# What are you deathly afraid of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2001, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167 "2001-10-18T06:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/1 "2001-10-18T06:04:17Z")
Taking my lead from [This post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=93632)… I am deathly afraid of waking up and not knowing where my life is heading. Wait… That is me… 49 yrs old and laid off… Life goes on. ---
**Author:** ![Bossk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/2 "2001-10-18T06:09:01Z")
I have this latent fear that Tom Green won’t go the way of Crispin Glover and Pauly Shore. I have to sleep with the light on. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/3 "2001-10-18T06:10:27Z")
Hey…I miss Pauly Shore. ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/4 "2001-10-18T06:14:48Z")
my totally irrational fear… falling down a flight of stairs, and landing in a such a way as to cause me to bite my own tongue off. :::shudder::: ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/5 "2001-10-18T10:59:49Z")
Alligators. Alligators, alligators, alligators. Seeing a gator on TV makes me shut my eyes and retch. They look like inanimate, prehistoric robots made out of rocks and evil. This may be due to my having grown up on a North Florida swamp where we had alligators coming through our backyard and every time I left the house my parents would make me recite the mantra: “If I see an alligator, I run right home and tell you.” If I were outside and Mom came out and saw a gator in the yard, it was, “Come inside NOW, boy… and bring the dog.” Alligators. Eesh. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/6 "2001-10-18T11:02:11Z")
Priapism Scary, scary thought. Lots of guilt involved, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![tapioca\_tundra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@tapioca\_tundra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapioca_tundra)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/7 "2001-10-18T11:09:11Z")
```auto ``` ---
**Author:** ![Gamelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d07c76/32.png) [@Gamelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamelan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/8 "2001-10-18T14:01:45Z")
big snarling dogs (esp. dobermans and german shepherds) I know that these breeds are sometimes quite good as pets, but they’re also quite good at removing fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/9 "2001-10-18T14:19:45Z")
**Clowns.** Don’t ask me why, I have no idea…I just am. I break into a cold sweat and my heart starts racing whenever a clown comes my way. I was in a mall with my wife many years ago playing on a piano in a music store. A group of clowns were wandering around the mall promoting some event and they decided the crowd around me and start banging on the keys. _I froze._ My wife got them to leave and it took me a while to calm down. (Sounds silly, I know…but imagine someone who is afraid of heights being dangled over the edge of a cliff…that’s how I felt.) ---
**Author:** ![Bandanaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bandanaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bandanaman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/10 "2001-10-18T14:23:28Z")
Arabs on my flight. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/11 "2001-10-18T14:42:24Z")
Heights. So bad, in fact, that I can’t stand on the ground, and watch someone parachuting. I get dizzy, and almost vomit. Death. The thought that the universe will roll on, mostly unaware of my existence. ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/12 "2001-10-18T14:55:42Z")
Getting old Birds pooping on my head ---
**Author:** ![arachnidlove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@arachnidlove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arachnidlove)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/13 "2001-10-18T15:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bandanaman \* > \*\*Arabs on my flight. :eek: \*\* Uhm. :mad: That was a stupid remark. But yeah. I’m deathly afraid drowning. I get scared just thinking about it ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/14 "2001-10-18T15:22:10Z")
Spiders. They’re Satan-spawn. Death to all eight-legged demons from Hell!! [sub]that is, when I can kill them.[/sub] Read in today’s Straight Dope about Gigantic House Spiders ™. Freaks me the hell out. I’m never moving to the Pacific Northwest. Dopers - are they really gigantic. Ick. Snicks ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/15 "2001-10-18T15:56:44Z")
Snakes. Also, for some odd reason, I have remarkably vivid thoughts of holding my son in my arms too close to a ledge and tripping or somehow dropping him and watching him fall to his death. I’ve come close to vomiting just thinking about it. This started when we were at a party on top of a parking structure when he was a wee little thing. Now I think of this scenario when we’re anywhere high. I can probably never stay in another Embassy Suites hotel, for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/16 "2001-10-18T16:07:56Z")
Tornados. It’s wierd becuase I have never seen a tornado,and I have never even been to an area that has them. I am just REALLY scared of them. I suppose I am lucky that the likelyhood of me having to face my worst fear is pretty slim. I had better go knock on wood now. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/17 "2001-10-18T16:27:54Z")
Brain tumors Stomach cancer Esophogal cancer throat cancer lung cancer colon cancer rectal cancer breast cancer ovarian cancer endometrial cancer cervical cancer other cancers I don’t know about leukemia heart disease Emphesyma Alzheimers ALS AIDS MS kidney disease Being murdered Getting in a big fat accident and dying being maimed burning invasive medical procedures surgery anesthesia chemotherapy drowning execution (Especially since I know it would be for a crime I didn’t commit) choking anuerysms stroke finding out I have one of the above Finding out I have something worse knowing I’m going to die soon suffering Dying ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/18 "2001-10-18T16:50:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arachnidlove \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Bandanaman \* > > \*\*Arabs on my flight. :eek: \*\* > > Uhm. :mad: > That was a stupid remark. > > \*\* I disagree. If you can HONESTLY tell me you can get on an aircraft, as described above, in total comfort, then you’re among the few. The question was asked, and responded to honestly. ---
**Author:** ![aramis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@aramis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aramis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/19 "2001-10-18T16:52:03Z")
Some kinds of bugs, but not the ones most people are afraid of. Spiders and bees and cockroaches and all the myriad others that stay on the ground and or at least mind there own business, I get along fine with. I can’t stand the ones that always want to come and get a feel of me, like moths and grasshoppers. The the thought of a tick attaching itself to my body makes my skin crawl. I almost had a car accident once because a moth got inside and was flying around within inches of me. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/20 "2001-10-18T17:00:33Z")
I am terrified of my son falling down the stairs and, to a lesser degree, of falling down the stairs myself. I also fear backing over my son with my car because it happened to someone on another message board. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167.md?page=2)