5U1C1D3, you (and Myxlpltt) may have a condition called sleep paralysis, or “Night Hag” syndrome. This is a problem which is believed to be related to lack of oxygen through difficult breathing; many people suffer from this (my wife is one of them) and it’s believed to be the source of many legends, such as UFO abductions, night “attacks”, hauntings, and prophetic dreams.
IANA psychologist, but if you search for the above keywords you can find articles on the subject. See if other peoples’ stories are similar to your own.
Childhood fears? Crossing high bridges, or long spans over water- especially whan you can look down and see the water. I get a visceral reaction, and my bladder wants to empty BAD. High roller coasters like the Phantom’s Revenge in Kennywood, that give you a long view of the river, get me the same way.
Space aliens. If I get the thought of space aliens into my head at night, the only way I can get to sleep is to think of movies or shows featuring non-threatening aliens. Fortunately, there’s a lot of those.
Ghosts. Sheesh, why did I have to think about The Ring again in this dark room with the TV behind me?
Also bears. No idea why. I’ve never encountered one. But I’d rather wrestle crocodiles than meet a bear.
Wow, I’m surprised other people are also afraid of mirrors. My mirror fear is of a different “flavor” it seems, though. I like horror novels. love them, love them, and they don’t even scare me. Books on “true” hauntings/supernatural, on the other hand can scare the shit out of me, especially ones about places I’ve been. the reason I’m mentioning this is because the way I know a book (or occasionally a movie, but it’s got to be a lot scarier than “the ring”) is that I suddenly remember my irrational fear of mirrors- even if the scariness has nothing to do with mirrors whatsoever. What am I afraid of? That I’ll look in the mirror, and my reflection will do something that I don’t.
I go to great lengths to avoid my normally harmless mirrors when I’m scared. The bathroom mirror doesn’t have that affect for some reason, but both my bedroom ones are off-limits. When I’m scared of something real, the mirrors are usually also ok. Go figure.
I read/seen more than one thing in which a character is fooled by “their reflection” when it’s really something else. I’m not sure why this has translated to scared of any horror thing–>can’t look in mirrors, but I don’t have a psych degree
Red Eyes glowing in the window. Thought I was the only person with that one. Yes! Saw it in a movie when I was a kid. I keep thinking it was Audrey Rose (1977) who knows. Since moving here the red eyes outside of the window scary thoughts have mostly abated (besides I’m up on the 4th floor where I’m safe).
Spiders and the other Creepy Crawlies used to be a huge fear! T’was my biggest lament for Needing A Man, needed that designated spider squisher. Amazing how motherhood has changed that. Panic ensues but I manage to KILL KILL KILL whatever may be trying to GET MY KID! Of course panic and logic never seem to go hand and hand when it comes to bugs and my actions. A couple days ago while I was pulling laundry off the line something BIG flew up at me from the sheet I was folding it flew into my shoulder bounced back and landed on Little Chatty who was ‘helping me’. There was this beast on her chin! Without hesitation I scream and take a whack at her with full intentions of saving her from the horrid beast. IT drops to the floor, Little Chatty is stunned, I realize I just backhanded my kid who had no idea what was going on and Mr Chatty comes running out to the terrazza to see what happened. T’was an oversized brown moth. Nothing more nothing less. Uffa. The little one picks the moth up off of the floor and gives me this pained look and tells me ‘No hurt butterflies’. Oy!
Other fears - getting poked in the eye with a stick (or other pointy objects), getting stuck in quicksand - whenever we go camping I always remind myself not to panic if I get sucked in and eventually someone will toss me a rope (yes too much Gilligan’s Island as a child) and getting blown up in a McDonalds.
For years my fear of sharks had kept me out of the water. Well out of open water and definitely out of the deep end of pools. Am happy to report I’ve gotten over that one.
So I can assure all of you who are afraid of her that she does not exist…I saw nothing in the mirror but my own wide-eyed and relieved face.
As for why I did it…I dunno. I have a thing about doing something that frightens me so that I won’t get too paranoid. Bloody Mary freaked me out so I had to try it, just to make sure it wasn’t true. (I realize the logic here is skewed.)
I will, however, admit to an irrational childhood fear of being snuck up on. If I’m washing my face over the sink and I close my eyes to rinse, I get the sudden, irrational sensation that someone is looking at me, or standing behind me, or running up to me. And every time I finish rinsing and open my eyes, I glance behind me in the mirror to make sure I’m “still alone.” If I’m walking down a dark hallway by myself, sometimes I have to make myself resist the urge to run, or to look behind me, to make sure nothing is coming after me. (See above, where I mention trying to avoid giving in to the paranoia. ;))
Don’t know where that comes from, but I hate it when somebody sneaks up on me and does that whole “Ha ha! I startled you!” routine. I get really angry, beyond the point of rationality, and have to remind myself that not everybody hates it the way I do.
Oh, and I will run like almighty hell away from anything that can sting me. Middle of a picnic, chilling by the pool, getting the mail…if I see anything, or think I hear anything, in the vicinity that might sting me (wasps, bees, hornets, etc.) I have no qualms about running away screaming. Everyone who knows me is aware of my cowardice in this area; I’ve left lakeside picnics before just b/c I see too many Potentially Stinging Flying Things lurking. I can’t relax.
You brave, brave woman. Rationally, I know that Bloody Mary will not (likely) appear. But I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to try. Maybe now I’ll be able to be around a dark mirror, though. Maybe. If I don’t look at it. And it’s only for a couple seconds. Maybe.
It’s oddly comforting that other people are scared of escalators, too.
Thanks for sharing all these, guys. It’s amazing, the things that haunt us even though we’re grown-ups now.
My best friend went to Catholic school, and apparently Bloody Mary was very popular there. I had never heard of it until she told me about it, and we found out through the grapevine that all the other catholic schools in the area were doing it too. Was it rebellion against the nuns or something? I was always afraid to try it, and so was she. We couldn’t get past the first Bloody Mary, and we even had a hard time squeaking that out. Flash forward to us running screaming from the bathroom. I still have trouble looking in the mirror if it’s dim.
When my parents were rebuilding the attic, they let my sister and I spend the night up there. It was like a camp out to us, and we were fine until I woke up in the middle of the night to my mother walking around, making sure we were ok. I saw her leaning over me, and I absolutely freaked out, hyperventelating, crying, having an asthma attack, the works. I think that was the last time I ever slept on my back.
I am afraid of mirrors. I am afraid of looking out my window and seeing something looking in at me. I am dreadfully afraid of the dark.
There is a little bird making a nest above my window. It scratches and taps on the glass. I know it is only a pretty little bird, a very cute one with grey feathers on its wings and a happy-sounding chirp, but it is scratching and tapping on my window, and this scares me.
I am afraid of my computer making unexpected noises. I keep it muted when I sign on or off of AOL so I won’t have to listen to “Welcome!” or “Goodbye!” and when the instant messenger makes its door-creaking noises for buddies signing on or off I jump. Those “jump” websites where something pops up and screams at you frighten the ever-loving crap out of me.
Steelerphan —>quote: may have a condition called sleep paralysis, or “Night Hag” syndrome. This is a problem which is believed to be related to lack of oxygen through difficult breathing; many people suffer from this (my wife is one of them)
That’s true. Sometimes i can’t breath so i wake up, and whoever saw me sleep keep telling me that i have a troubled breathing, almost like a snore, but not quite. It runs in my family though… Quote: and it’s believed to be the source of many legends, such as UFO abductions, night “attacks”, hauntings, and prophetic dreams. lol see i told you i’m insane!
Thank you very much…now my practical side have a clue about what’s going on with me.
But my si-fi side tells me there is more to things as they seem. I know it is hard to believe in some things…but since i can play (very little) with energy i have an open mind (but don’t believe everything from one shot lol of course)
My hubby didn’t believe in energy manipulation, untill i was able to numb his arm just by touching his palm for a few minutes. MyxlplttI would be interested in some links to the stuff you mentioned regarding our shared encounters
I would have PM’d you but seems to have been disabled by admins weird
Well i don’t have a link… it is all experience…and i did mention that i was told about those ‘demons’…and you can’t PM me if i’m not on line in here. But my email is posted
Every time I read one of these threads, I wonder if I missed out on something in childhood, or if there was something wrong with me. I was an exceptionally fearless (the unkind might even say “recklessly stupid”) child. I perched in high places, rode up escalators standing on the handrails, walked around outside in the rural Louisiana night, said “Bloody Mary” to darkened mirrors, and howled back at coyotes. I had no fear of needles, and I paid scant attention to the possibility of pain. The things that scared other kids excited me, or at most induced a sort of cold disconnect in which all of my emotions just shut off.
That said, I had some nightmares that scared me horribly. They were always set in a thick fog. Now, I love fog–the way it feels, smells, and tastes…the mystery of it. But not this fog. It was alive, and it hated me. Worst of all, it was helping something worse to hide from me. Something deadly that was after me, and everyone I cared about. It would stalk me, teasing me with hints of movement, but eventually it would get impatient and come too close, and I would lunge for it. We’d fall down into the dewy grass and start strangling each other, and just as my vision went dark I’d finally see the Other’s face…and it was me.
Sometimes, when I’m stressed out or in pain when I fall asleep, those nightmares come back. At the end I jerk awake, soaking wet with sweat–which my fuzzled brain mistakes for foggy dew–and stare at the ceiling for the rest of the night. I suppose that means I haven’t outgrown the fear, even if I don’t really understand exactly what I’m afraid of.
I also had nightmares about a thing that kept the eyes and mouths of everyone it consumed. It giggled like a drunken child and called out to me in my friends’ voices as it dragged itself toward me with their teeth. The worst part wasn’t being chased, it was knowing that my friends were already dead. Fortunately, those nightmares stopped when I was still a lad.
I have a fear, but not a phobia, of a kid running out in front of me (when I’m driving) and hitting him/her. If that ever happened to me, I don’t think I could ever drive again and never forgive myself.
My biggest childhood fear was of E.T. I don’t really freak out about him anymore but he still gives me the heebie jeebies.
I am getting better about the dark, but if I am in a strange place alone I don’t like it when it’s dark out and I can’t see out the windows because the lights are on inside. I’m fine at my own house, though.
I still hate opening a door to a dark room or turning my back on a dark room. I hate it when you have to turn out a light before you can leave, so you end up walking out in the dark. I don’t like the feeling of having the darkness behind me.
Now I fear heights and needles, but I didn’t as a child. Strange.
