# What scares you the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836 "2013-06-25T01:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/1 "2013-06-25T01:22:17Z")
Other than certain death, which is a given? I’m interested in what nightmares or other things that just make you want to run screaming away. I’m especially interesting in things that people aren’t normally afraid of. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/2 "2013-06-25T03:29:02Z")
I take it the death of loved ones is also off the table? If we’re just talking a visceral fear, I don’t like bats. I can handle snakes, mice, bees, and even spiders but there’s something about bats that freaks me out. If we’re talking something unusual - popsicle sticks. I don’t want a wooden stick in my mouth. (I also hate those little wooden spoons that come with ice cream.) I keep thinking I could get a splinter in my tongue. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/3 "2013-06-25T03:48:39Z")
For me it would be heights, if I am securely harnessed they don’t bother me but if I am free climbing I can actually get paralyzed with fear. I get a similar feeling in very fast boats and even cars if someone else is driving, at around 120 mph I feel like bailing unless I really trust the driver. Nothing much else seems to scare me. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/4 "2013-06-25T03:55:34Z")
Being abandoned by my mate and friends and family. I can handle anything if I have just a handful of folks, but by myself? And, may I say, I speak from experience on this question. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/5 "2013-06-25T04:08:30Z")
Climate change, specifically what is going to happen to my nephew, my friends’ kids, and the rest of their generation. My 31st birthday present to myself was a vasectomy. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/6 "2013-06-25T04:38:40Z")
Dogooders with power. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/7 "2013-06-25T04:46:30Z")
Marsupials scare me… … Because they’re fast ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/8 "2013-06-25T04:49:50Z")
Reincarnation ---
**Author:** ![Scruples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Scruples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruples)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/9 "2013-06-25T04:49:59Z")
My dog getting hit by a car. Having a baby born with a terminal illness. Not surviving childbirth. Becoming homeless. Rolling or flipping my car. I don’t think I could drive again afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/10 "2013-06-25T05:14:47Z")
The idea of being trapped underground, having to crawl along on my belly along a narrow tunnel. I cannot watch pot holing documentaries without a terrifying rising panic. Even writing these short paragraphs is starting to freak me out. Its strange because I have crawled hundreds of metres inside 34" diameter pipework with no problem. Underground? Natural formations? No way! ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/11 "2013-06-25T05:21:34Z")
I can’t stand anywhere close to sewer gutters with grates. I was afraid of them before I read “It”, but afterwards, I had a focus to my fear. I honestly think that if I was standing close to one of them and something grabbed my ankle (or a rat came up or I got touched by something floating around) that I would just die of fear without even looking at what was there. I’m also nervous when I am on stairs that don’t have risers. What if I slipped and fell between the stairs? I do understand that one kinda, it happened after a major panic attack that left me huddled on the landing, afraid to go up or down. I’ve never understood why I was afraid of sewer grates. As to rational fears, I’m afraid some idiot on a cell phone will run me over while I’m trapped at a stop light. I’m afraid that Bill will have another heart attack and leave me. I’m afraid that one of my cats will get out of the house and never come back. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/12 "2013-06-25T06:25:36Z")
Being physically incapacitated to the point where I had to be fed and washed like a child, while maintaining my current cognisence. That would be like a living nightmare, trapped in a busted body,being totally reliant on others for the most basic needs. My kids have been told if I ever end up like that, pull the plug. ---
**Author:** ![Teddy\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Teddy\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teddy_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/13 "2013-06-25T06:32:09Z")
> [@manila](#): > > The idea of being trapped underground, having to crawl along on my belly along a narrow tunnel. > > I cannot watch pot holing documentaries without a terrifying rising panic. Even writing these short paragraphs is starting to freak me out. Its strange because I have crawled hundreds of metres inside 34" diameter pipework with no problem. > > Underground? Natural formations? No way! Kind of like this. I fear crawling through a tight tunnel and then reaching a point at which I can no longer continue forward nor turn around or back my way out. Just lying there in the dark until I die. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/14 "2013-06-25T07:48:21Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Being physically incapacitated to the point where I had to be fed and washed like a child, while maintaining my current cognisence. That would be like a living nightmare, trapped in a busted body,being totally reliant on others for the most basic needs. My kids have been told if I ever end up like that, pull the plug. I think that I’m more scared of Alzheimer’s. I have a strong family history of it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/15 "2013-06-25T07:59:34Z")
I won’t walk across grates in sidewalks. I guarantee you if one is ever going to fall in it’s going to be while I’m on it. I walk around them, even if it interrupts the flow of pedestrians. ---
**Author:** ![genuinejon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@genuinejon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/genuinejon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/16 "2013-06-25T08:23:35Z")
No matter how fast I run, I can’t get away from where I am. It is a claustrophobic feeling, but there’s no escaping it despite my ability to move. I suppose you could say it is a fear of the knowledge that I exist. I’m always pleasantly surprised that I don’t run around screaming, “OMG! WTF! I AM!” all day. ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/17 "2013-06-25T08:31:54Z")
I don’t fear certain death. Certain death is actually somewhat comforting; although the specific method may be frightening, even the most painful certain death has the comforting certainty that I will die at the end. Indeed, I think ‘a situation I cannot escape through dying’ would be what I’m most afraid of. The aforementioned being physically incapacitated being one of the highest on the list, since it’s the most plausible. And in less rational territory, the idea that maybe there really **is** an eternal existence after death; that’s perhaps the most horrifyingly frightening thing I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/18 "2013-06-25T08:35:03Z")
I have Type 2 diabetes, from my mother’s side of the family. And Alzheimer’s runs in my father’s side. So my greatest fear is amputations, but not remembering what those body parts were for. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/19 "2013-06-25T08:35:26Z")
I won’t go across grates either and I’m afraid of large amounts of water (I’ve been in a few floods) and of heights (dumb enough to jump off a building.) I did once consider the great existential question “What is scarier? A terrorist or a space alien?” My conclusion was the alien was scarier because while both might kidnap you, at least a terrorist appears to be human and it’s possible you could reason with it. There are about 50000 different theories about what aliens are so you wouldn’t know what to do. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836/20 "2013-06-25T11:59:36Z")
Heights paralyze me. I cannot get more two steps on a ladder before I have to get down. Many hotels have those elevators that are open to an atrium so I just face the panel and close my eyes. Going offshore to some facility is always an adventure as well, given the chopper ride and the open water walk from the helipad to the offices. :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-the-most/661836.md?page=2)