# Childhood fears you haven't (quite) outgrown **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157 "2003-07-22T15:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/21 "2003-07-23T09:36:49Z")
Darkness. I still have nightmares in which no torches or light switches work. I usually wake up at the precise moment that I realize - “this is one of those dreams in which none of the lights work” If I didn’t wake up I could turn them into lucid dreams. ---
**Author:** ![maleinblack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@maleinblack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maleinblack)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/22 "2003-07-23T12:24:54Z")
Am I the only one who is afraid of **needles**? I had a strange theory to rid myself of the fear- Donate blood. Doesnt seem that sucessful cause I`ve donated blood twice and have fainted once.Well I think I have a long way to go before I bury this fear.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![chestnutmare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@chestnutmare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chestnutmare)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/23 "2003-07-23T12:31:10Z")
Motorcycles although I have gotten better. When I was about 6 there was a fatal motorcycle accident outside of my house. The chalk outline was there for what seemed like weeks, but was probably only days. It has only been in the last couple of years that I can drive near a motorcycle without getting really tense and clenching the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. I used to switch lanes and slow waaaay down until the motorcycles were out of sight. Now I just make sure to give them plenty of space and pay strict attention to any other approaching bikes. I still fear hitting one, but have actually considered learning to ride. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/24 "2003-07-23T12:32:50Z")
Bees, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets- they all frighten me now just as much as they did when I was a little boy. It’s embarrassing as hell for me to be at a picnic or some other outdoor event, and upon seeing a wasp or whatever come flying towards me I get up and flee from it in sheer terror. I’ve never liked clowns, either. As a child I never understood how they were supposed to be funny or amusing. They just look so, so _sinister_ to me. Seeing _Poltergeist_ intensified that fear even more. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/25 "2003-07-23T12:50:19Z")
Like the op, I have a deep childhood fear of escalators and enter and exit them much the way you do. I find them terrifying and use an elevator or stairs if I can unless my husband or son is there. Both are aware of my fear. The teenager is very gallant about it, he stands very close so I can take his arm if I want. I always want him ahead of me going up and behind me going down though because I am afraid I will kill him if I fall. The other complicating factor is that I have another fear of touching the handrails because of germs. I saw some news magazine type show that swabbing all these excalators and most all of them had fecal matter on them from people who don’t wash their hands. So while I am terrified of getting on the escalator I am also terrified to hang on to the rail. Yep, I’m insane. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/26 "2003-07-23T13:08:06Z")
As a child my dental experiences were very, very bad and I didn’t go to a dentist for years. I now go every six months to Dr. Stern, but I still have a hard time doing it. The fact that Dr. Stern could get me to go twice a year to a dentist proves he is not only the best dentist in existance ever, but also performs miracles! ---
**Author:** ![insomnia4AM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@insomnia4AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insomnia4AM)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/27 "2003-07-23T13:38:27Z")
I can’t seem to get past the fear of the dark. If I am alone, I have to have a light on, and it can’t be a night-light either. Too many shadow combinations going on. Forget about open closets, and if I walk into a room where the shades are open, and it’s dark, I have about three seconds before I run up to close them. If there is someone else with me, I can tolerate it, but you can bet I get absolutely no sleep that evening, because all I want to do is turn the light, or the TV on, but won’t out of consideration for the other person. This also goes for driving too. If it’s a dark road, I will call somebody, turn up the radio, or on occasions when I am driving in a very wooded area, I will turn my dome light on. I need to get over this. ---
**Author:** ![Pebbles131](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eada6e/32.png) [@Pebbles131](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pebbles131)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/28 "2003-07-23T13:58:14Z")
I hate the dark, we always have the bathroom light on all night…for the kids though, you understand! I hate closing the mirrored bathroom cupboard. Im terrified someone/thing will be behind me! I hate things that make me jump. This is a really big deal for me, probably a bona fide phobia. The wrong kind of ‘jump’ can have me in floods of tears. We were burgled while we were in bed once, fortunately we slept through it but I often wonder just how far they came in. Did they look in our bedrooms? They could easily have taken one of the children and we wouldnt have known a thing about it 'til the morning. :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/29 "2003-07-23T15:13:54Z")
Ever since I was four, I was a scaredy cat swimmer. I love the actual swimming but jumping/diving scared the shit out of me. Even though dozens of my cousins dove right in front of me, I was somehow convinced that when I would try it, I’d die. Now that I am older, I decided to rid myself of this fear. Last summer I forced myself to jump into water and I had fun! So, I did it as often as possible. This summer, somehow my fear has gotten a bigger toe-hold. I’ve jumped into a pool once so far and it was a huge mental convincing effort “Okay, you don’t have to use the diving board. Just do it. Make sure you hold your nose. Do it, do it! You’re 26 years old, get your butt in the water.” Diving I don’t think I can attempt in my lifetime. Jumping I can overcome. A lot of my childhood phobias about purchasing have lingered into adulthood. The horrendous small-talk while the cashier rings up my stuff terrifies me. I’m thinking all the while “Why don’t you shut your yap and ring up my items correctly.” If the cashier is quiet and just rings up my stuff listlessly, I’m the happiest person in the world. Also the fear that I won’t have enough money. I could go into a store with $100 and get a $20 item and STILL worry about whether I’ll have enough money. Because man, that one time you didn’t have enough money is completely traumatizing. Panic math sucks ass. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/30 "2003-07-23T17:07:08Z")
I have to have somebody sleep with me. I can not fall asleep alone. I slept with my mother every single night until hubby and I got together and I could sleep with him. If he is gone for some reason (working the night shift, for instance) I sleep with mommy ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/31 "2003-07-23T17:38:27Z")
well glad i’m not the only one who still is worried about the dark. Everytime i round a corner in the house (in the dark of course) even if it is lighted up at the other end, i have images in my head of some ghoul poping suddenly. My fears come in waves…it could go on and off for weeks. I don’t tell anyone to be with me or something because i’m sort of ashamed of it. I just bare my teeth and don’t falter in my steps. (sometimes i punch the air at the moment where i’d expect something to pop…it helps:) ) Except now i have more nightmares. They are not your usual ones only because: i am still dreaming, but i open my eyes in reality. So i see my room as it is but the nighmare is overlapping and happening in there. Since i’m still in dream state, i see my body lying still, but i can move my ‘dream’ one. The problem you see, since my eyes are actually open, i cannot move my head at all. Nor say anything. I try, but if a sound does come out, it’s muffled because my mouth is too heavy to move. So i force myself to wake up. It’s getting harder to do so these days. And i’m getting more paranoid. Eyh, don’t wonder if i call myself insane 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizzygoodmakefeelnice)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/32 "2003-07-23T18:09:10Z")
This is quite difficult to explain. I am terriffied of being in places where people aren’t supposed to be. For example, somehow ending up behind a ride in a fair ground, or under a pier, or on the tracks in the underground station. Whenever I’ve been at a theme park I’ve been completely paranoid of going the wrong way and ending up _behind_ one of the rides. This fear even extends to computer games: if I’m playing a game and something goes wrong such as my character walking through a walk I freak out and jump away from the computer. Silly really. ---
**Author:** ![Myxlpltt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myxlpltt/32/6543_2.png) [@Myxlpltt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myxlpltt)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/33 "2003-07-23T19:58:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5U1C1D3 \* > \*\*well glad i’m not the only one who still is worried about the dark. Everytime i round a corner in the house (in the dark of course) even if it is lighted up at the other end, i have images in my head of some ghoul poping suddenly. > > My fears come in waves…it could go on and off for weeks. I don’t tell anyone to be with me or something because i’m sort of ashamed of it. I just bare my teeth and don’t falter in my steps. (sometimes i punch the air at the moment where i’d expect something to pop…it helps:) ) > > Except now i have more nightmares. They are not your usual ones only because: i am still dreaming, but i open my eyes in reality. > So i see my room as it is but the nighmare is overlapping and happening in there. Since i’m still in dream state, i see my body lying still, but i can move my ‘dream’ one. > The problem you see, since my eyes are actually open, i cannot move my head at all. Nor say anything. I try, but if a sound does come out, it’s muffled because my mouth is too heavy to move. > > So i force myself to wake up. It’s getting harder to do so these days. And i’m getting more paranoid. > Eyh, don’t wonder if i call myself insane 😃 \*\* I always wondered if I was the only one who this happened to …the nightmares come in waves like you said …and there is nothing more terrifying to me then feeling as if you are safe by _thinking_ you have awoken only to find it is just another chapter in the nightmare…sometimes I have to go through several attempts at waking myself up …when I was very young during these nightmares once I would realize that I was still asleep I would get this sensation of hands pulling me …and I would try to struggle but could not move …since I was being pulled towards the walls …I referred to this as the \*people in walls \* when I was little …nobody ever believed me …rarely do I have the feeling of unseen _people_ during this nightmares anymore… oh and I am totally afraid of Night of the Living Dead/Last man on Earth/Omega Man…not the movie …of it actually happening …some …and being one of the few left alive …since I was a kid …I have an escape plan for every place I ever move to …only in the last 4 years has the need to have certain must have (ie nails and hammer )items not been such a priority…yes yes I am not a normal girl ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/34 "2003-07-24T02:25:43Z")
**Myxlpltt** i had several instances where in that “trapped” state, i could feel movement in the room, but not see it. Like a couple of ‘creatures’, that suddenly say something or grab me, and all i can do is get scared more. If you believe in the supernatural realm, i have been told that those creatures that scare you in such a state are actually feeding. Since they are made up of some type of energy, they feed on yours whenever you’re scared. So all they try to do is scare you more, so the can ‘milk’ that type of energy off of you. If you don’t believe in the supernatural…well all i can say is: that’s some imagination we have 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/35 "2003-07-24T02:56:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\*Oh man, I just thought of the other big one: Bloody Mary. You know that stupid tale that gets told at any slumber party, about how if you look into a mirror in the dark and say, “Bloody Mary” three times (or whatever), you’ll see her face in the mirror? That story really took root in my imagination and to this day, I cannot go into a dark bathroom or any other room where I know there’s a mirror without the lights blazing. > > And I have never, ever tried saying Bloody Mary. Because what if it’s true? Gah! > > \*\* Oh my god! ME TOO!!! I thought I was the only one! To this day I cannot go in the bathroom when it’s dark, or be ina dark room with a mirror. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![wawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@wawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wawa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/36 "2003-07-24T03:31:48Z")
I have one bizarre fear. When I was about 7, I heard the stories about alligators swimming through pipes, and coming out of people’s toilets. All these years later, I still cannot use the loo without turning the lights on and looking in there first. I’m terrified something’s going to drag me down. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/37 "2003-07-24T03:34:47Z")
Oh and I have the red eye fear too. We can’t buy any appliances with red lights, they have to be green, or he has to put black electric tape over the red one. I was too young to remember the show on TV but I remember that I very nearly wet my pants with fear when at the end when every thing was supposed to be over and “safe” just as the show ended and the red eyes came back on. :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/38 "2003-07-24T04:24:41Z")
Horses. Never liked them as a kid. Some fool pushed me up on one when I was ten. I crapped off it on to gravel. Haven’t touched one since. Now I leave them alone and they leave me alone. It seems to be working out fine. ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Star_to_the_Right)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/39 "2003-07-24T04:29:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by maleinblack \* > Am I the only one who is afraid of **needles**? Nope. I’m terrified of them and always have been. Funny thing is, I’m a diabetic and have to take shots of insulin daily. It took awhile before I was able to give myself shots, but I adjusted. I’m ok with that now- I think it’s because I’m in control of what the needle is doing. If someone else is coming at me with one, forget it. I can’t stand the thought of giving blood. [sub] shudder [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sinshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sinshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinshine)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157/40 "2003-07-24T05:16:57Z")
Childhood fears? I was always afraid of my parents leaving me with the babysitter. Not that she/they were ever bad sitters, but that the parents might not come home again. I am mostly over that, except when they go on road trips without me along to make sure they come back. Oh - the other fear? Saws. Chain saws, hand saws, circular saws. Walked out of the movie Screamers, because they went and put “AI” enhanced circular saws into the ground with seek-and-destroy missions. I would rather use an axe than a saw, any day of the week. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-fears-you-havent-quite-outgrown/190157.md?page=3)