Comments (261)

1. I’m scared of thunder too, but I never thought it was a strange phobia. With thunder comes lightening, which can cause fires (I grew up in the woods and the threat of fire was a real fear).

   posted by Susan on 1-27-2010 at 5:41 pm

2. i have the same thing as Oprah…i cant stand chewed gum. I especially hate it when someone takes it out and puts it on the edge of their plate or beer can.

   Plus i never really understood why people do that anyway…It’s a 2 cent piece of gum…just throw it away and get a new piece.

   posted by andy on 1-27-2010 at 5:44 pm

3. I have this weird phobia of ex-girlfriends. Strange I know.

   posted by CJ on 1-27-2010 at 5:53 pm

4. I’m disgusted by cigarette butts. I will go out of my way to even avoid stepping on one.

   Not sure about the cause, aside from being very anti-smoking, but my high school used to have a “smoking lounge” which was actually just a concrete pad in the back of the school. It was sorta, “don’t ask, don’t tell” if you were 18 and old enough to smoke. They went smoke free before I left, but going out for gym class or football practice we had to cross this pad and it was just littered w/ butts. Disgusting.

   posted by Big Jonny on 1-27-2010 at 6:01 pm

5. How about Howie Mandel? That guy is so afraid of germs he shaved his head. Thats just odd.

   posted by Katie on 1-27-2010 at 6:09 pm

6. i wonder how Billy Bob Thorton made it through filming The Alamo with that phobia

   posted by Randy on 1-27-2010 at 6:10 pm

7. I have terrible, terrible arachnophobia. Not just, “ooh I hate spiders,” like I have a serious physical reaction to just the thought of them… even typing the word creeps me out. Other bugs don’t bother me as much and I love snakes but I am so terrified of spiders I can’t even step on them to kill them. And my lazy-ass cat is so useless she doesn’t kill bugs anymore! Good thing my bf is fine with killing them or even *shudder* picking them up and taking them outside. Yes I know most of them aren’t poisonous, and some are technically “helpful” because they kill more harmful bugs but I don’t care. They give me nightmares!

   posted by BorgQueen on 1-27-2010 at 6:11 pm

8. I am embarrassed to say, but I have had a long-time fear of band-aids. Oh, and also fingernail clippers. I freak out when I see the clippers, and leave if someone is using them around me. Wonder why that is???

   posted by Paulina Naikelis on 1-27-2010 at 6:14 pm

9. I’m afraid of buoys and the internet videos of salad fingers.

   posted by lone_scarecrow on 1-27-2010 at 6:14 pm

10. Escalators. Fell down one when I was a kid. If I can’t use an elevator or stairs, I leave.

    posted by plantlady on 1-27-2010 at 6:14 pm

11. I’m absolutely terrified of tornadoes, which isn’t really a irrational fear, but the way I react to even the mention of them is. Which is pretty terrible, considering I live in Indiana.

    posted by Anne on 1-27-2010 at 6:28 pm

12. I hate rough fabric. My skin crawls and like Megan Fox I have to lotion or wet my fingers pronto. The worst is cheap towels past their prime right out of the dryer. I can’t fold them without major lotion. I think it comes from having dry skin my whole life, so rough fabric plays into that discomfort.

    posted by Heather on 1-27-2010 at 6:37 pm

13. I’ve never heard of Billy Bob’s phobia… I guess some people just really hate antiques because they think it’s dirty.

    posted by Philadelphia personal injury lawyer on 1-27-2010 at 6:39 pm

14. I just developed a phobia of Matthew McConaughey….no deodorant in 20 years?
    If he says he smells good, he’s a liar.
    When he gets hot and sweaty, he could kill a horse with his BO.

    What’s body odor phobia called? I want to join that club.
    The winter months I’m fine, but in the summer months I avoid many crowded places because I don’t want to smell BO.

    posted by holly on 1-27-2010 at 6:44 pm

15. Wow, who would put gum on the side of their plate full stop, let alone as a guest in someone’s home? Surely there’s an etiquette rule (or just common decency) to cover that one… But anyway I think gum in general is vulgar and makes one look like a cow chewing the cud.

    posted by Gwan on 1-27-2010 at 6:49 pm

16. @Paulina:
    Do you just file your nails down then? Genuinely curious.

    recaptcha: disturbs few

    posted by Heather on 1-27-2010 at 7:08 pm

17. I read in a magazine interview that Megan Fox specifically hated the feel of newspaper, and I thought, \Megan Fox and I have exactly one thing in common!\ It’s not all paper for me–just the smell and feel of newsprint. I have to bite my index fingers under the nail just thinking about it. I think it’s a sensitivity thing. I also can’t stand touching chalk (mostly with my index fingers), and my sister’s that way with paper towels when her hands are wet.

    posted by Lindseydl on 1-27-2010 at 7:08 pm

18. *shutter* I absolutely HATE large fish and large birds. Just the thought of a fish that’s longer than about three inches…gives me the chills! That’s why I avoid lakes…the fish are big and that lake isn’t infinite, chancing it touching my person…NO THANK YOU!

    And big birds, such as swans, geese and turkeys, they freak me out because they’re too aggressive and not scared of me!

    But I love snakes and such, I won’t kill spiders, I’ll take them outside so they can continue living their happy life.

    It’s weird how everyone has such interesting and opposite phobias!  Cool post!

    posted by Drina Rezac on 1-27-2010 at 7:31 pm

19. I have an irrational loathing for prime numbers. My fellow teachers laugh at me as I can’t get certain items out of the vending machine because they are in a prime slot. (Though the math teachers think it’s amazing that anyone but them knows what a prime is!)

    I also don’t like being around nuns, though I did have to shake ones hand once, and I didn’t die.

    posted by Andy on 1-27-2010 at 7:43 pm

20. I have a phobia of crickets and grasshoppers – like Nicole Kidman stated – I don’t freak out about big spider or snakes, but a harmless grasshopper, forgettaboutit.

    I worked in a fancy hotel in Denver and Billy Bob Thornton’s band came to town. One side of the complex was a fancy 5 star historical hotel, the other side was a Comfort Inn. The band stayed in the five star rooms, Billy Bob stayed in the Comfort Inn and refused to get anywhere near the historical hotel. He was actually very nice, but he drove the kitchen staff nuts. He also refuses to eat with anything other than plasticware that’s been sealed in the wrapper. He carries his own stuff, but if anyone forgot and put silverware on his room service trays…ooohh boy.

    posted by Kathleen Kaufman on 1-27-2010 at 7:44 pm

21. am afraid of ditches; jumping over any kind of cut into the earth. natural ones ok.

    reCaptcha: treated verbally

    posted by Aurora on 1-27-2010 at 7:45 pm

22. I can’t believe I’m even about to admit this,I have the worst phobia that if anyone touches the skin on the bridge of my nose that it’s going to absolutely burst open and gush blood everywhere.In fact,when my boyfriend feels particularly inhumane,he pins me down and scratches it.

    posted by Nikky on 1-27-2010 at 8:00 pm

23. blue cars. i don’t mind cars in general. its just blue cars that freak me out. i’ve been that way since i can remember, so i don’t know why. if you try to pick me up in a blue car, i won’t go near it. if i’m stopped at a light next to a blue car i freak out till the light changes. i will not even park next to a blue car even if it’s closer to the building. i’d rather walk.

    posted by Fate on 1-27-2010 at 8:19 pm

24. Oh boy…weird phobias. I imagine a couple of mine are kind of strange.

    Trains freak me out. I will turn around and go out of my way to avoid sitting at a RR crossing while a train goes by. One time when I drove over some tracks the signal started flashing and clanging just as I passed by it and it startled me so much I almost threw up.

    Wasps, hornets and yellowjackets scare me into blindly running away, but not bees. My ex-husband thought it was really funny so one day he chased me with an empty wasp nest he’d just knocked down. Well, he thought it was funny until he cornered me and I blacked his eye.

    I really hate touching very rusty metal. It just feels icky. For a while the pet store I work in sold these wooden reptile shelters, they were just small hollow pieces of logs but it was some kind of funky stuff from Fiji I’d never seen before. It looked weird, it smelled weird and it grossed me out big time. I got a few weird looks at work for refusing to touch it.

    I don’t think the hatred of eggs is all that strange. I absolutely will not eat them or anything made with them if I can taste or smell them in the food, but it’s just because I don’t like them at all. I guess I’ve always hated them, my grandmother told me how I reacted when she tried feeding me an egg when I was about 6 months old. I wish I had it on video because she said I spit it all over her face.

    posted by dooflotchie on 1-27-2010 at 8:31 pm

25. I’m scared of small adults. Not kids. But adults that are under 5 feet tall and less than 100 lbs. Not midgets or people with different body proportions like short legs and arms – they don’t bother me. But a normal proportioned adult under 5 feet and less than 100lbs give me shivers. The more mature they look, the worse it is. I had to leave a concert once because this tiny woman was dancing in front of me. Gah!

    posted by Nicole on 1-27-2010 at 8:39 pm

26. I don’t like dark hallways. Especially after I’ve seen a scary movie or it’s pitch black and my house is completely silent. I’ll be walking down my hallway to my room and get this creepy feeling and walk faster and quickly shut my door. Weird i know.

    posted by Morgan on 1-27-2010 at 9:18 pm

27. I was never afraid of clowns growing up, but I went to a haunted house a couple years ago with clowns and enclosed spaces with weird lights and things spinning and now that absolutely terrify me. It took clowns being put into a creepy context for me to be able to find them threatening.

    posted by Leah on 1-27-2010 at 9:24 pm

28. I am afraid of wind. A breeze is fine but much more than that I get really on edge and I start looking for shelter. It doesn’t make my physically uncomfortable, just freaks me out. My mom has phobia’s similar to Megan Fox’s. She can’t stand the feel of wet wood or unfinished ceramic. It makes her shudder if you even mention it. When I was a kid she would make me throw the stick from a Popsicle away as soon as I was done because seeing me with it in my mouth made her want to throw up.

    posted by Jen on 1-27-2010 at 9:30 pm

29. @holly: I feel the same way about bad smells! I’m actually almost afraid of them, like if I’m anticipating something to stink, I begin to panic. Also, I hate doorbells and traditional phones ringing…I have a panic attack every time.

    ReCaptcha: political affected

    posted by stephapie on 1-27-2010 at 9:50 pm

30. I have this thing about weird textures, esecially squishy or thick textures. I don’t like foods with weird textures, I can’t stand even looking at a photo. I especially dislike thick, creamy peanut butter- the feel of it in my mouth just makes me gag.

    posted by Julia on 1-27-2010 at 9:52 pm

31. I flip out if I have to touch styrofoam, especially the white kind. Even the noise it makes when it’s rubbed together skeeves me out. I have to wash my hands immediately after touching it and I try to avoid going near it altogether if possible.

    posted by Dr. Remulak on 1-27-2010 at 9:59 pm

32. My sister and I can’t stand patterns of holes, the best most common example you can picture is a lotus pod. For me, it’s compounded if there are things IN the holes, like the lotus seeds. Ugh, I’m itching so badly right now just trying to describe it.

    I was HORRIFIED when I stumbled upon those photoshopped pictures of lotus pods onto human body parts with MAGGOTS IN THE HOLES! (Scratching my scalp right now because it itches like crazy!)
    I’ve only met one other person with this phobia, and I think she actually had it worse than us.

    Things like lattice windows, with very uniform, regular patterns that you can see all the way through, don’t usually bother me.

    posted by Rachel on 1-27-2010 at 10:06 pm

33. @Nicole
    I’m really glad I finally hit 5’1.5 then!

    I’m obsessive-compulsive so I got lots of weird phobias. I’m so glad I’m not a germ OCD person! I feel really bad for Howie Mandel, I know how annoying and genuinely frightening OCD stuff is.

    I am afraid of bumpy things or things with lots of holes in them though, and I know that’s not my ocd. It just creeps me out and I feel all gross and itchy.

    posted by Kat on 1-27-2010 at 10:13 pm

34. Kat makes four! Yay, in a way…

    posted by Rachel on 1-27-2010 at 10:14 pm

35. I have a fear of fish – alive or dead. I especially hate to go by the seafood section at any grocery store. To see a dead whole fish under plastic freaks me out. And I won’t even tell you about when there’s a big, fat fish head hacked off under plastic. Many years ago, someone gave my husband a big fish (I cannot remember what kind). I stayed in the bedroom until he had cut this thing up, wrapped it up, and had disposed of it’s remains. My whole family will vouch for my fear.

    posted by pdoll on 1-27-2010 at 10:14 pm

36. I’m a lepidopterophobe as well!!!

    I cannot be around butterflies, and will not go outside if I see one near. I’ve actually made my boyfriend move tables at an outside restaurant because there was a butterfly in the tree nearby and I wanted to keep an eye out so I could run inside if it came near.

    It really is paralyzing, and scary.

    posted by KerriD on 1-27-2010 at 10:21 pm

37. I have an irrational fear of hearing the score music of the shows I handle at a TV station. I am the one who takes the edited material from the post team and delivers it for broadcast. Hearing the musical score makes me feel as if my show didn’t make it on time for broadcast! Needless to say, commercial plugs for my show really freak me out.

    And yeah, fowls.

    posted by Sam on 1-27-2010 at 10:22 pm

38. I’m afraid of blow dryers. I know of no one else with this fear. Pick one up and point it at me and I scream.

    posted by Pamela on 1-27-2010 at 10:47 pm

39. I react very strongly in a negative manner when there are people at my house and I don’t know about it in advance. For example, my husband asked one of his co-workers to come help him move something and the co-worker arrived ahead of my husband with no notice to me. I freak out, hyperventilate and call him!

    posted by ginac on 1-27-2010 at 10:54 pm

40. I have a fear of crank-calls done by radio hosts, for instance if I am listening to a radio program and the radio host cranks-calls someone. They just make me very uncomfortable. Whenever we are listening to a radio show and one comes on, I have to turn the radio off.

    recaptcha: the spongier

    posted by Sarah on 1-27-2010 at 10:56 pm

41. My brother-in-law has the paper phobia, but for him it’s brown paper bags. He says it’s like nails on a chalkboard for him.

    I have a weirdness with texture as well. Citrus fruits in particular freak me out. It’s something about being able to feel the individual cells bursting in my mouth, I can’t stand it! Even if I like how they taste.

    posted by Kieran on 1-27-2010 at 11:07 pm

42. I am terrified when people wear masks, or otherwise obscure their face (especially eyes) Needless to say, you’ll never see me in a haunted house

    posted by stephanie on 1-27-2010 at 11:17 pm

43. @Andy

    I’m also afraid of nuns. I don’t even know when it started or why. At my old job, they used to make me help any nuns when they came to the register cause they liked to torture me. But the other girl was germaphobic so I used to steal her antibacterial soap all the time.

    posted by Chrissy on 1-27-2010 at 11:18 pm

44. I have an irrational fear of crossing bridges. I am not afraid that the bridge will collapse; I have this horrible fear that the person driving (including me) will freak out and have an uncontrollable urge to drive over the side of the bridge. I don’t panic when I walk over a bridge, though.

    Does anyone know if there’s an official, medical word for the “fingers on a chalkboard” or “dull knife on china” feeling? My daughter suffers from this to the extent that she will not use metal cutlery–she even hates putting the silverware away. Any metal on metal sound is unbearable to her.

    posted by Joan on 1-27-2010 at 11:36 pm

45. @Paulina–I also have a fear of band-aids…especially used ones UGH i vomit.

    Additionally I am a germaphobe which has also lead me to have issues with hand lotion. If i don’t have germx or hand lotion with me i will literally have a panic attack.

    posted by Rachael on 1-27-2010 at 11:38 pm

46. Mine is cotton balls. The feel, the texture can set me on edge. My six year old son actually covers the displays of cotton balls with his body at the store! On the same note, I cannot remove a wet sweater from the washing machine. I have to have someone else do it for me. omg…just writing about this has given me the heebie jeebies…

    posted by shirleyfeeney on 1-27-2010 at 11:42 pm

47. @Paulina, I have the same thing with finger nail clippers. The sound drives me insane. My entire family has been instructed to not even think about using them around me.

    Strictly emery boards around here. Advantage is that it’s much safer for me to use them on my kids…

    posted by shirleyfeeney on 1-27-2010 at 11:45 pm

48. You know how some people will scrape their teeth with their fork while they’re eating? It used to drive me wild, especially when I was a kid. I still don’t like to eat around other people; I don’t know if it’s a learned behavior from when the noise of teeth against forks made me nuts, or if I’m just anti-social. I also dread social events, such as parties. I have to be dragged to them, and I’m miserable until I have stayed long enough that I can escape. I can handle people one-on-one, but groups really bother me.

    posted by Rusty on 1-27-2010 at 11:46 pm

49. I have a phobia of paper too, and like Kieran’s brother-in-law for me it is brown paper bags, something about the texture makes my skin crawl (I will carry a bag only when my hands are wet).

    I suppose I also have a phobia of alligators/crocodiles, but I think that that is a completely reasonable fear because those reptiles are terrifying and could really screw someone up.

    posted by Kassie on 1-27-2010 at 11:52 pm

50. Stacy, I seem to share your phobias. Clowns – they are just plain evil. And I can’t stand people in costumes, full body mascot costumes. The Easter Bunny came up to me at a Wal-Mart, I broke out in a cold sweat and bolted. The damn thing would not listen when I tried ever so politely to please go away.

    posted by Stacie on 1-28-2010 at 12:10 am

51. I have a horrible fear of clowns. We’re talking like xanax popping at the sight of a clown. I had to have surgery when I was 3 and my parents had to go talk to the doctor or something and were out of the room for awhile. While they were gone, a clown came into my room and tried to give me a baloon and I cried so hard that I started to hyperventilate and pass out. Oddly enough though the clown from IT doesn’t bother me because I know it’s not really a clown.

    posted by Audball on 1-28-2010 at 12:25 am

52. Ducks and geese. I got attacked by a pack of each (seperate occasions) when I was really little and have to force myself to go near them.

    posted by selunesmom on 1-28-2010 at 12:28 am

53. I have a terrible fear of flying into San Diego airport. I don’t have a problem flying, just flying in to that airport. I’ve had many nightmares of crashing there.

    posted by gus on 1-28-2010 at 12:31 am

54. I’m scared of birds! If one comes near me I will run away, or if they are by my car when I come out of a store I stand back and wait for them to leave. I’m also terrified of snakes- even the thought of a snake gives me chills!!

    And like others have mentioned, I hate the feeling of chalk on me. Gross!

    posted by Mandi on 1-28-2010 at 12:39 am

55. Ok, I’ve never met anyone with this phobia, nor can I find any info on it. I’m terrified of anyone who is mentally challenged. This also includes the elderly at nursing homes when they cannot speak/vegetative state or if they moan or yell. I’m so scared I will be touched or something. The scary thing is how I react–i completely shut down.
    Also, anything that could give me a splinter (toothpick, skewers, chopsticks, popsicle sticks, the wooden spoons for ice cream) freaks me out!

    posted by amy on 1-28-2010 at 12:40 am

56. I fear giraffes.

    Butterflies creep me out, but I’m not afraid of them.

    I’m a special kind of odd.

    posted by Auntie Dawn on 1-28-2010 at 12:49 am

57. I have a Coulrophobia too!I don’t like clowns..the sight of them really freaks me out!

    posted by Maricar on 1-28-2010 at 2:01 am

58. I am terrified of needles and getting shots. I hate bridges – crossing them in vehicles or walking across them which goes with my fear of drowning.I hate hospitals (for many reasons) but the smell of a hospital just makes me sick. All of my fears do link to something that happened to me as a child, so I guess Dr. Freud wasn’t entirely wrong. Oh, yeah and one more – I am terrified of falling out of ferris wheels and anything like them. I once rode the London Eye (an enormous ferris wheel entirely enclosed in glass) and I thought I was going to hyperventilate. It’s not a fear of heights so much as a fear of plummeting to my death.

    posted by Jessica on 1-28-2010 at 2:15 am

59. The sound of cardboard boxes closing, although not a phobia, makes my skin crawl. I have to put together a few boxes every day at work and I’ve finally bribed my coworkers into doing it for me while I stand on the opposite side of the department. Nails on a chalkboard for me, only worse.

    I also have an irrational fear of escalators. If they’re really tall and narrow I actually get trembly to use them.

    posted by Nicole on 1-28-2010 at 2:31 am

60. I am terrified of clowns. Even as a child I was afraid of them. I feel like they’re trying to hide something. When I see them my stomach hurts, I just keep thinking omg it’s probably a child molester attempting to get close to children. When my children were younger if we went to fairs or anything where there were clowns I would call them back to me and would not let them near a clown. My mother would tell me I was being cruel to my children. I just can’t help it.

    posted by Michelle on 1-28-2010 at 2:32 am

61. Those damned RED HAT LADIES give me the total creeps. They remind me of little old mass murderers dressed up like your grandmother.. THEY SCARE ME CRAPLESS!!

    I am also terrified of Halloween Mask, airplanes, and I used to have this horror of dogs. I would not get out of the car if there was a dog in the yard..My grandfather used to have to pick me up and take me in the house if a dog was in the yard. And last but not least the police! I dont know why but they just terrify me.

    posted by Chris on 1-28-2010 at 2:41 am

62. I hate the thought of driving. I fear it with a passion.
    I also freak when someone calls me or knocks on my door. I’m not really anti-social, I just really don’t like it.
    I’m weird with certain foods as well. Don’t even come near me with cottage cheese, like people above me, even thinking of typing it makes my skin crawl.

    posted by kokopeli420 on 1-28-2010 at 3:14 am

63. i’ve also got that thing Megan Fox has. i’m not afraid of paper by any means (in fact, i prefer writing to sending emails), but certain dry, rough textures, like newspaper and brown paper bags, send shivers down my spine and i have to reach for the lotion or at least get my hands wet. it’s like nails on a chalkboard, except i’d much prefer that sound over touching newspaper with dry hands. it’s worse in the winter, when my skin is dry. i don’t know if that really counts as a phobia or just some weird physical reaction thing.

    posted by Cat MacKinnon on 1-28-2010 at 3:24 am

64. I’m glad I’m not the only one with weird phobias. I am still afraid of walking out of a dark room, I freak out and start running until I get to the light, even at night I have my phone plugged in or something to have some light. I also hate parking garages, tunnels and being upside down. I freak out and it’s gotten to the point where I almost start crying to get right side up again.Bridges also freak me out. I also have a couple friends who are extremely phobic of escalators, being under an overpass, birds and zombies.

    posted by Sarah on 1-28-2010 at 4:02 am

65. I am terrified of sand and swans.

    posted by sookieboo on 1-28-2010 at 4:16 am

66. Lightning. I’m always deathly afraid that I’ll be struck by it. I won’t go out if it is a thunderstorm, even if all I hear is thunder.

    Captcha: stated comedies

    posted by Kevin on 1-28-2010 at 6:56 am

67. I also hate clowns…they freak me out a lot. But I really hate when people pull and tug at their earrings or when they try to touch my ears. I think it is because it looks like the earring may rip out of the ear. I just find it disgusting.

    posted by Chelsea G. on 1-28-2010 at 8:20 am

68. Oh and I really hate being outside at night if I am alone.

    posted by Chelsea G. on 1-28-2010 at 8:22 am

69. Here is an odd one: I fear pencils, writing with one is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

    posted by Nae on 1-28-2010 at 8:32 am

70. I have a fear of changing lightbulbs. I have reaccuring nightmares about being unable to change a lightbulb (it breaks, there is no power, etc). I am not scared of the dark, just being in the dark with a blown lightblub and not being able to change it.

    posted by Rissa on 1-28-2010 at 9:10 am

71. @plantlady and Nicole,
    You’re not alone, my girlfriend is afraid of escalators too.

    posted by Cameron on 1-28-2010 at 9:34 am

72. I am terrified of zombies. Yes, I know, not a real thing, but anyone dressed up as one or acting like one or on tv and I will start to get weak in the knees and feel nauseous and generally panic. My husband thinks it’s hilarious and has threatened to put a false wall in the basement so he can pop through the wall Thriller-zombie-style and scare me. If that ain’t love…!

    I have also panicked while snorkeling because the sound of my breathing in my own head makes me think of scary shark-attack shows and I *had* to get out there immediately. Floating with your head above water and your feet floating below while thinking the worst about sharks below does not help in a panic situation and vomiting just brings more fish around you. *shudder

    Don’t know if those would be called phobias or just irrational fears…

    posted by ab on 1-28-2010 at 9:36 am

73. I am terrified of Nutcracker figurines. You know, the ones everybody puts out at Christmas. I can’t even walk by a display of them in a store. I once had roommates who tortured me with a wooden, foot-tall figurine – they hid it all over our house for several months just to torture me!

    posted by Beth on 1-28-2010 at 9:39 am

74. @Rachel and @Kat: groups of holes or “clusters” of anything FREAK ME THE H*LL OUT. just writing the word “clusters” is making the hair stand up on the back of my neck. i know EXACTLY what photoshopped pictures you’re talking about, too. the worst? hornet/bee/wasp nests. okay. i have to stop talking about it.

    also, this one is pretty common i guess: getting blood taken. not if i scratch myself and bleed, not if someone else is injured, just getting it taken. and i don’t know why- it isn’t even a fear really, it’s just this completely gutteral, visceral, physical reaction of shaking uncontrolably and having a full-blown, hyper-ventilating panic attack. i mean, to the point of nurses having to hold me down- not because they think i’m going to run away, but because my arms shake so hard they can’t get the needle in. once they do though, i black out. when it’s done, i sit there for a minute or two, then boom- i’m fine and out the door.

    posted by Maria on 1-28-2010 at 9:43 am

75. I can’t eat meat with bones in it. The thought of my teeth touching bones makes me lose my appetite. It has nothing to do with the meat itself. I love steak and chicken, but it has to be boneless or I won’t eat it.

    My wife refuses to touch towels. She says the texture really bothers her. Because of this, she refuses to do laundry. How convenient.

    She also has a problem washing dishes, but not putting them away. I hate putting the dishes away, but don’t mind washing them. I guess this one works out for both of us.

    posted by Eric on 1-28-2010 at 9:56 am

76. My sister in law has the same Megan-Fox-paper thing… she can’t stand the feel of any kind of paper against her skin.
    Me, I’m skeeved out by feet. I DON’T like other people’s feet. Footsies with the hubby? NO WAY!! My kids’ feet were ok when they were babies, but once they started walking and wearing shoes, even their feet give my skin the creepy-crawlies.
    Also, I’m a little bit claustrophobic. The idea of scuba diving freaks me out, too. And I get vertigo when I snorkel (which is odd, since I have no fear of heights whatsoever when I’m out of the water). I’m terrified– TERRIFIED– of sharks– but only in open water. Sharks behind glass in an aquarium don’t bother me, and I even find them fascinating.
    I’m not a big fan of bridges, either. It’s not quite a phobia, but I do have a lot of nightmares about them– especially the ones they use when they’re working on part of the bridge, and you’re just driving over a metal grate.

    posted by LadyBugg on 1-28-2010 at 10:07 am

77. I have a deathly fear of heights. If you’ve ever seen the movie “High Anxiety” where Mel Brooks is hugging the walls as he walks to his room on the upper floor of a nice hotel, you’ll know what I mean. That’s me. Even seeing a movie where the characters are on top of a high building or a mountaintop I totally freak out and my legs go numb. I also have the fear of large groups, even if it is simply to meet friends for dinner somewhere I will totally freak if there are more than five people at the table. I have to sit down immediately to keep from running away at full speed.

    reCaptcha: it’s tired

    posted by Nathan on 1-28-2010 at 10:09 am

78. OMG. My friend showed me this article and I was sooo happy to hear that someone else is afraid of paper…everyone makes fun of me for it. But all of my friends know not to bring paper anywhere near me. I have OCD, and my doctor says it has something to do with that, but when paper gets near my face or the creases in my hands, I actually have a panic attack and hyperventilate. I have bad dreams about paper, and I have panic attacks just thinking about paper. Right now I am very uncomfortable just focusing on the thought of paper… It is absolutely terrible.

    posted by Emily on 1-28-2010 at 10:12 am

79. I am irrationally terrified of dragonflies- I have no idea why. I know they can’t hurt me but if I see one I run away!

    I also have a fear of evil clowns- not clowns in general, just the evil ones

    posted by Suz on 1-28-2010 at 10:22 am

80. I am totally afraid of birds — all birds, not just large ones. When we go to the beach and there are seagulls around, I have to go in the water because I can’t relax like most people on a towel. I have my kids yell and scream and make them go away. My husband had a conure (parrot-like) bird when we first met, and thank god he died soon after, because I think it was a make/break thing for our relationship. I have tried to get over this by going into a bird store and standing in a room with a huge number of birds (all in cages), and I hated it, but I did it for an hour. I can’t say that it cured my fear of birds, but at least I know that I can deal if I have to. As for large birds, I have had the urge to run a goose over with my car (and, no, I didn’t actually do it), when it was sitting on the side of the road, just because they freak me out. And I am the one in our house who handles bugs, spiders, and the occasional mouse, so I’m not a wuss, either. Oh, and I also am skeeved out by caterpillars (not worms, just caterpillars). They just make my skin crawl!

    posted by Jenny on 1-28-2010 at 10:37 am

81. Oh wow…y’all have such interesting phobias!

    I only have one…water droplets on my skin after a shower. It just looks gross and bubbly. *shudder* I don’t even look…I just grab my towel and dry off before I can see any of the nasty little water drops. Oh, ick. My skin is crawling just thinking about it!

    posted by Jen on 1-28-2010 at 10:42 am

82. Did you know that people can have a fear of having fears? It’s called phobophobia. Strange!

    posted by Levinson Axelrod on 1-28-2010 at 10:43 am

83. I can’t stand very dry things in my mouth…like gauze or cotton at the dentist, though that’s not really what I would call a phobia.

    Not knowing what is behind me in dark gives me the creeps (similarly to not being able to see in the bottom of water I’m swimming in), as do mirrors in the dark.

    I also don’t like things flying around my head, ie birds, bugs, bats. I am always afraid they will fly into my eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. A poor helpless butterfly once ventured too close and was met with a tennis racket…I felt pretty awful about that.

    posted by C on 1-28-2010 at 10:46 am

84. Someone up there mentioned cotton balls and wet sweaters- I’m the same way. I can’t stand the feeling, it gives me goosebumps. I also hate bridges.

    My big one though, and one I’ve never heard of anyone else having, is amputees. I’m terrified of them. I live in the middle of a city, and there’s often people begging on my way home from work, and there’s a guy with one leg and one arm who stands there…gets me every time. I start to cry, sweat, the whole deal. My dad thinks it’s hilarious and always puts his arm half way into his shirt and rubs me with his elbow until I start to cry. Nice man, my dad.

    posted by Caitlin on 1-28-2010 at 10:48 am

85. I have a terrible phobia when it comes to calling people. I just need to see people when I talk to them and get very anxious at the thought of having to call someone. I don’t even like talking to my boyfriend on the phone. I also can’t stand to have any skin touching when i go to bed. I get the same sensation as the lady with the nose bridge phobia, but all over my body. Unresolved tramatic experiances my subconsious supressed and turned into phobias? Probably.

    posted by Stacy the Amazing on 1-28-2010 at 10:58 am

86. Spiders. Spiders reduce me to a blubbering mess. I can’t even get close enough to kill them. And I want them dead. I’m not okay with someone picking them up and putting them outside-they’ll just get back in and kill me if you do that!

    posted by Jill on 1-28-2010 at 11:04 am

87. Good, someone else is afraid of dolphins too! I thought I would like them until I went to Sea World and looked one dead in the eye. I did see that it was intelligent, and that was what freaked me out–I was watching it, but it was watching me too! And that terrible sick smile, and those horrible little teeth…all those jokes people make about dolphins taking over the planet one day scare me so much.

    posted by Elsa on 1-28-2010 at 11:41 am

88. I have a fear of short repeating sequences, whether it’s of images or sounds. Think of a skipping record or CD. or like being locked in the Ground Hog Day movie, but instead just reliving the same day over and over, you relive the same five seconds. A lot of today’s pop songs have this kind of repetitive short melody. when I hear them I just have to turn off the radio. ooh, shivers…

    posted by Jennifer on 1-28-2010 at 12:21 pm

89. Billy Bob Thornton’s phobia is expressed by Dwight Yoakam’s character in \Sling Blade\ — I thought it was kind of off the wall and funny in the movie.

    captcha: beheaded Stephen

    posted by Jimbo on 1-28-2010 at 12:32 pm

90. flour! ordinary, every day baking flour! the feel of it is just unbearable. most other powdery substances, too. i’m terrified of centipedes. don’t know why, other thatn all those legs moving at different time and you can’t really tell which is the front end. also, empty locust/cicada shells. my boy cousins and brother used to chase me with them every summer! i’m somewhat ok with the actual bugs, just their used, empty shells make me want to vomit! weird, i know.

    posted by Jennifer on 1-28-2010 at 12:34 pm

91. I, too, am afraid of revolving doors. I use them if I have to, but avoid them at all costs.

    The strange one (at least none of the 87 other people have mentioned it), is my fear of having my face covered. I can’t have anything over my nose/mouth area. Not sheets. Not scarves. Not pillows. The thought of putting my head under water freaks me out. I think it’s related to my asthma, and the feeling that I can’t breathe. I have an evil friend who likes to pin me down and cover my face with a wet towel. I started crying and beat his tail the last time it happened!

    posted by Katie on 1-28-2010 at 12:40 pm

92. Changing the batteries in smoke alarms. I know it’s going to chirp or the alarm will go off very briefly & that freaks me out so I have to ask another family member to change the batteries.

    posted by Tricia on 1-28-2010 at 12:50 pm

93. I have a problem with people dressed up in costumes (like big, oversized costumes, like school mascots). My college mascot was an eagle and would come to all the basketball games, community events, etc. I’ve taken a few pics with Big Stuff, but omg, I hate putting my arm around the body and feeling a person inside this huge outfit. It just makes me uncomfortable. Anybody else notice how freaking TOUCHY FEELY those mascots are?!

    That and things with huge orifices (I’m thinking I fit in with the lotus pond fear a few posts up). I can’t handle big portabello mushrooms with fleshy slits, dried flowers that have released their seeds and have huge, empty holes, heads without eyes (I saw a pic in my boyfriend’s Men’s Health a few months ago of a body undergoing an autopsy and the eye was being removed, leaving a huge gaping hole in the head. NO THANKS.). Regarding the mushrooms, we’ll make them for a meat substitute for me for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners or grilling out in the summer and I can’t be in the room when we prep.

    Those and I’m weird with leftovers. If I had it less than 24 hours ago, great, wonderful meal time, but any time over 24 hours and I’ll give it to my boyfriend or throw it out. Same with opening parishable items, like bread. I think it stems back to seeing a close up of bread mold in a college bio class. It was a huge(obviously) stalk growing up and made me sick to my stomach. (still does, ew) I just can’t do it. I hate being so wasteful, but I just can’t get myself over this hump.

    Think that’s about it. Awesome post.

    oh, and I guess I kinda share Billy Bob’s phobia – I’m fine about antiques in stores or museums, but so help me God, I’m so uncomfortable eating around antiques or old pictures (think American Civil War era). Ugh.

    posted by OkieMelissa on 1-28-2010 at 12:57 pm

94. I am also afraid of butterflies, but really *anything* that flies or jumps in a demented, unpredictable manner. Spiders, ants, beetles (crawling ones only), snakes, etc…no problem, but grasshoppers, moths, butterflies, birds, nope! I have been known to throw myself behind behind people and cower in fear (even as an adult)screaming “make it go AWAY!”. Once, a few years ago, at my grandparents’ farm, a large tom turkey blocked my path out of the barn and I was too terrified of it to get out. I stood in the barn by the baby cows yelling for help for almost an hour before my grandfather came and got the turkey out of my way.

    posted by Sadie on 1-28-2010 at 1:12 pm

95. I have been petrified of birds as long as I could remember and I could never figure out why. I was telling my mom about this at my 40th birthday party, and she turned about 4 colors of red and told me why. When I first learned to walk, we lived across the street from a cornfield and obviously there were a lot of birds over there. I always wanted to go see them. Mom was afraid I’d try to cross the street by myself, so she just told me ‘birds are mean’ to keep me from getting hit by a car.

    posted by Kay on 1-28-2010 at 1:19 pm

96. I have one “normal” phobia, one “unique” phobia, and one bizarre non-phobia that I’ll include just for fun.

    “Normal” phobia: snakes. I’m fine with any type of lizard, but if I even see a picture of a snake I jump. I have been known to fling copies of National Geographic across the room out of pure instinct when I come a cross a snake picture.

    “Unique” phobia: having large, heavy objects suspended above my head. When I was visiting Kennedy Space Center, the end of the tour required you to walk underneath a Saturn V. By the time I got to the exit I was sobbing uncontrollably.

    Unique non-phobia: puncture wounds. I’m totally fine with cuts, but not punctures. So when I give blood, I don’t have a problem watching the blood going through the tube, but I can’t look at my arm or I get queasy.

    posted by Kristin on 1-28-2010 at 1:42 pm

97. @joan: I have the same irrational fear of driving off the edge of a bridge or road on a cliffside, only I’m afraid I’M the one who’s going to have the irresistible urge!

    posted by Samantha on 1-28-2010 at 1:45 pm

98. I also have a ridiculous fear of escalators, specifically going down them. I use one every day on my way to and from work, and every evening I have this little flash of my pant leg getting caught, tripping me, and getting my hair stuck in the claws at the bottom.

    posted by Katie on 1-28-2010 at 1:50 pm

99. I have a fear of depth and whales. I think my fear of whales started with the movie “Cast Away”, but I’m not exactly sure. I have no clue where my fear of depth started. I can never go snorkeling or scuba diving. Even the beginning of “Finding Nemo” scares me. I once had a terrible nightmare that I was trapped beneath a dead whale under water. I woke up all sweaty because of a panic attack in my sleep.

    posted by Neisha on 1-28-2010 at 2:32 pm

100. I have the same phobia as BorgQueen .. I can’t think about spiders, see a picture of them, hear a story about one. I just don’t understand what one creature needs with 8 eyes. And the ones with the bristly legs creep me out to no end.. oooh I have to stop describing them I’m getting chills. But no matter the size, color, make or model, if I see one I lose it. Even some crabs do it to me. I’ve gotten better, but I used to scream and run across the room. And in my apartment, I get huge once, their front pincers are so big you can see them in detail. ACK! gotta go shake the willies out!

     posted by Shash on 1-28-2010 at 2:35 pm

101. Terrified of mascots. Or anything in a large costume for that matter. I get such bad anxiety that anytime I see one on the street, say just handing out flyers or what have you, I completely bolt in the other direction. Just makes me physically ill. I dont know if it’s that I was harassed by them as a child, the attention they bring, not knowing who or what is under the costume or the same as the clown thing where it just seems there is potential for real evil underneath.
     Even just writing this is giving me horrible anxiety.

     posted by Marie on 1-28-2010 at 2:38 pm

102. Nicole, I’m 4’11″ and weigh about 90 lbs.

     I’m afraid of spiders. I put steel wool in all the weep holes around my house just so they couldn’t nest in them.

     I’m afraid of clowns. I haven’t been able to watch a horror movie since House of 1000 Corpses.

     And of being held down. I will sob like a baby if someone holds me down, then they’ll get the crap kicked out of them the moment I get up.

     Driving when rain or snow is coming down or when I’m near an 18 wheeler. I just freak out because I’m afraid I’ll lose control of the car or someone else will hit me.

     posted by tinkerschnitzel on 1-28-2010 at 2:42 pm

103. @Neisha: I really thought there was going to be NO ONE that put they were afraid of whales. I have been absolutely terrified of whales all of my life.

     I didn’t really realize it until my 4th grade class was going to watch Free Willy and I just started crying hysterically (this was before they even started the movie). Now I can’t see or hear whales on TV or I will just flip out! I screamed and cried while covering my face and ears when i went to see Finding Nemo in the theater and the whale scene was on. Even talking about whales… especially when it’s dark outside… scares the hell out of me. Which brings me to being afraid of the dark… or rather, what’s in the dark. And water… and space. Anything “unknown” really.

     I also hate to touch paper when my hands are dry… like most of you that commented. It makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it. My reaction to nails on a chalkboard, having my hands covered in chalk, and having dry hands is that it makes my teeth hurt.

     I’m full of irrational fears/phobias. I really have no tramatizing reason for fearing any of those things.

     posted by AAAKnight on 1-28-2010 at 3:03 pm

104. I’m a cynophobe (fear of dogs).

     Am I the only one to find Depp’s quote ironic after seeing his getup for the “Alice in Wonderland” remake?

     posted by MetFanMac on 1-28-2010 at 3:27 pm

105. @Morgan, @Sarah, and @C, I’m also scared of dark hallways. I’ve never told anyone and I also live by myself so I’ve been able to hide it pretty well. I’m always perplexed when I get an uneasy feeling at night. I tell myself I have nothing to fear, but I don’t believe it.

     I’m also scared of most reptiles. I know that a lot of people are scared of snakes, but I am particularly scared of frogs. I don’t know why. I almost left a drink in a vending machine at a rest area because a tree frog hopped onto it. It must have been quite a sight to watch my balancing act to avoid this tiny frog.

     posted by David on 1-28-2010 at 3:33 pm

106. I’m afraid of people who DON’T wear deodorant.

     posted by Alan on 1-28-2010 at 3:39 pm

107. I have a really bizarre phobia-chow mein noodles. I break out in a sweat just thinking about them. If I see or smell them I get sick to my stomach!

     I also am afraid of being under an overpass. I am so scared that one day a bridge is going to give way and I will be crushed to death.

     posted by Jen on 1-28-2010 at 3:46 pm

108. I have a fear of jewelry, gold and silver in particular. When I was little, my mom would try to put one on me and I’d scream til she took it off. I have never worn a ring. I hyperventilate when people ask me to clasp their necklace for them, and make up some ridiculous excuse and run away.

     posted by Erin B. on 1-28-2010 at 3:50 pm

109. Not exactly a fear, but I hate the sound/feeling of tearing apart a cotton ball. I just can’t do it. I am however, an adult afraid of the dark. Wide open dark spaces are the worst. I’d rather be in a dark closet then a dark open field.

     posted by Mallory on 1-28-2010 at 3:57 pm

110. Alfred Hitchcock was also afraid of police officers. But that stemmed from a childhood incident.

     posted by Sara in AL on 1-28-2010 at 4:32 pm

111. I have a severe fear of snakes which isn’t unusual, but I am even more freaked out by worms!! I can’t even stand to look at them in pictures. Just the word gives me the creepy crawlies. I’m also kind of freaked out by raw ground beef because I think it looks like worms in a plastic package, and I can’t eat spaghetti or noodles. I thought this was weird, until I read some of these other comments. Now I feel more normal :)

     posted by Laura on 1-28-2010 at 4:47 pm

112. @Kristin
     Ahahahahha, I’ve totally done the same thing after seeing snakes in magazines!

     posted by Laura on 1-28-2010 at 4:51 pm

113. Wow, I’m amazed at the variety of phobias…

     Glad to see I’m not the only one in the world that is terrified of zombies: I was a very impressionable child when ‘Thriller’ came out and also the commercial for ‘Return of the Living Dead’. Same as the person above, my husband thinks it’s ridiculous and moans like a zombie when he wants to irritate me, and plots to ‘get me’ with a zombie invasion reinactment.

     Also, phoning people. I have no issue with being called or talking on the phone, but I have to reeeeeeally psych myself up to make a call, even to family members. Thank goodness for email!

     posted by rayvensmoon on 1-28-2010 at 5:07 pm

114. The cans of biscuits, where you peel off the paper and pops open. I know its coming and get all nervous and jumpy. I’ll peel off part of the label, and then throw it on the counter so it doesnt pop in my hands.

     Not so much as a phobia, but touching any kind of raw meat grosses me out. Its all cold and squishy… ughhh I hate it.

     I’m deathly scared of spiders, I found 2 (thank GOD they were dead) huge ones in my living room one day, and about had a total panic attack. I was physically sick, ran out of my house and went to my parents and stayed there as late as i could that day. Now Im really nervous whenever i go to put shoes on, thinking there might be another giant spider that I cant see down in it. My boyfriend is going to catch me shaking out my shoes one day ….

     posted by ashley on 1-28-2010 at 5:10 pm

115. I guess my “phobia” is similar to Megan Fox’s and a lot of other posters here, but more than anything it’s the sound of paper or styrofoam or cardboard rubbing together (getting chills just typing this). The only way I can describe it to my husband is that I hear it in my teeth. It’s like the multitude of fillings I’ve had in my life are amplifiers for the sound. Horrific.

     I also am afraid of spiders, but as much as I used to be. Now, they just piss me off, so I make ‘em flat.

     I’m also severely claustrophobic. Can’t scuba dive (but can snorkel after some relaxation breathing) or wear clothing the slightest bit constricting, and having my arms pinned to my sides (I’m talking to you, oh, older brother of mine) will guarantee some damage upon release.

     Oh, and I don’t like anyone touching my head or face.

     posted by Beth on 1-28-2010 at 5:12 pm

116. Hemophobia. The sight of blood makes me queasy.
     Oddly though movie blood doesn’t unless it’s “documentary realistic style”. Comic gore is alright.

     posted by Jaf on 1-28-2010 at 5:58 pm

117. Flyswatters, old people, and adults with very small hands.

     I’m really surprised no one else has mentioned flyswatters.

     posted by shannon on 1-28-2010 at 6:02 pm

118. @ashley, I have the same fear of opening a cardboard roll of refridgerated dough, I fee like it is going to pop/explode and hurt me. I make my husband open them.

     posted by Sarah on 1-28-2010 at 6:05 pm

119. I wouldn’t say this is a phobia; it’s actually a reasonably rational fear. I’m always very uncomfortable when I’m in murky water or deep water. If I can’t see my feet I’m always afraid that something will bite me or that I’ll step on something sharp.

     The strange thing is that it is only really an issue in calmer water. I suppose that when I’m being bashed by waves in the ocean, what’s below me doesn’t really come up too often (ha).

     posted by Patrick on 1-28-2010 at 6:06 pm

120. i am terrified of roaches. i can’t look at them, can’t kill them and definitely can’t touch them. one time when i was younger, one crawled over my hand and i freaked out so much i passed out. i especially can’t stand when they’re on the ceiling or up high on walls because i’m scared they’re gonna fall on my head.

     posted by Kayla on 1-28-2010 at 6:12 pm

121. I hate spiders and seafood – ugh! Sea BUGS! but the other reader’s post about driving… I never learned to drive until I was 35. Between my brother hurtling us over a mountain by pulling the emergency brake and my dad’s frequent drunken fender benders… I would dream about being behind the wheel and not knowing what to do, I’d always wake up screaming. I finally went to driving school, and had this really, really Zen instructor who allayed my fear of how you know where to be in the road: “It’s like going through a doorway. You don’t think about it. You just go through.”
     I drive 2.5 hours a day now to get my kid to school and back. But I will NEVER, EVER eat lobster!

     posted by Marion on 1-28-2010 at 6:31 pm

122. Aliens.

     posted by Jakab on 1-28-2010 at 6:32 pm

123. Someone mentioned being afraid of being in dark spaces, which is close to one of mine, but mine is very specific: I cannot be outside my house alone, at night. It used to be much worse (running if I had to go to after dark for any reason), but I’m getting better.

     Another fear, and a justified fear, is dogs. I was afraid of them my entire life, like even the friendliest dogs, and two months ago, I was bitten (but not *that* severly) by one.

     In college, I had a friend who was afriad of zombies, while I am obsessed with them. So, at dinner time, we always made sure she sat next to me.

     posted by Marial on 1-28-2010 at 6:41 pm

124. I have a minor fear of escalators… or maybe one of getting on the actual escalator. I have to stand there for a second to get the rhythm down.

     posted by Gogogirl on 1-28-2010 at 7:41 pm

125. I’ll shy away from people wearing certain types of buttons on their shirts, and I can’t understand why people don’t wear a belt to hide their pant button too. Is anyone else out there scared of buttons?

     I can’t stand the sound of metal on metal (scraping that last strand of spaghetti with a fork from the bottom of the pot – that’s worse than fingernails on a chalkboard for me)!

     The worse though it wet wool. I think this stems from when I was younger and we’d play outside in the snow in the morning and after lunch, my mom would put my wet scarf back on when we headed out again… Ewww… My grandmother made me a few knitted dishcloths, but the thought of wet wool (especially with bits of food clinging to the holes) grosses me out so I just use them as pot holders.

     posted by Ranger J on 1-28-2010 at 8:17 pm

126. i have a super fear of aliens! and being alone in big crowds… but when i’m with my boyfriend, we go to heavy metal concerts and its fun (but i can’t lose him or i freak out!) We saw Suffocation!

     I also have a fear of being out in the ocean where there are sharks… And snails and butterflies are disgustingly scary!

     posted by hamsmall on 1-28-2010 at 8:34 pm

127. Balloons actually. Specifically helium balloons only. People think that when those people with phobias of balloons go on Maury or whatever that they’re faking it, and when they mention it I just feel like an idiot. :/

     posted by JP on 1-28-2010 at 9:17 pm

128. I have a fear of regular sized eggplants. I can’t get near them in the grocery store. Eating them after they are cooked is fine. The smaller Chinese eggplants do not bother me.

     I’m also terrified of little people, but very very embarrassed about that one…

     posted by dickie on 1-28-2010 at 9:27 pm

129. I have a fear of being alone like if some one leaves the house to go to the shops i freak out, i used to live on a farm which was isolated, my mum rekons i was a normal kid until i was 2 years old and she went to the city for the weeekend and when she came back i wouldnt let her go to the bathroom alone, its screwed up my life and pretty much every relationship iv ever had, i have had years of different therapy and am taking baby steps to be comfortable with being on my own. Im lucky my current partner is so supportive im 24 years old now and finally on my way to getting my life back.

     posted by Linaznz on 1-28-2010 at 10:19 pm

130. Cotton balls. Touch me with one and I’ll throw up, faint, and then hopefully, die. *shiver*

     posted by katya on 1-28-2010 at 10:56 pm

131. Tall people! I don’t like them standing next to me; I always have to back up. And I hate this about myself, because I wasn’t brought up to have biases against people.

     I also can’t stand flowers. But they just annoy me; I’m not afraid of them.

     posted by Emily on 1-29-2010 at 12:17 am

132. I have a fear of driving. I get physically ill in the driver’s seat. It is really really awful.

     posted by natalie on 1-29-2010 at 12:34 am

133. i really really hate using landlines. i can use cellphone, but only if i know EXACTLY who’s going to pick up. i can’t pick up any sort of phone if i don’t know EXACTLY who’s on the other line, either. it’s really weird.

     posted by emily on 1-29-2010 at 12:42 am

134. My “nails on a chalkboard” fear is either doing, seeing, or thinking about someone wringing out anything. HATE it. Also, the thought of sucking on a wet cloth gives me shivers and makes my teeth hurt. I don’t know why I’d ever suck on a wet cloth, but there you have it.

     Besides that, the usual fears–clowns, spiders, and zombies.

     posted by JRD on 1-29-2010 at 2:15 am

135. I too have OCD, and this is contamination based. My main phobia is Matches. It pretty much ruins my life. I cannot go into certain shops because they sell them (most shops). If I see them I am sick, Touching them would be the worst thing ever and even touching something that has come into contact with them makes me have an epic meltdown (e.g. a door handle that someone who has touched a match touches then I touch). The level of the OCD related to this can vary from pushing myself to get better to turning my home into a *bubble* where everything has to be disenfected before it. I watch my feet wherever I walk, and i once ate some food then found out that someone who worked in the kitchen where it was prepared was a smoker and a match user, so I made myself sick and cleaned my mouth out with disinfectant and drank mouthwash to *kill the germs in my stomach*. I have never met or read of anyone with this phobia. I must admit though that with the help of medication and therapy I am getting better. I can sometimes leave my house without having to have a shower when I get home.

     posted by VinScotland on 1-29-2010 at 7:39 am

136. i have a fear of cotton balls don’t know why but they just freak me out if i touch one i have a panic attack and feel like im gonna puke

     posted by dag on 1-29-2010 at 1:05 pm

137. I have a fear of microwaves, and a fear of caterpillars. I’m also hydrophobic and claustrophobic, but those’re normal…I’m sos cared of everything >_<

     posted by Stormith on 1-29-2010 at 1:11 pm

138. I’ve got this surreal phobia of clumps of hair. I’m alright if it’s animal fur, but human hair just makes me gag! *shudders at the thought of it*

     posted by Lizzie on 1-29-2010 at 1:22 pm

139. I have quite a few.
     Spiders and flying stinging insects like wasps. Moths are my ultimate fear though. I cannot stand the touch, sight or sound of polystyrene or cotton wool balls. I am super creeped out at the mere thought of Miffy (Dik Bruner?) and German U-Boats.
     The most puzzling one of my phobias is my fear of little grocery stores in New York City. Ones away from the main touristy parts of like Time Square. By the way, I’m in Australia and have only ever seen these on tv!

     posted by Kate on 1-29-2010 at 1:50 pm

140. I never really thought my phobia was weird, I just thought it was a little obsessive. I HATE butterflies, but I always lumped my fear of butterflies into the same group as my fear of ANYTHING THAT FLIES. Yes, that’s right, ANYTHING. I hate planes, birds, bugs that fly, butterflies, ect. I currently attend classes next to a small airport, and I have to take anxiety medication just to get thru the quarter. The first time I showed up to class, and realized I was that close to an airport, I was with my mom and I ended up passing out. If a plane is landing when I’m pulling into the parking lot, I leave. If I hear one landing during class I run to the bathroom and throw up until I no longer hear it. It’s completely ridiculous- but I can’t help it.

     posted by Dani on 1-29-2010 at 2:09 pm

141. I hate fish. at the zoo we used to visit when I was younger there is a tunnel that runs under a pond, I always had to close my eyes when I went through. I still cant swim in the ocean, or even in a lake

     posted by matt on 1-29-2010 at 2:44 pm

142. the recaptcha is different each time guys! (mine’s easy!)

     i have a phobia of thunder and spiders.

     not exactly a phobia of thunder really but i wont look outside and i need a cuddly toy if i hear it.

     i will SHRIEK if i see a spider, whimper, and run away. and then i need a cuddly toy and someone with me.

     immature, not my fault!

     ReCaptcha: for sand

     posted by princess0764 on 1-29-2010 at 2:46 pm

143. @morgan

     i forgot something. i have the exact same phobia and reaction to dark halls, but also all dark and/ or silent rooms. they freak me out. its all i can do not to start sprinting away.

     @linaznz

     i have that too

     posted by princess0764 on 1-29-2010 at 2:57 pm

144. I have an intense fear of whales.
     I’ve never seen one in real-life, but the thought of how large they are almost sends convulsions through my body.

     I am also terrified of tidal waves. I have never been around large waves in my life, but they haunt my dreams and I can barely stand to even think about the words.

     posted by Laura on 1-29-2010 at 4:36 pm

145. i have a couple weird ones. First off anyone but me holding a knife when they are not actively cutting food scares me so bad i just have the feeling they are gonna stab me. I also hate the texture of unfurnished ceramic, is not enough to were i wont use it but once three plates scraped together so bad i threw up. Fingernails on chalk board are fine but fingernails under neath metal bleachers drives me insane. and i cant take nail clippers but Emery boards are my worst nightmare!!! I cant even be in the room when someone is using one.

     posted by CARTER on 1-29-2010 at 4:55 pm

146. I’ll start out with my little less odd phobia, and that’s fear of water. It’s not as if I have a problem with the substance itself, I just don’t find it as nice as most people do to swim. I only call it a phobia because the fear I occasionally feel is utterly irrational. I can swim and dive as good as anybody, and I am quite knowledgeble when it comes to the fauna of seas and lakes, lessening the amount of “monsters” for my mind to conjure up.

     What might be more of a “real” phobia is my almost numbing fear of deep-sea fish. This includes giant octopus, but not crustaceans of any kind. What is really weird about this is that this fear has nothing to do with water. I just don’t. Like. The. Damn. Animals.
     Pictures of them has made me burst out crying on several occasions, and videos make me nauseous. I’ve even had panic attacks.
     I can’t for my life figure out how I could have gotten such a phobia when I’ve never seen one of those animals in the flesh in my entire life.

     posted by Samantha on 1-29-2010 at 5:16 pm

147. I’m the only person I know that has an immense fear of Monkeys. And Butterflies too!

     posted by Emma on 1-29-2010 at 5:29 pm

148. Congealed food. If there is any kind of sauce or liquid on the plate and it has a chance to congeal as it cools then I can’t even look at it.

     I also cannot put my hand in a sink of dishwater. It is both not being able to see through the bubbles or dirty water to see what it is in there and the feel of the water. Wearing those gloves makes it worse.

     And smells….I have a very sensitive nose and smell EVERYTHING. I need to buy stock in Glade candles because they burn constantly as I try not to think about the other smells it is covering up.

     posted by Karen on 1-29-2010 at 5:45 pm

149. I have a fear of spiders… especially big ones. One time i actually screamed and told my boyfriend to kill it. After that i was feeling very uncomfortable looking at corners for spiders.
     I hate big dogs. When i was little 4 dogs almost bit me. thank heavens i was wearing large pants. 2 years i avoided all kinds of dogs. they terrified me. If one starts barking I panic.
     … i’m afraid of the dark when I’m alone. i find it a bit embarrassing and never told anyone.
     I’m afraid of talking in front of a medium/large number of people. I start shaking and I have the impression that i’m incoherent, my palms get sweaty…

     posted by Shmoopy on 1-29-2010 at 5:50 pm

150. I’m terrified of making phone calls. I don’t mind picking up the phone if someone calls me, but if I need to get a hold of someone I almost have a panic attack trying to convince myself to use the phone. Most times I’ll just jump on the internet and hope the person I need to talk to is online, or I’ll text them. But a phone call? No, no, no. NO.

     posted by Amanda on 1-29-2010 at 6:18 pm

151. My boyfriend and BOTH of his sisters have something similar to the paper phobia, but for them it’s cotton balls. They hates the sound of a cotton ball being pulled apart and the texture and everything. He starts shuddering uncontrollably

     posted by Haley on 1-29-2010 at 6:21 pm

152. I have a weird one.
     I am afraid of Styrofoam.. o.O

     posted by Lena on 1-29-2010 at 7:04 pm

153. My phobia- men with a lot of facial hair. Like a big full beard. Cant stand it!
     I think its pretty weird.
     However, I do like Santa Claus, but he is the only one!

     posted by Monique on 1-29-2010 at 7:08 pm

154. i hate the feel of cotton balls and the wads of cotton you have to pull out of tums or aspirin bottles. the sound it makes drives me nuts, and the feel of it rubbing together or pulling apart… it makes my teeth feel funny. they’re bothering me right now and i’m not even near any vile cotton. my sister is the same way.

     posted by jenni on 1-29-2010 at 7:47 pm

155. I’m afraid of balloons…

     posted by tracy on 1-29-2010 at 8:39 pm

156. i also have a slight case of OCD, so my phobias are numerous…

     im scared of hospital syringes. its not the needles itself cause i have several piercing and tattoo… just the syringe itself freaks me out horribly to the point i pass out.

     im scared of fish, any size. if its not dead i dont want to touch it, see it, nothing. just the weird bodies and eyes…yuck!

     Im creeped out by dirty sink water, especially if there happens to be food in it! that is disgusting!

     flying insects..all of thhem. butterflies. to wasps…they all gross me out severly

     posted by ashley on 1-29-2010 at 8:39 pm

157. tunnels…caves… I cannot swim in the ocean or a lake at night. Ooooh no. I’ve instructed anyone who will listen that I didnt like underground when I was alive and I don’t plan on being buried when Im gone. To the point that I could be left out for the animals to fight over instead of being buried. The water…I guess I can’t see what’s in there and I prefer not to go there.

     posted by Linda U on 1-29-2010 at 8:48 pm

158. dirty dish water. I dont like the fact that you cant see through it and theres little slimy things swimming around in there. plus its old food and just UGH its disgusting. that leads to my other not really phobia but pet peeve. Every couple of minutes I have to dry my hands because they feel too wet? Its really hard to explain but it makes me uncomfortable.

     I also have the fear of driving in between 2 cars. If there is 2 cars on either side of me i either speed up or slow down to get them away from me.
     I’m also aracnaphobic but thats not that strange

     posted by Meeshell on 1-29-2010 at 9:39 pm

159. Butter freaks me out. The smell of it makes me gag. If I have to use it in cooking, I have to cover my mouth until it’s mixed in whatever I’m making. Creamy things in general freak me out. It’s interesting because I weigh 400 pounds but you won’t find me eating buttered toast, buttered biscuits, buttered rolls, pudding, yogurt, whipped cream, ice cream, marshmallows, chocolate covered cherries, candies with creamy centers, peeps, cream filled cakes/donuts, cheesecake, banana/coconut/chocolate/etc. cream pie, lemon meringue pie, custard pie, pumpkin/sweet potato pie… I also don’t like plain chocolate like Hershey bars or chocolate syrup. Maybe that’s why I have perfect cholesterol levels?

     Other than that, I’m extremely sensitive to sudden noises. I still find hand-dryers creepy. When I was little, you couldn’t get me to go into a public restroom because of the decibel level of the hand dryers. And the way my dorm is built, I duck for cover whenever my roommate opens or closes a door.

     And when I was little (like 5-6 years old), I found Willy Wonka and Wizard of Oz far more scary than Freddy Krueger or Jason.

     And I hate making phone calls. I’m afraid of being inadvertently rude to the person I’m talking to. So scared that I about have a panic attack. I have been known to stare at a phone for over an hour before making important phone calls.

     posted by Ashley R. on 1-29-2010 at 10:08 pm

160. My biggest fear is department store Santas… I like fully feak out in the middlle of the store if I see them.

     posted by Lance on 1-29-2010 at 10:14 pm

161. I have two weird ones.

     1. Mirrors. Especially in the dark. I’ll even avoid going to the bathroom at night so I dont have to pass the medicine cabinet. If i do, I duck, so I cant see my reflection.
     That ones from a game of Bloody Mary when I was really little.

     2. Patterns of holes. Especially with something in them. It makes me nauseaus. I have nightmares where ill look at my hands and theyll be covered in holes. I saw one post on here that also said that, which is nice, because ive only ever met one other person with this.
     Once someone sent me that picture of the breast maggots. I still get shaky thinking about it.

     posted by Sam on 1-29-2010 at 10:19 pm

162. Okay so I have one pretty normal phobia and one irrational one.
     The normal but very real phobia for me is sharks! I’m a surfer and have to face this fear every time I’m in the water. When my husband paddles out with me I stay really close to him. Its a pretty real fear as there are plenty of sharks out in the ocean, most I know are sandbar sharks/ bull sharks and don’t bother humans but I can’t help but think of all the shark attacks that happen unprovoked! They are out there!

     My other phobia is totally irrational. When I go into a movie theater I have this feeling like someone behind me is going to stab me in the neck with a pen or pencil! I don’t know why or when I got this. If I can’t sit in the very top/back I can’t focus on the movie because I’m so paranoid!

     I don’t have a phobia of lotus pods and the such but they creep me out. I know for a fact this started when I watched an animal planet episode about frogs that hatch their babies out of their back!!!! When the babies hatch it leaves open holes! Ahhhh! Gross and itchy and ewwww!

     Video here of the Surinam Toad:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCayq56wHSA
     Yuck!

     posted by Sam on 1-29-2010 at 10:20 pm

163. For me, it’s having my shoulders touched. On a specific spot, mind you, not all over. If an overly friendly pastor or an encouraging teacher pats me on the shoulder, I’ll probably freak out on them, hardcore. It’s like the feel of yarn on teeth, or the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Very unpleasant. Not painful, just… ugh…

     posted by Kataqu on 1-30-2010 at 2:31 am

164. I have a fear of butterflies also. It’s not that I will run away from them because I think they are beautiful it’s just that I had a really weird dream where they were hatching inside my body.
     I also always lock my door when i’m in a car because I think somehow if i don’t lock it the door will open and i’ll fall to my death. Like someone else posted above I also hate feet. I can’t stand them. I mean my feet are ok but if someone is barefoot and they try to poke me with their feet i freak out.
     I also don’t like being in dark hallways because I start thinking i’m in a horror movie and something is going to pop out and get me.

     I have a lot of weird fears but it’s nice to know i’m not alone.

     posted by yh66600 on 1-30-2010 at 2:51 am

165. Im emetophobic. its the fear of vomiting. i hear its pretty common. but sometimes i wont eat for days because im scared i will throw up afterwards.

     posted by Shannon on 1-30-2010 at 3:05 am

166. I am absolutely TERRIFIED of any sea creatures (except for dolphins and very small fish)! Whales, sharks, those creepy angler fish with the big teeth *shudder* I can’t even look at pictures of them without getting the creeps! I have a National Geographic subscription, and if there are ever photos of ocean creatures, I can’t even touch those pages, I have to turn it really quick to avoid the pictures! Also, there’s this huge mural of a blue whale on the side of this restaurant by my house, I can’t even get too close to THAT! It’s silly, I know.

     posted by Lauren on 1-30-2010 at 3:34 am

167. The holes in things, clusters and things. Just reading about what’s in that video made me feel really sick. I start scratching my hands and stuff whenever I see stuff like that (lotus pods etc)

     I also hate mirrors when it’s dark, being outside by myself (any time of day), calling people on the phone and large birds/animals especially geese and goats

     The one I am most ashamed of is I’m terrified of homeless people and old/senile people. It stopped me talking to my great grandmother just before she died; she couldn’t remember my name and it freaked me out so much I had to leave the hospital

     My weirdest one is I can’t stand people I don’t know looking me in the eye. When I meet them I will look anywhere to avoid eye contact until I’ve talked to them for a while

     posted by Otty on 1-30-2010 at 4:08 am

168. I have a huge fear of bugs. ANY kind of bugs.
     Cockroaches, moths, beetles, etc
     I have to leave the room if there are any there. Which is strange because when I was younger I loved playing with bugs and moths and anything like that.
     Now I can’t stand them!

     posted by Jessicaa on 1-30-2010 at 6:45 am

169. @Rachel
     Wow I have that exact same phobia. When I first saw the picture of the lotus flower/maggot picture I almost vomited. The image haunted me for months afterwards. Anything that is sort of…swarmlike i suppose just makes me feel sick. It’s weird, it can be anything; bugs, seeds, material, patterns.
     And there’s a particular weed that i get in my garden that is the same. I can’t stand seeing because its leaves spread over the ground all clumped together and gross. My husband thinks it’s funny that I get freaked out by a plant.
     also @Sam, I had to do a report on Surinam in primary school and I remember the Surinam Toad. It gave me nightmares for years, and then recently I saw it on TV and I flipped out

     posted by Louise on 1-30-2010 at 7:21 am

170. I’m afraid of people that have strange phobias..what do you call this condition?
     Oh, and I’m afraid for my country. Because the Jews have taken over every facet of politics and commerce..and we all know where that is going to lead us.
     Be afraid, be VERY afraid Sheeple.

     posted by tman on 1-30-2010 at 7:56 am

171. Also I hate unknown large dogs coming up to me. My mum told me when I was a toddler, I was in my pram and a big dog came up and licked me and I just screamed and screamed and screamed. There’s a medium sized dog down the street from us and it keeps getting into our backyard. Whenever I see it walk past the window it scares me so bad I start sweating. Once I pulled up in my driveway and it came up to the car door. I had to call my husband on my mobile and tell him to come scare it away.

     I also get nervous around mentally disabled people. There was a kid at my school who chased my friends sister into the girls toilets and cornered her. He was just trying to hug her apparently but I used to worry that he’d do it to me.
     Now where I work there’s this disabled guy who come’s in sometimes and looks for me specifically. I can’t get away from him and he spits when he talks. He gets in my personal space and I can’t stand it when people do that. I get so freaked out by talking to him I almost cry.

     I think I’m a little messed up :(

     posted by Louise on 1-30-2010 at 8:27 am

172. I have an irrational fear of ghosts. I don’t see them or hear them, but just the idea that they can be there freaks me out!

     Other than that, I have a phobia of stairs in houses. I hate to go upstairs, and only do so if absolutely necessary. It is so silly, that I have never told anyone. I am afraid of falling or being tripped by one of my animals. I usually sleep downstairs.

     posted by Kim on 1-30-2010 at 10:42 am

173. I can NOT stand scraping on ice…like getting ice off of windows or rubbing up against a freezer wall that has a lot of frost built up on it. UGH just typing it makes my skin crawl.
     My ex husband HATED using or anyone else using papertowels…especially the thought of them between your teeth.
     My best friend has a weird one…she can’t stand it when people have their hands where their fingertips are touching. Its hard to describe..hold your hands parallel to each other and only touch the tips of your fingers together. Back when we were like 13, my mom would pick us up from the skating rink and my mom would stand at the wall with her hands like that just to freak her out. lol
     My mother in law is deathly afraid of spiders. She can’t even stand someone talking about them. She was NOT happy at all when she found out that my ex husband had had a pet tarantula in the house when he was younger. She had no idea he had it until months after it was gone, but she geeked out about it.

     posted by Amber on 1-30-2010 at 11:21 am

174. OH! I forgot one. I also have a weird phobia of asian people. I hate to seem racist, but I have a fear of them. When I was 16, I worked at a Chinese restaurant and I basically just took the orders and answered the phone because the people there either didn’t speak english at all or only spoke very little. There was a cook there that was really creepy and would rub up against me when he’d walk by as if we were in a tight space, but there was PLENTY of room for him to get by. He’d also look at me like he was undressing me with his eyes and he would grunt. Finally when he’d try and brush up against me I’d elbow him in his ribs as hard as I could. I told the girl that had gotten me the job that I was being sexually harassed and she told the owners and a day or two later they got rid of me. Ever since I’ve worked there I’ve had a phobia of Asian people. If they are “americanized” then I’m fine, but the ones that don’t speak english really freak me out. I couldn’t even THINK of going to China or Korea or any of those places. I know it seems very rude to feel this way, but I really can’t help it.

     posted by Amber on 1-30-2010 at 11:30 am

175. I don’t know if I’d call it a phobia.. but I get extremely grossed out when anyone is eating around me. I demand that they chew with their mouth closed and if I can hear them chewing, I completely lose my appetite. I believe it stemmed from when I was younger and I’d eat breakfast with my sister. She would slurp cereal and chomp and absolutely disturb me to the point where I’d get up and leave the room. I still have problems eating in the same room as her nearly 20 years later. I’m also terribly put off by using a gallon milk carton after anyone else does. Just feeling the warm handle sends me into a frenzy. If I don’t pour milk first or get someone to pour it for me, then no thank you. Just thinking about smacking food and warm milk handles makes me extremely queasy.

     And if you are eating mashed potatoes or something soft, I really don’t want to hear teeth chomping. It’s quite terrifying, honestly and it’s senseless. There’s no need for that.. :(

     posted by Marie on 1-30-2010 at 11:32 am

176. i have three main phobias, elevators, crocodiles and mostly the dark.

     i’m so afraid of the dark that i start crying and hyperventilating, and feel like im going to pass out, and i sleep with a lamp on, otherwise i don’t sleep.

     and i can;t swim alone in isolated pools, im so scared that somehow i crocodile had crawled into it and i will have no way of getting out..i havent heard of anyone else with this.

     and i absolutley hate taking elevators alone, i either use the stairs, or an escalator, i almost cried when i HAD to take an elevator up to level 6 alone once, god it was so horrible.

     ..also i HATE HATE HATE clusters of things too, and maggots, damn it i cannot stand them, i once had a nightmare that my whole mattress was filled with them, i woke up crying and screaming..not fun

     anyway i don’t feel so weird now that i have read some of these :)

     posted by Liz on 1-30-2010 at 12:00 pm

177. I have a morbid fear of sponges. I can’t touch them, look at them, or be near them. My boyfriend has to do the dishes and hide the sponges in a place where I can’t see them or, accidentally find them. Even new ones, still in the packaging, freak me out but the older it looks the more likely I’ll panic. To me it’s worse to wipe a counter “clean” with a sponge than to leave the mess there. It’s like everything that a sponge touches is contaminated and needs to be rinsed clean.

     posted by Miko on 1-30-2010 at 12:57 pm

178. Ok, this is really silly, but I’m desperately afraid of aliens. Like the outerspace kind. And it’s not even that I think they are real, I know that they are *probably* not. It’s the idea that there is some remote chance that they could be real that freaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkssssss me out. It’s only the “greys” though. I have been known to have panic attacks and cry if made to watch cheesy discovery/history channel documentaries. And you know the stories that they all have about people driving down the road and all of the sudden it’s hours later and they’re miles down the road, and then they do some sort of hypnosis to recover their memory and it was aliens? Yeah, I will compulsivly check the time every few minutes when I’m driving at night. One time I had a friend who was making fun of this irrational fear and said that maybe I was so afraid of aliens because I had been abducted and had my memory erased and I wanted to die. Total panic attack, couldn’t sleep for weeks. And I KNOW it’s crazy.

     posted by Person on 1-30-2010 at 1:24 pm

179. I’m afraid of pineapples. But I do drink pineapple juice.

     posted by Jane on 1-30-2010 at 1:30 pm

180. I have a huge fear of the future… just thinking about it freaks me out. I dont want to be a failure and disappoint everyone.

     posted by Becky on 1-30-2010 at 2:41 pm

181. Tyra Bank’s fear of dolphins is totally legit. Dolphins are one of the few animals that kill for fun. They also commit gang rape on female dolphins, baby dolphins and humans.

     posted by Maggie on 1-30-2010 at 3:25 pm

182. Funny, my sister and I both have the same phobia as Rachel and her sister about patterns of holes. We tried to make Kraft Easy Mac in the microwave one time, and the noodles all came out standing face up. (Rachel, if you read this, DO NOT DO THAT!) I’m getting anxious just thinking about it.

     I am also paranoid about leaving my DNA in public places. (A hair falling out of my head, or shedding skin cells, little insignificant things.) I don’t like leaving spent cigarette butts or throwing away anything I’ve used in a public place like chewing gum, a cup, or a straw. I try to hang on to things to throw away when I get home. Funny that eating at a restaurant doesn’t bother me though.

     posted by Michelle on 1-30-2010 at 3:32 pm

183. I am so happy there are other lepidopterophobes out there! It started with an intense fear and hatred of moths and has now moved into butterflies. EW! They’re the worst and I’m almost crying just thinking about them.

     posted by Anna on 1-30-2010 at 3:56 pm

184. I mentioned cotton balls a few days ago and now I see I’m not alone! Whew!

     I also have fear of escalators as well. When I was a kid I fell down a “down” escalator and now that I’m 40something I still have a near panic attack having to use one. I also have the revolving door fear, but it stems from airports back in the 70s. I remember that many had these huge grid-like doors that you could exit but could not get back in through, so the grid would close up the opening. I was always terrified that I’d get caught and end up shredded like a potato on the other side. *shudders*

     posted by shirleyfeeney on 1-30-2010 at 5:10 pm

185. @Sam-
     I also hate mirrors, though they only really bother me in the dark.

     I also have a phobia about being locked in or out of a place. The very thought of either causes me to break into a cold sweat. Probably comes from being a latchkey kid.

     posted by Kris on 1-30-2010 at 6:24 pm

186. It’s actually pretty fascinating to read everyone’s phobias.

     I can’t stand spiders — since I moved from MI to NV, I’ve had major problems with wolf spiders that are big as a softball and definitely not afraid of you. Creepy and disgusting and huge! UGH.

     I am completely creeped out by aliens, too. Saw the movie ET when it first came out (I was five, I think).. cried through the whole thing. I am thirty years old and it still creeps me out. I am fascinated by paranormal things of all kinds, but aliens – especially the ones known as grays like someone else mentioned above; it makes me feel crazy and I can’t be by myself, forget being in a dark room.

     I also get creeped out by deep, murky water. I refuse to swim in it because I can’t tell what is underneath me. Otherwise, if it’s clear water.. I’m in!

     posted by Jennifer on 1-30-2010 at 6:28 pm

187. Reclining chairs. I am convinced I will fall into one, or that they can “eat” people. I can’t be anywhere near one.

     posted by Natalie on 1-30-2010 at 7:12 pm

188. I’m scared of short people. I get extremely uncomfortable around them. Any one shorter than 5’1\. I’m 6’5\ so that might have something to do with it.

     posted by Brad on 1-30-2010 at 7:16 pm

189. Oh, wow, so many phobias!

     I’m surprised at how many people also have that fear of holes in clusters/things IN those holes. I do to, to an extent. Seeing things like that makes me queasy. But I think that stems from my next phobia…

     Someone above me mentioned that they are afraid of wasps but not bees. I am, too. The call it Spheksophobia. I see a wasp and I will just FLIP out and scream and run the other way. My friends used to drop mulch on my head and say that there was a wasp in my hair, which I believed because once my friend actually did have a wasp land in her hair. Also, once I was trapped in a car with a wasp. I had a full-out panic attack, i was crying and everything. I offered to just walk home because of it, even though I was a few miles away from my house. I just cannot tell you how terrified of wasps I am… I’m shaking just typing this.

     I thing my uncomfortable-ness about clusters of hole has to do with the way wasps build their nests. Once, after pestering my dad to take down a nest by the front door, he pointed out the eggs in it and extracted the larvae with tweezers. He actually forced me to do the same, and some of them were almost fully formed. They were alive too, and he made me hold them. I was crying the whole time.

     My last phobia is elevators. There is no specific name for this. I’ve been told that I have claustrophobia or acrophobia, but that’s not true. I don’t mind small spaces and I love heights, but I’m just terrified of the elevator breaking while i’m in it and being trapped, or worse, the cables snapping and me falling to my death with no way out. I always take the stair, I even ofered to take the stairs to the top of the Empire State buliding once, but my mom wouldn’t let me. At my youth group, it’s only two stories and there’s an elevator. Once my friends pushed me into it and it turned out they were playing “How many people can we stuff in an elevator?” I started screaming that they were exceeding the maximum capacity, and they decided it’d be even more fun to all jump at once while it was rising, causing it to shiver. I was (once again) in a full-out panic attack, on the floor crying annd all. I try to avoid elevators, but when I’m forced to ride one, I usually stay quiet and grip the rail (or a friend’s arm) and i’m sheet-white, like a ghost.

     Oh wow that was a long post. Sorry ^^;

     posted by Nyleika on 1-30-2010 at 8:54 pm

190. I am terrified of all dogs. I was bitten when I was younger and have been deathly afraid of them ever since. Also, rodents. And, I am generally afraid to touch anything that breathes and is furry.

     I am especially sad about the dogs, though, because that fear has rubbed off on my kids and EVERYBODY seems to have a dog these days. It limits their social life, even going to parks is a chore because dogs are everywhere!!!

     For clowns, I think it is the makeup. My daughter (& an adult friend) is less afraid of clowns with accent makeup vs an entire painted face.

     recaptcha: starches at

     posted by Toni on 1-30-2010 at 9:37 pm

191. I’m terrified of fish, especially goldfish. I can’t go near the tanks in pet stores. I went into one store for dog food and they kept their fish right in the middle. I turned right around, went back to my car and drove to a different store. They’re so creepy!

     posted by Autumn on 1-30-2010 at 10:13 pm

192. This phobia is pretty stupid. Im embarrased to say such a thing, but I am utterly terrified of moths. Moths are just….. I dont know. I really dont. I am completly fine with Butterflies or any similar flying bug, but I cant handle moths. Even at the sight of a moth, I take off running with tears in my eyes. Were talking about an 18 year old guy here who freaking CRIES over the sight of a moth! Even the tiny ones that flutter near your porch light freak me out! If theres a moth sitting on a glass door, I refuse to use that door. I’ve seen pictures of moths as big as birds, and I think that if I came in contact with one in real life, I would probably faint.

     posted by Matt on 1-30-2010 at 10:58 pm

193. I’m afraid of veins. Like when I see them sticking out of really muscular guys’ arms, it freaks me out. I also hate extending my arm fully, because there’s a little bump where the vein sticks out in the crook of my elbow….*shudder*

     posted by Jessica on 1-30-2010 at 11:09 pm

194. Fish, usually dead but sometimes alive too. Very odd, since I wanted to be a marine biologist at one point.

     I just can’t stand to be near fish up close. One time I was with my parents in a Japanese restaurant, and my soup accidentally came with shrimp. I freaked out so badly my mom lied and told the waitress I was allergic.

     posted by Kate on 1-30-2010 at 11:22 pm

195. I have a phobia of talking on phones. I absolutley hate it. Answering a phone makes me physically uncomfortable. I’m okay with talking to my mom and boyfriend but nobody else. :/

     Oh and I can’t stand cockroaches either.

     posted by Sarah on 1-31-2010 at 12:01 am

196. Like Jack Handy said: I’m not sure why I’m afraid of clowns. Maybe it has something to do with when we went to the circus when I was a kid, and a clown killed my dad.

     posted by Jodie on 1-31-2010 at 12:38 am

197. i have a couple of phobias. roaches and slugs make my skin crawl. i don’t care that they won’t hurt me, any remnant of them being somewhere i am is creepy.
     ladders. not heights cuz i love to fly, hust ladders. it takes lots and lots of coercing to climb up them, and screaming and tears to come down one. i can climb on pipes and walls and counters all day. you put a ladder under to be “helpful” and i’ll stay in the air til the cows come home or i fall. no ladders.
     all things gelatinous make me wanna hurl. jelly, jello, gummy bears/worms, oatmeal-like subtsances, marshmellows, pie filling. you can keep it all. yick. i won’t eat it, touch it, wash anything it was in. i won’t even look at it if i can help it.

     posted by chrislyn on 1-31-2010 at 2:38 am

198. I have an extreme phobia of chickens. I don’t know what its called, but I think its a legit phobia. I can’t even see one on tv without freaking out.

     posted by Yo soy... on 1-31-2010 at 10:57 am

199. Birds, bones in meat, driving on a highway, bugs with more than 8 legs.

     Any one of these things is enough to make me nauseated, cry, sweat, and if I can- run away!

     ReCaptcha: doll using

     posted by S. K. on 1-31-2010 at 1:03 pm

200. Haha, I’m actually acutely terrified of shower curtains, and making phone calls. In my psych class my teacher used me as an example of a phobia, I can barely take a shower in a room that has a shower curtain unless it’s the one in my house. I think it was from this Japanese horror movie I saw when I was younger when a little kid was killed with a shower curtain. (I believe there’s a scene like this is GODSEND or perhaps THE OMEN, but it’s far less graphic)… At my boyfriends house I broke down because I had to take a shower in the bathroom with the shower curtain. lol. :)

     ReCaptcha: Lugosi That

     posted by tess on 1-31-2010 at 1:17 pm

201. Usual – Heights, flying, bugs
     Unusual – socks rubbing on anything other than a smooth surface, such as someone rubbing their socks together or someone trying to scratch their socked foot by rubbing it on the carpet – UUHHGG!!
     Also, Rachel and Louise, I had that same reaction from that HORRIBLE picture of the pod photoshopped over the woman’s breast – I couln’t get it out of my head and felt nauseous for a week!

     posted by Dana on 1-31-2010 at 2:39 pm

202. For a few months, whenever I was outside on a clear day, I would be afraid of floating up into the sky, unable to stop myself.

     Oh, and butterflies are evil.

     posted by Chris on 1-31-2010 at 2:56 pm

203. Okay no one has mentioned this, I’m scared of drive-through car washes. I have to close my eyes and my husband will tell me when it’s over. If possible, I just get out and wait until he’s went through. The brushes and water coming at me just freaks me out completely.

     posted by Brooke on 1-31-2010 at 4:03 pm

204. Cool post!

     It isn’t so much a phobia as it is an OCD-like obsession, but I despise odd numbers. They really bother me. For instance, if I’m reading a book and wish to take a break I REFUSE to stop on an odd-numbered chapter. I will read one more chapter just to make it even. I had a problem with the book \The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime\ (a WONDERFUL book!) where I had to force myself to read the whole thing in one sitting because every chapter number was a prime number (the narrator had an obsession with prime numbers), so I could NOT stop reading. Also, I hate cooking things in the microwave if they say \microwave for 7 minutes\ on the box. I will microwave it for 6 or 8. I cannot explain this, but it’s been an issue my whole life.

     posted by Roo on 1-31-2010 at 5:17 pm

205. @ Monique-
     I’m terribly afraid of beards, too! I thought I was alone!!! Santa doesn’t bother me if the beard is fake. My fear is that things will start crawling out from behind it and attack me. It’s so gross.

     posted by Txlioncub on 1-31-2010 at 7:21 pm

206. I’m terrified of rubberbands… just the idea of someone shooting one across the room makes me want to run out of the room – my brother found this out and likes to torture me. He’s found that he doesn’t even have to have a rubberband in his hands he can just pretend to point one at me and I freak out….

     My best friend growing up had a crazy fear of fingerprints… it was kind of a germ thing – she thought that meant it was dirty and wouldn’t eat anything touched by someone else…. someone brought in thumbprint cookies to class one day and she almost threw up.

     posted by Melissa on 1-31-2010 at 8:22 pm

207. I have a pretty bad phobia of wasps and of the dark. I’m terrified of ghosts, so naturally after watching Paranormal Activity I was traumatized for like a month…

     posted by om is nom on 1-31-2010 at 8:34 pm

208. Oh, there’s also my intense fear of those cans of Pillsbury cinnamon buns where you have to pull the tab until the can pops. Just thinking about it makes me anxious!

     posted by Roo on 1-31-2010 at 8:43 pm

209. Omg thank you for the people that said the things about cluster of holes. My sister and I hate those things too. It really freaks me out and i know what pictures your talking about!!!! those holes in human bodies AHHHH!!! I found out what it’s called. The fear of these clusters is called trypophobia. There’s a facebook group for it and I’m joining.

     posted by Kanga on 1-31-2010 at 8:48 pm

210. I have a fear of Kiefer Sutherland. I can watch him on film or see his picture but I get a severe uneasy feeling and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If I were to meet him in person, I’d probably freeze or run away.

     posted by Lori on 1-31-2010 at 9:32 pm

211. I love thunder and lightning. What I hate is wet wood, I can’t stand wooden spoons and forks, or popsicle sticks. Not unless they’re smoothly polished. Icky!!!

     posted by ceeg22 on 1-31-2010 at 10:33 pm

212. i cant go any wear without a knife, i’ve had to buy and throw away knives when i travel on airplanes

     posted by grayson on 2-1-2010 at 3:01 am

213. I’m afraid of pennies… I hate touching them and if they’re lying around I’ll have to cover them up with something.

     posted by gn0mey on 2-1-2010 at 8:38 am

214. My worst fear is of drowning. It’s so bad I can’t watch scuba divers on tv, or underwater scenes in general. I feel like I’m suffocating. Other than that, the usual stuff mentioned here… Can’t stand the ‘wet wood sliding through teeth’ feel of a popsicle stick. Driving off the bridge anxiety. Driving into something/someone beside the road..

     posted by mrs.arno on 2-1-2010 at 8:55 am

215. I have never heard of a lot of these phobias–especially the repeating hole thing. I have a lot of these other phobias, though. Clowns, escalators, revolving doors, and the weird, musty smell of antique wood. And I don’t like my doorbell ringing.
     recaptcha–murmur was

     posted by Elizabeth on 2-1-2010 at 10:45 am

216. I’m disgusted by marshmallows. I don’t know why. I wonder what that’s called…(marshophobia?)And mirrors kind of freak me out. I mean, I look in them, but it makes my skin crawl.My friends also have some pretty strange phobias…like squids.And talking on the phone because they’re afraid they’ll go deaf.

     posted by mumblesquid on 2-1-2010 at 10:54 am

217. I’m afraid of chickens can’t stand them they freak me out with their beady little eyes and sharp talons.

     posted by Megan on 2-1-2010 at 2:30 pm

218. HVAC Systems and Fans in general. Can’t stand to be near a running fan over about 1 foot in circumference.

     posted by Andrew on 2-1-2010 at 9:18 pm

219. Jewelry, especially necklaces, I think because my family all worked in the shipyards and I was raised with these harrowing stories of people being killed, strangled, mangled or some other horrible stories. Even today I see them think oh god your going to be choked by some machine.

     posted by David on 2-1-2010 at 9:25 pm

220. I have an extreme phobia of the spiders from the n64 zelda game. I love spiders in real life (to the point of being odd) but have never been able to play or watch someone play zelda because of those huge spiders.

     posted by Steve on 2-1-2010 at 9:25 pm

221. I have a totally irrational fear of insects and spiders (not all insects, but any larger than a certain size). When I see one, I’ll back away from it if I can and I barely move until it leaves. Once, I saw a silverfish on my desk and I flipped out. I couldnt even go near my computer for a day or two until I was sure that it was gone. It’s not even because I think they’re dangerous; I know they’re not, I did Science Olympiad and one of my events was all about IDing bugs, so I know more about them then a lot of people, but they still freak me out.

     Also, I hate styrofoam, but it’s not really a phobia. If I hear the noise it makes when it rubs against something, it’s like nails on a chalkboard; it almost physically hurts.

     posted by Mike on 2-1-2010 at 9:47 pm

222. Scraping leftover food off of plates. The worst is when you are seated at the dinner table, and someone proceeds to clear the table by scraping everyone’s leftovers onto one plate. It just makes me shudder.

     posted by andoru on 2-1-2010 at 10:06 pm

223. Who is scared of butterflies? Nicole is really weird.

     posted by thriftymom on 2-1-2010 at 10:14 pm

224. I’m not sure if this is a phobia or not, but I can’t stand red beets. Not the taste,smell or the way they look.If I see them canned or fresh in the grocery, I grimace and walk away.The smell of them cooking reminds me of a damp graveyard, and they look like colagulated blood clots to me.I get physically sick from the smell.You couldn’t put a gun to my head and make me eat any. I’ll eat anything else though.

     posted by Rob on 2-1-2010 at 11:18 pm

225. My daughter is grossed out by stickers…put a name tag on her and she’ll throw up.

     posted by Dave on 2-2-2010 at 12:21 am

226. Anyone afraid of buttons especially ones with holes in them?

     posted by Bart on 2-2-2010 at 12:54 am

227. It’s not so much a phobia as a strong dislike, but I really cant handle smelling other people. It doesn’t matter if they smell good or bad, I just cant handle the idea of getting a wiff of someone else. in public places I find my self unconsciously holding my breath or breathing through my mouth to avoid smelling any one else.

     posted by sliver on 2-2-2010 at 12:59 am

228. I take off running whenever a Dragonfly comes anywhere near me. I think it is their way of movement, it just creeps me out.

     posted by Krayzee on 2-2-2010 at 4:50 am

229. @ Joan

     Your daughter may have Sensory Integration Dysfunction, aka SIDS or Dysfunction in Sensory Integration. I have that, and it was much worse as a child. What it can mean is that certain sounds, textures or noises can be overwhelming to the child. To this day, I cringe and can even become nauseous if one of the sounds I hate is repeated too often. Christmas was horrible for me this year because my father kept rubbing packing styrofoam together. My brother did, too, until he saw that I was about to cry because it “hurt” so much. It literally gave me a headache and made me nauseous, as well as cringing constantly.

     Occupational and other types of therapy can help. I didn’t know that I had it, but used to swing on the swingset a lot, which can be one of the movement therapies to help with the condition. Research it and see if it matches how she is.

     One thing to note that may or may not be connected is that as I’ve gotten older – again without therapy or assistance – I’ve developed a pretty bad OCD germ phobia. I also have to have certain things under my control, etc.. No idea if they’re connected, but thought I’d mention it. (And I’m bipolar, but again, that could just be coincidence.) Good luck. :)

     posted by Jaguaress on 2-2-2010 at 8:12 am

230. I have a phobia of dying from appendicitis. Is there a name for that?

     posted by zomgmouse on 2-2-2010 at 8:27 am

231. I can’t stand moths or butterflies…it’s something about the way they fly. It’s so sporadic, they look stupid to me and if they get real close I feel like I can hear their wings flapping in my head…maybe im just nuts

     posted by p99 on 2-2-2010 at 9:03 am

232. My wife is afraid of those things that are like giant squiggles. You know they always use them at “grand openings”. They are powered by a fan and it blows up through the center of them. They have the arms that wave very erratically and they seem to jump around. I know this, so if I see one I try and avoid it or else tell her to look away.

     I am made very uncomfortable by being on bridges or under an overpass. Escalators also make me very uncomfortable. I can’t handle flying either. It isn’t so much the thought of being at a high altitude, it’s the thought of not being in control if something happens.

     posted by Scooter on 2-2-2010 at 11:08 am

233. I am scared to death of dead birds. If I see one on the sidewalk, I’ll literally have to run away from it. It makes no sense! It’s dead; it’s not like it’s going to attack me. But such is the nature of phobias, I guess.

     By the way, all you guys that gag at certain textures like eggs, wood, peanut butter, cotton — might want to check into sensory integration disorder. My brother has that, and it sounds like what you guys have.

     posted by Dani on 2-2-2010 at 1:05 pm

234. I absolutely hate soup that you can drink out of a mug, I think it’s turned into a phobia now.
     I could never drink soup out of a cup, I don’t know why, but I think it’s just wrong.

     posted by Chloe on 2-2-2010 at 10:20 pm

235. I am afraid of candles. I will instantly blow any candles out if I see them.

     posted by Michael Thomas on 2-3-2010 at 8:58 am

236. Suspension bridges. I’m fine with the normal ones, but not those with the suspension wires. I live in NYC and I just got a job between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in Brooklyn. This will bother me, but I should be fine if I can’t see them from indoors.

     Big boats. I agree. I’ll only get on them if I have absolutely no choice. I’m quite terrified of being on a cruise. I also hate seeing pictures of sunken ships. I will not go to an exhibit on the Titanic and the Queen Mary was the worst part of my trip to LA. The propeller, the lifeboats, the anchor…all of it was horribly unsettling.

     The sound of people chewing, someone chewing food with their mouth open, or just generally making noises with their mouth. I’ll find any excuse to tell them to stop or just leave the room.

     It feels good to say all this. :)

     posted by BLA on 2-8-2010 at 2:52 am

237. Sticker residue. Small bunches of holes. Being touched by excessively hairy, or disfigured people. Fish with bones in them.

     posted by Jen on 2-10-2010 at 11:16 pm

238. @Liz and Nyleika… I am also scared of elevators. My family makes fun of me for it, but I absolutely flip out. If I ride one, I HAVE to hold on to something and close my eyes.

     I’ve never met anyone else with this fear, so I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in this :)

     posted by Destiny on 2-11-2010 at 11:22 am

239. Wow this is fascinating. I have never heard of a lot of these phobias.

     My biggest fear is falling backwards, even a little bit. I didn’t know this until I played the theater trust game where you stand in the middle of a circle and you’re supposed to go limp while people pass you around.

     I got more and more tense during my turn and when it was finally over I tried to say \I never want to do that again\ and I burst into tears. My boyfriend at the time tried to get me over it by me falling back into him and I just couldn’t do it.

     posted by Jessica on 2-13-2010 at 2:06 pm

240. Like Nicold Kidman, I’m terrified of butterflies. There’s a butterfly museum a few towns away from where I live and we went there when I was about 8 for Mother’s Day.

     I was fine for most of it, but there is a little greenhouse with over 200 live butterflies and I couldn’t go in there, I started crying. Then I felt even worse because I didn’t want to ruin the day for my mom, so I let my dad drag me in to sit on a bench and take some pictures with my mom — when you look at those pictures now you can see that I’m tensed and on the verge of tears. I bolted out of there after 10 minutes and have hated butterflies ever since.

     I’m also freak out when I’m near a window at night that doesn’t have the shades pulled down or curtains closed. That comes from when I was about 5 my older cousins made me watch a scary movie with one scene with a dark window in it. I’m always afraid someone or something is watching me and will pop up when I least expect it.

     posted by taytay on 2-15-2010 at 2:09 pm

241. My wife would drive me insane as all of our work was on the 30th to 50th floors in Boston Office Building, and she wanted me to walk with her every other day. Great for exercise, but hell when you are carring two laptops and a projector. I found CTRN here and two weeks later, no more walking. I owe many things to this site

     posted by J Crawford on 4-13-2010 at 7:28 pm

242. I have a phobia of crossing roads. Not ones that aren’t busy it’s mainly just busy roads. I get real light headed, sweaty, and nausous when I’m about to cross one. It’s called Dromophobia.

     posted by Heather on 5-18-2010 at 12:29 pm

243. I had this fear when I was a kid so what is it called (i sorta still have it)
     This is probably the weirdest phobia ever but my but it was that humongo alligators are watching me on some humungo TV!!

     posted by NOT TELLING YOU! on 5-21-2010 at 9:18 pm

244. i am afraid of cats.. i find them so gross! and that hissing sound they make makes the hair on my back stand! i´m pretty sure napoleon suffered from agoraphobia as well.

     posted by denia on 6-11-2010 at 1:51 pm

245. Nobody else mentioned this unless I overlooked it: Closets. The door has to be wide open, preferably with a light on inside. I do not want to imagine someone or something inside peering at me through a door that’s ajar or waiting for me to open the door and jumping at me. This is thanks to my big brother, who had no idea he was marking me for life when he teasingly told me the curtain that served as a door for my childhood closet moved because “the monster” inside was peering at me. In reality, the heat duct was next to it and it moved when the furnace kicked on. See, I know this now, and it doesn’t keep me from being freaky about closets!

     posted by Siobhan on 7-8-2010 at 6:27 pm

246. 1. Escalators. My shoe got caught in one in college and I haven’t been able to get on one since.
     2. Tornadoes.
     3. Having the alarm go off after I’m already awake. I will literally lunge across the room to turn off the alarm if I wake up less than a minute before it’s scheduled to go off. If it does go off I take it as a sign that my day’s gonna suck. I have no idea where this comes from.
     4. When I get a shot I have to see the needle go in or I panic. This makes going to the dentist REALLY fun.

     posted by Autumn on 7-8-2010 at 7:05 pm

247. I am absolutely terrified of snails and slugs. Just typing their names makes my skin crawl, and when I see one, I completely freeze up and shriek uncontrollably. When i was 2 or 3 my neighbor told me that the snails would grow wings and fly in my room at night, and I totally believed him, so thats probably why.

     posted by bianca on 7-8-2010 at 8:05 pm

248. I’m terrified of bugs, arachnes, and worms/caterpillars. I know that most people find them disgusting, too, but I cannot stand them AT ALL. I remember once my family was going into this butterfly exhibit with real butterflies in it, and I couldn’t join them because I wouldn’t dare be that near to a butterfly and/or caterpillar. Some of my friends tease me about it, but I don’t care. I don’t think I’ll EVER get over my fear.

     posted by Andi on 7-8-2010 at 10:35 pm

249. That whole… sounds that make you cringe thing? Cardboard, for me. Cardboard scraping against cardboard… my hair is standing up just typing that. And yet I’ve never held a job that didn’t involve assembling boxes. The five minutes a day I spend doing that are utter misery. Sometimes I have to take a break afterwards and shiver for a while because it’s so unpleasant, and I’ve devised a specific way to close the tab of the boxes we use at work that avoids that sound. You have to punch it in really hard and fast. It gets me weird looks because i appear to just have a violent streak, but I swear it’s just that AWFUL CARDBOARD SOUND arghhh

     posted by Nicole on 7-9-2010 at 1:20 pm

250. Clowns, E.T., deep water, monkeys, repetitive sounds, reptiles, and bugs (dead or alive).

     My family and friends get a huge kick out of the fact that I’m afraid of ET and bugs. My brother will say “ouch” the way that horrid little thing does and then laughs hysterically when I freak out. I WOULD have a roommate with a freaking bug collection on her bedroom walls. She wonders why I never go in there…

     posted by M on 7-9-2010 at 2:40 pm

251. Oh Jesus, I finally googled the lotus breast and GAH!

     posted by Kim on 7-9-2010 at 5:14 pm

252. I am positively TERRIFIED of butterflies! *hnngh*

     Also, I cannot stand emery boards. A lot of sounds make me cringe, like erasing a chalkboard, sanding, scraping paint, etc. Uuugghh it makes me twitch thinking about it.

     posted by Kelly on 7-9-2010 at 8:01 pm

253. ants. in 2nd grade ants invaded my lunch every single day and to this day I still cannot stand being near more than about 5 ants (less if they’re really big) at a time. I have screamed and cried upon seeing large gatherings of ants. I even have night mares about them.

     posted by Hannah on 7-21-2010 at 7:17 pm

254. I have a fear of plants, except grass…

     As for flowers, it’s the same for any other plants. I don’t mind receiving flowers from a date,provided that they actually didn’t know of my aversion to plants. If he did know, it just also shows that he’s not a good listener nor very considerate. I would say that’s a good filter for any potential boyfriends.

     As for the ones I do receive, I just hand them to my mom and get her to put it in a vase and never look at it again!

     posted by Karen on 7-23-2010 at 11:30 pm

255. I’m scared to death of clowns, although like you said, I think that’s pretty much a common fear.

     I absolutely hate sharks, and don’t go into water where I can’t see the bottom. I’m even freaked out to go in the pool in the deep end alone sometimes, because to me the shadows start to look like big freaky shark-things. O_o

     I also hate ants. Not any other bugs, even the huge ones that look like they had a run-in with a lab. Just ants…crawling…picking up little bits of food… *shudder*

     posted by Noel on 7-25-2010 at 1:17 pm

256. I have several very irrational fears!

     Zombies! Mostly in movies and when somebody walks and moans like Zombie I panic!

     Spit and snot…I don’t know where it comes from and it isn’t even about the germs…I think it is more about how it looks and feels…I don’t mind my own, but if I see boogers or get drool on me (I work in a setting where this happens frequently) I gag and start shaking and hyperventilating! I have to wash my hands if I even think that I got some on me. A Sociology professor of mine tried to make a point about socialization and norms and had somebody spit in a plastic spoon and brought it around the room…I had tears in my eyes and was shaking so bad that she excused me from class until that particular exercise was done. I went and washed my hands!

     I also shake and hyperventilate when I have to talk on the phone, particularly when I have to make a call to somebody I don’t know…I never order pizza! I avoided going through drive-throughs for a majority of my adult life because I don’t like talking to somebody I can’t see…I would just go in and order my food to go. I’m getting a little better with this.

     I am deathly afraid of deep water that I can’t see through. I think it comes from my childhood fascination with the Titanic (Long before the movie came out.) I watched any documentary and looked at all pictures I could find…It is about 2 miles underwater and the fact that it is so pitch black that far down scared me and I think spurred this fear of deep water.

     posted by Angela on 8-1-2010 at 10:40 am

257. I have a strange fear of the beach – more so in the water…sharks may get me! Go figure…while I watch people enjoy the waters with their family, I stay back and wish I could go into the water.

     There are celebrities with strange fears – and I stumbled on a complementary one http://www.fearofstuff.com/featured/10-famous-people-who-have-phobias/ that shows celebrity success stories despite their phobias.

     posted by Mike on 8-1-2010 at 7:10 pm

258. It interests me that so many people have that clusters of holes phobia. I can understand why, even though it doesn’t really scare me. It does creep me out though.

     I wonder if so many people are afraid of cotton balls because of bad experiences as a kid getting shots. Doctors always use a lot of cotton balls, and maybe that starts the phobia.

     I have a weird one, and I’ve never met anyone else who has this phobia. I am deathly afraid of insect wings. I don’t know what it is about them, they just look so creepy. Maybe it’s their thinness and transparency, so sometimes you can barely see them. I also am really, really creeped out by the networks of veins in them. Dragonflies are the worst because of how huge their wings are and the intricacy of the vein patterns in the wings. I cannot touch any winged insect and if I see a dragonfly I run like a bat out of hell. But even worse for me is seeing detached wings, and probably the worst experience I ever had was when we had an infestation of termites. Thousands of them came out of the walls and started dropping their nasty wings all over the floor. I was alone, and bawled as I frantically tried to vacuum them off the floor. Then I went outside, still crying and refused to go back inside until the exterminators came. It was embarrassing!

     I don’t like butterflies either. The nasty powder on their wings. Shudder.

     I’m also creeped out by really deep swimming pools (like over 10 feet) or extremely deep natural water where you can see the bottom.

     And elevators. I hate them. I will not ride one alone. I’ll take the stairs, thank you, even if it’s a skyscraper.

     posted by toonces on 8-19-2010 at 9:52 pm

259. I have an irrational fear of mushrooms, don’t know if my reaction qualifies it for actual phobia though, since I don’t panic or anything. But just the thought of fungi gives me chills.
     Also making eye contact, especially with strangers. It’s kind of spilled over into making phonecalls. I thought I was alone in that until I went to college and my roommate had the same fear. Ordering pizza was an ordeal until we discovered how to do it online.

     posted by mywhiteplume on 8-25-2010 at 5:58 am

260. Large man-made (concrete) water handlers. Ex: Aquariums, Water treatment facilities, Lochs, but suprisingly not dams. Go figure

     posted by nameless on 8-31-2010 at 12:36 pm

261. I’m scared of Sarah Palin!!!

     posted by elise on 9-6-2010 at 9:33 pm

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