# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Baltoeyegrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Baltoeyegrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baltoeyegrl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/21 "2001-10-18T17:00:42Z")
Bodies of water that may have living things in them. Any bugs except Ants or houseflies. I lose control. In fact, just last week, one of my worst fears was almost realised when two house centipedes (they are fast and ugly) fell out of the sky. (Or maybe from the ceiling. Whatever!) They landed on the kitchen floor somewhere between me and SO. As I wildly brushed my hair and shoulders with my hand I found I could not make words. My sweet thought my hair was on fire until one of the nasty F\*\*\*ers ran across his foot. I think I may have to move. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/22 "2001-10-18T17:05:13Z")
Bees…and ticks, I swear I can feel one of the little buggers crawling up my leg as I type this…excuse me while I decontaminate myself :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/23 "2001-10-18T17:08:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Weedeater \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*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. \*\* Yup. It’s un-PC :rolleyes: but I can honestly say that I would seriously think of taking another flight if Middle-Eastern men were onboard. Not that I’m going to be flying again anytime soon, if ever. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/24 "2001-10-18T17:12:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maximum Override \* > \*\ ***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.) \*\* That doesn’t sound silly at all! Your description of your incident made my skin crawl. I was at a shopping center a few years ago. I had just parked my car when I happened to look up to see a CLOWN getting out of the car in front of me. He was holding balloons, of course. And he GRINNED AND WAVED AT ME. I had to leave. Sheri ---
**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, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/25 "2001-10-18T17:23:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarkWriter \* > \*\* > Yup. It’s un-PC :rolleyes: but I can honestly say that I would seriously think of taking another flight if Middle-Eastern men were onboard. Not that I’m going to be flying again anytime soon, if ever. > > \*\* Well, then yes, you’d probably better not fly. “They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!” I just took a trip home and I noticed at least one guy who appeared (to my uneducated eye of course) to be of middle eastern descent. I hoped he’d sit by me so I could talk to him normally and show that there are a lot of us who don’t paint all people with the same brush. He sat two rows back, but it appears from the wrapping up and conversation and farewells they all said when we deplaned that his rowmates felt the same way as I did. I don’t mean to sound sanctimonious, but there must be millions of people of middle-eastern descent in the U.S. Some of them are going to fly. ---
**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, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/26 "2001-10-18T17:28:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarkWriter \* > **I was at a shopping center a few years ago. I had just parked my car when I happened to look up to see a CLOWN getting out of the car in front of me. He was holding balloons, of course. And he GRINNED AND WAVED AT ME. I had to leave.** ::shudder:: Clowns truly are the soldiers of Hell’s Army. ---
**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, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/27 "2001-10-18T18:45:54Z")
Ack, I realize no one else is berating other people for their irrational fears. There are million of snakes in the world, and few of them mean me any harm. Sorry about my previous post. It just hit a nerve, I guess. Snakes don’t care that I loathe them. Isn’t it natural to care a little more about fairness when it’s other humans who are being lumped together? But it’s not fair for me to jump on you when you’re being honest. ---
**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, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/28 "2001-10-18T19:27:49Z")
\*\* [/QUOTE] I don’t mean to sound sanctimonious, but there must be millions of people of middle-eastern descent in the U.S. Some of them are going to fly. \*\* [/QUOTE] Thats what I was talking about. Thats kind of like saying I’m afraid of black people because I watched Menace to Society. Being afraid of Arabs is funny. How about being afraid of terrorists? ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/29 "2001-10-18T19:29:49Z")
Demons and anything involving even the idea of demonic possession. I made my husband walk me to the bathroom in the middle of the night because he had started talking about God and Satan (nice pillow talk, no?). I just can’t handle it. And yet I still enjoy shows about the supernatural. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/30 "2001-10-18T19:54:01Z")
I thought I was the only one afraid of demons. After reading or seeing something overly scary, I’ve been known to be up all night because I’m afraid “something” might get me. I like having animals in the house because they can sense evil. Yes I know it’s irrational,but try telling yourself that at three in the morning when the husband is at work and you can hear every creak the house makes. Other than that I hate spiders. Dead or alive I can’t stand 'em. I can’t kill them because dead spiders scare me just as bad, only dead they won’t run away and I’ll be stuck with their spidery presence. Thank god my son is old enough to kill the buggers and dispose of them. ---
**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, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/31 "2001-10-18T20:01:30Z")
With Halloween coming soon, I thought a list of scary movies taylor-made for each of the posters in this thread would be fun. Now, if you want to be really scared, use these personal reccomendations and catch one of these flicks or, be warned and avoid them with all of your might. Reeder \*Slacker \*Joe vs. the Volcano 🙂 Bossk \*Road Trip MigicalSilverKey \*The Exorcist \*Psycho \*What Ever Happened to Baby Jane jackelope \*Alligator \*Alligator II: The Mutation \*Eaten Alive Chrome Spot \*Monkeybone 🙂 Anticay \*Pet Sematary Gamelan (ME!) \*Doberman! \*Cujo Maximum Override \*Clownhouse \*It \*Killer Klowns from Outer Space Superdude \*Cliffhanger \*Vertigo Kayeby \*The Hunger \*High Anxiety 🙂 arachnidlove \*What Lies Beneath \*Titanic Snickers \*Arachnophobia \*The Giant Spider Invasion CrankyAsAnOldMan \*Anaconda \*Rattled \*The Good Son Shera \*Twister \*Night of the Twisters Stoid (Where do I begin? Since a majority of them are medical…) \*Coma \*Visiting Hours aramis \*Ticks \*Bugs! Caricci (see Anticay and MagicalSilverKey) Baltoeyegrl \*Lake Placid \*Wu gong zhou (aka. Centipede Curse) Odieman \*Ticks \*The Bees DarkWriter (see Maximum Override) Poysyn \*The Excorcist \*The Amityville Horror Grab your popcorn and a significant other to grab onto and check 'em out… IF YOU DARE!!! BWAHAHAHAH…choke, gag, stammer…HAHAAAAA ---
**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, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/32 "2001-10-18T21:06:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gamelan \* > \*\* > > arachnidlove > > \*What Lies Beneath > \*Titanic > IF YOU DARE!!! > BWAHAHAHAH…choke, gag, stammer…HAHAAAAA \*\* Haha that was cute. But the only thing about Titanic that scared me was Leonardo Dicaprio. I’ve never seen “what lies beneath” though. Does it involve water and drowning? I remember getting ansy when I watched The Outsiders, and Ponyboy was getting shoved into the fountain by the Soc’s. ::shiver:: Man. Ugh!! ---
**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, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/33 "2001-10-18T21:56:10Z")
[QUOTE Haha that was cute. But the only thing about Titanic that scared me was Leonardo Dicaprio. I’ve never seen “what lies beneath” though. Does it involve water and drowning? I remember getting ansy when I watched The Outsiders, and Ponyboy was getting shoved into the fountain by the Soc’s. ::shiver:: Man. Ugh!! \*\*[/QUOTE] There are some very scary water scenes near the end of the movie. The entire thing is creepy and gave my wife and I a good thrill. Its also shot using very Hitchcock-ian camera work. A good movie. (3.5 out of 5 stars) ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/34 "2001-10-18T22:10:13Z")
Lonliness. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/35 "2001-10-18T22:24:58Z")
Rape - I would rather die than be raped, and if someone ever tries to rape me I will do my very best to kill them first. And while this seems like a realistic thing to fear, it does affect my life, and probably has influenced some decisions I have made. And Euty? {{{Euty}}} ---
**Author:** ![AlteredState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@AlteredState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlteredState)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/36 "2001-10-18T22:35:56Z")
Spiders. To the point where I’ll wear gardening gloves and use tongs to get my mail out of the mailbox. Just thinking about spiders or a web touching my skin makes me want to go wash. ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/37 "2001-10-18T23:37:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by DarkWriter \* > > \*\* > > Yup. It’s un-PC :rolleyes: but I can honestly say that I would seriously think of taking another flight if Middle-Eastern men were onboard. Not that I’m going to be flying again anytime soon, if ever. > > > > \*\* > > Well, then yes, you’d probably better not fly. “They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!” > > I just took a trip home and I noticed at least one guy who appeared (to my uneducated eye of course) to be of middle eastern descent. I hoped he’d sit by me so I could talk to him normally and show that there are a lot of us who don’t paint all people with the same brush. He sat two rows back, but it appears from the wrapping up and conversation and farewells they all said when we deplaned that his rowmates felt the same way as I did. > > I don’t mean to sound sanctimonious, but there must be millions of people of middle-eastern descent in the U.S. Some of them are going to fly. \*\* Yeah, I know this. Let me clarify, not that it’ll sound any better. If there were a group of young Middle-Eastern men sitting together on a plane, talking low among themselves and I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, I’d follow the feeling. I’d rather be branded a bigot or a coward in this instance than prove I’m PC and take the flight. A family of Middle-Eastern people, old ladies, old men, then it would probably be different. I doubt I’m explaining myself very well. I really don’t want to be one of those people who paints everyone with the same brush, but right now I just can’t help it. I hope I can go back to the person I was before September 11th someday, but I just can’t right now. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![Tyklfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tyklfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyklfe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/38 "2001-10-18T23:47:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Caricci \* > \*\*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. \*\* This happened to my next door neighbors, except that it wasn’t thier kid, it was their nephew. Really bad day, that one was… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/39 "2001-10-18T23:50:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arachnidlove \* > **Thats kind of like saying I’m afraid of black people because I watched Menace to Society.** Oh, come ON! It’s not the same thing at all. Comparing a stupid movie to the destruction of the WTC and the Pentagon, and the murder of thousands of people is just ridiculous. > [@](#): > > \*\* Being afraid of Arabs is funny. How about being afraid of terrorists? \*\* I’m glad my fear (and others who have expressed the same) is funny to you. See, I’d love to just be able to be afraid of terrorists. But those terrorists lived with us. Had BBQs for their neighbors. Worked out in the gym down the street from my mom’s house. They patted their neighbors on the back, and then turned around and murdered them. So as much as I’d love to just be afraid of terrorists, unfortunately they don’t wear a sign identifying them as such. It’s only been a month since the attacks. Anthrax is a threat. Other attacks have been pronounced “imminent.” So forgive me if I’m feeling a little raw on this subject. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![Wump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed655f/32.png) [@Wump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167/40 "2001-10-19T00:49:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arachnidlove \* > \*\* > Being afraid of Arabs is funny. \*\* Alright, i’m going to put this into another context. A girl gets raped. She was alone on a bus going home from university one evening. This man gets on, and has short light colored hair, glasses, and is heavy set in stature, and for whatever reason the busdriver doesn’t notice the goings on. She has to take the bus. It’s her only way to and from uni. You can’t tell me that seeing another big man on the bus one night, with short light colored hair and glasses, (or any man really) isn’t going to make her uneasy, or not take the bus at all. Learning from life experiances’ is what makes people “stonger” in future decisions. Painting people with one brush is not something to be endorsed at all. But it’s a fear that some people have developped. Just because it’s un-PC doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. People can’t control what scares the shit out of them, if they could, no one would have seemingly strange fears. (Like a fear of olives) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-deathly-afraid-of/88167.md?page=3)