# Share your irrational fears. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706 "2005-07-22T21:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/41 "2005-07-24T05:11:31Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > A friend of mine flips out at the sight of a cat. We always make a point to shut the cats in the basement when she’s coming over. One time, we forgot by accident. One of our cats was just a kitten at the time, and was so tiny you could hold him in the palm of your hand–not exactly threatening looking. My friend saw the kitten and immediately began screaming and ran toward the door. I felt really bad about it at the time, but the two of us can laugh about it now Have you noticed any eclispses, or water turning into blood when he’s around? Cause he reminds me a lot of this one guy I saw in a movie… ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/42 "2005-07-24T05:33:51Z")
Babies. I’m scared of holding babies. I always think there is a chance I might drop them and they could die. They are very fragile you know? ---
**Author:** ![Stinkum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Stinkum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinkum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/43 "2005-07-24T05:48:00Z")
I’m afraid to listen to the weather report at night. For as long as I can remember, I have left the room during the late-night weather segment. I just gives me \ the shivers \. Alien invasion. Really. Again, at night I can’t look out the windows because I think a little outer-space thing will be peering through the window at me. Mind you, I read a lot of science fiction, and reading about aliens or watching a moving with them in it doesn’t scare me at all. I think I saw too many Twilight Zone shows as a child. On a more mundane note, I’m phobic about reptiles and amphibians. Snakes, toads, frogs, lizards, turtles, etc. I freak out if I see them in person, or in photos or on a screen. I had to cancel my subscription to National Geographic because there were too many photos of them. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/44 "2005-07-24T05:52:15Z")
Seriously? Claymation, and now, all that CGI-type animation that reminds me of claymation. I’ve never seen _Toy Story_, for example. I don’t even know why, but it’s just way to freaky to live, and I can’t watch it. I’m an adult, and yet the last time I saw a movie with my parents, a preview for something (_Shrek 2_, maybe?) came on, and my mommy covered my eyes for me and held my hand until it was over. And I was glad she did. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/45 "2005-07-24T05:53:59Z")
Yoghurt and milk freak me out for some reason. I like yoghurt when drained and I adore cheese but the sight of milk almost makes me want to vomit. Cream sauces also disgust me. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/46 "2005-07-24T06:00:44Z")
I’m scared I’ll faint in public. I only ever seem to get this fear when I’m at the book store. I’ll be turning my head sideways to look at things, get dizzy, and suddenly think, “God if you just let me walk out of here without fainting and falling down with my skirt over my head I promise I’ll never come here again.” Then five minutes later I’m fine. Then ten minutes later I’m making the same plea. Sometimes it will happen two or three times in one visit. I’ve never fainted in public and I’m in perfectly good health. No matter how many times it happens, I keep going back to the book store. I don’t really know what that’s about. I’m sure that’s how agoraphobia comes over people. Luckily my attention span is so pathetic that I don’t remember to stop going to the bookstore. I don’t even remember to leave when two seconds before I was mentally bargaining with the almighty to let me be okay. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/47 "2005-07-24T06:15:56Z")
I won’t walk next to railings, like stairwells, or the upper floors of a mall. I am deathly afraid that I will fall over them. I know that it would be practically impossible to accidentally fall over one, but it doesn’t matter. I am also afraid of stairs where you can see between the steps. I am also afraid of being struck by lightning. I have a weird fear of knives and other sharp things. Not so much that I can’t use them, but I’m afraid of cutting myself. Not accidentally–intentionally. I have never done this deliberately, but I often get a weird feeling that this time, I just might. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/48 "2005-07-24T06:30:02Z")
> [@Stinkum](#): > > Alien invasion. Really. Again, at night I can’t look out the windows because I think a little outer-space thing will be peering through the window at me. Mind you, I read a lot of science fiction, and reading about aliens or watching a moving with them in it doesn’t scare me at all. I think I saw too many Twilight Zone shows as a child. I have this too. Late at night when the house is dark and especially when I’m alone, I always expect to see little red eyes glowing beside the window. And it’s more terrifying than it has any right to be. I think it comes from when I was little–I’d get up and watch TV early early in the morning, and there were these longish ads for TimeLife books about proof of aliens’ existence…after I’d seen it once or twice, I’d have to leave the living room and sit on the steps with my hands over my ears until the ad was done. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/49 "2005-07-24T06:48:11Z")
(1) I am terrified that I am going to be electrocuted. By (a) my hair dryer, (b) my vacuum cleaner, © changing a light bulb, (d) getting the toast out of the toaster, (e) touching a light switch at the exact moment my house gets struck by lightning or (f) plugging or unplugging any appliance not already mentioned. However, I am not afraid of being electrocuted while talking on the phone in the bathtub, and I do it all the time. I am not afraid of being electrocuted while swimming in an indoor pool during a thunderstorm and resent that they close the pool (after all, they don’t close the hot tub or the showers). (2) I am freaked out by shopping in stores like Home Depot, Office Depot, etc., where they stack things really high, because something could fall from a top shelf and land on me. And now I will confuse that fearing something falling on me is sort of a back formation. The truth is that these canyons bother me, so I came up with the something-will-fall theory to explain why, but I’m not entirely sure that’s it. (3) I am afraid of doctors and haven’t been to one in ages. My fear is that I will go in with some minor complaint but the doctor, in examining me, will find something much, much worse. Why I even bother to maintain health insurance is a mystery to me. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/50 "2005-07-24T09:28:34Z")
I am afraid to be horribly injured or worse, die, in a car accident. The thought of being on the highway going 70 MPH and being unable to avoid hitting something or having another car hit me is more than I can bear. I’m a great passenger, but this fear is the reason why I have never driven a car, and never will. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/51 "2005-07-24T15:19:19Z")
Centipedes and millipedes just creep me out. Too many legs. :: shivers :: And driving terrifies me, to the point where driving to Raleigh (thirty miles away) is a Huge Deal – I do it about twice a year, and I have to mentally put my affairs in order before I start. Strangely, I’m not even remotely afraid of being a passenger in vehicles that somebody _else_ is driving, even when they’re clearly a less safe driver than I am – I just figure what will be, will be, and it’s out of my hands. It’s the sense of having absolute control over this huge, destructive hunk of metal that spooks me. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/52 "2005-07-24T16:42:50Z")
Hubby has a massive fear of makeup/lotions of any kind. Lipstick, lipgloss are forbidden to me, he won’t kiss me if I’m wearing them. Foundation I can get away with, because it dries and doesn’t go goopy. But I can’t get footrubs with moisturiser or oils, because he doesn’t like having those things on his hands. It squicks him out to an insane degree. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/53 "2005-07-24T16:52:56Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I am afraid to be horribly injured or worse, die, in a car accident. > > The thought of being on the highway going 70 MPH and being unable to avoid hitting something or having another car hit me is more than I can bear. > > I’m a great passenger, but this fear is the reason why I have never driven a car, and never will. Bingo. Of course, the fact that I’m in Drivers Ed isn’t helping me one bit… ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/54 "2005-07-24T17:57:11Z")
I’m with Dooku. Stinging, flying insects make me jump about like a loon. I can stand below a black widow spider making a web and sleep in an apartment that I know has a problem with brown recluse spiders, but a horsefly makes me jump and swat indiscriminately. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/55 "2005-07-24T18:13:53Z")
I am afraid of saliva, but only in specific applications. For example I have no problem with kissing or anything along those lines but once my SO licked the back of my neck and I freaked out, I had to wash my neck, change clothes, and ended up having to shower because it still felt “wet” even though I knew full well it wasn’t. Oh and spitting. I can’t be around anyone who spits. Even the sound of someone who is clearing their throat makes me want to vomit, and have vomited because of it. It even happens when I have to clear my own throat. I hate flu season. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/56 "2005-07-25T12:39:50Z")
I fear clowns. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/57 "2005-07-25T13:20:09Z")
Sharks. Oh my god, how I fear sharks. Talk about the irrational fear of the century since I live in the midwest. Ever since seeing “Jaws” when I was four I’ve been traumatized. When visiting a the coast I refuse to swim (although I’m an avid swimmer) and will only wade up to my ankels. Once while wading in the Gulf I saw about five little tiny sharks about a foot long and just about shit my pants as I ran screaming for the comfort of my beach blanket. It gets worse. I even get skeeved if I’m in a lake. I keep getting this tingly feeling in my legs as I await the inevitible chomp on my feet from that one Bullshark that somehow makes it’s way to Lake Erie or even any number of inland lakes in Ohio and Michigan that I frequent. I have no problem in swimming pools…as long as it’s daytime. At night, even with a pool light on, I will not swim in the deep end. I get really panicky and seriously just want to cry. I watch Shark Week religiously to try to understand these creatures and yet I still have my damn fear. I can’t watch these documentaries with my feet on the floor. As soon as the first shark swims across my tv screen, I promptly pull them up onto the couch. I’m going to go take my meds now. \ ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/58 "2005-07-25T14:23:52Z")
I’m terrified that I will fall down the stairs. It just seems like one of the most painful experiences - and such a high chance of injury. I walk down concrete stairs at work every day. Couple weeks ago, a woman was on the stairway behind me - and she fell. Ohmigod - was I freaked. And the poor woman was heavily pregnant! She seemed fine - but I was still freaked. Susan ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/59 "2005-07-28T23:19:10Z")
Eels. And Clowns. I’m deathly afeared of Spiders, but that’s a completely rational fear born out of the knowledge that all spiders hunger ravenously for human eye juice. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706/60 "2005-07-29T00:24:29Z")
I have the morbid fear that I am not even as marginally competent as I think I am, and that everyone around me is just humoring me in the belief that eventually, I’ll shape up in all the things I do at once and actually be a useful guy to have around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-irrational-fears/313706.md?page=4)