Giving Blood
I have a fear of giving blood, its not a fear of needles, no, They dont scare me. Stick em where you want, as long as its not in the inside of my elbow.
I have a fear that the hole made is gonna burst open later.
Last time I gave blood I had 3 nurses hold me down (They where Male so its not as good as it sounds) as they took blood from me.
I walked around with my arm up folded for hours.
(unclefester, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:45, Reply)

Non-serrated rotating cutters
Meat slicers, paper trimmers etc. Anything with a smooth rotating blade.
Absolutely fine with table saws or similar disc saws with serrated blades.
(lord nose, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:41, Reply)

Beer
My mate Bruce has an irrational fear of not being drunk on a Friday night.
(Nefarious Tim, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:36, Reply)

The fear of not making sandwiches
and having made them, actually eating them.
.........in simpler terms my girlfriend(as was) had to make sandwiches every day and not eat them.
She couldn't NOT make them:
'Something terrible happened the day I didn't make them'
She couldn't EAT them:
'Something terrible happened the day I ate them'
Angry boyfriend hated the waste of food and the irrational,mystic,superstitiousness of it all.Wondered why perfectly intelligent adult being had perform daily rigmarole.
Berated,ranted and rebuked to no avail.
Then just gave up and started making them for her.Soft as shite I am when you get down to it.
(pikey, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:36, Reply)

Moths
I especially hate it in the summer when they lie in wait in your bedroom until you're asleep and THEN flutter around the room making fluttery noises.

Oddly, I like Butterflies, but I won't even touch a *dead* Moth.
(Ariaxen, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:35, Reply)

Scottish Man Frog Horror Shocker
Actually, this isn't about me but one of my sister's numerous boyfriends - Mark. A nice guy, one of the lads and whilst being Scottish - you really couldn't hold that against him.

However, this bloke had an irrational fear of frogs (the amphibians rather than the garlic munchers) that simply could not be explained. I found this out one day when I went round to help out cleaning this kind of ditch / pond thing at the bottom of their garden. About a plunge the spade into festering depths of this ditch - a little frog jumped into the spot where the spade was about to land and I duly picked up the little fella. I walked over to Mark to show him my little find when all of a sudden he let out a blood curdling scream and ran into the house screaming 'that fucker's got teeth'

The frog and myself shared a WTF look at each other before going off in our different directions.

Basically, he believe(s)(d) that frogs have teeth and are potential man-eaters - or more specifically they are all after him. (You're thinking I'm making this up - aren't you? Trust me - this is real). As a joke one day (as you do) I bought a reasonably realistic plastic frog and left it in the lounge one day and forgot about it - my sister came home to find Mark in a right state (apparently he was hyper-ventilating). Even frogs on telly would cause him to leave the room.

Just thought I'll share that - Drydo
(drydo, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:35, Reply)

Eating strange numbers
I can't stand eating biscuits in sets of odd numbers. So I always eat 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 at a time.

I tried to rationalise this once and now I'm ok eating prime numbers (1, 3, 5 etc)...

But that still makes me a bonefide loon job! If I eat an entire packet, I'm counting all the way...
(Nefarious Tim, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:33, Reply)

Sometimes I sleep with a knife by my bed.
I don't know what I'm afraid of but I'm afraid of it.

Except now I'm afraid of sleepwalking and stabbing myself in my sleep, so sometimes I have to keep the knives locked away.
( dr_fonz, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:31, Reply)

Inside Mirrors
All this talk of mirrors has brought back the fear or dread I used to get when looking up through the bevelled edge of a mirror.

I could see into a dark green corridor inside the mirror - and thought it was leading to hell. Total internal refraction I think it's called. Or farking scary.
(odysseysounds.com, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:19, Reply)

cocktail sticks
I have an irrational fear that someone might wake me up by pulling one set of eyelids apart and jabbing a cocktail stick into one eyeball, then rotating it independently of the other eyeball until the stick breaks.

I am writing this with one eye clamped tightly shut, trying not to even think about fish hooks and eyes... eyes.
(richvs, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:17, Reply)

Splashbacks
You know, if you have a particularly shaped poo - you get a splashback.

Water jets right up your arse-hole and you feel simultaneously refreshed and violated.

Once again, not that irrational. "No smoke without fire" etc.
(odysseysounds.com, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:15, Reply)

WASPS
much like Dr Funkenstein. I can't eat outdoors in Summer. Actually, I hate Summer because of wasps.

I have a way of creating elaborate "what if situations" like "what if my wheelchair were to fall down those stairs" or "what if I went off that curb and ended up with my face in the road", etc... So I'm pretty paranoid about anything that isn't just a level surface.
(Mystery Woo Yay Boy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:09, Reply)

Telephones & ghosts
Phones give me the fear like nothing else. I never answer my home phone as I have no idea who will be on the other end and therefore i won't know what to say. Sometimes I don't answer my mobile even if the display shows its someone I know. Weird I know.

Also when I go to bed I have to get all of me bar my head under the duvet as if I don't the ghosts will see me and kill me. As will the man with the machete outside of my window.

Last one - I also suffer from the toilet thing. If i'm home alone then I have to run after flushing as..well I don't know. its scary. I was once told that spiders live under toilet seats my neighbour who'd been on holiday to Africa and that shit me up no end. Maybe a link..
(Cock Badger of Conkersausage, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:09, Reply)

Peas on Earth
I have an irrational fear of peas, of all things.

I once was forced to eat peas by my sadistic grandmother. I hated the taste so much I can't be in the same room as them. If people eat them in front of me I have to leave the room with a nauseus feeling in my stomach - because I can't shake the taste of them and their texture out of my head.

The clunking then scraping noise of people trying to catch them on the fork just puts me over the edge.

I need help.
(In_there_like_swimwear, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:54, Reply)

Seatbelts and Horses
I think we already covered horses, but they are complete scum. Their brains are about the size of a walnut you know. Or was that dinosaurs? Anyway, i was horseriding up a mountain in Turkey a few years ago, got to the top and the stupid thing tried going down the steep side. I eventually managed to get it to a tree, but then a snake fell out of it. I dont blame the snake. Also, you know how people dont like fingernails on blackboards or on plates - i cant stand them on seatbelts and other similar material, it makes my spine itch.
(mynameisnotgoodge, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:48, Reply)

Fear and Loathing
I can only eat certain foods in even number quantities. Toast, for example - I simply cannot eat one (or three, or five) slice(s) of toast.

Oh the other hand, there are certain foods that I can only eat in odd numbers - e.g. biscuits.

I suppose this is more an obsessive-compulsive disorder than an irrational fear...
(Branfish, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:27, Reply)

A few
Bungle from Rainbow - always looked a bit sinister with his shiny black eyes recessed into his furry head. And that muffled voice. Brrrrr. Strangely I didn't mind Zippy the gimp or the gay hippo. Hmm.

Daddy-long-legs. Especially when they dive at me and fly around my head.

The noise of Quality Street wrappers being opened. Used to make my stomach flip. They seem better recently - different plastic maybe. Polystyrene packing squeaking has similar effect.

Last but not least: Posts about ice-cream vans playing tunes coz they ran out. Grr.

that last one was not a real phobia.
( Sandman-uk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:22, Reply)

Ainsley Harriott
Giggled at the message before about Ainsley Harriott. I cannot watch him on teev, as he is clearly the AntiChrist. Have to switch channels.

Then I read the message re: him sticking his tongue out - got the fear all over! Half-trembling, half-laughing.

I live in Sydney - nobody here has heard of him and once I explained why I was laughing/almost sobbing (at work) they all told me that they too have an irrational fear.

Of me.
( Strangey is present at, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:20, Reply)

World of Childhood Fear
Long time lurker, first time poster. As a child I was scared of a wide variety of things , a partial list is

1) In my parents house the toilet is upstairs, after flushing it I had to run downstairs and into the lounge before the flushing sound die away or something would happen

2) Shop dummies, especially nude ones

3) Looking up at tall buildings

4) The start of the Snow Queen, in the 80's there was a cartoon version of the Snow Queen (Hans Christain Anderson story), and the start of it is was about Goblins making a mirror which would turn anyone evil who looked into it and they tried to get to God so he would look into it and become evil. This scared the bejesus out of me for months

5) Films if they became too exciting , I would have to run out of the film and into the cinema's toilet.

6) Caterpillars after looking at a cabbage infested with them

Nearer to the preset , I have a mate who is so scared of spiders that he would ring me up and ask me to come to his house to kill them for him, while he would stand on a chair. He's much happer now though, he has machine 'SpiderBeGone' that clicks and scares them alway
(Wurple, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:20, Reply)

Celery and Cotton Wool
Cerery: The smell..the taste...the texture.
Cotton Wool: Crunchy, squeaky...ugg.
(Baa Lamb, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:04, Reply)

The Fear
I have the fear of running through a forest and having branches smacking me in the face over and over. I cant even watch that damn Levis advert without wincing (you know the one where they run through the building walls and up the tree)
( Dugs - The artist formerly known as Dugsybaws, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 14:00, Reply)

spiders
my bro is terribly afraid of spiders. huge ones, best with lots of hairs on the legs. he'd scream when he sees one in the movie and run out of the room, his face would turn green and he would not go on watching that movie
(bamboo, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:59, Reply)

oh and i have a geniune fear:
this is that one day i'll hurl myself over the edge of something very high up...

...just to see 'what happens'

will i fall? will i stay aloft? will the world let me die? am i really so insignificant?

it stems from childhood. i'm drawn to the edge. any edge.. lakes, ponds, tables, clifftops... mostly high clifftops... the finality of gravity can be something not to ponder when drunk and therefor unsteady on ones feet.

wondering 'what will happen if...' is my greatest fear.

thinking too much is my second greatest fear because it creates my first.
(Nobody Likes Mortal Wombat, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:54, Reply)

i have the fear
that the world is going to turn, overnight, into a planetary banana and then peel itself to death.

haven't you noticed all the yellow things appearing everywhere? it's starting!
(Nobody Likes Mortal Wombat, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:50, Reply)

Wasps
I HATE THEM SO MUCH!!!! Can't eat outdoors in the summer, as am forced to run shrieking like a girl as soon as one of the little stripy fuckers comes near me. Last summer, one of them made me throw away a whole ice cream in the park in Greenwich - quite funny as it went down a girl's top!! Worst thing is, I scream and swear at them, and generally look like a mentalist.
(Dr Funkenstein is moving to Taiwan in one month!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:50, Reply)

Top Tip to shinysun
close the bloody car door by pushing the side window on the car (lot easier than masking tape), same thing happens to me with our car.
(cotc2001, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:50, Reply)

i fear...
i'm terribly afraid of things putting into my ears, even when i try to clean them using cotton buds, i cant stop laughing and it sends a cold blade at my back
(bamboo, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:50, Reply)

When I was 5
My brother told me that if you stepped on the cracks between big paving slabs, or if you stepped on the yellowy ones, a bear would come and eat me. From then on I avoided cracks and yellows like the plague.
(nN, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:49, Reply)

Obsessive compulsive
I have a mate who has a thing about manhole covers! if she steps on 3 of the damn things, she has to cross over the road and circle the nearest tree 3 times!!! I usually pee myself laughing when this occurs, the girl needs psychiatric assesment post haste!

Listening to people chew food loudly, people with huge backpacks on trains and queue's are just some of the things that will lead to me having a psychotic episode!
(Ghost Batty Rider, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:43, Reply)

I have the same static problem as shinysun
although it only happened after I bought my cheap and nasty new work shoes; the stupid thing is that I keep forgetting about it, so every metal surface is now a potential deathtrap.

OK, so it's not a fear yet, but it's getting that way - otherwise I'm completely well adjusted; oh, except that I find old people and children unsettling. But that's it.

edit: And walking on wet seaweed. And biting wool. And that's all - nothing else.
( jonnybear Jonnybear, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 13:42, Reply)