What Are Your Phobias, And Why?

lorie d. · Apr 7, 2004

Escalators--I think this might be a true phobia. I don't know why, but I am terrified of escalators, and always have been. I have only gotten on one a few times in my life, and that was when I was a child. If I am with someone who decides to get on an escalator, I just can't force myself to do the same thing. I have to make arrangements to meet up with that person and then either find some stairs or ride an elavator.

rangerat · Apr 7, 2004

Any type of ANTS.

When i was younger, me and my friend were sitting in my back yard when he got up and started screaming.
He had sat on a nest of red ants, they covered him and were biting him. I tried to spray them off with a hose, as he ran home. His parents took him to the hospital and treated him for multiple bites(hundreds}.
I'm sure he has a phobia from that experience. Myself i freak when i see the little or big S**ts.

ccdogmuffin · Apr 7, 2004

I have two big phobias:

1) Spiders!!! I don't know where this came from, but I can't even look at pictures of spiders without freaking out!

2) Clowns, dolls, and dummies: They all scare me equally, don't quite know where this phobia came from either. I'm not scared of all clowns, I'm only scared of the ones that are completely made up, to me they don't look human. Dolls and dummies can't be in the same room as me and I can't watch them on TV, however I don't mind puppets

sherral46 · Apr 7, 2004

snakes,snakes,snakes,and more snakes,hate the damn things!!!!!!!!don't even watch them on TV>>>>>>

lisalee · Apr 7, 2004

Bats I'm terrified of.

I have intense fear of losing Sash. I also double check everything when I leave my apartment and I'm always worrying.

Lisa & Sash
http://pages.ivillage.com/lisalee992 (Sash's website)

felicia's mom · Apr 7, 2004

I can't go down an open stairway at all.
I can go down enclosed stairways, but have to hold on to the banister. (I think this is because of medicine I take).

Spiders- Although now if one is up by the ceiling I let it alone. My fear of falling is greater.

Giving a speech before a crowd of people. I haven't had to do that since high school.

Recording a message over the phone. If I call someone and hear the message come on, I usually hang up.

talon · Apr 7, 2004

Unrestrained heights. I don't mind heights if I am behind a very sturdy barrier with no chance of falling. But a ledge or cliff. No way!

Waves. I am scared of waves in the ocean - I will constantly think that they will drown me - even though I am a good swimmer.

I like to say my reasons are: "In a past life I fell from the cliffs and then drowned in the sea"

blondiecat · Apr 7, 2004

SPIDERS! I hate, hate, hate them! I jumped out of a moving car when I was little because of one. Personally I would rather have a snake on me than a spider and I don't like snakes either

The only other thing I can think of is dark water.
ie: rivers,creeks,the ocean, etc. If I can't see where I put my feet I ain't going in......period.

abby7625 · Apr 7, 2004

To this day I can't sleep with my feet outside of the blankets or my hand hanging over the side of the bed.

I can't sleep with anything outside of the blankets except my head. If I hear a strange noise at nite the first thing I do is grab the blankets and pull them up to my neck..like my blankets will actually protect me from anything LOL

kitkatz · Apr 7, 2004

I grew up (till age 11) near a lovely fresh water lake where we would go swimm every summer, I nearly drowned when I was 5 but that didn't stop me from going in then we moved to the city and I saw Jaws for the first time and now I don't like swimming in anything where I can't see the bottom.

I don't hate snakes but I fear them, my parents were taking metal siding off a building when I was 6 and snakes had gotten behind it and layed nests, my older cousin caught one (they were garter snakes) and chased me all over the place with it. Just remembering it sends shivers up my back.

lucia · Apr 7, 2004

Originally posted by valanhb
I'm not actually phobic about anything, I'm really not even scared of anything. BUT like Lucia - I HATE earthworms!! They are about the most vile, disgusting little creatures I can think of. They are slimey, wriggly, and they stink. I have been known to run on tip toes in the rain to avoid stepping on them. YUK!!!!

But, I don't have a problem with snakes. I like snakes, actually. I think they're cute.

I still remember when we dissected a long-preserved earthworm in highschool biology lab. It was so pickled it looked like plastic. I informed my partner who was one of my best friends that she was doing the whole d@mn job. She wasn't thrilled,and tried to debate this with me, to which I said 'Kim, DO IT!' So she did. She probably decided I was scarier than the worm right then and there!

I've seen med school cadavers up close & personal courtesy of a friend in med school here years ago, who thought he would spook me: I asked for a pair of lab gloves to poke around with. (He was very disappointed lol.)

But worms? Not a chance! My housing complex is heavily landscaped and when it rains, and I have to go out, I just grit my teeth and don't look down.

jcat · Apr 11, 2004

I wouldn't call it a phobia, but I'm afraid of sharks, so much so that I don't enjoy even wading in the ocean. It probably started with "Jaws", but the real clincher was seeing a friend attacked by a shark in Cape May, NJ in 1978. It was an average-sized "sand shark", and at first we thought he was joking. He ended up with a huge gash in his leg.

Other than that, I'd have to say that I hate being in huge crowds, where everbody is jostling. That's probably why I hate shopping.

meowzer-x- · Apr 11, 2004

- Dark. I know it's childish, but I'm still a child

Also, experiences from the past to do with dark have traumatized me.

- Ghosts. Some people do not believe, but I do. Also, childish, but I have an exuse! lol.

mom of franz · Apr 11, 2004

I am deathy afraid of mice/rats. I've always said "I'd rather have a burglar in my house than a mouse"---That's desparate!

My second fear is putting in a new lightbulb into a lamp or outlet...I always jump sky high when the light comes on. Even if I've turned the switch to off, I don't trust it. Can't figure that one out.

Lastly, Pillsbury Roll containers, you know the ones that POP, or rather EXPLODE. My startle response/reflex is pretty tightly strung, so I guess it doesn't take much.

If the government ever wants me to spill any secrets they just have to employ the above...

I'LL TALK!

jcat · Apr 11, 2004

Originally Posted by Mom of Franz

Lastly, Pillsbury Roll containers, you know the ones that POP, or rather EXPLODE. My startle response/reflex is pretty tightly strung, so I guess it doesn't take much.

Barbara, now that you mention it, I hate opening the Pillsbury roll containers, too. They always remind me of the "Alien" popping out of John Hurt's chest - one of the ickiest movie scenes in history. Which brings me to the subject of champagne bottles. I have a vivid memory of my father opening a bottle at my college graduation party - and the cork putting a huge dent in the kitchen ceiling. Ever since then, I've always put a towel over the bottle before attempting to even loosen the cork.
For those of you who have a spider/tarantula phobia (which I luckily don't): When we were living in Philly, in a single family home, I saw what I thought was a tarantula in our cellar when I went down to do some wash. My husband told me I was imagining/exaggerating things. A few days later, I saw it again, and my father, who had come for lunch, got a look at it and said he thought it was a tarantula. (My older brother had had one, so we knew what they looked like; he had a taste for exotic pets, including toads, snakes, chameleons, iguanas, ferrets, rats, spiders, skunks, etc., so my sister and I grew up without too many phobias, though I never liked feeding time).The next time I talked to our next-door neighbor, she told me her teenaged son was bummed out because his pet tarantula had escaped, and they couldn't find it. The kid was really relieved when he managed, after hours of searching, to find it in our cellar. I have no idea how it managed to get out of its tank, escape their house, cross the side yard, and get into our cellar, but they were satisfied that it was the same spider. So if you find an animal that is not native to your area, and live in a large city, you may not be imagining things. I used to live with a cop, and once, while he was still in uniform, he and his partner got called to a "domestic dispute". Hearing an awful lot of crashing sounds, he and his partner decided to break down the apartment door. What they found was a young gorilla that had gone on a rampage in the apartment, apparently because it had been left alone! Can you imagine keeping a gorilla as a pet in a city apartment?

wellingtoncats · Apr 11, 2004

I actually like snakes and I have eaten worms.. I'm not really scared of anything, well yes heights and I get very Claustrophobic in the car I MUST have an opening window near me, I hate the feeling of being closed in, and a car it's worse.

mom of franz · Apr 11, 2004

Originally Posted by jcat

Barbara, now that you mention it, I hate opening the Pillsbury roll containers, too. They always remind me of the "Alien" popping out of John Hurt's chest - one of the ickiest movie scenes in history. Which brings me to the subject of champagne bottles. I have a vivid memory of my father opening a bottle at my college graduation party - and the cork putting a huge dent in the kitchen ceiling. Ever since then, I've always put a towel over the bottle before attempting to even loosen the cork.
For those of you who have a spider/tarantula phobia (which I luckily don't): When we were living in Philly, in a single family home, I saw what I thought was a tarantula in our cellar when I went down to do some wash. My husband told me I was imagining/exaggerating things. A few days later, I saw it again, and my father, who had come for lunch, got a look at it and said he thought it was a tarantula. (My older brother had had one, so we knew what they looked like; he had a taste for exotic pets, including toads, snakes, chameleons, iguanas, ferrets, rats, spiders, skunks, etc., so my sister and I grew up without too many phobias, though I never liked feeding time).The next time I talked to our next-door neighbor, she told me her teenaged son was bummed out because his pet tarantula had escaped, and they couldn't find it. The kid was really relieved when he managed, after hours of searching, to find it in our cellar. I have no idea how it managed to get out of its tank, escape their house, cross the side yard, and get into our cellar, but they were satisfied that it was the same spider. So if you find an animal that is not native to your area, and live in a large city, you may not be imagining things. I used to live with a cop, and once, while he was still in uniform, he and his partner got called to a "domestic dispute". Hearing an awful lot of crashing sounds, he and his partner decided to break down the apartment door. What they found was a young gorilla that had gone on a rampage in the apartment, apparently because it had been left alone! Can you imagine keeping a gorilla as a pet in a city apartment?

Jcat: Let's band together and KILL that Pillsbury Dough Boy...get the gorrilla for help...we'll turn him into a smelly pile of yeast, before he knows what hit 'em! That deranged sadist...grrrrrr

jcat · Apr 11, 2004

Great idea, Barbara! I usually attack the containers with a sharp knife, in order to put them out of their pain mercifully. I can't bring myself to slowly peel the paper off and then crack them against the edge of the sink or counter! What would I do if they "counter-attacked"? Actually, the "Pillsbury phobia" might be hereditary. My dad always loved the buttermilk biscuits, so my mom often bought them. However, she always got one of us kids to open the container, so I suspect she's phobic about them, too.

hissy · Apr 11, 2004

Getting lost- I have no sense of direction and get lost so easily.

Yellow jackets and wasps- i hate those things and they are thick as thieves in the summer

lilysmom · Apr 11, 2004

I am scared to death of needles and shots. I had to get bloodwork done on Friday and I was a HUGE baby! I avoid it at all costs.

What Are Your Phobias, And Why?

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