# What REALLY scares you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973 "2000-04-08T20:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/41 "2000-04-11T12:27:00Z")
My first instinct was to say the obvious: my irrational fear of snakes. I hate them. Lizards are cool, snakes I HATE. Can’t even watch then on TV. But I’m with Auntie Pam. My grandmother, along with both her sisters and my great-grandfather, had Alzheimer’s. I don’t care about myself, but the fact that my father has a VERY good change of developing it scares me to death. I’m very close to my parents, and have always been a daddy’s girl. My dad is one of my best friends. And I don’t want the last years of his life to be like those of his mother. And I know it scares him, too. He’s refused to take the genetic test so far. But the family history is pretty strong. * * * A little persistance goes a long way. Announcing: “I go on guilt trips a couple of time a year. Mom books them for me.” A custom made Wally .sig! ---
**Author:** ![Girlbysea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Girlbysea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlbysea)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/42 "2000-04-11T12:43:00Z")
Waking up to realize it was all a dream, and laying down each night, hoping to find it again… * * * Life is like a river, changing as it flows… ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/43 "2000-04-11T15:30:00Z")
Intruders. The slightest noises wake me up at night. I keep baseball bats in a few satrategic places throughout my apartment. I check the locks on the doors 2 or 3 times before bed. Sopmetimes I leave the outside lights on. I have a dog-he’s just a little dachsund, couldn’t do much damage, but he is fantastic and barking and alerting if someone is near the place. * * * Madness takes it’s toll… So does New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/44 "2000-04-11T15:55:00Z")
[b[Ophanim\*\*, I am with you on the **Salem’s Lot** thing. The other creepy scene was when the vampire showed up in the kitchen. That movie scared the liver out of me when I was a kid. When it came on, my family lived out in the country. I happened to be home alone. Now, my bedroom had a sliding glass door, with no curtain or blinds. It opened onto a short stretch of lawn, and beyond that was a forest. (A National Forest, actually, with lots of places for vampires to hide.) You know how the fade-to-commercial scene for that movie was a full moon over the old house? Well, there was a full moon on the night I watched the movie. So I had to lie there in my bed and try to go to sleep while looking out this sliding glass door at the full moon shining over the woods. My imagination was _very_ active that night. When I was a kid, **deep water** used to scare me. Anytime I went swimming in a lake or in the ocean, when I couldn’t touch the bottom my mind started conjuring up all sorts of hungry critters swimming around below me. Nowadays, not much scares me except **big bugs**. Little bugs are no problem, but if a big bug lands on me, even if it’s something as harmless as a grasshopper, I start flailing around like a madman! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/45 "2000-04-11T16:08:00Z")
Carnies. Sorry, had to say it. But seriously, what fears me is getting exactly what I want. I tend to jump to conclusions and make up my mind WAY too early when making decisions. This usually ends up biting me in the ass. Being aware of this, I fear the day when all of my immediate hopes and dreams become reality. The fact that the best things in my life are the things that I had never planned or could have seen coming a mile away confirms to me that what I want to experience is not nearly as creative or interesting as what God wants. But those small hands and faint smell of cabbage do send sudders through my body… * * * I ask not what you can do for me, but what you can do for me right now. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/46 "2000-04-11T16:20:00Z")
Something happening to my son Thunderstorms House burning down Being raped again ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/47 "2000-04-11T16:23:00Z")
“I am a big horror movie freak, but the one movie I saw that actually scared the s\*\*t out of me was Phantasm. I had nightmares for weeks.” Pipefitter, I thought that movie was terrifying, too—the plot was idiotic, but it had some really disturbing special effects! ---
**Author:** ![cleosia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@cleosia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleosia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/48 "2000-04-12T05:15:00Z")
spoke- > [@](#): > > Now, my bedroom had a sliding glass door, with no curtain or blinds. It opened onto a short stretch of lawn, and beyond that was a forest. (A National Forest, actually, with lots of places for vampires to hide.) Silly rabbit, vampires have to be invited in. So if you can just contain your hospitality, you should be safe. Oh, and eating a clove of garlic everyday. I’ve never had a problem with vampires since I started eating garlic. Come to think of it, I’ve stopped having problems with most people since they refuese to get near me! ## I once had a co-worker who was terrified of clowns and spider monkeys. Not any other kind, just spider monkeys. Go fig. Bitch by Birth ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/49 "2000-04-12T00:06:00Z")
Thanks to Enoch, I am now afraid of my window. 😉 I have one extremely irrational fear that someone is under my bed or my chair and is going to slice through my ankles. This is my sister’s fault, she made me see _Pet Semetery_ with her when it first came out. Other than that, Junebugs. And that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/50 "2000-04-12T01:46:00Z")
Moths, crickets, and grasshoppers. Eeeeeww. Clowns pretty much freak me out too. * * * Pardon me while I burst into flames. ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/51 "2000-04-12T01:53:00Z")
I almost forgot, that song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” or something like that. You know the one about the guy being taken away to the funny farm. I haven’t heard it for years, but it used to scare the shit outa me. I’m sure it still would. * * * Pardon me while I burst into flames. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/52 "2000-04-12T02:42:00Z")
I will tell you my fears and the exact cause. ( I have nothing better to do right now and am in that frame of mind to share my phsycosis.) 1. Losing my husband: Not in the mall. I just _know_ one of these days after he’s left for work that a state trooper is going to come up to the house and tell me he’s dead. _The Reason_ Goes back to a)being adopted and passed around the system, even if only for a few weeks before landing in the family I have. 2) My dad dying when I was young. I just expect my life to turn as totally shitty as my mother’s. 3) Everyone I’ve ever loved has died on me. 1. A terrible noncurable illness will befall my children. _The reason:_ My brothers all have MD. I cannot watch my children suffer a nonexistance like they have. I just can’t. 2. The fear of never feeling fulfilled or complete in the working world. Am I doomed to Dilbert? 3. The fear of Success.\*The reason; \* If I do it right once and every goes “Yeah”, can I do it again? **On the lighter side:** 4. The cosmetic ladies at the mall. These makeup nazi’s scare me and their Perfume spraying luftwaffe minions. Make these droids go away. 2)Jewelry stores. I just know that if I actually made it in there, they will make me buy the tiara and matching jewel encrusted septre. Perversely enough, I can waltz into a pawn shop and buy someone elses hocked jewelry without any palpatations. 1. Losing my glasses in a public place. I have no problems with bugs, spiders, snakes, the dark, small places, things that go BUMP in the night, being alone, being in a crowd,public speaking, clowns, small dogs, big dogs, cats,worms, bees,bats, alien abductions, doctors offices, needles, surgery, being raped, being held hostage, getting shot at, getting stabbed, fire,commitment or cows. But dear God, keep the earwigs away from me. Ahhh, I feel much better. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/53 "2000-04-12T05:28:00Z")
1. disease, especially cancer. 2. cheesy horror movie stuff. I amy be older but I’m still afraid of monsters in the closet. 3. Nukes. Living in D.C. I get scared some asshole is going to set off a ten KT bomb just far enough away for me to die in great pain. 4. The religious right gaining serious power. You should be scared of this too. * * * Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/54 "2000-04-12T14:29:00Z")
**cleosia** wrote: > [@](#): > > Silly rabbit, vampires have to be invited in. So if you can just contain your hospitality, you should be safe. Yeah, but you can’t stop them from coming and hovering just outside your window, like that creepy kid in **Salem’s Lot**. Heart attacks are fatal too, you know. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/55 "2000-04-12T22:28:00Z")
Open spaces. Not to a huge extent, but I’ll swim out to the middle of the lake and choose that moment to remember I’m afraid. Panicked floundering ensues, and god forbid some seaweed brushes my foot. Aaahhh! Open fields can get to me, too. I want to put my back to something. Most rational fear - that some psycho will follow me off the “el” and to my home. Getting approached by unsavory males in general. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/56 "2000-04-13T01:19:00Z")
The dark. * * * I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/57 "2000-04-13T13:03:00Z")
Puppies. Especially giant, mutant puppies that destroy entire neighborhoods with a swing of their tails. Also sporks, beehive hairdos, people with one eyebrow, and fresh lettuce. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/58 "2000-04-13T13:16:00Z")
Mr. Blue–Do you mean one eyebrow over both eyes, or just one normal eyebrow? When I was a kid, I saw this really stupid movie called _The Car_ about a, well, murderous car. You would always see it first far, far away, just 2 pinpricks of light. Then it would come closer and closer and… Well, when I was a kid, my bedroom was on one end of a long, dark hallway, and the bathroom was on the other end. If I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would always look down the hall imagine I saw those 2 pinpricks of light … Scared the bejesus out of me. Still does. ---
**Author:** ![Liv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Liv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liv)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/59 "2000-04-13T13:47:00Z")
This is like therapy. What a relief to know I’m not the only one with an insane fear of deep, dark waters… especially the ocean. I remember going water skiing once and that horrible feeling after I fell and was just waiting and waiting eternally for the boat to come back from me. I could easily envision all the millions of creatures just waiting to get a taste of me. I mean, think of the ocean… it’s just so incredibly monstrous!! Think of all the shipwrecks under there! And the giant animals!! Airplane wreckage and dead bodies… so far down at the bottom… oh, it makes me crazy to think about it. That image from Titanic sums it up pretty well… the ocean swallowed that huge ship like it was a grain of sand in a swimming pool. Too scary. I don’t get where the fear comes from. I’m an excellent swimmer, so it’s not about drowning… but flying over water of any kind terrifies me. And there is no freaking way I would go on a boat in the ocean. Also, I’m afraid of the dark to a degree (which could be part of the ocean thing… not seeing what’s around me), anything that stings, and SPIDERS make my skin crawl. I also have an irrational fear of something happening to my husband. I think someone mentioned freaking out if their husband is the slightest bit late? Me, too. So glad to be in therapy with you people. Misery does indeed love company. Liv “My father always taught me to respect nature. Because it has no respect for you.” –Scully, The X-Files ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973/60 "2000-04-13T14:37:00Z")
A missing child. That’s the worse thing I could ever imagine. Not knowing where they were, if they are dead or alive, if they were crying for you. If that ever happened to me, I’d want someone to just shoot me and put me out of my misery. And I am dead serious about that. On a lighter note, Shirley’s comment about the perfume ladies was hysterical. We all hate them, yet the department stores still let them walk around terrorizing us. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-scares-you/15973.md?page=4)