For me…ants.
I HATE ants. and I am not scared of them, I am freakin petrified, terror consumes me when I see even a number as small as 4 ants crawling around something. Walking down the street and seeing that big black spot on the sidewalk, and thinking “hmm I wonder what that is.” and it ends up being like 1.2 million ants just crawling around nothing…I about pass out.
Whenever I tell people this they kinda chuckle, snicker, chortle, and give me that “Are you serious? Ants?” but oh god they scare me beyond belief.
So what are YOU afraid of that is small or weird
When I was much younger, E.T. used to scare the hell out of me. Yes, this thing. I never bought the idea that he was some benign little creature who just wanted a friend; to me, there were some evil intentions behind that shy little grin. Now, though, it’s Chucky from Child’s Play. I don’t care if he’s a little plastic doll from a cheesy horror movie, nor do I care that everyone outside of the Dope would probably laugh at me if I told them this. He runs around wielding a knife, for Og’s sake!
I get extremely uneasy when I’m driving behind a vehicle with cargo tied down on it, like pipes or logs or lengths of rebar or sheets of glass. Even though I know that cargo is tied down all the time and gets safely to its destination every day, I’m terrified that I will be brained by a Christmas tree, or that the cars on the car carrier will roll down and flatten me. A rickety wooden trailer, with a damned broom in a bucket sticking out of the top, gives me the willies. Must pass.
ET freaked me the hell out when I was a little kid. He always reminded me of a walking, talking piece of meat. My mom thought I loved ET, so she bought us these ET juice glasses with a McDonald’s happy meal and used to serve us milk in them. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to drink milk unless absolutely forced to. I’m 34 now and still can’t look at milk when I drink it. I also have to hold my breath.
Centipedes scare the jeebus out of me. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - should have that many legs. If I see them, I screech. The only thing that will induce me to keep quiet if a centipede is nearby is if my son is there.
I also hate being tickled. I used to have nightmares about it. And I’m ticklish everywhere. Even the backs of my hands get ticklish. So the thought of someone holding me down to tickle me makes me cringe.
When I was young and dumb and used to ride a motorcycle, I heard (numerous times from numerous other riders) a tale of ‘some guy’ who was riding behind a truck hauling plumbing pipe. At some point, the pipes all came loose and went flying through the air. The unknown motorcyclist was hit in the chest and the pipe went completely through him, pinning him to the pavement. Needless to say, the poor shmoe died.
To this very day, I feel panicky and weird when I pass a truck loaded with pipe; I’ll do everything short of pulling off the road to get away from him.
Fear of clusters, discussed to some extent here. They make me feel extremely uncomfortable. Oh, and the “Breast Rash” picture is probably the most disturbing image I’ve ever seen. And I know it’s photoshopped.
ETA: Even shit like this (an image from “The Week in Pictures” feature from MSNBC.com) makes me want to throw up.
And yet, I co-exist with bugs/insects and never go into a fit. A praying mantis just hits that ‘bejesus’ cortext. If a Praying Mantis was in my home or my office, I would move or quit if I lost site of it and it got away.
If it sat there, and I could plot its demise, my heart would go “BOOM BOOM BOOM”, and I would have a rush of adrenaline to cope with. If that sucker stayed put, I would wrestle my fear, as I have done before, and I would stake down the mighty beast…because that’s what heroes do: we take down the things we fear.
But if that sucker was in my house/office and got away and out of sight, I’d pack up and leave! I’ll face the sucker mano en mano, but if there’s a chance he is gonna sneak up on me or show up somewhere by surprise…OMG! BEJESUS MELTDOWN just from the mere CHANCE!
Not a pipe, but a dishwasher came off a truck once at me and I was only barely able to dodge the flying pieces (in a car). A dishwasher dissolves into its component pieces when it hits the highway.
Meh, they taste like chicken. Personally, I’m afraid of derivatives, they lurk in the financial shadows but nobody knows what their worth. They’r like Langoliers eating up all our past profits and savings.
