Not in a suicidal sense. I’ve just always found that when I’m on the edge of something high (a building, the Grand Canyon) I feel a kind of curiosity about what would happen. I mean, I know I’d die, but still. It draws me. I’m in no danger of doing it, no fear, but it’s an odd sensation.
That’s why I don’t like high places without railings - I’m not afraid I’ll fall, I’m afraid I’ll jump. I’ve heard other people say the same thing. (My boyfriend is afraid of high places in the more “normal” sense - it’s completely different.)
It’s the fastest way down.
Yes. I suspect it’s damn near universal.
I thought this was just me. 
I’m far more afraid of my brain misfiring and causing me to jump than I am of accidentally falling.
I’m currently doing a road trip visiting the Grand Canyon and other canyons in Utah, so I have experienced this very sensation on numerous occasions over the last few days. It is quite disconcerting.
Yep, I get that feeling whenever I’m in a high place, be it a skyscraper or a mountain cliff. Even sometimes just on fairly steep hills; it almost feels like I should be able to glide down if I really wanted to. There’s this little voice inside that seems to be urging me to make the leap, spread my wings, and take to the air. I have to remind it that I don’t, in fact, have any wings.
And I’m not buying any of that awful Red Bull stuff either so that’s right out.
It’s common, but I’ve never experienced it.
Interesting, for me it’s a total fear of the edge- I’m afraid I might get dizzy and lose my balance and tumble over. So i try to avoid getting close to edges, even windows that go from floor to ceilings kinda freak me out.
So, I don’t think it’s a “universal” feeling to want to jump, but i’m sure it’s more common one that expected.
I’m moving this from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
There aren’t many tall buildings or high places around here, so my urge has been to drive my car off the road and into rivers or snowbanks.
Yep
I have this too, it freaks me out…
This.
It’s definitely not a suicidal thing, and I cannot for the life of me conceive of a single reason why I would possibly want to do it. But I distinctly recall wanting to drive into the Alsea River. Given that a) it was a rental car and b) that’s incredibly stupid I never did, obviously. But I was curious about the experience.
Whew, glad I’m not alone. What’s odder is since I moved into my 10th floor apartment a few years back, I’ll get the same urge as I lie in bed. Just pop through the screen on the window and go right down…
I’ve had this fear most of my life, or at least as long as I can remember. I was told once that a fear of height correlates somehow with a fear of sex or sexuality----if I’m a freak, I’m glad I’ve got so much good company.
Why not take up Base Jumping or abseiling?
Then you can jump off and hopefully live.
There was a fascinating article about a pair of brothers with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome by Richard Preston in the New Yorker. People with this condition cannot stop harming themselves, biting off their lips, tongue and fingers. Here’s a link to the abstract - access to the full article requires a subscription.
I had something similar to this. I was staying in corporate housing for work on the 20th floor of an apartment building a few years ago. There were no screens in any of the windows, so it was just big sliding windows and…a really far drop down. I would sometimes open it late at night and lean out and watch the drunk kids leave the bars. And I always had that urge/fear that I might just jump/tumble out. The whole time I was living there, I refused to drink, fearing I might give in to the urge if I had enough booze in me.
Freaks me out just remembering that feeling.
What’s weird is that I have an open air balcony on the second floor of my house now, and I have no urge to jump/tumble off of that; this “urge” seems to just be associated with REALLY high buildings.
Heh, I get this too. Sometimes while driving I’ll think: “mmh…I could just not turn the wheel, or not slow down…I would crash…why not”
And then my hands turn the wheel automatically to follow the curb.
I knew many people were wondering how it would feel to jump from, say, a high building, when at the top, and I also experience this, but I thought the car thing was one of my oddities :o