# What are your Obscure Fears **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446 "2003-09-04T02:19:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/1 "2003-09-04T02:19:43Z")
I can’t think of a better name for them, but I don’t post nearly enough here and MPSIMS has slowly become my favorite part of the SDMB working its way into my link bar eventually(which has to mean something, right?) So, I’ll just start another random thread like I always do I was driving home earlier today(as I often do when I’m done doing things not in my home)and I had a thought about something I do that made me think if other people have rather silly fears like the one I was thinking of. I’ve got this thing against drinking out of something with a straw while driving lest I get in some accident and the airbag come out and somehow impale my head with a straw(the particular thing in question was a slurpee, with the long straws that stick far out, when they hit the bottom, and are harder than most straws). So, I realize that this is a little goofy, but someone out there has to have something to beat me, and thats what we’re all here to hear, I think, unless you’re lost, then maybe you should ask someone who works here because I don’t know where we are either. ---
**Author:** ![look\_hergo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@look\_hergo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_hergo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/2 "2003-09-04T04:49:35Z")
Hmmmm. I don’t think that’s so weird. I actually scraped a goodly portion off the roof of my mouth in a soda-straw/automobile event when I was about 8. Mom slammed on the brakes just as I was taking a drink. So, yeah, oww. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/3 "2003-09-04T04:53:09Z")
I’m scared of seaweed in lakes + rivers when I swim. I was raised with a pool in the backyard so there wasn’t alot of gooey and slimey things rubbing against my leg underwater. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/4 "2003-09-04T04:56:08Z")
[See this poster?](http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10077547/Chicken_Run.htm?RFID=633434) The underside of the chicken…that funny “boil”-like surface? Any surface that resembles it, I just have to glance at it and a shiver passes through me. Really. Sometimes I even get goose pimples. (Which is kind of ironic, come to think of it.) PS: Looking at the poster right now creeped me out too. I shivered. My jaw clenched. Goodness knows why. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/5 "2003-09-04T05:00:01Z")
SPIDERS! I know! I’m like 1500 times larger than most of them, but I’m gonna kill EVERY one I see! Ack!!! ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/6 "2003-09-04T05:05:17Z")
Spiders isn’t obscure. Tons of people are afraid of spiders. Me, I’m afraid of crickets. Not on their own, but catching them or trying to get them out of the house (we do NOT kill bugs in our house–except for a gnat or mosquito that bites you and you smack by reflex) …I just _know_ they will jump in a random direction and end up flying right into my mouth, or at least my face. I’m afraid of sharks. Yeah, most people are… but there is a catch. I’m afraid of sharks in _any_ body of water, especially if I can’t see through it far. Like… a fresh water lake. Or a large swimming pool at night where the lights still leave dark areas… I’ll actually get all nervous and look around and stuff. It’s stupid! ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/7 "2003-09-04T05:08:26Z")
Whenever I cross the street and there are cars turning across the crosswalk, I am afraid a car will drive over my foot. This is because when I was little, I used to have recurring dreams that this happened. Growing up in the 80’s when medical waste supposedly littered beaches has given me a fear that while walking barefoot in the sand at a beach, I will step on a hypodermic needle. Also, I am very afraid of stepping on a jellyfish, even the dead ones in the sand. Wide eyes petrify me, have since I was a baby and my grandfather made a wide-eyed face at me. I was probably less than a year old but I remember it. I realize that wide eyes are supposed to trigger fear, since they are an expression of alarm themselves, but I get scared even when the context proves there’s no danger. Which is most of the time. I don’t like things with a sort of fake-fur fuzz on them. This is hard to explain, the kind of object I mean. But it started when I was about 2 years old. I had a small, hard squirrel figure as a toy which I guess I liked and was playing with. It was some sort of hard plastic covered with a light brown fuzz with a bushy tail. One day I somehow for some reason became CONVINCED that it was a bee, and I threw it across the room screaming. Ever since then, that material has bothered me. I know that’s really weird, but oh well. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/8 "2003-09-04T05:14:08Z")
On that vein… I was alwys afraid of sidewalks… "Step on a crack, break yo mamma’s back! ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/9 "2003-09-04T05:40:58Z")
I am terrified of fish out of water. I can’t be calm if I am in a room with an uncovered fish tank. Rationally, I know that they won’t just leap out randomly… but I’m somehow not convinced. The thought of it alone makes me incredibly tense and jumpy. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/10 "2003-09-04T05:49:38Z")
But fish _do_ leap out of fishtanks, happens all the time. That feel better now? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/11 "2003-09-04T06:05:14Z")
I hate walking up staircases with open risers. I’m always vaguely afraid I’m somehow going to fall in such a way that my leg will go in between the steps and break right off at the hip. Guess what kind of stairs I have leading to my second-story apartment? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/12 "2003-09-04T06:16:09Z")
racinchikki: I have the same fear. ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/13 "2003-09-04T06:27:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AndrewT \* > \*\*But fish _do_ leap out of fishtanks, happens all the time. That feel better now? \*\* Exactly… I phrased my earlier post poorly. I have seen fish leap out of tanks in the past. I do know that it happens. The odds of it happening as I am watching are not huge. But I can’t take my eyes off the damn tank. ---
**Author:** ![arachnidlove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@arachnidlove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arachnidlove)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/14 "2003-09-04T06:32:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aasna \* > \*\*[See this poster?](http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10077547/Chicken_Run.htm?RFID=633434) > The underside of the chicken…that funny “boil”-like surface? > Any surface that resembles it, I just have to glance at it and a shiver passes through me. Really. Sometimes I even get goose pimples. (Which is kind of ironic, come to think of it.) > > PS: Looking at the poster right now creeped me out too. I shivered. My jaw clenched. Goodness knows why. \*\* I have a fear sort of like this. I can’t stand holes. The boils on that chicken reminded me of little holes. I don’t mind single holes, but lets say you took a post hole digger and went mad in your backyard. I’d get “scared” just looking at that. A piece of paper with hundreds of holes punched in it will bother me too. I saw a documentary where a frog had all these holes on its back and little froggies came out. I am truly sickened and am feeling oogy as I type this. The Beatles Yellow Submarine movie bothers me when they go to the Sea of Holes. I can’t stand it. Its the weirdest fear. And now I feel sick because I keep thinking of all sorts of little holes. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/15 "2003-09-04T08:13:33Z")
racinchikki - My aunt broker her leg like that. Be careful! Anytime I am following or being followed by someone in another car I have this terrible fear that the friends and family in the other car will be in a terrible accident which I will see coming and be powerless to stop. When both cars contain someone who knows the way, I sometimes make the car I’m in stop at a store for a few minutes, to avoid having to watch the other car. This is insane, I know. Meanwhile, I can do things that are dangerous, like hike and climb and surf, and watch my loved ones all day without a care in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sapphire\_Bullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sapphire\_Bullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Bullet)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/16 "2003-09-04T09:37:04Z")
I don’t leave Drano out on the counter after using it. I am afraid I might accidentally drink it. Not that some might mistakenly spill into a glass or into a soda can, but that I will absentmindedly walk over, pick up the bottle and chug it down. Yeah. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/17 "2003-09-04T09:39:49Z")
I’ve always been afraid a spider will be hiding in the toilet bowl. Then, when I sit down, it will bite me in the dangly parts. ---
**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/18 "2003-09-04T09:56:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aasna \* > \*\*[See this poster?](http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10077547/Chicken_Run.htm?RFID=633434) > The underside of the chicken…that funny “boil”-like surface? > Any surface that resembles it, I just have to glance at it and a shiver passes through me. Really. Sometimes I even get goose pimples. (Which is kind of ironic, come to think of it.) > > PS: Looking at the poster right now creeped me out too. I shivered. My jaw clenched. Goodness knows why. \*\* Anyone else think **Aasna** ment a Straight Dope poster first? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dolly\_Dagger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Dolly\_Dagger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolly_Dagger)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/19 "2003-09-04T10:50:11Z")
I don’t like dry cotton wool, the way it sort of feels like its screaming when you pull it apart. I know someone who’s afraid of bubbles and somebody else who is scared of frogs. He thinks they’re gonna jump in his mouth or up somewhere else. I’m also afraid of getting a paper cut on my eyeball or breaking my teeth on something.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446/20 "2003-09-04T11:20:14Z")
Oh the toilet… I used to be scared that… are you ready? THAT A HAND WOULD COME OUT AND GRAB ME while I sat there. This is still a lingering fear in the back of my mind and makes me nervous sometimes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-obscure-fears/199446.md?page=2)