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by - August 21, 2008 - 10:05 AM
Earlier this week we got an overwhelming response to my post on esoteric phobias, with 108 people and counting weighing in with weird phobias of their own — which in many cases were even more bizarre than the examples in the post itself. So I thought it would be fun to pull my favorite phobias from the comments and highlight them here — and I have to assume that at least some of them are real. (My wife thinks you’re all making this stuff up; I on the other hand think most of ‘em hold up to the quirky specificity test; many of them just seem too specifically weird to be fabricated [unless you're all geniuses]). So without further ado, our phavorite reader-submitted phobias.
While there were a lot of totally off-the-wall ones, many of them fell into a few categories, the largest of which was water phobias. Fear of things you can’t see under the water, fear of drowning, fear of sea monsters, and even a fear of fish from three different readers — Gypsyfly, who “has nightmares about there being fish in [her] sheets” and is sent into palpitaions of panic by the sight of guppies, Angie, who’s made “super nervous” by any fish larger than her palm, and Kate, who “used to want to be a marine biologist” despite the fact that dead fish give her “the willies hardcore.”
Several people also agreed that both kites and latex (balloons, gloves etc) were generally reprehensible.
My favorite is joejoe’s — a fear of large text, specifically 14-16 pt. He elaborates:
I have a fear of large text (maybe 14-16pt) in a reading book – such as a novel – especially if the text is a serif font (times new roman), if I am reading late at night, am a little tired, and if I hold the book more than 10 inches from my face. It can make me feel dizzy, hard to breath and give me feelings of dread and panic. This has only happened a few times in my life, but an experience I do not want to revisit. Now I am a graphic designer and deal with fonts all the time with no problem, so this only happens when reading in the situation described above… weird right
Alana can’t stand “clusters of tiny holes” like seed pods or shower heads. Fountains in parks make Piccolo “absolutely mental” and “want to cry” (especially when they turn off without warning). Dez suffers from anxiety attacks brough on by “really tall women.” Pwell83 is “really creeped out by slow-moving ceiling fans.” (I made a silly video in high school about slow-moving ceiling fans, which is here.)
Two people expressed intense aversions to cotton: Laura, who “can’t stand grasping [a cotton ball] firmly” between thumb and finger, and LALA, who recounts this gem:
My uncle Harry was deathly afraid of cotton all his life. Not cotton cloth, but cotton balls, wads of surgical cotton, that kind of stuff.
Harry was a big guy and not a guy you would mess around with. We grew up on the mean streets of 1960s-70s Detroit and no one would ever call Harry a wuss or coward. But he would freak if he even saw cotton balls, let alone touch them. Even Q-tips made him extremely uncomfortable.
Neither he nor his mom could ever recall an incident from childhood that could account for it.
Adam the IA recalls a documentary he saw about a British woman who had a fear of making left-hand turns in her car. “Sucks to be her,” he mused. My uncle actually suffers from this same problem (among others), and for years would only take a special right-turns-only route that he had designed to work every day.
Jeannie’s husband is deathly afraid of the pizza man and other delivery professionals, even hotel room service delivery folk. “He won’t even call to order and when they ring the doorbell, he goes into another room. When he’s been on trips alone, he will call room service if he really has to (too late for restaurants) but he’d rather not.”
There are plenty more in the comments. Share your own if you haven’t already!
Comments (72)
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I can sympathize with Alana. I have the same type of phobia, but mine includes clusters of anything; bugs, the spores on the back of ferns, etc. Thinking about is actually giving me problems right now.
I actually have a friend with the same problem and has to go so far as to destroy these clusters of things. Her family finds it funny and gives her natural sea sponges for Christmas just to set her off.
posted by Laura on 8-21-2008 at 10:12 am
My phobia is feet.
i hate looking at them (I wear socks almost all the time) and I hate touching them. I vomit when people put their feet near me!
posted by lotus kid on 8-21-2008 at 10:20 am
Ransom, got to tell you that post was the best ever! I continued going back to read the comments. My wife always told me I was a freak for being afraid of kites, now I can point out that at least 3 other people share this with me!
She still thinks I am a freak, but now there are at least 4 freaks!
posted by Witty Nickname on 8-21-2008 at 10:20 am
Alana’s fear of “clusters of tiny holes” is shared by my girlfriend, who associates them with an infestation of some sort. In a related note, Tom Waits mentioned in an NPR interview once, that he too, is bothered by tiny holes (in his case the ones in drop cieling tiles).
So Alana, you’re in good company, as both Mr. Waits and my Girlfrieand are class acts all the way.
posted by Michael on 8-21-2008 at 10:22 am
I have family friends who refused to make left turns. They right-turned their way through life. One day, going against their better judgment, they broke their rule. The left turn resulted in a car accident and they are back to their non-right turn way of life.
posted by katie on 8-21-2008 at 10:30 am
Strange phobias run in my family, with my dad having the strangest. Since he was a kid, he’s been deathly afraid of peaches – specifically fuzzy peach skin. Which is odd, because we live next to an orchard. He won’t even mow the lawn that borders the peach trees.
I take second place with a fear of anything touching my collar bone. Weakness in my limbs, the shakes, cold sweats – a complete anxiety attack. Seat belts are torture, so I always throw a towel over my shoulder as a collar bone buffer. I mean, you have to be safe!
posted by Abby on 8-21-2008 at 10:31 am
Once, when I was little, my older sister told me that if I bit into a grape my head would explode. To this day I still cannot eat grapes. Cherry tomatoes, same. I get really uncomfortable if I even have to touch them; what if I squeeze too hard and it goes off in my hand????
posted by erm on 8-21-2008 at 10:38 am
Thanks to you all for making me feel nearly normal.
posted by BassMan on 8-21-2008 at 10:39 am
I’m with you Laura and Alana. That clustery/holey business really sicks me out. I wouldn’t eat bell peppers for most of my life, and even corn on the cob is a chore for me. The worst (worst!) are those lotus seed pod things that are always in dried flower arrangements. I’m linking to a pic of one in my name. I freak out whenever I see those.
posted by adrienne on 8-21-2008 at 10:46 am
I can understand your uncle, Adam. I try to avoid lefts all the time. Its not a real fear, but they are a pain and I also see a great potential for an accident.
posted by Marty on 8-21-2008 at 10:49 am
I have two that come to mind immediately. The first, probably not so weird, is jellyfish. When I was a kid my family would go to the beach in the summer, and every once in awhile we’d wake up one morning and there would be jellyfish stranded on the beach, as far as you could see. Completely gave me the heebie-jeebies. Now if I even think I see one, I won’t go in the water. Even animated ones freak me out – in Finding Nemo, when they came upon the huge school of jellyfish, I had to close my eyes!
The second is raw chicken, specifically raw chicken fat. I can hardly stand to look at it, and if I have to touch it I feel like I’m going to vomit. I don’t like to eat chicken either, though I do from time to time – as long as all of the fat and skin is removed, and I didn’t watch it being prepared! No other raw meats bother me, I make beef, fish, pork, etc, regularly. My mom said that when she was pregnant with me, she couldn’t stand chicken – maybe that has something to do with it?
posted by katie on 8-21-2008 at 10:52 am
i get super anxious/jumpy around cheese cutters… i know im crazy right? any sort of device that uses wires to cut cheese FREAK me out. my boyfriend loves to eat cheese off the block and i always cut it with a knife- one day he stopped me and said wait i have a cutter- i couldnt take it and made some sorry excuse that i had to go to the bathroom. the fear is so weird to have, i even have dreams about it- a wire cutting a cheese smaller and smaller until there is pretty much nothing. i always wake up sweating and freaked out. i have no idea where on earth this phobia comes from- even weirder is the fact that i LOVE cheese- i just can’t use something that has a wire. cheese graters also scare me- i keep on thinking that my finger is going to be grated off… but i get over it when im really craving a quesadilla.
wow- that felt good to get off my chest.
posted by jenny on 8-21-2008 at 11:13 am
I won’t eat anything with a stick in it. Ice-cream bars, popsicles, fried fair food…nothing. I’m scared of the woody taste, and getting splinters in my tongue or gagging on the stick. If it’s necessary to eat something on a stick (You would think I could avoid this, but one of my work clients is a large chain restaurant who often distributes a certain type of ice-cream-bar treat, which would be rather rude to refuse) I’ll eat all around the stick and throw away any portion that comes within an inch of the wooden terror.
The only exception is the new festival treat, chocolate covered bananas on a stick. The banana goop seems to stick to the wood, making it smooth and tolerable. My boyfriend is my enabler, and will eat the “too-close-to-the-stick” portion of food, and has actually de-sticked popsicles for me in the past.
I think the fear stems from a tonsillectomy-gone-wrong in my youth, where I was constantly having those sticks rammed in my mouth so the doctors could see the damage, and all the popsicles my parents forced me to eat afterwards.
posted by Cora on 8-21-2008 at 11:16 am
Make that four for the fish-fear. I am the same way, bigger than my palm and I freak out! An ill-planned trip to the aquarium in Epcot in Disney World had me running towards the restrooms to vom–any fish/crustacean/alive/dead disgusts/terrifies me.
posted by Shelly on 8-21-2008 at 11:17 am
My husband makes fun of me, but I have an incredible aversion to squeezing cotton balls, also! Ever since I was a small child, just the thought of it gives me goosebumps. I have less of a reaction biting into tinfoil or scraping my fingernails down a chalkboard.
I also have this irrational fear that someone is standing on the other side of the shower curtain while I’m in the shower. I won’t close my eyes, even while washing my face, and I constantly peek around the edge to make sure I’m still alone. There was a time I couldn’t even close the curtain! Even knowing my husband is in the house doesn’t alleviate my fear.
posted by kande on 8-21-2008 at 11:20 am
Katie,
My family has something similar to your chicken issue. When my mom was pregnant with my younger sister, she got sick after eating fish one evening. To this day (26 years later), my sister will not eat fish.
posted by Jen on 8-21-2008 at 11:24 am
I have a fear of my bellybutton opening up and my guts spilling out.
I mean, it was once a portal to the outside, and it was just pinched shut and the rest fell off. Scabs open up…why not your belly button?
The odd thing is…this didn’t occur to me until right after college. I got my naval pierced after high school. Then one night while tripping with some friends, a girl friend started playing with my belly ring and naval, and it started hurting. Suddenly it occurred to me that she could irritate it to the point of splitting, and I could die. Since then, it totally freaks me out when anyone or anything touches my bellybutton.
posted by Heather on 8-21-2008 at 11:44 am
Car washes terrified me as a child, and still make me uneasy as an adult. When I was little, my Mom would stand outside the car wash with me while my Dad drove the car through. I ‘ll go through now, but those brushes coming at you still bother me.
I don’t know if this is a phobia, but I still don’t like having my hair cut, styled or brushed by someone else. The stylist always pulled my hair. Mom said I was “tender-headed.” Again, I can deal as an adult, but I still don’t like it.
posted by Sally on 8-21-2008 at 11:49 am
I have an insane, irrational fear of cats. Housecats, not tigers or lions, housecats. That thing they do when they rub up on your legs and purr, which everyone thinks is adorable, is terrifying. They are just waiting for an opening to kill me. Don’t bother to deny it. It’s true.
posted by Cathy on 8-21-2008 at 11:50 am
Bridges – Gephyraphobia, specifcally crossing bridges, but going under them is almost as big of deal. I hate walking over bridges and don’t like driving over bigger ones either. Drawbrdiges and suspension bridges – avoid them at all cost.
Living in Michigan, I have occasion to cross the Mackinac bridge, always with heavy breathing, general anxiousness and a funny feeling in my stomach. I don’t like the big one going into Chicago on I-94 eihter. With both my father-in-law and I being scuba divers, he has been trying for years to get me to dive underneath Mackinac – ummmmm NO!!!
I know the start of the fear too, but cannot come to accept the reason for the fear. It all was the San Fransisco earthquake back in the late 80’s… seeing that bridge collapse did it for me – in a city with extremely high earthquake regulations, that bridge should not have collapsed, but it did, and likewaise so can every other bridge out there
(they say phobias are irrational, and heres the perfect case)
posted by Justin L on 8-21-2008 at 12:06 pm
I can’t stand tearing cotton, or peeling labels off cardboard. They both sound the same, and it gives me the heebie-jeebies.
posted by WillF on 8-21-2008 at 12:07 pm
I can’t believe I’m not the only one with a fear of clusters of tiny holes! They freak me out, and I can’t look at them. I’m also terrified of hologram pictures and have been since I was a little girl. I will actively avoid situations that might lead to me seeing a hologram picture, and when I do accidentally stumble upon one it always makes me feel faint. Weird.
posted by Amber on 8-21-2008 at 12:12 pm
Just reading about the cotton balls gives me the willies…I hate those things! I also happen to have a fear of being the first in line at a train crossing because I’m really terrified that it’ll derail and crush me. I have seriously bad day dreams (or day nightmares) about that.
posted by Andrea on 8-21-2008 at 12:25 pm
I dont really know how weird this is but I am deathly afraid of Snakes. I mean if I see a picture of one my stomach turns and my legs get weak. There was a story in the news about a nearly 7 ft. python and I couldnt even read the story. I read the headline and almost got sick. All of these stories about snakes crawling into the washing machine and stuff makes me so scared I couldn’t do the laundry for 2 weeks. I know lame
posted by Nicole on 8-21-2008 at 12:28 pm
I’m surprised no one went with the fear Lucy famously described to Charlie Brown.
“Or maybe you have pantophobia? Do you think you have pantophobia?” “What’s pantophobia?” “The fear of everything.”
My recaptha phrase, btw: “Graham injured.” Did Billy slip again?
posted by Paul on 8-21-2008 at 12:29 pm
Cora-
I’m glad someone finally said something wood related. My phobia doesn’t have so much to do with splinters, and I’m not even sure if this qualifies as a phobia, but the feel of wet wood makes my skin crawl. I can eat popsicles but it’s getting to the point that I have to cover the exposed part of the stick with the wrapper so I don’t touch it. Just sitting here thinking about a wet popsicle stick makes me squirm and wince. If I were to try to bite down on the popsicle stick, I know I would vomit. My teeth are on edge just writing this.
posted by bas on 8-21-2008 at 12:44 pm
ok…I held off saying anything last time hoping and wishing someone would say my fear but no one has.
I have an irrational fear of amputees. Every time I see one I start to shake, and sweat and if I we cross paths I start to cry. My father thinks this is hilarious and when I see him routinely put his arm in his shirt and rubs his elbow on me until I cry. funny, I know. However, no one I’ve ever met has felt the same way. I don’t even know if there’s a name for it. The only thing I can think of is being really freaked out by the one-armed man in the Harrison Ford version of The Fugitive when I was little, and also going to a baseball game on veterans day of tht same year and seeing them wheel an armless, legless man out on the field. They even scare me on tv and I get so surprised/shocked when they pop up I just automatically start to cry.
Feels good to get that off my chest. Oh, and I totally agree about the cotton balls. God I hate that feeling. Gives me goosebumps every time.
posted by Caitlin on 8-21-2008 at 1:31 pm
I’ve got a good friend who is absolutely disgusted by / terrified of sweet potatoes. Other friends and I have fun by throwing the words “sweet potato” into casual conversation and then watching him shudder.
REcaptcha: Over Quigley
posted by dymongoose on 8-21-2008 at 1:45 pm
I have what is called. Aphobophobia. I am deathly afraid of not having a fear
posted by Jeremy on 8-21-2008 at 1:52 pm
I have an irrational fear of insects with shells (beetles, etc). I freak out even if a ladybug lands on me and its even worse when I come across a dead one…with only the outer shell left.
posted by CC on 8-21-2008 at 2:05 pm
Barnacles and potatoes with eyes.
OK, it’s weird, but barnacles drve me nuts. And anything else that sticks or grows rigid and in clusters that isn’t suposed to be there. Almost like the clustering of holes thing.
I remember loving whales when I was little, and I actually saw one whose back was covered in barnacles. I asked the someone if it hurt them, and they didn’t know.
And potatoes, when I see those larges eyes they grow, I freak out, I have to get them off before I even throw them out.
I just have this thing where I can’t just let something like that be. I’ll get a huge desire to get it off.
posted by Emily on 8-21-2008 at 2:09 pm
Wow! I’ve had the same cluster-of-holes thing for as long as I can remember! Does it have a name???
I do notice that ‘natural’ clusters (wasp nests, lotus pods, etc.) bug me a whole (ha!) lot more than manufactured ones like shower heads or fountains.
Re-captcha: Ex-Ambassador wives
posted by Roger on 8-21-2008 at 2:19 pm
My friend’s ex boyfriend was terrified of refrigerators.
posted by Jennifer on 8-21-2008 at 2:28 pm
Oooooh, I too cannot stand clusters of holes!! I associate them with infestations, too. Once, when I was little, (this is my first recollection of such repulsion over it) someone had stabbed a bar of soap in the bathroom with a pair of shears….lots of little holes. I didn’t know why, but I hated it! I turned the bar over, and still couldn’t get over it knowing the holes were there, so I had to wet the soap and scrape them off.
On a side note, the song “Macho Man” was playing on the radio in the bathroom at the time, and to this day, I hate that song, too!
posted by Chelle on 8-21-2008 at 2:47 pm
I’m afraid of celery… it’s probably one of the most definitive things about me among my friends. I get queasy when it’s close, I gag when I smell it, and I go into hysterics if I ever have to eat it. At first I thought I just hated it, but after reading these entries… I’m completely certain I have a phobia. :(
posted by market on 8-21-2008 at 2:50 pm
Not really my own, but when my daughter was a baby she would cry EVERY time the Mentos commercial would come on with that song, “doo doo doo doooo do-do doowaa”. As soon as we heard that, we would make a mad scramble for the remote to change the channel!
posted by Jen on 8-21-2008 at 2:53 pm
I didn’t think I had any phobias, but then I clicked on adrienne’s link, saw the lotus pod with holes, and almost vomited immediately. Now I feel all flushed and lightheaded.
Are phobias contagious???
posted by Cherylita on 8-21-2008 at 3:05 pm
I have a fear of the down escalator. I have absolutley no problem on the up one. But if you want me to go down one. You physically have to pick me up and place me on it otherwise, if there are no stairs or elevator I have no problem just waiting for the ground to open up with a giant slide to take me back to the lower level.
posted by Ree on 8-21-2008 at 3:10 pm
I know this sounds sensationally off the wall but no one else has said it… i’m deathly afraid of beards. I walked into a class once in college and the professor had one and i turned around and dropped the class immediately.
I’m scared that while the person is sitting talking to me, bugs or other crawlies will come out of it and just be there, crawling around on the person’s beard.
that episode of family guy where peter grows a beard gives me nightmares.
posted by txlioncub on 8-21-2008 at 3:13 pm
My fear of drowning is so bad that I can’t watch scuba divers on TV without getting short of breath, & anxious.
posted by Vickey on 8-21-2008 at 3:14 pm
I have a water fear. Ever since I was a kid, I can’t be in water alone. I have this overwhelming fear and panic that something (ie a shark)is going to get me. This is not just oceans and lakes, it also happens in pools and the bath tub.
posted by Amanda on 8-21-2008 at 3:17 pm
my phobia is being alone i have had it my whole life and its extreme, i cant be home by myself i have trouble catching the bus on my own, it has basically crippled my entire life the anxiety attacks are horrible and no one understands what i am going through even people i know who have phobias have only had them since they were adults or are very minor compared to mine sometimes i think it would be easier to end it all but then i think of my wonderful family and my awesome b/f who puts up with alot from me its not easy for them, i live a semi normal life i have a well paying job and a boss that is very understanding as are most of my friends. i am lucky there are others who are not. people think that phobias are stupid and that people should harden up but its not that simple medication isnt the answer always either. if you know someone who has phobia please be caring its not their fault and to the people who have them there are alot of good doctors/naturaltherapists/counsellors wh can help you just need to take control and take the first step. :)
posted by linaznz on 8-21-2008 at 3:38 pm
My brother has a fear of touching the ground with his bare feet. Even if he is wearing socks he won’t touch the ground with his feet. He at least has to be wearing slippers. He always has slippers next to his bed. He told me our grandma told him if he walked around barefoot he would get arthritis. I’m glad she never told me that.
posted by RobRoast on 8-21-2008 at 3:39 pm
my phobia is being alone i have had it my whole life and its extreme, i cant be home by myself i have trouble catching the bus on my own, it has basically crippled my entire life the anxiety attacks are horrible and no one understands what i am going through even people i know who have phobias have only had them since they were adults or are very minor compared to mine sometimes i think it would be easier to end it all but then i think of my wonderful family and my awesome b/f who puts up with alot from me its not easy for them, i live a semi normal life i have a well paying job and a boss that is very understanding as are most of my friends. i am lucky there are others who are not. people think that phobias are stupid and that people should harden up but its not that simple medication isnt the answer always either. if you know someone who has phobia please be caring its not their fault and to the people who have them there are alot of good doctors/naturaltherapists/counsellors who can help you just need to take control and take the first step. :)
posted by linaznz on 8-21-2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m deathly afraid of metal grates across anything: bridges, sewers, holes, anything. Also the cracks between the boards on a boardwalk or pier. As a young child I always felt that I was going to just fall through the cracks or through the grates and to this day I still hop from plank to plank, or sidestep any grates I encounter on the city sidewalk.
posted by Sahar on 8-21-2008 at 3:53 pm
I have a fear of having my face submerged in water — it took me years to learn to swim, and the stroke I do is sorta lopsided with my hips far down in the water, ’cause I have to keep my face up out of the water. Diving is out of the question, and I even got freaked out by a spraying fountain once — I felt the light spatter on my face and started to panic.
posted by M on 8-21-2008 at 4:01 pm
OMG. The holes. Me too! Holes or clusters- either way I am SO grossed out. The worst one- by far- are picture of flys with their dozens of eyes all clustered up together.
YUCK!
posted by Miss M on 8-21-2008 at 4:07 pm
Trypophobia is apparently the fear of holes/clusters/cracks.
I haven’t got that one, but I have an intense fear of being by myself in an unfamiliar or crowded place. If I’ve been there before with someone I know, I’m fine. If not, complete panic attack. I haven’t decided if it’s xenophobia, topophobia or agoraphobia. Probably a bit of each one.
posted by steph on 8-21-2008 at 4:08 pm
Ree, I have a fear of escalators as well. Both kinds. The feeling that I have no control over the movement freaks me out. (Elevators are okay, though. Go figure.)
Aside from that, heights, and I also get creeped out by the thought of a needle breaking inside me.
posted by Sillstaw on 8-21-2008 at 4:11 pm
I’m sure this is common but I’m terrified of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets specifically. The only reason I even bring this up is to the extreme I took my phobia… When I was in 7th grade, I noticed that wasp got into my mom’s car’s trunk. I would not get in until my mom reassured me over and over again that the wasp would not get into the main part of the car through the back seats. In the car, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure it didn’t show up. My mother was wrong. When I noticed the wasp hovering over my shoulder, I went on my gut instinct and jumped out of the moving car. I was lucky that there were no cars coming in the next lane. My mom thought I was insane. My family made fun of me for weeks after that. Now, I don’t freak out as much when I see those insects. I had to learn to deal after that experience.
posted by vanessa on 8-21-2008 at 4:25 pm
Down escalators have always freaked me out a bit. I have trouble stepping on and feel a little anxious about not getting off in time on the bottom. When I was a little girl I was afraid of getting sucked down into the escalator itself.
My real phobia is of rumpled up napkins. My friends and family know to tuck their napkins neatly under their plates. I especially get grossed out when someone puts their used napkin on their plate or stuffs it into a cup. It can make me gag.
posted by JBA on 8-21-2008 at 4:35 pm
I didn’t see my phobias on the list so here they are:
1. Birds in my house or flying about my head.
2. Nails on a chalkboard. I have a hard time being in the same room with a chalkboard because someone will unintentionally scratch it. Can’t look at them on TV either. This one really gets me.
3. Here’s my slightly irrational (rational to me) phobia….being convicted and sent to jail for something I didn’t do.
4. The Mafia…I think I may have seen a little too much of the Godfather when I was a kid and since then, I’m afraid of very wealthy powerful Italians. And, I am Italian. I hate the Sopranos too.
5. Fish touching me while I am swimming in a lake.
6. Deep water…but I can swim.
7. Falling up the stairs and smashing my teeth.
8. I have a phobia about my cat dying. I mean, I know it’s going to happen someday, but I obsess over it more than I should. I don’t want to be involved in that one-way trip to the vet. Hoping she’ll just go to “sleep” at home somewhere.
9. Having surgery (never did it).
10. Having a baby (never did that either).
Out of all these, the chalkboard and being wrongly convicted are the ones that get me the most panicky. Jeez, I’m surprised I can make it through a day!
posted by Jamie on 8-21-2008 at 4:58 pm
I think mine are more neuroses but here goes…btw the cotton ball thing I never thought about before but thinking about the squeeky sound it makes is giving me the willies just thinking about it.
I have a fear of eating raw chicken to the extent that I wont let my gf cook it and I char it… I love a rare steak though!
I also have a split second fear that my teeth will be busted out in a car accident while I have a mouth full of burger and coke. I imagine getting hit head on and the steering wheel breaking my teeth when I hit it. I dont drive and eat(Wendy’s, its not mcdonalds or BK in my thought) because of that.
Fear of swimming in dark water… if its not a spring or the ocean and I cannot see the gorund, I am not doing it. I fell out of a canoe in a swamp once and 5 minutes later a momma gator and her babies were sitting on the bank watching me.
Tomatoes and White Sauces will ruin my meal. If mayo was on or near my food, forget it.
My sister will not eat anything with a bone in it AND SHE LOVES BLOODY STEAK. If its got a bone in it or she saw it, she wouldnt even touch it.
My dad also refuses to eat lamb or elk says it taste like human!? However he knows. Also say she does not like it because they use lamb parts in hip replacements sometimes.
posted by Shawn D on 8-21-2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m kind of disappointed my phobia didn’t make the cut… I’m seriously afraid of going ice skating and cutting my fingers off with blade. It evolved to the point that I can’t even watch figure skating on tv… which is too bad because I love the Cutting Edge.
posted by Lindsey on 8-21-2008 at 5:09 pm
My boyfriend has some really strange fears. He’s absolutely repulsed by cotton balls and feet, but he’s also afraid of swans, elephants, and constellations. It freaks him out because he says if you turn a swan upside down, it looks like an elephant’s head (with the wings as the ears and the neck as the trunk), and if you turn an elephant’s head upside down, it looks like a swan.
I don’t really remember what led to the constellation fear, but he can’t stand to be outside at night and look up at the sky which of course ruins any chance of a romantic snuggly night under the stars. Oh well, I’ll survive.
posted by kay on 8-21-2008 at 6:40 pm
I’m not alone on my fish phobia!! That makes me feel better.
Gypsyfly, I just read your original post-I also think my fish phobia stems from finding two of my goldfish dead when I was a kid! One I found floating and the other was in a corner at the bottom of the tank. I screamed and ran out of the room….naturally, my dad made a big deal of taking them out and flushing them down the toilet….
posted by Kate on 8-21-2008 at 7:55 pm
my husband is afraid of foam. like the foam mattress pads. and, especially, now the foam in our baby’s car seat. he will absolutely freak out if he even sees someone else touch it. if it’s covered up (i.e. like with sheets on a bed) he’s fine.
posted by stef on 8-21-2008 at 8:39 pm
i wonder if the people with a fear of turning right are similarly affected here in Australia, or England where we drive on the left.
like, i wonder if the fear lies in turning against the flow of traffic or specifically turning right.
for me it’s water i can’t see through and snakes. although our snakes are a lot more common and deadly – come to australia, you might accidentally get killed.
posted by johnson on 8-21-2008 at 8:50 pm
and by turning right i mean turning left. you know what i mean
posted by johnson on 8-21-2008 at 8:52 pm
Cherylita, I am SO sorry. I thought I would be the only one to find that pic completely nauseating.
Rest assured that this link is only my blog. No holes/seeds/nausea there.
And steph, thanks for putting a really impressive word on my ridiculous fear.
posted by adrienne on 8-21-2008 at 10:14 pm
This isn’t so much a phobia as something that creeps me out. I have a thing about foam rubber. You know, the stuff inside of couch cushions or pillows, the egg-crate mattress topper stuff. I don’t even have to touch the stuff, I just have to see it and I instantly imagine touching it, which is the worst. Imagining it raises the hairs on my arm. It’s kind of like nails on a chalkboard for most people, only more extreme. Oddly enough, the chalkboard thing is no problem for me.
posted by Jeremy on 8-21-2008 at 10:14 pm
“I also happen to have a fear of being the first in line at a train crossing because I’m really terrified that it’ll derail and crush me. I have seriously bad day dreams (or day nightmares) about that.”
Not alone there! I’m deathly afraid of trains and avoid them entirely whenever possible. That includes turning around and driving away from them, even if I go out of my way or it makes me late for work.
“I’m sure this is common but I’m terrified of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets specifically.”
Me too. I run from them and don’t care who laughs at me for it.
Wanna get me on a plane? Better bring four large men and lunch cuz it’s gonna be an all day job.
I also hate touching really rusty metal. It grosses me out badly. There’s also this weird wooden reptile-house thing we sell in the pet store I work in and I hate it. It’s some gross looking wood from Fiji that smells really icky and it’s just…ewwwww! *GAG*
I got a painful electric shock as a kid when I walked between two gas pumps and there was water on the ground. To this day, over 30 years later I will still not walk between two gas pumps.
posted by dooflotchie on 8-21-2008 at 10:35 pm
I don’t think it qualifies as a phobia as I don’t live in dread it, but when someone wrings out a cloth, or I do it, it gives me the heebie jeebies. I must look away when someone does it or my body hurt, down to my teeth!
posted by jessica on 8-21-2008 at 10:58 pm
I have a strong fear of Kleenex. I cannot stand the feel of it even the ones with lotion. I have no where this phobia comes from.
I also don’t like cotton balls that have glue on them. I always think they will somehow get jammed down my throat. I know exactly where this phobia comes from. 1st grade. Christmas Time. Snowman made out of cotton balls project. I remember violently gagging that whole day.
posted by audra on 8-22-2008 at 12:05 am
So, no one but me is afraid of needles? They terrify me. I turn the TV channel any time one is shown.
posted by Bob on 8-22-2008 at 7:04 am
Fear of crickets (or any bug that jumps at you). I’ve always hated “Jiminy Cricket” from Disney and get the cold sweats when the song “When you wish upon a star” is on.
posted by Carol on 8-22-2008 at 9:58 am
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been terrified by the sound of static. Be it on TV or the radio. White noise in general creeps me out.
TV static is the worst though. It sends me into fits or terror especially if the volume is up loud. I can watch a television with static on it and no sound but it makes me incredibly uncomfortable and just want to cry and run away.
posted by may on 8-22-2008 at 10:50 am
I used to smoke A LOT of weed in college, and I had a general fear of “authority figures,” namely the police, parents, professors, and even staff on campus serving food or whatever. I also sometimes developed a fear of being permanently high and never being able to act normal again for when I was around such authority figures.
posted by The Tay on 8-22-2008 at 2:08 pm
I have a horrible fear of snakes and STYROFOAM!!
Today I had to make a cake, and getting eggs out of the carton is always a challenge for me! I ABSOLUTELY HATE that sound and feel, I’ve already got goosebumps
I too in general don’t like foam, but I can deal with most of them!
posted by Megan on 8-22-2008 at 10:38 pm
Mine is spiders, but not just seeing one in real life, although that’s horrible. The absolute worst thing is if I see a macro photo of one’s face. It seriously makes my heart stop and I feel nauseous and just horrified. The eyes and eyes and eyes (UGH) and FANGS, and it’s all fuzzy, and ugh. I can’t even think about it.
I also get freaked out a bit by the lotus seed pod things and other holey-type stuff like other people mentioned.
Not sure if this is really a phobia but I hate elevators. Most of the time I’m OK in them but if it’s a glass elevator, I basically have to just close my eyes/face the other way and breathe deeply. I frequently have nightmares about elevators either rising extremely quickly or falling and crashing which doesn’t help much.
posted by Celeste on 8-22-2008 at 11:43 pm
Mine is spiders, but not just seeing one in real life, although that’s horrible. The absolute worst thing is if I see a macro photo of one’s face. It seriously makes my heart stop and I feel nauseous and just horrified. The eyes and eyes and eyes (UGH) and FANGS, and it’s all fuzzy, and ugh. I can’t even think about it.
I also get freaked out a bit by the lotus seed pod things and other holey-type stuff like other people mentioned.
I’m not sure if this is really a phobia but I hate elevators. Most of the time I’m OK in them but if it’s a glass elevator, I basically have to just close my eyes/face the other way and breathe deeply. I frequently have nightmares about elevators either rising extremely quickly or falling and crashing which doesn’t help much.
My fiancé is terrified of needles and snakes. He’ll pass out if he sees a needle and can’t even watch one on TV. And snakes he just hates. He thinks they’re all going to bite him or crawl into his ears.
posted by Celeste M. on 8-22-2008 at 11:47 pm
I fear walking face first into a spiderweb, which I have done accidentally twice. i also fear dying by electric shock.
posted by kk on 10-12-2008 at 10:15 pm