I'm really scared of
snakes. Just seeing them on television makes my skin crawl and my throat constrict - I can literally feel their scaly skin crawling across me. I am also scared of walking under scaffolding - I'm convinced when I walk out the other side a paint pot or brick will fall on my head. My big one though is flying - Absolutely terrifies me; I am convinced that something awful will happen any second. I know where that comes from though - I saw a plane crash up close in Guatamala that killed scores of people, so not so irrational...
(Nathalie Imbruglia's Cellist's Cello, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 12:04, Reply)

Tin foil is the work of the devil, apparently...
I have a friend who fears foil because "It can't be trusted..."

He refuses to touch it or anything covered in it. My favourite trick is to watch him slowly become more and more agitated as I slowly peel the foil trim off the neck of a Becks bottle and idly flick it in his general direction...
( JKF You ain't seen me, roit?, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:56, Reply)

Roaches
Can't stand the buggers, all crunchy and hissing and black and yucky...

Same to Lobsters - anything that sees by putting light straight to it's brain has gotta be evil.

What else?

WORMS! and from that slimey noodles - like super noodles.. gawds i can't even look at the things without seeing them wriggle (the noodles not the worms)

One last one: having dusty feeling hands.. *shrugs* more an uncomfortable thing than a fear i guess...
(B3cat, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:55, Reply)

Horses Are The Work Of Satan
I have a fear of the four-legged evil ponie beasts as well. The worst was when a friend of mine and I were taking her flatmate's dog for a walk in the big country park in Kingsbury, and we walked round a corner and I came face to face with one of the buggers.
Maybe it's something about that innocent look in their big eyes that I don't trust. Maybe it's because I saw an item on BBc LDN once suggesting guide dogs were to be replaced with miniature ponies as they can be trained as well as dogs and live longer.
My dislike of horses goes so deep, me and my friends have a saying when something is not up to scratch: "Too Many Ponies, Not Enough Guns". The gun bit comes from the fact that all the most dangerous areas in the world - The Middle East, West Africa, The Shetland Isles - all have a gross imbalance in the pony/gun ratio.

I'm also scared of cartoon pigs. I ha this dream once where my family was changed into the one off that old sitcom "2.4 Children" except my grandma who developed a giant cartoon pig head and vomited gren gunk over people that gave them the plague. No-one in the dream could see this but me. I had to keep running away as my evil 2.4 Children parents wanted me to give her a hug.
(Endjinn, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:53, Reply)

Irrational fears
Watching a woman put on make up turns my stomach, god knows why, i can never watch my girlfriend put it on, don't get me wrong i like the finished product but actual procedure.....urrrgg.
Seeing someone being tattooed that actually makes me phisically sick but yet i can look at a finished tatoo and not feel a thing.
I know i'm weird !
(Poobiscuits, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:33, Reply)

Oompah Loompahs
My little brother used to be terrified of the Oompah-Loompahs from Chocolate Factory Movie... especially when they sang. I ring him now whenever the movie is on just to let him hear the songs.
(Weatherwax, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:26, Reply)

Not so much a fear
But rubbing my hands together or watching someone rub theirs makes me cringe - its horrible.
( Delete Me, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 11:12, Reply)

my colleague has a fear of horse's teeth
and thus B3ta can be traumatic at times, not mentioning any names, cough yakmonkey cough.

I hate spiders, but that's a rational fear, because we all get told when we're kids that Little Miss Muffet was scared by a spider, and so we believe it's the correct way to be.

that's my excuse anyway.
( notshiny, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:59, Reply)

I hate hiccups
They make me feel violent.
(saucykipper, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:56, Reply)

Knees
I have a real irrational fear of people touching my knees. I dont know why, they can touch anywhere else and I'm ok, if a little curious as to why they are touching me. Its just if they touch my knees, I completely spaz out.
(spatchcock, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:44, Reply)

for cap'nj
www.harpercollins.com/hc/images/om/JB/SinisterDucks-MarchoftheSinisterDucks.mp3

actually everyone should hear it...
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:40, Reply)

Mother-in-laws
Nuff said.
(masterbassist, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:35, Reply)

Lactophobia?
I hate milk. I can drink it in coffee or cereal - basically anything where the 'milky' taste is sufficiently obscured. Otherwise it's avoided at all costs.

Worse still - I cannot stand to see people drinking milk. It makes me gag. Suffice to say that bit in Minority Report put my therapy back a couple of years...

I know of at least 3 other people who have the same affliction...perhaps it's more common?
( B00gle-H00ps Looks like a horse, in a man costume..., Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:19, Reply)

Contact lenses and Childbirth do it for me.
I can't watch people putting in or fiddling with their contact lenses as it makes me want to vomit.
Any childbirth scenes, or mentions of pregnancy or childbirth on tv give me the shakes which doesn't bode well for my mum's desire for grandchildren.
(BadKittyDirtyKitty, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:08, Reply)

Cotton wool
The softest, fluffiest, nicest material known to man or the wadding material of Satan himself? Its the latter. I cant bear to *think* about tearing the stuff because it sends shivers down my spine and really messes with my head, never mind actually touch the stuff. I feel cold all of a sudden.
( Nimble Colin camera-wrangling, globe-trotting whisky enthusiast, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:04, Reply)

Stag Beetles....
since a very young age i have had a recurring fear of one landing on my head and then not letting go of my hair....
(monofiopia, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:03, Reply)

My mate's scared of snakes, alligators and spiders.
Nothing wrong with that, you think, instinctual survival technique, which is true but we live in Yorkshire. He got a cat just so if a python got into his house it would eat that first enabling escape, he had to move desks at work because there was a hole in the ceiling above him and he thought an anaconda might drop down onto him, and when we walk past the canal at lunchtime (the water's barely above freezing) he always keeps an eye out for alligators. Of course, we throw stones in behind his back and he shits himself. Oh and he NEVER goes in the sea for fear of sea snakes and great whites (at Scarborough - I ask you!).
(themightyginge, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:01, Reply)

I have an irrational fear...
...of sleeping while lying down on my left side. Sometimes I roll into that position while seeking a comfortable way to lay, but as soon as I start to nod off in that position, I freak out and jerk into some new position, which usually triggers a panic attack. Then my heart starts pounding in my chest, and this leads into (I guess) the real fear, which is that I'm going to die of a heart attack brought on by lying down on my left side...

I'm also deadly afraid of all manner of graveyards, cemeteries, and tombstone sales yards, airports, airfields, and bridges over water.

Whee!
(Ecclesia, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 10:01, Reply)

You should always
breathe out as much air as you breathe in (and vice versa). Sometimes, a little adjustment is necessary to maintain a healthy balance and this is best effected through the nostrils. THAT's why I used to make those "funny little sniffing sounds" when I was a young'un. Similarly, one should make the same number of right and left turns, to avoid getting "twisted" - when climbing several flights of stairs, for example, which might otherwise result in several consecutive right or left turns, adjustment should be made by a sort of doh-si-doh manouver at each turn. Pay attention: the path of your life must be a straight one...
(Sybil 'n' Tess, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 9:39, Reply)

Didn't used to
A friend of mine, when I was doing 'A' levels in Lewes, had an irrational fear of walking over manhole covers in the pavement. Well, not when there were only one or two, but when there were three in a row. Apparently, it's very bad luck.

Anyway, on one fine day out in Brighton, I'm walking along with him, when he notices I'm about to step onto the third cover. What does his intrepid mind come up with as a suitable solution? None other than to push me into a main road, causing a couple of cars to nearly run me over and instead smash into each other.

Still can't walk over them to this day.
( dr goodthrust, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 9:24, Reply)

Swans
Linking to the previous thread about lies our parents told us - my dad always used to tell us when we saw a swan when we were kids:

"Look out! Their wings can break your arms - they're vicious!"

Actually - I just realised where my fear of the Yorkshire TV logo comes from...
(odysseysounds.com, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 9:16, Reply)

THX
You can blame George Lucas for this one, he owns the company. Ever wondered what THX stands for? Well, I don't know, so I did a search for you...

And it's here
(odysseysounds.com, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 8:51, Reply)

i HATE it and wish it was dead!
At the beggining of films theres some times (depending on who does the sounds system) a noise, it comes up witha screen sating THX i think...and way, its like a synthasizer playing a note and it changes it pitch. ITS EVIL! and always make me cringe, maybe it was from watching a scary film when i was younger, and that was at the start, probably Alien. EVIL!
(amy_metc4lf, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 8:41, Reply)

Leaving the gas on
I'm getting better with this but it was at the stage whereby I would go out of the flat and get to the end of the street then come back and check that the oven knobs were off and items like hair dryers were unplugged in case they "switched themselves on" and burnt the place down. If I was far enough away I would feel that the flat burning down was inevitable and would stop worrying but once got about a mile before convincing myself that the gas was DEFINITELY on...

As a child I had a fear of needing a shit when away from the house. The result was that I always became anxious, got diarhhoea and had to go to the toilets in shops. In the proper customer toilets, though, not just between the aisles. I also exhibited a few OCD-lite behaviours such as ensuring that, when tapping my hands or feet, I tapped them both evenly or tapped my right hand/foot (aka the "better" foot) more. If I didn't do this then the tapping would make my left hand/foot stronger than its counterpart which woud be WRONG as I'm right-handed.
( wingpig wish I'd known about liquify eighteen years ago, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 7:18, Reply)

Using phone services
I cant ring anyone I dont know, I cant ring to find out when the bus comes, if my student loan is coming through, or for a taxi or pizza. It takes about 5 minutes to prep myself for any ordeal so I can do it & then I get the shakes, turn white and have to force myself to talk louder ( at an audible level ) when I'm talking to someone.

However if I'm ringing friends or people I know I'm fine with it & just like everyone else.

Phucking hate automatic messages or phone menu's. *stab stab stabby*
(Sypher_5, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 5:37, Reply)

horses
I just remembered 2 more fears. There is a corridor at my place of work which looks very similar to one encountered in the original Resident evil. I cannot walk past this window for fear of zombie arms grabbing at me, i have to run and stay touching the opposite wall. I do work at night though, so it is darker and scarier. Also i am scared of horses. Imagine my delight when i saw "i love horses!" on telly :'(
(colinini, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 5:16, Reply)

Automatic doors
I'm afraid that one day automatic doors will stopp opening for me and that I'll be traped inside a building and have to climb out a window.
(rattus, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 4:57, Reply)

scary stuff
when i was in elementary school one of my friends chased me with a dead scorpion and ive had a fear of them ever since. At one point it was so bad that i had to check the bottom of my bed every night under the sheets to make sure there wasn't one hiding there, and even then i didn't want to put my feet down. and there aren't even any scorpions near my house at all.

i also have a terrible fear of getting blood drawn, but have no problems with shots or getting blood drawn from my finger, only when they do it on your arm, i totally freak out just at the thought of it.
(cheecharingo, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 4:46, Reply)

My thoughts...
I'm afraid that people will be able to hear what I'm thinking when I'm talking or listening to them, like they'll hear me call them an idiot in my mind. It's odd.
(give to ian, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 4:39, Reply)