Muffins
I've been afraid of them since i was about 10, when I bit into one and discovered a large amount of mould. It "poofed" out of the damn thing like it was one of those sugar doughnuts.

I'm also afraid of sugar doughnuts.
( cheesemaster a screaming naked asian man driving a semi, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 3:19, Reply)

MIRRORS!!
I hate mirrors! When i am alone in the house they are the scariest thign ever. I just keep expecting to see something in the mirror behind me, like and alien or a serial killer! I wish i knew why, but i can't sleep in a room where there is a mirror in eye-shot of the bed, i just get too freaked!
( viperrr mostly comes out at night, mostly, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 2:46, Reply)

Washing Machines
The sound of a washing machine going in spin cycle can give me a panic attack. Especially at night.

And when I was a kid I couldn't go near the bathroom window at night. It caused years of bedwetting hell as the loo was right under the window.

Also I couldn't sleep facing the wall in case in ate my face. Mum had to check on me in the night several times for two years to ensure I was facing away.
( NobbyNobody 21 years a b3tan, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 2:35, Reply)

balls and bathrooms
balls flying. Like in basketball, soccer (football) or anysport, i'm scared to death of getting hit with one.

and people coming out of restrooms. when they open the door....

.. it scares the shit out of me

and i hate wooden pencils, the feel makes me cringe
(hotdogwheel, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 2:05, Reply)

I have a fear of...
mayo. Not really a fear, as I can eat it with a sandwich, but seeing an entire jar of the stuff makes me want to vomit.

I'm also afraid of dogs, as a friend of mine got bitten by one, right in front of me. And a pair of strays chased me and my siblings up in a little wooden play structure (we called it "the eagle's nest"). We were stuck for more than a few minutes before my mum could get a call in to have them hauled away.

I used to be afraid of being attacked by monsters in my bed. I couldn't go to sleep unless the sheets were tucked under the mattress and the cover was pulled up my chin.
(Sawtooth, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:49, Reply)

Ducts and Whales...
1) I am afraid of tape. Comepletely irrationally so. Not just tape tape, though, but dirty tape. If I can see where it came from it's okay, but I refuse to touch or come near any KIND of sticky substance that I don't know where it's been.

2) My friend, she is afraid of whales. All whales. Because "nothing that big shoud exist, much less float." She's so afraid of them that she will cringe at whale stuffed animals. Crikey.
( Eleroach13, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:37, Reply)

Junior High
Way back in junior high I knew a kid who was afraid of mayonaise and the tune that is played at the beginning of Twentieth Century Fox films (you know, when they show the giant 20th CENTURY FOX statue/building thing with the searchlights.

I can understand mayonaise, I mean its kind of gross and white and goopy, but the theme always blew my mind.

This is totally true. The kid's name was James Dye and we would chase him around the school going "dun dun da dun da dun dun da dun da dun da da dun da da da da dunnn!".
(pukearrhea, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:28, Reply)

Needles, Shelves...
A couple that I have...Firstly, not entirely irrational...Needles scare the hell out of me, even an empty syringe is enough to make me scream. I can't even look at them on TV or in pics.

An absolute fear of shelves above my bed on the wall, or any kind of picture/frame hanging above the bed, or something tall standing agaisnt my bed, I keep thinking that during the night the shelf will break and fall on me and cause serious damage, or that the frame will smash in my face.

As a child I once heard someone ask about AIDS and someone replied that it was an illness and leaflets about it were being posted through letterboxes. I misinterpreted this to mean that you could catch AIDS from the leaflets being posted thru the letterbox, naive I know, I was only 4/5. It made me think twice before touching anything posted through the door at home!
(Trouble, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:14, Reply)

i have a constant fear that people can see my thoughts
and that there are tiny cameras watching me all the time.
i also have a fear of slicing my little toe off when i'm walking around
(you FUCKING *BANG* BANG*BANG* AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:08, Reply)

Oh yeah the other fear
I used to have an irrational fear of bradford.
After 3 years of uni and walking around stoned out of my wits past hookers and junkies in the lovely area I lived in started to give me panic attacks, to the point where I could not visit my mother unless she came and drove me to her house and I did not leave unless it was to go home.

I finally defeated it by walking alone through Manningham, where most of the Riots and Bloodshed happens, to meet my friend at the metal pub.

After that I could walk through any dodgy area in the country without much fear.

Authough I now live in a silly little town down south and I am getting worried about being to cocky.
(Finn_coyote, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:05, Reply)

Spider guts
Nasty, horrible, multi-legged things. As soon as something moves in the corner of my vision, I feel my heart race and the adrenalin starts racing.
I can just about calm myself down enough to get rid of the ones that have really thin legs and move slowly. Anything bigger or faster and I lose over my arms and legs and it's 50/50 as to wether I beat seven shades of snot out of them with whatever is to hand, or run away and sit in another room for a bit while someone else kills it.

I think the most irrational part about this is that I then can't touch, or even look at, the thing used to kill the offending arachnid, like it's splattered parts would come back to life and start trying to crawl on my hands.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have to not think about this for a while.
:edit:
After reading Scaryduck's post about the end of the world I remembered that I don't fear the apocalypse one bit, it's something I'm actually looking forward to. Yet a stupid fly-eater any bigger than my thumbnail gives me the hoojahs.
Does anyone know the number of that hotel with the lovely padded rooms and tight overcoats?
(ex-rat, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:04, Reply)

Irrational doesn't begin to describe any of this
You're all mental
(squonk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 1:03, Reply)

FEAR
I have little fear of things that normally shit people up.

I am not Hard or consider myself to be so, however I have learned through nightclub work how to deal with Doormen and Pissed people.

Thanks to said work I also am not afraid of blood or sharp objects.

However, dogs barking scares the hell out of me.
Even Horrid little yappy things scare the pants of me when they start barking.

I am ok with hounds when they are quiet and leave me alone.

But If you ever want rid of me, get a dog of any size or description to come and bark.

People barking like dogs do not scare me, I find them very irriating.

Last person who found out about this fear of mine and tried to shit me up, ALL NIGHT in a pub, found a generous serving of dogshit in a burning paper bag on their doorstep the next day.
(Finn_coyote, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:57, Reply)

Superman 2
My son (who is now 18 and old enough to post this for himself except he's not cool enough to read b3ta) has had a lifelong fear of the second Christopher Reeve Superman Movie.
You can still put him on edge by slipping the word 'Zod' into sentences.

The really odd thing is that he's not bothered by the first one (or the crap 3rd & 4th ones).
(The Pink Strat Copy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:46, Reply)

I have an irrational fear of insects in books!
I cant touch the page if there is an insect on it. I have to try and lift the page by the edge to turn it over!
I don't know why, its just something i've always done!

Blimey.........I'm such a gimp!
(lomofrenzy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:43, Reply)

I'm afraid of internal parasites, but I guess that's not irrational.
The irrational one is a friend of mine, who is afraid of both claymation and chickens.

Claymation I can understand, as it's a little freaky sometimes, in the sense that some people think clowns are a little freaky. But chickens? I've no idea. I don't even want to know what Freud would say about that.

Anyways, we took her to see Chicken Run without telling her what it was (Let's go see a movie. Which one? Oh, doesn't matter, Tom'll get the tickets, we'll get the food, and we'll just go see whatever he got), and 5 minutes into the movie she actually *ran* out of the theater, screaming and sobbing and scaring the unholy shit out of the many little kids present.

Chicken Run is a claymation movie about chickens, for those who don't know.
( TheFelineAnarchist, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:43, Reply)

I can't sleep
if I know there is a moth somewhere in the room.

It's only been for the past couple of years too - since I saw an episode of Casualty where an old woman had a moth in her ear.

The moth was trying to get out and it's wings were making a horrible buzzing noise inside her head. The thought of that makes me squirm in a most unpleasant way.

In fact, I generally hate moths. Butterflies too - little winged insect bastards.
( Mystery_Bob, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:28, Reply)

I'm not sure these are irrational, just have odd reasons behind them
When I was little I had a fear of parked cars. I ran out in front of moving cars a few times and my sister had to save me but I just didn't like going anywhere near parked cars.
I have a fear of fire...when I was younger I watched a film about a hospital which was on fire but I got sent to bed before the end of it so I don't know if everyone got out or not. That night I put all my favorite toys in a bag and pushed my bed next to the window for ease of escape.
My sister has a fear of toilets flushing, she had to open the bathroom door before she'll flush because when she was little she put her napppy down the toilet and was stuck ing the bathroom while the loo started to overflow.
The same sister has a fear or hatred of anyone talking about their eyes, touching their eyes or mentioning contact lenses at all. when she was a t school her teacher was going to disect a Bulls eye he called the class to the front of the room and started to hack into it...she threw up and has hated eyes ever since
( Roxy_Hart is so so old, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 0:07, Reply)

irrational fears
forks with bent tines.i know.
(spassky, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:58, Reply)

im afraid of fear
my psychiatrist tells me that the only thing to fear is fear itself

how the hell it that supposed to help me? thats what im afraid of
(Cyrus, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:53, Reply)

Picking my nose,
when I was young I believed that if I picked my nose, I would end up hollowing out my head, thus causing my skull to collapse in on itself.
(Psychotic Mongoose, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:41, Reply)

More bizarre ones....
I have a couple of weird fears:

1. Sharp knives. The thought of skin being sliced open. I don't mind watching medical stuff *after* they have made the incision, though.
2. The marks left on rice pudding after the bubbles have burst. Makes me think of empty spots without their pus. First time I saw "Dr Who and Zygons", which had skin marks like that I nearly threw up.
3. Barnacles. I think if I put my hand on them they will rip it to shreds and eat me.
4. Bone dry towels. I feel as if they are in my mouth and squeaky. Don't ask.
5. Finding a razor blade in a bar of soap while I'm washing the hard way. Having my skin sliced.

I feel ill now. I'm going to sit down for a while...
(aardvarkadam, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:40, Reply)

Pub doors
I can't walk over the metal (or worse, wooden) doors outside pubs in the pavement where they deliver the beer. I don't trust them. And they wobble when you walk over them.

Also, I'm now gradually getting an irrational fear of this question of the week, the more I read I'm starting to fear the things other people are fearing.

Irrationally
(symptomless, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:38, Reply)

Pele.
No I'm not afraid of Pele, but I have got an interesting fact...

"Pele has an irrational fear of Belgium, this phobia dates back to his childhood where his evil father would tell stories that suggested all the inhabitants of this country wore lengthy moustaches in order to cover enormous fangs. According to Pele Belgium will never win the World cup."

I suppose that also covers the other day's question about parents lying to their children.
(Stupot looks at his watch, and it says, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:27, Reply)

Hoping it is indeed irrational...
Sitting with my back to the room, especially in a restaurant / pub. In case someone wants to stab me.

Christ. Seeing this in writing is pathetic. Not scared anymore! Yay for b3ta therapy. Cured.
( Strangey is present at, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:27, Reply)

When I was young
I also had an irrational fear of toilets. The noise some made used to irk me somewhat, but I was quite utterly terrified of the ones with a high-level flush. You know; the ones high up the wall with the chain flushes.

I just about coped with that, but when I was about 7, I visited my Great Grandmother for the first and only time of my life (she was a right old cow).

After being fed stale crisps and biscuits and that (politely refusing due to the fact they tasted like crap), I went off to use the bathroom to be faced with such a toilet.

But it was worse than that. The cistern also went round the corner and wasn't on the same wall as the bowl!.

This completely freaked me out, and I just backed out of the bathroom slowly, and just hoped that I could hold on through the journey home until I was back at our nice sane potty.

The journey was over 80 miles, and I didn't.
(Glis, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 23:14, Reply)

when i was a young child
i used to think that there was a monster in the closet that only came out at night, and i'd hide under the covers. i thought that it would rip the covers off of me if i didnt feed it, but it would only eat human flesh so in order to satisfy it i'd leave a foot or a hand out from the covers thinking it would probably be happy taking a limb, and would leave the rest of me alone. i went on like this for a long time, every night. foot, other foot, leg, hand, arm, ext. until i figured that i couldnt stop it, and would have to give it my HEAD (dun dun dun). it was only after that long night that with my head out from under the covers that i figured he'd moved away.
(Mynd, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 22:59, Reply)

Am I just wierd?
I literally cannot eat toast whilst wearing a jumper. I just can't face up to it. Not sure why. Maybe it'll stick to me if I drop it.
(mysticmurray, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 22:54, Reply)

Just remembered
I used to actually believe that if my legs hung over the end of the bed a MASSIVE blade would come down and chop my feet off and cut britain in half. hence cutting me off from all my toys and family and stuff - I used to lie there not wanting to goto sleep incase my feet went off the end. was horrible. think I musta blocked it from memory
( Nostrebor can't be everything all the time., Tue 27 Jan 2004, 22:45, Reply)

Injections...
I have an abject terror of injections, to the point that I have refused medication that could have stopped me violently throwing up after an incident of food poisining .

There have been few occasions when, unable to avoid an injection, I have not started to feel like a TV not tuned to a station - white noise gets louder, picture gets fuzzy until its just random black and white dots, and over I keel.

It happened in a doctor's surgery once. When I came round, the doc was very sympathetic, but rather spoiled it by asking me if he could take a blood sample to help pin down the problem...

We decided to agree that it was purely psychosomatic.
(you_can't_get_there_from_here, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 22:42, Reply)