film for me!
Googlq@reddit
Baked beans they freak me out no idea why
Great_Tradition996@reddit
I’m better now but I used to have a real aversion to lorries without trailers attached. For some reason, they reminded me of disembodied hands or something. Urgh
terrorvicky@reddit
Yes, they look so unbalanced.
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
They always look like they're about to fall over.
Jumpy-Jello-@reddit
I say this too! They look like their heads are too big for their bodies.
Jnarey1@reddit
This makes no sense and all of the sense at the same time
colin_staples@reddit
All the weight is low down and the cabin is full of air, so they won't tip over
SasiBan@reddit
They remind me of sunfish
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
They always remind me of severed heads.
Accomplished-Salt797@reddit
Pure poetry
bercl@reddit
They freak me out so much!
crystalstarling@reddit
Seeing one of these is like catching a dog having a shit - you know, when it looks at you all nervous and sheepish? Same vibes.
Jill4ChrisRed@reddit
I always see them like those gym bros who only work their upper body and skip leg day lol
charliekeery@reddit
my old manager had a phobia of ketchup. we worked in a spoons and it obviously got messy sometimes so i'd sort the tables that were particularly ketchupy.
it always made me laugh but he told me some asshole "friends" pranked him by putting it all over his car and he couldn't get home that day 🙃
SelectTrash@reddit
I have this same phobia lol
charliekeery@reddit
omg i've never known anyone else with it
SelectTrash@reddit
It freaks me out so much, I have to ask burger places for no sauce or a tiny amount and my friend smothers his chips with it to the point I have to leave the room, because it makes me gag.
charliekeery@reddit
i'm not a huge sauce person anyway but i feel like that's just rude of your friend 😭 i wouldn't use any at all if i ever ate with my manager lol
kettlejuices@reddit
Those big inflatable christmas decorations. Can't tell you why, they just freak me out. Similar feeling for large sculptures of human (or bipedal) figures.
SmackRattusRattus@reddit
Bathroom walls, toilet seats touching anything other than the underside of my thighs, shower curtains.
charliekeery@reddit
i didn't think i had a weird one until i saw a banana and remembered i can't touch them, but that's because of the spider thing
teeseoncoast@reddit
I have a fear of hundreds and thousands. Only if I had to swallow them. I can look at them and touch them but the thought of having them in my stomach or going down my throat makes my skin crawl. My hands are dripping just typing this out.
ameliasophia@reddit
I’m the same with certain types of drinks (although I also can’t touch them or say their names). My whole life I’ve only ever drank water. If I was in a desert dying of thirst there are some drinks I think I would be able to drink if no water was available (maybe tea or coffee or hot chocolate) but others I genuinely wonder if I’d just die if they were the only option.
ColbysRevenge@reddit
Do you know if anything caused this? Don't answer if you don't want to say of course
ameliasophia@reddit
No idea tbh! It’s always been that way as long as I can remember. I get the impression it’s similar to ocd.
Once when I was in primary school we went on a residential and the place we stayed put out jugs of various drinks but not water and they had us doing the washing up each evening (taking turns in small groups to practice responsibility or something) but I was terrified that the cups were not “clean” enough to drink out of and I was too shy to ask the grown ups to provide water and a few days into the trip I was so dehydrated that on a beach trip I was close to collapsing and I admitted to the teacher that I hadn’t been drinking anything and she tried to make me drink from her bottle but it wasn’t water so I wouldn’t do it and she was so angry at me but I just couldn’t.
So I know it’s not rational but it’s very strong.
ImThatBitchNoodles@reddit
I genuinely hate people diagnosing strangers online, but please look into ARFID. My son has ARFID and his behaviour towards certain drinks (and foods) are extremely similar to what you're describing.
A lot of adults who struggle with stuff like you're describing have undiagnosed ARFID on some level. It doesn't have to be severe and it is a less known eating disorder (consequence of sensory processing difficulties) that also affects fluid intake. It is entirely possible to have it and to only affect your fluid intake.
Antique_Surprise_763@reddit
My friend cant drink anything but water however has no problems with any food. It just makes him unconfutable in a way he is frustrated that he cant explain. He knows its irrational but that obviously doesn't help him. He would drink juice if it was life or death but would hate it.
Something interesting was finding technicalities. He could drink water with lemon slices even if the lemon had flavoured the water (because that's just water) but if something was sold as flavoured water he couldn't. He was ok with jelly and even watery soup as that's a food.
One time he unsuspectedly had a gulp of flavoured water and said it tasted great but couldn't bring himself to take a second once he knew what it was.
It frustrated him a lot and I can understand why.
ellemeno_@reddit
ARFID is the bane of my life. I have certain foods and textures I have consistently disliked/been repulsed by, and if I have a bad experience with a food (such as gristle in meat) it can then put me off something I’ve previously liked. Since the way mince has been packaged in supermarkets has changed, I find it too mushy so my already limited range of meals has taken a hit. I know it’s irrational but I’ve been like it for decades in one way or another.
elaine4queen@reddit
It can take months for me to be able to eat something again if I’ve had the ick from it. Spinach is the worst - I generally like it quite a lot but if I’ve had a slimy portion it’s got to go.
kingkarl123@reddit
I think you need genuine professional help. Luckily water is available everywhere but you’re missing out on soo much.
pepper691@reddit
An ice cold lager in the desert - you don’t know what your missing
SpecialKindofBull@reddit
A “fear of hundreds and thousands”? What the heck does that even mean? Why is this upvoted?
Afraid-Astronomer886@reddit
I have r/megalophobia but only really with ships, they make me so uncomfortable
hopeelizabethhh@reddit
god i hate ships they’re so big and creepy and weird
CuriousPone@reddit
Me too! I had no idea this was an actual thing!
TheSaladLeaf@reddit
Same...large boats out of water freak me out, even more so if there is a person stood next to it. Also, anything large that should be submerged in water, like the Panama canal gates, canal walls, propellers 🤢
GeorgiePorgiePuddin@reddit
YES. It’s called submechanophobia. I have this too. Idk if you remember the Smirnoff advert that was on tv in the early 2000s but I’d have to leave the room. I really didn’t think when I moved into my flat on a canal 😖 I see horrors every day.
Icy-Initial2107@reddit
I'm not afraid of heights, I'd happily climb up a rickety rope ladder, stand near the edge of a cliff, I did rock climbing in the past for goodness sake. But stair cases made of corrugated metal or especially welded grid ones, and especially if they have multiple turns so you can look down the middle give me an intense sense of doom.
No idea why, I have a little breathing ritual and close my eyes for as much as I can. The sense of relief when it's done is immense. I know it's irrational but they look so flimsy and impermanent, just waiting to fail at the worst moment.
Staceface312@reddit
I have such a weird fear of fish. It stems from when a friend of mine at the time threw her goldfish at me as a joke when we were 8 and the poor thing landed on me and flopped around.
Yes I know it's stupid but here we are lol.
demiiguise@reddit
Moomins. Really creepy.
Sevenoflime@reddit
Zooming out on Google maps to see the sea and other countries really freaks me out/makes me feel sick.
Jumpy-Jello-@reddit
Like in an agoraphobia way?
AccordingCause5@reddit
Haha me too, I have to cover my eyes and peek through my fingers before fully looking
Hyperion2023@reddit
See also: Space nausea. Those ultra high definition pics of saturns rings. CGI zooming is fine, it’s the still photos, eeeeeerp
deoxyribose64@reddit
It gives me the heebie jeebies to think those big plasticine looking planets are real and that they’re just floating out there. And the SIZE of them. Eugh.
Existing_Ad_5811@reddit
I have to look away from the screen, but zooming in is worse
KaranDash24@reddit
I can understand that. I used to feel a bit unsettled looking at atlas of the polar regions.
squiddlumckinnon@reddit
Same but zooming in! Me and my twin sister have always had this, whenever we used to search something on google earth and it zooms out then into the sea we had to look away
over-it2989@reddit
Me too!! I love looking at tiny islands on maps but have to zoom in otherwise I start to feel panicky.
cloudyextraswan@reddit
I used to know someone who was deathly scared of baked beans.
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
I have that. It's not the sauce, it's not the haricot beans, it's putting them together 🤮
crazylablady@reddit
Koumpounophobia .... I was hoping someone else has this phobia. A fear of buttons. Sounds ridiculous to read that back but I've had it since childhood and only learnt in recent years that it has a name. Years ago they would make me feel nauseous to touch them.
poppyedwardsPE@reddit
I have a fear of clothes buttons, it's not as bad as it used to be but I still avoid all clothes with buttons
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
I have this as well. They make me want to vomit.
CMDoet@reddit
My sister has this. She won't even say the word.
deoxyribose64@reddit
That’s fascinating, what is it about them you don’t like?
poppyedwardsPE@reddit
Everything, even the thought of touching one makes me feel sick
IShouldBeSoLucky81@reddit
I had a friend who was the same. Ironically we worked in a clothes shop. I would take over hanging/folding things with buttons and send her over to what I was doing.
garlicandherbsauce@reddit
fear of bugs going into my ears
Proper_Security_3050@reddit
I used to be terrified of electricity substations. Well I still am but I can briefly look at them now. It became an issue when I closed my eyes during driving lessons whenever we went past one 😂 so I force myself to make eye contact with them now to lessen the impact but I would still very much rather not.
LoudCar7846@reddit
By any chance, were you around in the late 70s/early 80s when they used to show the Play Safe public information films, warning children about the dangers of playing near overhead power lines and electrical substations? The one with Jimmy and frisbee frightened the life out of me.
Proper_Security_3050@reddit
I’m a 90s baby, but I wonder if there was something similar then?! Probably something they showed us at school when they wheeled the big tv in
SelectTrash@reddit
There were adverts in the 90s I remember
i_heart_punk@reddit
I'm scared of Sloths. Whenever I see a picture or video I feel like its not a real animal, they creep me out so much. My brain refuses to believe its real because they look like a Jim Henson puppet with a 15 year meth addiction. I have to look away if they're on TV or appear in reels. Thankfully theres no wild Sloths in Scotland.
SelectTrash@reddit
Lmao that description
winebookscats@reddit
He's got slightly better now after 26 years, but the first time I brought home a carton of eggs, my (now) husband opened the door of the fridge and screamed.
EcstaticAd9234@reddit
Going over any bridge when I was younger, was always convinced it was going to collapse imminently
SelectTrash@reddit
My uncle has this and he lives in Newcastle lol
LoudCar7846@reddit
I still have fear of bridges, especially the ones across water and you can see over the sides, had to turn back when trying to cross the Millennium Bridge in London.
randomgaydisaster@reddit
Used to be really unsettled by toucans when I was young...
Points to anyone who can guess which kids show might've been to blame
iamloubielou@reddit
Polystyrene 😬
vagueconfusion@reddit
The sound of it being cut literally makes me convulse.
Aggressive full body twitching and mild head shaking. I don't even realise I'm doing it for a second because I've usually cringed, shut my eyes and clamped my hands over my ears.
It's a ridiculous reaction from a grown adult but it's such an awful sound.
SelectTrash@reddit
Now you're making my teeth grit lol
Swim-Global@reddit
Wax models, any models of people. Like the ones you see in museums. I don’t like them at all. If they’re animatronic it’s even worse.
SelectTrash@reddit
This and porcelain dolls their eyes follow you around the room
acacnhlover@reddit
They’re creepy af tbf, uncanny valley
daniel_guillon@reddit
Static shocks. I get them quite a lot from escalators, lift buttons, car doors, metal drinks cans in supermarkets, etc. I try to wear clothes that don’t cause static and I have rubber soles on my trainers. I have major anxiety already so the fear of getting a static shock sends my nervous system into overdrive.
Spanner1993@reddit
We moved from a really damp house to a recently build, well insulated, very air tight house. The whole family have become electrified. We can't touch one another without a visible spark! 2 year old doesn't understand, obviously and is fucking pissed everyone is zapping him with their new magic powers.
narnababy@reddit
Double check your shoes; I had loads of them when pregnant and wearing a specific pair of crocs sliders. I think the material coupled with my waddling made me gain more static. The car, escalators, buttons, railings, when we were at the local shopping centre there must have been something about that floor because I couldn’t hold hands with my partner without getting a shock. After I stopped wearing them (when I’d given birth) the shocks went away.
Either that or my son has some sort of electricity powers he’s yet to manifest. Wants to get a move on so we can save some money on the leccy bill.
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Moisturise your skin. I was totally disbelieving but it does work. Used to get them all the time even stroking the dog ffs. Hope it works for you.
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
Its not often I get static shocks, and i mostly work from home, but when I do go into the office, the door always always always gives me a static shock. If ive got a jumper on, i can cover my hand to open the door, otherwise, what ive started doing is hitting it with the back of my hand before I grab it because it hurts less when it's the back of the hand.
bettybujo@reddit
I have the exact same fear but I can pin point back to when it started. There was an outdoor pool I used to have to walk past everywhere which was empty almost completely. There was greeny black sludgy water at the far deep end. It looked horrible and I was young enough to believe my brother saying anything could emerge from it.
giveitsometechno@reddit
I'm afraid of jewellery. I couldn't hold your hand if you have rings on If you have a pendant or necklace or something that dangles I wouldn't be able to eaty dinner with you in the room. Earrings . I be learned to cope with because I want to leave the house
acacnhlover@reddit
Can I ask what about it scares you? Or do you not know? Very intriguing either way and I feel for you as someone that wears 12 rings, 3 necklaces and 4 earrings daily and has 11 piercings. (Sorry if that was triggering in any way btw)
Skinsarelli@reddit
I want to downvote you for this but doesn’t seem fair to! :)
deoxyribose64@reddit
Not the original commenter but I have a similar thing. I’m okay with piercings (I have tons) but other jewellery sometimes irks me. I’m not totally sure why. I think for me it’s a hygiene thing, I think about the rings and stuff being dirty, and even if it’s a precious metal or stainless steel, I can’t help but picture a bad-smelling metal and it turning the skin green etc. And lots of jewellery at one time seems overstimulating. The funny thing is I really want to be a jewellery person too but I just hate it on me!
rosaluxuryburger@reddit
I’m not the only one? This is amazing to hear
Skinsarelli@reddit
Same here!! Freaks me out, but can handle normal metals, like can happily put screws in my mouth when working but if you asked me to put a ring in my mouth I’d throw up! As to why I’m not sure but alway thought of them dirty/germy!
Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit
Don’t know if it’s trypophobia, but I can’t stand things like frogspawn, tapioca and that bubble tea makes me heave. Never tried it- I just rush past the stalls that sell it…
WillingMidnight8411@reddit
Wet towels on a bed
Smidday90@reddit
Dunno if its a fear but mold freaks me out
CentralSaltServices@reddit
Anything with lots of little holes. I saw a rotten tree once with dozens of little holes and there were mice moving between the holes. I nearly threw up
blueroses8000@reddit
I think all humans have this to some degree as we’re biologically made to recognise it as something being wrong like disease. But lots of people have it (trypophobia) more severely and even strawberries etc can set them off.
ffs_not_this_again@reddit
I have the opposite of trypophobia. I want to touch things with lots of holes, the kind that triggers trypophobia, and run it over my fingers or even face.
SelectTrash@reddit
Same here, it fascinates me
wafflespuppy@reddit
I have this as well. There's a frog who has babies in holes in its back and it makes me retch. I can't remember the name and I refuse to Google it. Weirdly I'm ok with crumpets though
tomgrouch@reddit
My sister eats her crumpets upside down so she can't see the holes
wafflespuppy@reddit
Genius
_arch_tech@reddit
Thank you for the nightmare fuel.
wafflespuppy@reddit
Sorry, it truly is horrifying
Bullfinch88@reddit
Ah yes. The ol' Suriname toad.
I remember as a kid being repulsed by crumpets. Also something which also set me off was bubbles in the bath.
budget-lampshade@reddit
To save you googling, but so you know the name to avoid- it is the Suriname toad. Also known as Pipa Pipa.
UmaUmaNeigh@reddit
I get the same thing, and it's weird seeing at ehat arbritary point the number or size of holes do or don't trigger it 🤢
Original_Bad_3416@reddit
Oh my gosh, the hairs on my whole body stood up. I can’t deal with this
_arch_tech@reddit
Ive had this since I was a child and have a nightmare where I had black pips in tiny holes all over my skin. Our art department at school had loads of lotus seeds and they made me feel so uncomfortable I could never be near them. But the day I realised that bubbles in bubble bath look like holes, ive never been able to have another one since.
sophiemoores@reddit
Reminds me of the woman in American horror story cult..where she has the exact same condition.
AdThat328@reddit
Unfortunately extremely common...makes me absolutely shudder. I get really itchy and imagine them all in my skin with stuff crawling in and out of them.
LordBananaPants@reddit
Lotus pods terrify the eff out of me.
BirdieStitching@reddit
I have this, it's such a visceral response to something. I also have a spider phobia but it's nothing like this.
Spiders terrify me and I want to run.
Holes make me want to crawl out of my skin
GlamGemini@reddit
Yep this is mine. Googled it one day. Nearly threw up!
3mogs@reddit
Trypophobia. Don't Google it.
Afraid-Astronomer886@reddit
r/trypophobia
CentralSaltServices@reddit
Oh trust me, I won't!
VixenRoss@reddit
I used to have a fear of train travel. I was terrified of landing on the railway line.
We did have a retired train driver come round and scare us about walking on the railway tracks though. So it was that. I took it literally as trains are danger
SupportNo9543@reddit
Chewing wooly jumpers
joe865@reddit
Yes! Also when people used to suck their jumper sleeves in school. Makes me gag just thinking about it.
ButterflyTremor@reddit
My cat loves chewing wool, and the sound of him just chewing away on a wool glove is horrendous 😭
SupportNo9543@reddit
Oh good grief I had tooth lightning just reading this
narnababy@reddit
This but taking wooly gloves off with your teeth 🤢🤢🤢
heartpassenger@reddit
Great thanks now my teeth are tickling
sneltonexp@reddit
Right just reading that sent a shiver down my spine. I'll add scrunching a freshly laundered towel into the mix.
-FangMcFrost-@reddit
Drag Queens.
I don't know why but they've always freaked me out, ever since I was a kid.
I've met queens out of drag before and they're lovely people but there's just something about someone being in drag that makes me uncomfortable/scares me and with the rise in popularity of drag over recent years, I see drag queens a lot now on TV, especially on celebrity versions of BBC quiz shows.
Even when I was a kid I didn't like the pantomime dames but for some reason, I grew up enjoying Lily Savage's stuff on TV but I didn't really like Dame Edna.
It's a fear that's always puzzled me.
deoxyribose64@reddit
Maybe it’s adjacent to having a fear of clowns? The sort of exaggerated nature of the look?
-FangMcFrost-@reddit
Well I did think that was a possibility at one point but then I remembered that I've always been fine with clowns.
I've always found clowns to be a little bit annoying but I've never really been scared of them or uncomfortable around then like I am with drag queens or pantomime dames.
Rowanx3@reddit
As a kid i was scared of them because of the character HIM in the power puff girls
-FangMcFrost-@reddit
Yeah, I found him more unsettling than scary as a kid.
Historical-One2407@reddit
I am repulsed by buttons
Pigglet_Pie@reddit
Oh my someone else who’s afraid of empty swimming pools!!! I thought I was the only one.
laurasoup52@reddit
Absolutely terrified of those street cleaner machines. Something about how they can travel on roads AND pavements and "hoover" all sorts of things up.
TheArkansasChuggabug@reddit
I have an irrational fear of slipping and dying when getting in/out a bath that has the shower inside the bath. My own house currently has one so I face this fear every single day.
We have just bought a house which has a walk-in shower and I can already feel the wait being lifted. Just have to make it until moving day!
Educational_Bowl_447@reddit
Slugs freak me out when they crawl in through the back door of my house. I’ve had nightmares of them crawling on my bedroom floor whilst I’m stuck in bed. They’re like my own sleep paralysis demon.
ChallengingKumquat@reddit
For a number of years, it was common to find a slug in my kitchen or living room in the morning. There'd be slimy trails all around the room on the floor. I have no idea how they got into the house. One time I found the slimy trail all up the curtain, but the worst moment was finding one in the cereal packet. I threw away every item of food in that cupboard. Traumatised.
fwendy123@reddit
same! for me it's because of a horrifying book I read as a kid where people ate them and the slugs took their revenge by dismembering a child. it was a CHILDREN'S BOOK
demodogsarerad@reddit
Being inside a submarine despite the rarity of ever needing to go into one
AnEnglishAmongScots@reddit
I have a horrendous fear of wooden docks. Something about technically being on 'solid ground' while also being able to see water swirling about between the planks absolutely terrifies me.
I also have a 'reverse' fear of hights- I hate looking up at someone way above me , especially if they look like they could slip and fall. Throwback to my Primary 7 activity trip when I was an inconsolable mess while my friend brilliantly scaled a massive climbing tree- she didn't even make it to the top because she came back down to comfort me that she wasn't going to fall and die 🥲
Thestickleman@reddit
Moths.
I'd rather burn the house down than be in a room with one. Goes for alot of small flying things and the horrible noises they make but the sound and look and size of moths ☣️☣️☠️☠️
AccordingCause5@reddit
Cooked beetroot. I’m getting better now and I can be around it but before I couldn’t have it in my house and if I looked at it I would get teary eyed and gag and need to be away from it
Mrytle@reddit
I am terrified of worms, I can't even look at them if they appear on TV. I have been known to cross the road rather than walk past one in the pavement if it rains and they are the real reason I want to be cremated not buried when I die
Affectionate-Cost525@reddit
Used to be petrified of foxes.
I was young (about 3 or 4), late at night came downstairs to get a glass of water.
My older siblings were watching "Ginger Snaps" on the TV. I naturally got scared and in their teenage wisdom, they thought the best way to calm me down was to tell me that I didn't need to be scared, it was "just a fox".
I lived in London. Fast forward a couple days and there's a noise outside and a quite a bit of banging, including our bins getting knocked over.
When we go to leave for school the next day I ask why our bins are on the floor and rubbish scattered about. My mum explains that it was probably just foxes getting into the bin last night.
For about 10 years I had reoccurring nightmares about foxes. I didn't have the typical "monster under the bed" fears. It was a family of foxes that would drag me under if I tried getting out of bed at night. I had nightmares about these huge bipedal foxes that were big enough to rip the roof off of our house. Completely convinced that foxes turned into these big scary creatures and even though I knew it wasn't true by the age of about 8 or 9, I still couldn't shake that fear.
I was 14 when my aunt had a family of foxes move into her back garden and I finally got to see them up close in person. They're now one of my favourites animals so flipped pretty hard there.
spookystarbuck11@reddit
Wet shower curtains 🤢
never_ending_circles@reddit
I don't like it when I walk into a bathroom and the shower curtain is pulled across the bath. I feel anxious that there might be a body in there. I guess because of horror movies.
Potsysaurous@reddit
Yess
Jaybee021967@reddit
Down escalators, I can go up fine but there’s usually a large queue behind me whilst I dither about getting on the down one. Also I can’t stand to see tennis players wipe their face with a towel I get this squeaky skin feeling if anyone understands this??
Limmmao@reddit
My wife has venophobia. She can't see the inner part of wrists.
Responsible_Peach_96@reddit
I dont think its common, nor am I certain if its an actual fear, or my ocd screaming at me, but veins freak me out so much. I have a blood clot and blood issues, so maybe its the thought of how my veins failed to save me when I needed it.
My 2nd fear is Alice cooper. Terrified of.him. can't look at pics, videos or even hear him
Illustrious-Date-893@reddit
Baked beans. I can't even hold a can of them. I can't look at them. When Hovis started added them as a picture on the packaging I had to swap to Kingsmill
ElsieBird@reddit
Upside down things. Especially upside down shots in films.
Wrong_Duty7043@reddit
Butterflies, moths and ladybirds
WingingItSince87@reddit
My wife has a fear of oranges. No rationale behind it, just the look, texture, smell…she won’t even get close to them in the shops!
Hyper_Lamp@reddit
Usually peaceful animals being agressive
fattoni182@reddit
Crabs
CheapDeepAndDiscreet@reddit
Not exactly fear, but anything spindly gives me the heebie jeebies.
Rowanx3@reddit
As a child i was terrified of moustaches
rbarker82@reddit
The sound that polystyrene makes when rubbed together. I have to leave the room
Impossible_Number_7@reddit
Worms. My fear is worms.
denisturko@reddit
I have this legit fear of fish, and goldfish specifically just freak me the hell out. Something about their bulging, unblinking eyes and that weird slimy skin makes my skin crawl so bad. : (
Mikey463@reddit
Deja vu. I have epilepsy and I am very lucky it’s well controlled and my last seizure was 13 years ago. But when It started in 2013 I was having Deja vu auras. Now if I get Deja vu which isn’t often but if I do I completely freak out and think I’m about to fit. But again I feel lucky with my epilepsy so I will take a bit of fear every now and then. Some sufferers deal with it multiple times a day. Running a half marathon in September for epilepsy society.
FoxesFan91@reddit
you must be very fit
Mikey463@reddit
No No No. My Maximum run so far is 12K which I did two days ago. My latest race was 10K. I am training for the half marathon. I made it out in the post like it's a normal thing for me lol, I didn't want to get into too much detail.
Turbulent_Candy1776@reddit
Those huge satellite dishes in the desert or wherever. Also those huge wind turbine things. Nopey nope!!!!!
Electrical_Trade377@reddit
the red standby light on the tv
Consistent-Dance5461@reddit
I just cant eat anything green, just the thought freaks me out!
claireylou87@reddit
Octopus 🐙
They’re far too clever. Utterly convinced that if someone ends up in open water they’ll use their tentacles to drag them down. Not sure if that’s even accurate but I googled about those over sharks when my friend invited me to go snorkelling with her on holiday.
Pippin4242@reddit
Aztec art. Also any significantly personal ancient artifacts.
CityOfNorden@reddit
Ancient Egyptian stuff creeps me out.
rage_cats@reddit
I can see that. It's just really strange with frightening human figures and animals
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Christopher Columbus! That is weird. Would love to know your previous lives:)
Pippin4242@reddit
I think I just got upset by Roman sandals as a kid at the Clarks shoe museum, then deeply deeply unsettled by a BBC show that included Peruvian child sacrifices depicted on screen, then by the Roman Baths in Bath, which have a pot of face cream with the owner's finger marks still visible. Wrrrrgh
cardamommycupcake@reddit
Child sacrifices I get:) there are some bizarre and wonderful fears on here tonight! Kind of wish I was a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. So it doesn’t impact your day to day life as such? As long as you avoid tv programmes and films?
Pippin4242@reddit
I'm more of a "face death head on" type anyway, so it's just discomfort and severe unease. Only interesting to me because I don't really get that for anything else at all
Me2309@reddit
The only way I can describe it is the sensation on my teeth from biting a wooden ice lolly stick
ButterflyTremor@reddit
Same here! I also can't use those disposable wooden chopsticks or cutlery 🤢
morgsyswife12@reddit
Ok so I’m 35 now and it’s only in the last few years I’m ‘ok’ holding wooden lolly sticks or egg boxes no idea why they effected me as they did in talking full on goosebumps and shaking if someone put them towards me.
However I’m also shit scared of geese thanks to an incident when I was young.
littleboo2theboo@reddit
My mum is terrified of moths
speckledbeagleface@reddit
Same. And butterflies which are just glamorous moths.
CityOfNorden@reddit
Yes! Awful. A lad at my old job caught a massive one in his hand and chased me with it. I ended up out in the yard and I think they only realised I wasn't messing about, when the manager told me to get back inside and I point blank refused. 😂
Potsysaurous@reddit
YES! No respect for personal space aghh
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
Me too. They always seem to want to go up my nose. One time I broke my arm and they offered me a glow in the dark plaster cast so obviously I said yes! Then I realised it was August and sleeping with the window open the cast attracted moths. 😭
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
A glow in the dark plaster cast? I didn't they were a thing.
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
Well, Hereford hospital circa 2001 they were! There was a plaster cast trainee who was very keen and I think showed me a photo of a lamp he'd made for his house out of a practice cast. I got a whole rainbow of choice!
catsbeforetwats@reddit
Same, and butterflies. No idea why. My daughter loves going into the butterfly enclosure at our local aquarium, but I just can't go through (tried once and ended up crying like an idiot!)
Siriuslymarauding@reddit
I’ve found my people! Butterflies and moths, ever since I was a small child. I KNOW it’s ridiculous. I KNOW they can’t hurt me. I also know they can stay the fuck away from me.
Potsysaurous@reddit
Yessss
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
Ive been terrified of moths since I saw an episode of Casualty and a woman had a moth stuck in her ear.
Potsysaurous@reddit
Why did i read this in bed :(
Potsysaurous@reddit
Sameeeee
narnababy@reddit
Same, and butterflies. I have a friend who is also scared of them. For me it’s that dusty/scaly shit on them, it makes me want to vom.
Darthblaker7474@reddit
As is mine, which has rubbed off on to me.
I can tolerate butterflies though.
spezisdumb42069@reddit
I'm just not a fan of anything that flies in general, really, but I absolutely can't stand it when I have a moth in the room at night and it keeps drive-bying my ears.
chemical-mitch@reddit
Mine too. She’s also terrified of butterflies. Honestly I think she’s just scared of anything that flies cause she’s not a fan of birds 😅
mrs_shrew@reddit
Oh my school friend was too! She couldn't be in a room with one fluttering about.
NovelShelter7489@reddit
Balloons and the fear i might hurt/harm insects with my big, brutish, human hands. I adore all insects, just extremely anxious even looking at them might hurt them. Mental.
kwakimaki@reddit
Arcade machines that are turned off. There's just something really spooky about them.
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
I have a fear of the hollow inside a grandfather clock, and I feel this fits quite well with your fear. I get it.
Pircster38@reddit
What about the inside of an upright piano?
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
I have taken an upright piano apart, so not so worried about that one, though I'm not madly keen.
Pircster38@reddit
But something could be lurking inside the piano 👽
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
🦔
EitherOrResolution@reddit
Ugh
Polish_Shamrock@reddit
Mine isn't a fear but the feeling i get off the end of a plastic drinking straw goes through me and makes me shiver.
The empty space in a grandfather clock is mental though lol.
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
I know! Really not rational!
WinglyBap@reddit
That brilliantly specific. Mine’s the bottom of boats. Even when they’re not in water.
lewisw1992@reddit
That's submechanophobia.
Much more common than you'd think!
Admirable-Trouble789@reddit
Similar to a closed down fair ground or amusement park.
They just have this eery vibe about them.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
Amusement parks are liminal spaces, like shopping malls, airports and train stations. That creepy vibe that they give off when deserted is called kenopsia.
Missus_Nicola@reddit
Like a Goosebumps story waiting to happen
Vequihellin@reddit
Is that the mechanophobia or liminal spaces phobia just popping up though? Empty amusement parks are creepy because of the cognitive dissonance - they are places we typically see bright and crowded and alive. Seeing them dark and empty and abandoned feels 'wrong'.
GirlMcGirlface@reddit
Same, feels like I'm going to get pulled into the dark screen
MrDemotivator17@reddit
I’ve seen Big, those things are dangerous!
swallowyoursadness@reddit
We used to have an old arcade machine our the ba k where I worked, like an antique one. It had a clowns head on the top of it. It was terrifying and I had to walk past it alone in the empty corridor on every break
Normal-Internal164@reddit
Good shout
Abwettar@reddit
Tsunamis.
I watched a documentary as a kid that said we could all be drowned by a mega tsunami if an asteroid hits the ocean and I've never fully recovered.
Illustrious-Plum1766@reddit
My stress dreams are often tsunamis. I’m on the beach and the sea sucks alll the way back, and there are stupid people just WATCHING IT, and I see it coming (sometimes realistic, sometimes like a gigantic surfing wave) and I know I can’t get far enough in time.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
Some time ago I dreamt that London.had flooded. I saw murky water lapping at a closed window. Very scary because I had deep water and the prospect of drowning.
IcedWarlock@reddit
Same. I can see the sea from my bedroom window and I have severe anxiety the two don't mix
Hookton@reddit
I'm pathologically afraid of slugs. It's not the aversion itself that's weird (I think most people dislike them to some extent), it's the degree of aversion; I can feel my heart rate increasing just writing this comment, and the sight of one produces genuine hysterics. Most bugs wig me out, but slugs are next level. I'd rather stick my hand in a box full of spiders or centipedes than be within a foot of a slug.
And it's like. The least threatening creature in the world. What the fuck's it gonna do, chase me?
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
Slugs carry parasites that can be fatal to humans if swallowed. If you eat lettuce that hasn't been properly cleaned, you can accidentally swallow a small slug or some slug's eggs.
vagueconfusion@reddit
Slugs are one I really despise and make me so viscerally uncomfortable but the worst is the aforementioned bugs with too many legs but ESPECIALLY bugs with more legs than a spider
And yes, it's so bad I hate typing it out, reading the word (a vaguely uncomfortable experience/immediately blitzed past if I see it, like just now), saying it in my head or hearing it said aloud by others.
I really, really don't like caterpillars, earwigs, silverfish or woodlice either, but the 'worms with legs' have caused me panic attacks prior to getting on anxiety medication for different mental health issues.
Considering their increasing prevalence in video games - especially Japanese ones, and in gothic adjacent visual design, it's an uncomfortable business being interested in types of media and visual design where they appear more often than they normally would.
Mostly now to a degree of 'man I fucking hate this' and feeling icky, rather than going into intrusive anxiety panic for hours. So it's certainly a nice upside to medication to have my freakout level dialled right down. Still feeling wildly off kilter even posting this, but again, thank god for medication.
Parma_Violence_@reddit
We looked after a stray cat. Made him a little chalet with a bedroom and dining area at the back door. He HATED slugs. Sometimes the slugs would get through the cat flap and into his house and he'd wail til they were removed. We figured out he had a specific cry, almost like the word"rain" when he had slugs in his house. We'd hear "Raiiiinnnn!!! RAINNN!!" and hed keep shouting til we'd removed them all.
KeaAware@reddit
I pulled a long root out of the garden a couple of weeks ago and nearly screamed because it had all these little hairy roots on it. I tried to rationalise that my subconscious thought it was a snake, but that didn’t seem quite right (I quite like snakes). So I sat with the fear for a while and figured it out.
My subconscious thought it was a millipede. A gigantic foot-long millipede. My skin is crawling even typing this. Wtaf? Like, what's a millipede going to do to me? Did I get eaten by one in a past life? What?!
Vequihellin@reddit
I get it. I have the same panic and terror reaction to crane flies.
narnababy@reddit
I’m the same with moths and butterflies, they make me feel sick
IShouldBeSoLucky81@reddit
Same for me and my mum. I'm in a flat so not troubled by them. My mum gets them in her kitchen however. So I got her one of those grabbing things for picking them up
heartleaf1234@reddit
Just thinking about them I want to gag…
silverblossum@reddit
I'm exactly the same. I'm so horrified by them. My partner moves them away and I moved spiders for him.
fwendy123@reddit
YES same!!!!! it's so humiliating lol
SuddenlyDiabetes@reddit
I feel uneasy when I see hot air balloons, not flying in them, not the thought of flying in them, but just seeing one flying around; my town had a balloon festival and my parents were excitedly getting dressed to go and follow them and I was thinking naaah
Happiest_Mango24@reddit
i really don't like snails
adymann@reddit
I cant have slugs touching me. Eurgh.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
I hate slugs and anything that's slimy.
Fist-sized-river-roc@reddit
I had this as a child, I'm not sure when I grew out of it 🤔 I remember I had to go the shed every morning to get the rabbit food out, and if there was a slug on the floor I'd just stand frozen in fear I don't know if I was scared I'd stand on it in a small space or what I don't know how I'd react now if I found one in the feed shed - they don't bother me on the pavement or garden or wherever
Elegant-Mission-4470@reddit
Who has slugs touching them
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
Gardeners!
RaiLau@reddit
I once had one on my leg as a child, no idea how it got there but I absolutely freaked out!
Happiest_Mango24@reddit
i can't even look at them lol
chemical-mitch@reddit
what is it about them that you don’t like, if you don’t mind me asking??
Happiest_Mango24@reddit
i already didn't like them, but then I saw an episode of Come Outside, and that made it way worse
Seeing the underside of one, then seeing one of the huge ones, severely upset me. I had nightmares about them for years. The episode is still clear in my mind, and I haven't watched it since at least 2010, even when I rewatched all the others several years later
chemical-mitch@reddit
understandable, I love snails but I get why the massive ones would especially freak people out
Miserable_Future6694@reddit
Mushrooms, I can look at them and not feel fear, id run faster than you if you where chasing me with one in your hand though.
IShouldBeSoLucky81@reddit
Beans for me. I don't even like looking at them. I think it comes from all the fundraisers in the 90s were people would sit in baths of them.
Interesting-Scar-998@reddit
Yuck!
SaturnMoth@reddit
I'm like this with plants!
heartleaf1234@reddit
I’m ok with the chestnut and button mushrooms, the small clustered ones with many thinner stalks make me gag… 🍄
KeaAware@reddit
Hah! Me too. I can only eat mushrooms if they look right. Not the big ones, not the little ones, just the button mushrooms (which I actually love).
trevhcs@reddit
Are you alright with badgers though?
(Well nobody else asked).
laser_spanner@reddit
I imagine snakes could be a bit of an issue.
xenomorphchickennugg@reddit
Mine is a bit random- I have a fear of some birds, specifically, but only specific types. I am fine with songbirds, birds of prey, and adore corvids-none of them bother me and I love birdwatching while hiking. I’m scared of birds that specifically remind me of dinosaurs, like chickens, turkey, emu, ostrich, anything that looks a little bit reptilian…even though reptiles and snakes don’t scare me at all! I can’t even look at them on tv; the feeling of seeing them makes me gag. Facial hair and clowns are my other phobias but I know they’re pretty common. But the dino-bird thing is weird.
cloudyextraswan@reddit
I have a phobia of fish.
Not the pretty tropical fish, but the mud lurking sea fish. I can’t go in shops that have fish counters, I don’t paddle in the sea. My family can’t eat fish around me.
I have no idea where this phobia came from.
Two of the worst fish I have ever heard of are the wolf eel and the blobfish
elaine4queen@reddit
Peanut butter. It’s like it’s been pre-chewed. Can’t cope with it reframed as satay either
CMDoet@reddit
I hate tendons visible through the skin, especially in the wrist. Oh jeez, a tensed wrist. I can't even look at it. Or think about it. Toes, neck, thumbs, knees, and Achilles to a lesser extent.
I also hate hairs that have fallen out. x1000 if they're wet. Having to use a communal shower or swimming pool changing area is a minefield. 🤮
elhazelenby@reddit
I know someone who is deathly afraid of peas. Yes, really. She was one of my mum's best friends and my sister's friend's mother.
My ex boyfriend is scared of dolls. He finds them very creepy. Even baby dolls.
NecroVelcro@reddit
Why did your father think that it was funny to do such a twattish thing?
Elegant-Mission-4470@reddit
Tbf, twat though that man apparently is, pretending to chuck a pea at your mate isn't inherently a twattish thing to do, I'd argue
NecroVelcro@reddit
Unless I've completely misconstrued it, he did it because he knew that she had a phobia. Using someone's phobia to frighten them, even if pretending, is vile behaviour.
Elegant-Mission-4470@reddit
Oh, I thought the pea-throwing was how they found out, not the other way around, fair enough
elhazelenby@reddit
My father is a twat. An abusive one as well.
Hyperion2023@reddit
That’s horrible. I’m sorry he’d do something so mean spirited
Hyperion2023@reddit
Odd question but were they ever on a tv show about phobias? I really remember the peas thing clearly
spookystarbuck11@reddit
I also remember this!
elhazelenby@reddit
I don't think so no, we're British
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
😂 your answer has me howling with joy here. Very Victoria Wood!
arrowtotheaction@reddit
I love anything that reminds me of her humour ❤️
Hyperion2023@reddit
Definitely a British show. The person who hated peas specifically hated their identical, repeating nature. ‘All the same… it’s like they’re ganging up on me’
elhazelenby@reddit
Interesting. I don't think she was on TV.
Bloatville@reddit
There's been British television shows about phobias.
Hair_of_the_cat_@reddit
Maury? Bring out the olives!
The woman said they reminded her of her dead grandads eyes!
spookystarbuck11@reddit
Is it any kind of peas? No matter the format? Thinking about mushy and purée and if they cause the same response
elhazelenby@reddit
From what I know just regular peas.
ComprehensiveFee8404@reddit
I'm pretty scared of dogs. But also, the sensory experience of someone scratching their nails on a cotton tablecloth makes me gag.
Loose_Avocado4670@reddit
If you don't mind sharing what is it about dogs you don't like?
My brother is autistic and hates dogs because he dosent like how a lot of them bark loudly and jump up at you for attention. I think it's the loudness/unpredictability of them tbh.
ComprehensiveFee8404@reddit
I'm also autistic! They're noisy and unpredictable and I don't like when they jump up. They can be very fast and owners are not always responsible. Apart from that, there are the things in the news about people being killed by dogs :(
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
I think dogs are adorable and love giving them pats but the minute they bark, im out. Dog's person can telll me they wont hurt me all they want, but the bark is what scares me, not what they might do.
KaptainObvious28@reddit
Me too! Dogs, even the small ones, scare me.
heartpassenger@reddit
Coins. And honestly any metal that’s been handled by other people. It turns my stomach, I physically cannot touch them. Filthy, dirty, has a specific smell. Absolutely terrifying and I have often had awkward scenarios where I’ve been unable to pick up change or had to try and scoop it with my sleeve into a bag, then had to ask someone else to take it away from me.
joshygill@reddit
ET. Especially when he’s dying and when he screams when the mom takes Elliot away. Look at this shit.
Great-Category-1197@reddit
Things submerged in shallow water
indiegirl1980@reddit
Slugs, can't cope with them at all. Gads.
FinancialBread4660@reddit
Butterflies. I had the same reaction as SpongeBob.
Extension_Willow_966@reddit
I just commented this! Nice to know I’m not alone. Moths and butterflies are legit my biggest fear
Potsysaurous@reddit
Same. I can hear them flying and i want to cry
Extension_Willow_966@reddit
Omg that sound. Literally even thinking about it makes my heart race
FinancialBread4660@reddit
Haha glad to know I’m not the only weirdo 😅
Extension_Willow_966@reddit
The chaotic flapping makes my skin crawl! Do you also get uncomfortable around big groups of pigeons? I hate the flapping noise😭
FinancialBread4660@reddit
I’m actually ok around pigeons, because as stupid as they are, they generally won’t fly into you, moths/ butterflies and crane flies seem to have no sense of direction 😭
Extension_Willow_966@reddit
True! I am still scared a bird will fly into me but more scared a moth or butterfly will And omg the dust on their wings makes me feel sick just thinking about it
WonderfulCoyote6849@reddit
Same, absolutely terrified of them
Embarrassed-Depth-27@reddit
Graveyards. No thanks
Snoodgie@reddit
Industrial exhaust fans, like Willy Wonka style. Like a big ones that are in the roof/ceiling (not ceiling fans, I’m ok with those) to suck the hot air out. The sound they make is horrid and why do they have to be so big! I can’t walk under them
meganannaaa@reddit
Cows.
Their staring is just terrifying
Zorolord@reddit
Thats phobias for you they can seem to be very irrational.
My partner is scared of using buses any bus even a single decker, as she believes they'll top over. I think she might think the same with even trains.
20127010603170562316@reddit
I once had a girlfriend who was terrified of meringues? She wouldn't even walk down the meringue isle in the supermarket.
mindblownwendy@reddit
Bellybutton. They make me feel very weird. I am quite anxious of touching mine and no one else can ever touch mine.
narnababy@reddit
I have a body part fear too, my knees. Makes me feel sick when someone accidentally touches them, I avoid touching them myself. I had to have an MRI on them a couple of years ago and prior to that a physio did a physical examination and I had to apologise because I retched when he started moving it around 🤢
My sister hates people touching or even looking at her ears!
mindblownwendy@reddit
Oh god that must have been awful. I couldn't bare if I could see my belly button easily. It makes me retch too.
flyingfoxtrot_@reddit
Those "human statue" people you sometimes see. Those people who are painted up to look like stone and stand perfectly still. I genuinely internally panic and have to talk myself into walking past them
I also used to be afraid of Ainsley Harriot (your guess is as good as mine, can't even explain that one) and my brother once chased me down a supermarket aisle with a box of his instant soups
Latte-Addict@reddit
Lol we make his instant soup at work! Well used to, not seen the boxes for a bit, I do get to look at his ugly beaming mug on packets of cous cous though which needs to be checked for tears & print errors.
Lonely-Permission901@reddit
Could have been worse. It could have been Ainsley himself chasing you in a supermarket while hoisting your brother up above his head.
flyingfoxtrot_@reddit
I think I'd have simply died on the spot.
Also my brother loves a bit of shithousery, he'd be well up for that.
CuriousPone@reddit
Aggghhhh they are horrifying!! Cannot look at them and will always give them an extremely wide berth!
Dorisimoooo@reddit
I read your comment and thought u were talking about instant soups for a second 🤣
CuriousPone@reddit
🤣🤣
arrowtotheaction@reddit
“Why hello Jill!!” 😂
nsfgod@reddit
For the greater good?
Deep_Meringue1703@reddit
Driving over train tracks knowing the barrier is up and it's safe always sends a chill down my spine
EllebumbleB@reddit
I really dislike wind turbines & aeroplanes. I suspect it is a size thing.
Latte-Addict@reddit
I've got a slightly weird fear, maybe someone can help me identify it?
If you take me to one of those treks like for example the Skye Trail on the Isle of Skye, the bits where you're walking along the side of a big hill with a drop to one side, with no room for the odd slip up. I would freak out and turn back.
You would never get me on a rollercoaster.
I don't think I'm scared of heights, I've been on 2 hot air balloon rides which were amazing.
So am I afraid of falling?
Am I just paranoid of potential danger - I that a thing?
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
I have a theory that people aren't necessarily scared of heights, but the intrusive thoughts that come with being that high - on the side of a cliff, its very easy to act on those intrusive thoughts. In a hot air balloon, not so much.
Latte-Addict@reddit
Interesting, when you say intrusive, you don't mean wanting to do something? You just mean the thought that something could happen even though it probably won't?
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
I would say both. You know how sometimes, you have those thoughts about doing something you shouldn't do and you know you wouldn't do and you wonder where the fuck that came from?
Latte-Addict@reddit
Oh god yeah... sometimes and then quickly send it to the garbage dump at the back of my mind :)
chemical-mitch@reddit
yeah it kinda sounds like falling. maybe the lack of security?? I’m alright with heights but I hateeee being high up when there’s no barrier, I almost get the urge to throw myself off 😅
Particular-Fly3702@reddit
Bellybuttons
They make me gag even just typing about it im doing a gag face!!
KatVanWall@reddit
Roots. I’m a lot better now but i used to be terrified of them and i still feel revulsion of them!
acacnhlover@reddit
Hair or plants? Plants I kinda get but hair you’ll have to explain to me
KatVanWall@reddit
Plants!
EasySignature179@reddit
My friend is terrified of brown sauce, put it near her and she’ll freak out, you can lock her in a room by putting a bottle of it in front of the door!
She used to work at our local pub, one of us had food with brown sauce and a drop of it spilt on the table, so i put a beer mat over it and when she came to clear the table and realised she screamed and threw it at me
lankysanchez@reddit
I won’t walk under a road sign in case it falls off the poles and guillotines me
ProfPMJ-123@reddit
I “suffer from” mycophobia, an irrational fear of mushrooms, fungus or mould.
No idea why.
It doesn’t affect my life enough to require a telethon.
spittingparasite@reddit
Paul McCartney.
jomabu23@reddit
Could it be because you read "Teddy", by J.D. Salinger?
Embarrassed_Park2212@reddit
Tinned peaches 🤢 I can't look at them, touch or smell them without wanting to vomit. Even writing this is making me feel sick.
xoMeowllieCat@reddit
I have a phobia of bananas. Which btw is just called bananaphobia.
Dont know where it came from. Its gotten worse over the years.
When i see them it makes me feel sick and i get a horrible chest tightness. And then i start to panic. But i genuinley could not tell you why.
Ironically, the velvet underground & nico is one of my top 20 albums of all time.
Merganser2020@reddit
Balloons 🎈they are erratic and untrustworthy.
People think this is funny and bring them for my little boys birthdays and they genuinely scare me.
ColinismyCat@reddit
I’m scared that I will witness a plane crash. I can’t stand to hear a plane flying above.
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
I live under a flight path and I have distressing dreams about plane crashes fairly frequently. I just assume my brain hears the planes, puts it together with my natural anxiety and boom! Plane crash dreams .
Merganser2020@reddit
Same. I’m wide awake in the UK at 4am and I’m near an airport and I’ve just googled “planes crashing into residential areas”
I’m deliberately making my own fear worse for some reason 🤷🏻♀️
LittleSadRufus@reddit
I've had recurring dreams of plane crashes most weeks for about 40 years now. It used to be an anxiety dream, but I've just get used to it at this point. I do wonder if I'll just shrug it off if I ever do see a plane crash in real life
barkley87@reddit
I have these dreams too! I wonder what they mean
TobsterVictorSierra@reddit
I regularly volunteer as instructor in charge of a gliding club. Watching people who either just have or might be about to break something is an awful feeling. Thankfully this lot doesn't really make any noise.
Few_Scientist5381@reddit
Getting ripped to pieces by Great White Sharks, I live no where near ware they do. They also feature very heavily in Night Terrors.
Lakridskaffe@reddit
I’m reminded of a family member who had a fear of cotton. If you put a piece of cotton in a doorway, they would not enter the room.
IcedWarlock@reddit
I know someone like this. We used to wind him up as teens by locking him in rooms with a wall of cotton from Halloween bags that made spider webs
cragglerock93@reddit
Most clothes these days are cotton though? What would they wear?
krowmada@reddit
I sometimes get anxiety when my washing machine is on its final spin.
ScarletScotYew@reddit
I hate people touching my kneecaps. I normally tell folk its because its uncomfortable, but there is always a bit of anxiety in the backnof my head someone will try to dislocate them. I know, I know. Completely irrational. Non idea why. It must stem from something that I've misheard/misunderstood as a child, but the anxiety is there nonetheless....
Cactus-Cat1@reddit
Kids sticky fingers... touching the sofa, walls, every window 🙃
IcedWarlock@reddit
Tomato ketchup .
If it gets on my skin I scrub it raw until it bleeds because I feel like it's still there.
NichoBesty@reddit
Tictacs, I had one once as a child and the texture, smell and taste made me nearly throw up. If I see a box of them now I can smell, taste and feel them in my mouth and feel sick again.
Menyana@reddit
Slugs and most singing dolls.
floppymitralvalve@reddit
What about singing slugs
Menyana@reddit
I wouldn't stick around long enough to experience it.
acacnhlover@reddit
I bet flushed away is a hard watch for you
thymtravelr@reddit
Escalators. I’m working on it and getting better but still hesitate when I see one
Competitive_Cap2411@reddit
I’m scared of baths, well more specifically the taps. If I look at them it goes 3D mode and I think they are going to pierce through my eyes. Also get it with those black railings
pusopdiro@reddit
Snails. I read an article in a magazine when I was little about a girl who collected shells on a beach and took them home and then woke up at night with snails all over her. 20 years later it's still a recurring nightmare I have. In secondary school they had one of those mobile zoos come in and the guy held a giant snail right in front of my fave and I had a panic attack in front of everyone.
acacnhlover@reddit
I mean yeah that sounds absolutely terrifying, if I’d heard that as a kid I’d have developed the same fear for sure! In fact even if I heard it as an adult… oh no, do I have a fear of snails now?
simpleshadows7@reddit
Mayonnaise… most liquid condiments - it stretches to gravy. Never had a traumatic experience but I cannot eat if it’s near my plate!
KillieGirl77@reddit
Hot irons. I stopped ironing clothes years ago, as I am terrified of falling face first onto the hot plate. I’d rather have wrinkled clothes than use an iron!!
boggedsoul@reddit
My ex had a phobia of gramophones, and any old music that has that vintage tinny sound.
Potsysaurous@reddit
My moth and butterfly phobia seems quite normal now
CoLL3y@reddit
When people make faces out of hands. Like the movie labyrinth with David Bowie. There's a scene with hands. God I hate hand faces
Croakcamel@reddit
Stairs - panic stations every time and must have a handrail.
Boats - not sailing, not water, not drowning - actual boats. I don’t know why.
glytxh@reddit
I live under the perpetual delusion that I’m not allowed to be where I am, and that someone wants to hurt me.
None of it’s real.
ImThatBitchNoodles@reddit
That sounds genuinely exhausting and terrifying, I'm sorry 😞
cragglerock93@reddit
I'm not sure it's a fear per se but I have a really, really strong aversion to corn-based crisps like Wotsits and bacon rashers. The texture grosses me out. I usually have to use gloves or a tissue to pick them up
Secure-Presence-8341@reddit
I'm scared of the big round overflows in reservoirs.
catlady20913@reddit
When I was a child I was terrified of the girl in finding nemo. I think she gave me uncanny valley!
ConstantIncident@reddit
Potatoes that have started sprouting roots. If I seem even just a small root, I run. Absolutely not, it looks so alien-esque.
georgialily2@reddit
Morris men, terrifying!!
Hyperion2023@reddit
I have a hatred of them, not a fear as such, but a deep inexplicable annoyance.
Maypoles, fine. Jesters and mummers and druids fine, real ale types and every country fair thing you can think of, each to their own. Seriously, however, Morris dancers and their FUCKING BELLS and HANKIES
thekingiscrownless@reddit
Maypoles are fine until they attract a wild herd of Morris. Most people don't know this, but maypoles are actually a rare type of tree that grows ribbons.
Wild Morris can smell freshly grown ribbons from 30 miles away. The aroma summons them from their remote dwellings. They don their lederhosen and bells, grab their handkerchiefs and sticks, and gather at the maypole for merriment en masse.
Both the maypole and the Morris are now endangered, thankfully. They can often be found in craft shops, dressed in civilian clothes, sadly humming Greensleeves while looking confused in the ribbon section.
No matter how tempted we may be to interfere, we must let nature take its course.
DrKnackerator@reddit
how do you feel about ones with sticks? bit more vigorous.
CuriousPone@reddit
The worst kind!
Moppo_@reddit
You need to call Bhangraman, he'll sort them right out.
narnababy@reddit
Morris Man vs Bhangra Man steel cage match, that’s what Netflix should be showing
over-it2989@reddit
The ones that dress like crows are horrifying
georgialily2@reddit
The Hooden horse is a massive thing near me and I think that is perhaps worse than the morris
HoldsworthsLeftHand@reddit
Not a fear, but a debilitating aversion - the achilles tendon.
The thought of touching it or having it touched goes right through me, makes me feel nauseous and has me trembling and weak. I literally gag at just the thought of it, and have an intense sensation of disgust and repulsiveness.
When I get an itch there is extreme torture!
I've never been able to find the name of this specific odd phobia, neither have I ever heard of anyone else having similar.
anotherangryperson@reddit
Yes but I can’t even write it down.
Vequihellin@reddit
I am morbidly afraid of Crane Flies. I know they are totally harmless, albeit stupid. The way they fly around drunkenly and just fly straight at you. I woke up to one on my face as a kid and I've been terrified of them since.
When it's crane fly season I am paranoid about keeping windows and doors shut. They terrify me so much I run out of the room and hide. It's such a weird thing to be afraid of. Bees and Wasps? No problem. Spiders (I mean, modestly sized British spiders, not the Australian nightmare fuel) - no problem. I'm not keen on them but I leave them be. Snakes - again, not a problem. All normal things to be afraid of. Crane flies? Literally the most harmless thing in existence (IIRC once they become adults, they cannot eat and only live long enough to reproduce and die) and I go into full blackout-screaming-meltdown-terror.
chez2202@reddit
For me it’s pate. I have a friend who is really afraid of balloons.
I also have a friend who is afraid of slugs but loves snails. Maybe it’s a housing crisis thing?
lotsohugginbear34@reddit
people in those big suits to dress up as characters (like at disneyland)
itsasilentk@reddit
Windmills and giant wind turbines 😅. Especially if they’re in operation. Nope!
Bedaryellow@reddit
The baby from teletubbies
darcsend_eu@reddit
Halloween themed foods. Makes me sick at the thought of eating anything like a gummy spider or chocolate eye ball.
Robinson's blood orange squash with Halloween branding boak. Put me off blood oranges for years.
Also anything that feels too "halloweeny" like cakes iced by children.
Also terrified of butter flies going in my mouth.
PhilosopherDense4760@reddit
I also cannot eat Halloween themed food 🤢
darcsend_eu@reddit
Absolutely diabolical isn't it
MixednPretty@reddit
I can’t even type the word. But the part of our body below the ankles that begins with a F. I cannot. I can’t look touch nothing. Mine or anyone else’s.
nutrition_nomad_@reddit
mine is walking past dark windows at night because i always feel like i will suddenly see someone staring back at me. it sounds silly but it genuinely makes me nervous every time
slinkysoft@reddit
I’ve had this too since I was a little kid!
kelly-golightly@reddit
Coming down a ladder and open staircases. I only found this out when I visited the crown of the Statue of Liberty and was coming back down the windy staircase. My minds eye sees me falling over the rails and it freaks me out.
surejan2017@reddit
i’m the exact same. also escalators do this for me too
mokoe101@reddit
Always been terrified of helium balloons floating off into the sky. It’s less now than when I was a kid but still freaks me out
Manospondylus_gigas@reddit
I'm terrified of bananas and baked beans. Can't be in the room with them or look at them
RNEngHyp@reddit
Bamboo cutlery! OMG it makes me wanna hurl! 🤢🤮
RNEngHyp@reddit
Worms. You know how they appear on concrete after heavy rain? Turns my stomach! 🤢🤮
mechanicalHART@reddit
Years ago in college I worked in a restaurant kitchen cleaning food off of people’s plates with my bare hands, nothing bothered me but bread, specifically when it was soggy after it had soaked in sauce or water - ever since then I have a fear of touching wet bread. 🤮
Equally disturbing to me is the look of mashed up bananas 🤢
bakedNdelicious@reddit
I have a fear of rubber bands that stems from when my brother used to torment me with them and nearly blinded me in one eye when we were kids. (He would also flick tea towels at my legs which hurt a lot) . I can touch rubber bands and use them but if someone stretches one near me I can’t help but cringe and freak out.
bleepitybleep2@reddit
Dirty and/or cold dishwater
Tightropewalker0404@reddit
Bellybuttons
AdZc@reddit
In pitch darkness I am scared a big sharp stick like object will go into my eye, as such I tend to cover my eyes with my hand to prevent this! Even when I know nothing is going to pierce my eye.
luckyloz@reddit
Reflections. I think it stems from a clip of a horror film I saw as a child (classic scary thing standing behind you in the mirror type scene). In my room I only have a small mirror that remains hidden in a drawer until I need it. When I brush my teeth I have to make sure the bathroom door is closed because seeing the dark hallway behind me in the mirror makes me panic.
Also looking at a dark window in a bright room, as a child, I used to have reccuring nightmares about walking up to the big sliding glass door leading to the back garden. It'd be pitch black outside and because the light was on inside I could only see my reflection, nothing outside. Then I'd crouch in the corner (unable to control myself despite knowing what would happen) and see a gaunt, pallid face staring wide-eyed at me through the window. We'd just stare at each other, unmoving for a few moments before I'd startle awake.
To be fair I'm also scared of looking outside the window at night even if the room is dark as well. Something about the streetlamps and the patches of darkness between them brigns to mind horror films/games and I'm scared I'll see someone standing still and staring at me.
These are just the unusual or specific ones, I'm scared of a lot of things: bees/wasps/hornets, open water, literally my own shadow sometimes, the dark in general, being chased (particularly in an open field or somewhere that's hard to hide/escape. my first panic attack was during a game of tig when I was 10), old porcelain dolls, small spaces (that I can't easily get out of), sitting in a window seat and someone sitting next to me (blocking off my exit), plus many more.
Probably wrote a bit too much haha sorry
TLDR I'm scared of a lot of things
Mrspygmypiggy@reddit
I had a small phobia of my reflection since I saw a comic where a girl goes to sleep with her mirror facing her and her reflection creepily stared at her all night. I covered up the mirror in my room after seeing that lol.
Leg000las@reddit
Hippos. I know I’m unlikely to ever encounter one, but still have a distinct fear of them.
febster85@reddit
Statues. Life sized ones. Can’t go near one. Madame Tussaud’s is my idea of hell.
60sstuff@reddit
Any sweets like Haribo i have a physical reaction of intense disgust. If you paid me £200 pounds to eat a bag of Haribo i probably could not do it. Even if i touch a sealed packet i have to wash my hands vigorously
Mrspygmypiggy@reddit
I have a phobia of sand, it used to be much worse when I was a child and teenager. At one point I couldn’t even look at it without panicking. My parents constantly teased me about it and my dad even chucked a bunch of sand on me once to show me it was fine… I ended up throwing up and literally hyperventilating.
It’s not as bad nowadays and I can go to the beach now. But if any sand gets in my feet I have to clean it of the second I get off the beach and I can physically not put shoes on if there is any sand left on my feet or I will panic again. I think it’s caused by having sensory issues because of my ADHD.
MysteriousGoldfish@reddit
Old cartoons.. like the ones from the 30s and 40s. There is something so sinister and unsettling about the drawing and how they move!
horizon_hopper@reddit
Error messages
I donno man there’s just something so unsettling about them but I grew up with the early internet/early console games and they were just so abrupt, sudden, sometimes glitching sound or visuals before it. The PS2 ‘disc cannot be read’ screen scared the shit out of me.
Even though error messages are a lot ‘friendlier’ now I still feel unsettled
chemical-mitch@reddit
I have a few hahaha
Telephoto lens cameras, or any cameras when the lens extends in and out, but mainly just telephoto lens ones
I can’t stand the sight of knees, especially when the bone protrudes slightly
I can’t even look at pictures of coconut crabs
I’ve been scared of pylons since I was a child. I could see one out my bedroom window and I used to have nightmares about it 🤣
I also really hate the feeling of wet wood. I can’t wash wooden spoons, eat those ice lollies with the stick, or touch a wooden fence when it’s been raining
My gf is terrified of submarines. Idk if that’s common or not
CuriousPone@reddit
Wet wood is definitely not for touching! And no wooden cutlery ever! Make my toes curl even thinking about it.
chemical-mitch@reddit
Glad someone else gets it 😅
CuriousPone@reddit
Me too! Honestly one of the worst things to touch!
vaskemaskine@reddit
Horses. For as long as I can remember I’ve been equal parts terrified and loathing of them. If I could wipe one species off the face of the earth it would be those equine fuckers.
AttersH@reddit
Anything ancient Egypt related. Creeps me the fuck out. The hieroglyphics, the face masks, the pyramids, mummies. It’s like I have some kinda trauma, it evokes genuine panic/fear/horror! 🤷🏼♀️
baggytee@reddit
Telepathy
TobsterVictorSierra@reddit
Antlers as decorations. Can deal with it now, but as a child; no way. Funnily enough I got charged by a fallow stag while walking home pissed a couple of years ago!
arrowtotheaction@reddit
I misread that as “fellow stag” and thought no wonder you don’t like seeing the antlers of your own used for decoration 😂
bekcy@reddit
Antlers in general for me. I've seen a couple where they're mutated and now they all kinda look off-putting to me
Ninja008866@reddit
Whilst I was pregnant I was convinced if I inhaled petrol fumes it would harm the baby so would hold my breath whilst walking across the forecourt if I was parking up to nip in the shop and made my partner refuel the car so I didn’t have to stand there.
nishikah@reddit
I’ve known two people in my life who were terrified of bananas. Still don’t know why.
c-e-r-y-s@reddit
I have autoplenophobia! Fear of car washes..
ThatsNotVeryBacon@reddit
My four biggest fears are seagulls, crane flies, cellar spiders, and wheetabix
Curiousferrets@reddit
I can't stand heights when gaming. Any falls etc really affect me. In real life I don't care at all!
Atrocity_Gemini@reddit
I am sort of with you on the swimming pools. For me specifically it’s any large area of water at night time.
I often have nightmares I am in the middle of the ocean and it is pitch black all around me as far as the eye can see
RickGrimesTheOGx@reddit
Heart attacks, heart beats to and extent. But just thinking about heart attacks for a bit can make me have a panic attack. I actually had a panic attack because of that that led me to have agoraphobia so fun times lol
Unlikely-Car846@reddit
I hate walking past tall buildings, trees etc, and looking up at them. There is a tall tree in my village and I used to be terrified of walking past it. I get really dizzy if I look up as well as scared.
myyouthismyown@reddit
Buttons, ever since I was a child. I keep thinking they're going to break off and somehow end up in my mouth, somehow.
GirlMcGirlface@reddit
I have an irrational fear of saying something super problematic, and shocking when coming around from anesthesia. I'm 45 and not had general anesthetic before, hopefully never will. I'm a good person, I dont do anything problematic or hold terrible views, I'm so scared of this happening, I think about it a lot 😅
Groundbreaking-End92@reddit
I have a real fear of paper being too close to my face. I really don't like getting paper cuts and after a colleague passed me some paperwork over the wall by my desk and it touched my face, I had this recurring thought in my head I could have got a paper cut on my eye and it freaks me out.
saludpesetasamor@reddit
The Lambton Worm.
The absolute horror of it spilled over into a phobia of all worms, and I still have the childhood storybook I read about it in, and can’t let go of it but can’t read it either. Worms entirely freak me out, and I’m certain it all came from that bloody book I read 40 years ago. Shudder.
narnababy@reddit
I hate moths and butterflies. I don’t mind any other insect but I am terrified of the adult form of Lepidoptera. It’s that dusty scaly shit on their wings, it makes me feel sick. Don’t mind caterpillars though, they’re cool.
Norklander@reddit
Trampolines
Electronic-Shoe341@reddit
Hair. I don't mind it on the head doing its thing. However, I cannot stand hair when it has left the head & touches my skin, gets caught on my hand at random in the swimming baths or I see it on someone's jumper etc.Wet hair is worse, I hate washing it or removing it from the drain. It makes me feel sick.
Teeth. I don't mind them in my or someone else's mouth but I hate advertisements for toothpastes/ cosmetic treatments that zoom in on the mouth or have a set of teeth as the focus. I used to change the channel when that Corsadyl advert with the woman & the bleeding mouth came on. I just feel panicked.
Georgeshair@reddit
I’m really scared of statues and automatons. As a teenager, my parents took me and my sister to Madame Toussauds in London. One of the oldest waxworks is called the Sleeping Beauty- it’s a figure of one of the mistresses of Louis XIV in a sleeping pose. There’s a mechanism in her chest that makes it look as though she’s breathing. It really freaked me out.
KaranDash24@reddit
Loads, probably the strangest is old photographs of elephants. I'm fine with modern photos of them and I don't fear elephants themselves just old photos of them.
Public_Bookkeeper885@reddit
I have a phobia of balloons. They make me panic and I can't stay in a room with them.
I've had it since I was a kid. It was super awkward when I went to friends houses for their birthday, and also when a balloon artist came to my school and I had to leave the room because I was scared
Mcdhibs@reddit
Windows when the blind or curtains are not closed and it’s dark out side. Just that feeling your being watched
MPD1987@reddit
I am terrified of bubbles, like legitimately. I remember being in the bath as a kid and my dad having to scoop me out because I was screaming bloody murder due to the bubbles. Hate them so much
RosieEmily@reddit
Tirimisu. And my whole family know this and constantly point it out in supermarkets because they are sadistic.
tommycamino@reddit
Choking on the chocolate dust?
narnababy@reddit
I feel sick writing this but the gene wilder chocolate factory film and specifically the orange slaves. Can’t bring myself to write it. Horrific horror film, it should be banned, and I was scared of people with dwarfism for years as a child.
IShouldBeSoLucky81@reddit
Using escalators that aren't working. I feel like I overthink it and worry I'm going to tumble to my death.
Intruder313@reddit
Logo-phobia
Certain words make me feel sick and ‘moist’ is not one of them
tommycamino@reddit
Can you share an example please?
No-Nefariousness9539@reddit
I used to be disgusted at the word ‘mouth’
Moppo_@reddit
Moist has got to be one of the most unjustly hated words. I actually feel disappointment when someone says it makes them uncomfortable.
deadwoodgleaming@reddit
Huge objects under water, like the underside of a ship or a statue.
M_Poppins128@reddit
Oranges. I don't like to eat them and I don't like how they smell. But it's not just a dislike it's a phobia where I feel physically uncomfortable and sick. If someone is peeling one near me I cannot stand it.
Scotsdee@reddit
Nettles. Pure and simple. Terror. Fight or flight. Can't look at pictures or scroll past them on a screen. All because of Gympie Gympie. Memory unlocked by hypnotherapy of a man in TV wearing big gloves to show us this 'cousin' of our nettles. So stingy it could kill him or hurt him badly. After that, nettles = death. Summers are difficult.
tommycamino@reddit
Face painting. I had my face painted as a child, looked in the mirror and cried. Never had anything for fancy dress or anything since.
Scott_infinity@reddit
Walking beneath balconies for fear of people throwing themselves off and landing on my head.
Disastrous-Pilot-284@reddit
I'm afraid of sharks, but very rarely go into the ocean. So the idea of sharks growing legs is pretty scary
Agitated-Leader1752@reddit
Not so much a fear but octopus tentacles make me feel unwell. The suckers. I think it’s part of my trypophobia.
grac3ie@reddit
My best friend is terrified of knees, really weird fear and no idea where it came from.
karennotkaren1891@reddit
Mashed potatoes 😫
Meals64@reddit
Wrists, the veiny side - I can’t look at them on other people
TheMightyShrub@reddit
Those robot arms that make cars. Sting rays. The song “Forever Autumn” by the Moody Blues.
Essentially all my fears are insane and oddly specific.
Theroosterami@reddit
Wind Turbines give the whole body creeps. I can’t explain it
ThrustersToFull@reddit
I don't really, but someone I know had a mortal fear of crisps. When he came to family parties and such, crisps were not to be on display or consumed under any circumstances.
Fine-Veterinarian804@reddit
maybe tmi but microphallophobia. its awful bc i feel so bad like ik it must be so awkward (and maybe even considered rude or disrespectful with how insecure ppl can be already) but its so distressing for me to the point where ive thrown up from the stress of it before -its awful 😭
aggravatingstranger9@reddit
Buttons. And dolls with china faces. Bleurgh.
fuckinyaldi@reddit
Sculptures. In particular Sculptures that are sitting above/coming out of water. I live near The Kelpies in Scotland and those things absolutely terrify the life out of me. I close me eyes and hold my breath whenever we have to drive past them. No idea why I have this fear.
CuriousPone@reddit
They are terrifying.
dawngarda@reddit
Seaweed. I've always found it scary and gross. Knowing that, my parents used to chase me around with it when we were on the beach and I'd cry. I went to the beach recently and my skin still crawled when I touched some seaweed.
SceneDifferent1041@reddit
I don't like water I don't know. I'll drink at certain houses which feels safe but wouldn't touch water at work.
Wife didn't realise this until we stayed in a air BnB for a week and I almost died from dehydration.
CuriousPone@reddit
I am like this with unknown milk - even milk alternatives.
Spottyjamie@reddit
Loud bangs/pyro/fireworks
Tbf it started when i was on holiday and a bomb went off
No-Nefariousness9539@reddit
Were you on holiday in Beirut?
DaffyDuckOdil@reddit
I'm always amazed we kept fireworks for celebrations after the end of WWII. You'd think a whole generation would have been terrified of bangs.
Hyperion2023@reddit
That’s not a weird or silly fear. That’s completely understandable and I hope you work through it or it lessens with time. I’ve never been in that situation but kind of hate fireworks anyway, so god knows how you must feel, and those stupid intentional backfiring things that twats do to their cars.
JubileeFist@reddit
Craneflies
Comes from a caravan holiday as a kid, slept with the window open while we were staying close to a lake, woke up to craneflies EVERYWHERE! Plus they're just creepy little fuckers.
My mother is scared of flies in general - she's a big horror book fan and the only book that ever actually scared her was where bluebottle type flies were laying eggs in people then eating them alive from the inside out.
Summer months at my house growing up were 'fun', we would genuinely abandon whole rooms because craneflies would get in and neither of us could deal with them.
No-Nefariousness9539@reddit
Henry hoovers. The way the eyes follow you and the contrast of colours on the machine. Disgusting
TheClnl@reddit
Manky boats give me the creeps. I don't mean working boats that are a bit tatty, they're fine. I'm talking about half submerged or clearly abandoned vessels, even imagining them now is giving me chills.
SmugDruggler95@reddit
r/submechanophobia
__Severus__Snape__@reddit
Titanic must be a horror film for you!
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
Jaws…..
NoGreaterLove@reddit
My ex was afraid of toilet cisterns. Particularly ballcocks. This is not a joke.
katiesaid@reddit
My daughter is terrified of the music you hear when you're put on hold when it has a 'tinny' quality. No idea why.
hwtech1839@reddit
And big cruise ships 😭
ToegapBananaboat@reddit
The toy squishy rubber balls with soft spikes. I’m scared to just think about them enough to describe here.
hwtech1839@reddit
That is me ! Like old abandoned swimming baths haha 😂
Yuniseis1@reddit
Moths. Any kind even the small ones, annoyingly Butterflies don't bother me whatsoever.. just Moths.
xjessiexbabyx@reddit
Suction. I would freak out if someone put a vacuum cleaner against my skin. My hair stands on end just thinking about it.
Individual-Wallaby35@reddit
Mold and fungus. However, I like eating fried mushrooms. Growing out of something like concrete though? Horrifying. Weird.
InviteAromatic6124@reddit
My girlfriend is terrified of bath foam and statues
I have an aversion to seaweed touching my skin
Deeplostreverie@reddit
When I was a kid I used to be terrified of feathers. Especially big feathers like peacock tail feathers which my parents had in their room for some reason. My brother used to chase me with one and try to tickle me with it. I also used to have recurring dreams about feathers being all over my bedroom floor and I couldn't get out of bed because I'd have to stand on them.
mei-meng@reddit
Peas
No_Rent_9049@reddit
Ladybirds. Comes from a childhood trauma involving a picnic and a smarties tube and a crunch 🤢
AverageMug@reddit
Round fruits excluding Oranges. I’m better now. But can only really eat them if they’re cut up
ettuA2@reddit
Of being in a toilet stall and having my ankles slashed at. Random as hell, and perhaps it's my love for horror films that has got me this far, but idk
ch536@reddit
Fountains that cine out of the ground for display
tishkat@reddit
My step dad was terrified of candy floss, 6 foot tall but would scream and run if you went near him, cotton wool too
Tallest-Dan@reddit
I have that too!! So empty. It just feels very wrong
RelativeShoulder370@reddit
I can't cope with taxidermy, the stuffed animals freak me out with there glassy eyes 😩
Paulyb1200@reddit
Heartbeats
brokenlogic18@reddit
The idea that I'll look up in the night sky and the moon will be too big.
cardamommycupcake@reddit
For real? Why? Did you know?
DebsUK693@reddit
Love empty swimming pools. Used to do late night swims at David Lloyd when the lights were dimmed and mainly just lighting from under water. Only person in the pool. So peaceful, calm, zen.
tishkat@reddit
Dolls, creepy hollow eyed little fuckers, they make me want to puke. Can't look at them without a sweat. I'm a middle aged woman and still can't deal
Pr1ncifer@reddit
I was listening to random audiobooks when I was a bit delirious with covid, & got really panicky listening to Wind in the Willows. It was something about them being the wrong sizes I think. I still don’t feel right about it!
Extension_Willow_966@reddit
Butterflies and moths make my skin crawl. Just the idea that their wings might start flapping and I begin to sweat. Same thing with a flock of pidgins oddly. But yeah I will run a mile to get away from a butterfly
REidson89@reddit
Mine is a weird sort of intrusive thought leading up to holidays where I have this fear of dying abroad.
Bobcat-2@reddit
Tomato ketchup… the sight and smell of it literally turns my stomach. If my child comes near my with it on their hands or face I’m literally flapping them away in fear and revulsion.
wafflespuppy@reddit
I have the usual ones like trypophobia, arachnophobia, thalassophobia, submechanophobia and acrophobia. My dumbest fear is that I'll have to climb mount Everest or a similar mountain, they terrify me 😂 it will never happen but the fear is there lurking
EnoughRadish@reddit
Whales. My greatest fear, but luckily not one I encounter much if at all. Seeing a picture makes me shudder though.
stinkyswife@reddit
A certain orangey-pink fuzzy fruit. Can't even type the name without feeling 🤢. Alluding to them is bad enough. The fuzz, the smell, the juice, the flavour. Just the worst food ever. I used to work in a greengrocers as a teenager and had to put plastic bags on my hands if anyone came to the counter with one not in a bag.
FudgeVillas@reddit
Not necessarily a fear - it used to be a lot worse and more than once I’ve been uncharacteristically upset by people I knew playing tricks on me - but I am incredibly uncomfortable around tinned fish, especially when it has a blue label.
I’ve always figured I cut myself on a can like that as a kid or something, but it just triggers my fight or flight response. I won’t go down that aisle in the supermarket even now.
Proof_Diamond3406@reddit
Stairs, terrified
man_sandwich@reddit
My sisters friend was afraid of bananas
FrostyImplement9565@reddit
The buzzing sound of insects, can be flies, bees etc, for some reason it just disorientates the hell out of me and seems insanely loud
Dog_Apoc@reddit
Fursuits. I use to be a furry and overtime the suits just began creeping me out way more.
cardamommycupcake@reddit
I had never heard of fursuits, just seen some 😱 diabolical
Moppo_@reddit
I've never understood furries, the generic artstyle has the creepiest dead eyes.
coffeexcoffeex91@reddit
Scarecrows.
ledu5@reddit
This might be pretty common but automated voices over the phone have always creeped me out
nikkijoyce93@reddit
I'm scared of crabs and lobsters, any kind of shell based sea type animal really. Mostly crabs.
Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit
Being alive and alone trapped under rubble after a nuclear attack and unable to escape. Feeling the fire as I get cremated. Coming to again in the I.C.U. with a breathing tube down my throat and panicking. It kept happening every couple of days. Horrible. Then my heart stopped and I’m convinced that I felt the electric pain and then the electric shocks.
Coughing so much that I suffocate. I have COPD and during heavy infections that is a real concern. Bit of a worry wart aren’t I 😂
throwaway294747493@reddit
dripping taps
squiddlumckinnon@reddit
I have so many😭 the first one I can think of is the music video to the power of love by Frankie goes to Hollywood. The starting strum still scares me.
sophiemoores@reddit
When I was a little kid i was terrified of fire extinguishers...I have absolutely no idea why. I head the read shiny one in the school hall.
koalaty3@reddit
I'm terrified of trams. I can't cross tram tracks independently because I can't help thinking they'll come along out of nowhere and rip me to bits. For me it's because I got hit (and almost run over) by a bus, so I have a general fear of being run over by anything, but trams are worse because they can't really stop quickly. So mine has somewhat of a rational thought process behind it but people do think it's random when I bring it up. Lol
FinnemoreFan@reddit
I am terrified of dead things. Mainly decaying dead things, but the it’s the deadness itself that freaks me out - particularly mammals, with the horror growing stronger the bigger the animal. An actual human corpse would be my worst nightmare.
Although I absolutely cannot watch fictional representations of decayed bodies on TV, zombies don’t bother me, because they move. It’s the stillness, the deadness itself, that terrifies me.
This can be genuinely debilitating in certain circumstances. I can’t deal with children’s deceased pets, for instance. Fortunately, my brain makes an exception for dead animals which are meat, and I have no difficulty at all in jointing a raw chicken or filleting a whole fish. If I came across the same creatures lying dead at the side of the road, I would run a mile. Phobias are irrational!
astralwisdom7@reddit
Not my fear but I know someone who is afraid of cheese graters. Apparently they sliced their hand on one as a kid and now they refuse to go near them
nicskoll@reddit
Empty, as in no people in it, or empty as in no water in it?
My weird fear is that I don't like sleeping qith my wardrobe door open. What if the ghostie is hiding in there and he pops out while I'm asleep
MyHeadIsBursting@reddit
I hate it when you can see the moon during the day. It fills me with a horrible existential dread and I'm not really sure why
megan99katie@reddit
My mum has a phobia of bananas. She used to be a primary school teacher and would (internally) freak out when a kid asked for help peeling a banana
MillyMcMophead@reddit
Dams. Dams really give me the heebie-jeebies. It's a kind of love/hate thing because I truly admire the engineering but struggle to look at them to appreciate it. Ugh. I'm shuddering just thinking of them.
I flew over the Hoover Dam in a helicopter once and that properly destroyed me. It's bloody enormous!
Also, big things. I must have r/Megalophobia though gawd knows why I'm in that sub. I must like to torment myself.
Quiet_Fan_9682@reddit
Miniature horses and Shetland ponies 😅 I'm not scared of large horses though.
SoggyWotsits@reddit
Shitlands got their nickname for a reason!
Ok_Young1709@reddit
Yes you are correct to be afraid. Be very afraid.
AdThat328@reddit
Escalators...
Itsmeladyt79@reddit
I have the very weird reaction to clusters of small holes…. (trypophobia)
I can’t look at anything with it. Even AI versions. It makes my heart race and I feel sick.
I would send you a link but a picture comes up straight away and makes me feel gross so you will have to google it yourself.
Consistent-Layer-265@reddit
The inside of a carrot. Sometimes they have this evil pattern of holes inside. Freaks me out
FrogfFrogger@reddit
I fear to get old ,, it puts me off how time passes …. Sounds stupid but I’m really looking forward to DIE 💀and the sooner the better …. Not suicide tho !!
bubbles_blower_@reddit
Nail files , im almost 100% sure someone will file my teeth down with one. Terrifying.
spezisdumb42069@reddit
I am afraid of fingernails touching. Just typing that sentence made me wince.
pixelunicorns@reddit
I've always been claustrophobic, being in small spaces, but I also struggle with being locked in larger spaces too. I hate exits being closed.
LaraH39@reddit
Moths. They terrify me.
Not butterflies. Just moths.
I hate the dust on their wings and I hate the way they breathe.
I read a short horror story when I was a kid that just put the fear of god in me. A character was killed by being suffocated by a swarm of moths pushing into her ears, nose, mouth...
Also, the fuckers seek me out. I can be outside with a group away from any light and they find me rather than anyone else. I hate them. I'm ok with them on the TV or pictures and they can be very pretty but I can't cope with them IRL. I do the screamy flappy thing lol
EliteSSM@reddit
Driving next to a big ditch, crashing into the ditch and not being found.
Revolutionary-Tie-77@reddit
Moths
ClydeB3@reddit
My brother is terrified of hamsters
Chilly_Piper_83@reddit
I'm with you on empty swimming pools! Plus concrete, weird empty, abandoned concrete structures. Shudder...
louloubelle92@reddit
Cranes. Like on a building site or even worse, a dockyard. Have had this fear since I was a child and have no idea why.
ArtisticWatch@reddit
Round water heaters with header tanks. I just don't like them
KatVanWall@reddit
Oh god, i was terrified of this as a child! I’ve grown out of my fear now though
RaiLau@reddit
I used to have a fear of dead fish. Think it came from our fish jumping out of the tank onto the floor when I was 3 and also as a kid having weird dreams of fish coming out of the tank and swimming in the air but being all dried out.
LastofAcademe@reddit
Can't say I do but I nominate one of my friends from university. Just a few of the fears he has admited to:
Amonette2012@reddit
When I'm by a ledge I worry that, in a moment of insanity, I will jump. I am not even slightly suicidal. Roof tops and train platforms are the worst.
Significant-Bend571@reddit
I used to work with someone who had a fear of mayonnaise. They didn't even know why, just that they didn't want to go near it
North-Village3968@reddit
Polystyrene packaging. It makes my whole body shudder. The sound it makes when 2 pieces make contact is evil. Don’t get me started on its texture how it feels in my hands. I just hate it
Normal-Internal164@reddit
Sink holes freak me out
BrowsingnDaydreaming@reddit
the empty pool thing freaks me out too!
MysteriousTable6394@reddit
Bodies of water. Perhaps because I can just doggy paddle and slightly afraid of drowning, or perhaps because I nearly slipped and fell into a large jacuzzi in a spa alone, I don't like bodies of water.
But still, I can go into the sea/ocean or get into a bath, but once I'm "aware" that I'm in a body of water like this, I have to get out immediately.
GothicGamer2012@reddit
I have a strong fear of hair straighteners burning my ears. Whenever a hairdresser is straightening my hair and I feel the heat near my ears it takes conscious effort to not freak out.
MahatmaAndhi@reddit
Salmon and helicopters.
Salmon makes my stomach turn. The sight and smell of it, I just can't deal.
Helicopters look unnatural to me. I'm fine with them going up and down, but when they start banking, I can't watch. It looks like they're going to fall out of the sky.
2cbterry@reddit
Moths. I’m not proud of it
BalthazarOfTheOrions@reddit
I once knew someone who was deathly afraid of cling film. Found out by seeing people chase him with it.
My fears are pretty boring: heights, commitment, etc.
over-it2989@reddit
Escalators.
jawide626@reddit
Body hair.
Head hair i'm ok with, stubble is ok, beards are a no. Any visible body hair from the neck down weirds me out. I'm not grossly offended or throwing up in the nearest plant pot, it just makes me uncomfortable looking at it.
AvatarIII@reddit
I don't like admitting it but I'm deadly afraid of snails. Just writing the word out is giving me the fear.
Darkus185@reddit
Pouring water into a glass. Ice being chucked into a glass.
I’m fine with a running stream but I hate the sound of a bottle being filled up.
Oh and jellyfish but I suppose that’s somewhat rational.
JustStraightUpLost@reddit
Touching the inside of board game/ jigsaw boxes, that feeling makes my skin crawl, I avoid it at all costs
_rayn3r_@reddit
escalators, probably caused by my mother telling me they would crush my bones if i put my foot in the gap in the last step when i was like 3 😭
Loose_Avocado4670@reddit
OMG I'm exactly the same with swim pools!
I'm not terrified they just.... * shudder* idk how to explain.
I can't stand moths.
Cherryade123@reddit
I’m petrified of chalk! I have to lick my teeth when I think about it. I suppose it’s the dryness of it, which is weird because I quite like dry foods and will happily chomp on a dry cracker.
probablymojito@reddit
I used to be terrified of robotic answering machine voices when I was little.
Glandular-Slaughter@reddit
Vicars, clergy, any Godly person in their working attire. I’m not against or afraid of beliefs, I think it’s the signaling ‘I’ve gone full into this’.
Indigo457@reddit
Scared of posting on reduced
Rawlinson20@reddit
Feeling or being aware of my own pulse. Getting my blood pressure taken makes me want to vomit.
basmati_relish_trail@reddit
My sister is petrified of scuba divers
Theonewithcurls@reddit
Crabs and crustaceans; I think it's body segments as wasps scary me too.
Having a toddler obsessed with sea animals as helped for TV but any in person I literally feel sick.
QwertyBobba@reddit
I have a few. The catacombs, never been and never would go but they scare the life out of me.
Waking up and being in one of those old arcade machines where you put a penny in and a scene is acted out.
Becoming a heroin addict. I don’t do it, don’t know anyone that does either but it’s a fear of mine. I have to know everything about it too, like how much it costs, how to inject it etc. no idea why.
Outside-Resist4688@reddit
This is a bit mad but there's a phenomenon called codominant stemming where two completely seperate trees share the bottom third of a trunk. They give me the shivers. In fact unexpectedly seeing multiples of something where there would only usually be one unsettles me. There's absolutely no reason why 🤷♀️
fiendofecology@reddit
Touching a car door on a hot day because I think it will give me a static shock. I plead with my boyfriend to get the door for me!
West_Guarantee284@reddit
I used to be scared of red ford fiestas. The old style boxy ones that were around in the late 90s.
Moppo_@reddit
Were you hit by a red Ford Fiesta?
West_Guarantee284@reddit
Not that I'm aware off. It was totally random, lasted a year or so.
littleboo2theboo@reddit
When I was a young child I had a terrible fear of being poisoned. Often I would think I had been poisoned and would be sick and would cry.
I was also very afraid of getting a fish bone stuck in my throat. So much so that after eating fish I would convince myself that I had a bone in my throat and I would be sick.
Totally grown out of them now.
Glittering_Vast938@reddit
Driving down a hill and even worse when there’s a bend!
fwendy123@reddit
slugs, ESPECIALLY dead ones
trevhcs@reddit
Other half is terrified if elastic bands. Can't have them in the house and won't go near one without someone removing it from the item, taken out the house and buried in the bin.
BrutalOnTheKnees@reddit
Have they ever tried to explain why? Are they scared of getting snapped or is it fully irrational?
BrutalOnTheKnees@reddit
Pinecones. I've shuddered three times just thinking about them for this post.
if_then_else29@reddit
I'm scared of things touching my feet when I'm swimming in the sea. So I generally don't do sea swimming, just put my feet in the shallow end where I can see that nothing is gonna touch my feet.
Also, slugs. I heave when I see one in the garden
Welshguy78@reddit
I take a deep breath when I put a jumper on over my head cause I think I'm going to get trapped and suffocate...
notspringsomnia@reddit
Pickles. I genuinely cannot look at a pickle. If I ever get one on a burger I have to take it off (with cutlery) and put it under my napkin.
JennyW93@reddit
I used to have a fear of potatoes/potato skin
PacmanBurger@reddit
B&M shopping trollies, i know that fucker is gonna zap me i just dont know when!
LittleSadRufus@reddit
Old floorboards. Anything Victorian or earlier. I couldn't even walk on them when I was a kid, now I reluctantly do so because otherwise life gets complicated, but I absolutely hate every step. National Trust properties are a minefield.
move_on_@reddit
5 pence pieces. They make my skin crawl. Thank goodness for contactless payments
Organic_Reporter@reddit
Dead flowers. I really can't stand to touch them and don't like looking at them either.
RudeHelicopter4662@reddit
After living in a house with a leaky roof many years ago, I’m still filled with dread whenever it rains.
Brucesimb123@reddit
High rise flats. Even more so when they’re about to be demolished and all the windows have been removed and it’s all black and spooky looking.
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