I hear you – I can’t stand the thought of having a laser beam shot through my eye, and when I finally get to the point where I need vision enhancement, I’ll wear glasses. How can anyone stick contact lenses in his/her eyes? I’d also never get any tattoos or piercings – I’d be too worried about infections or the piercing “just slightly” missing the target.
I am exactly the opposite. My ideal pet is a tarantula; we had a class pet tarantula in science one year and I let it crawl all over me all the time. But if a smaller house spider comes at me from out of nowhere, it’s very likely to creep me out. And then I squish it. The ones that bother me most are the ones that I notice on the ceiling when I’m in the shower. Does anyone besides me remember that scene in Arachnophobia?
:shudders: Ew, I’m all itchy just thinking about it.
Drastic facial modifications like spikes through cheeks, and huge rings in noses. And I know that the people with these things may not actually be creepy as actual people…it is just that big old safety pins through eyebrows gives me the willies. I do apologise to any of you with such things; I’m pretty sure you must be fine folk, especially as you are Dopers.
The other thing that I find creepy is a fifty year old fellow that I know is really, really attracted to pubescent and teenage girls, but not women over 25. Arrrghhh! That is so creepy to me…not the girls, but this guy.
You’d hate looking at my fingers, then.
The old Davey and Goliath cartoons.
Mumps, measles, hives, severe acne, chicken pox, and similar welting problems. I hate them and they freak me the hell out, which is bad 'cause I’ve been getting hives for the past month. Red puffy skin just makes me heave.
Honeycombs. I like the cereal just fine but anything else freaks me out. Even a bunch of straws crammed together and looked at from the top. I’m seriously giving myself a nauseous headache right now just thinking about it.
And hice insects. Ants, wasps, termites… anything you find in large nests. If I see them, I have to kill them.
Body piercing and wild tattoos don’t really bother me, but I think branding is really creepy. Spiders in general creep me out, but I’m simultaneously fascinated and creeped out by those big ones that sometimes have wildly colored hair. Other people’s blood creeps me out, though mine doesn’t bother me a bit. Those hangnaily things people get right by their cuticles creep me out. Heights, too, and glass elevators. I’ll walk dozens of flights of stairs if the only alternative is an elevator that you can see out of. The thought of death creeps me out too, and always has. Just being dead and having nothing to do and not being able to breathe. And decomposing.
I’m definitely going to be cremated when I die.
Both of my major creep-outs got mentioned already –
Decomposing people.
And space. ‘Space Oddity’, anyone?
A couple more for good measure –
Human dolls. And I can narrow it down to seeing the ads for Child’s Play as a kid.
Mirrors in dark rooms. Because you never know what might be looking back.
Ticks or leeches, but especially ticks. I can avoid wading in places that look like they harbor leeches, but ticks are harder to avoid on a hike. I don’t mind medical leeches, they are serving a good purpose, though I don’t want to watch it. I got creeped out channel surfing when I saw a program showing the use of leeches to help a surgical re-attachment wound on an ear heal. I’m not creeped out by mosquitos, probably because I can just swat them and kill them.
I have been utterly creeped out once. Warning, not for the squeamish. I was working at my desk when one of the office dogs came up to me. She has a habit of going from desk to desk, jamming her nose up under your arm, knocking whatever you are doing, to get a head scratch.
On this one particular day, she had just come in from outside. After the initial disruptive greeting, I absentmindedly reached down and started scratching her head between her eyes. Then I realized that rather than scratching fur, I was scratching bone. She had broken some glass somewhere, and sliced a large flap of skin down to the bone. I have not felt such pure spine chilling eeek before or since.
One word: cockroaches.
Well, I used to wear contacts, but they didn’t correct my vision as well as glasses. Plus the prescriptions were hugely expensive. So I think having to put them in and take them out every day helped me get from phobia to just the willies.
I also hate former trach scars. The news shows pictures of Terri Schaivo with this hole at the base of the throat. I can’t stand to look at it.
The human body gone wild.
Super long fingernails, hair to the knees (cough, Krystal Gayle), gigantic boobs on skinny women, lips that bring to mind abusive husbands with burned dinners, my rear end.
-
Tom Cruise
-
Jack Nicholson
-
Ventriloquist dummies and ventriloquists EXCEPT for Sherry Lewis and Lamb Chop (probably because she was a sock).
-
Edgar Bergen (see above). He had a room for Charlie bigger than any room of his childrens. And for years Charlie was called Candice’s “brother”. Shudder. It’s that sort of stuff I’d be explaning to a therapist someday.
-
Eyes
-
The spine
-
Tapeworms
Sock Monkeys
Bristol, Connecticut. There’s something very weird about that place. Maybe it’s all the satellite dishes at ESPN. I normally have an excellent sense of direction, but not in Bristol. Everything is just a bit out of kilter. Whenever I’m there, I get the sense I’m driving in circles and won’t ever escape. Truly, truly creepy to me.
When 2 different humans, from different walks of life, come up with the same ideas, thoughts, etc… It’s quite amazing how similar our brains are, yet it’s still so personal. Amazing and creepy at the same time.
So you’re afraid of Bristol, Connecticut too? That *is * creepy. 
Vast clusters of living things - anthills, piles of maggots (not that I’ve ever come across one), etc
Caves so small that you have to crawl. The underwater variety are even worse.
Death. I try not to think about it…
Anything abandoned, especially buildings.
The gothic inexplicable, unseen monster. Just about every ghost story is ruined by some pathetic explanation or description.
Space didn’t freak me out until I saw The Ninth Configuration. There is a former astronaut character in that movie who is afraid to go back to space, and won’t tell anyone why.
At the end of the movie, he finally breaks down and tells his fears. Upon hearing those fears, I realized he was absolutely right.
Space has frightened me ever since.
BIG moths freak me out. Ugh.