Have you any irrational fears?

[johnnychips]

I have never liked snakes. In fact I have to avoid them if I see them. I have no idea why.

I recently posted on the international thread:

I remember going to Andorra during an Interrail month in 1980. That involved some remarkable timetable convolutions on the Little Yellow Train and a coach trip; I believe the connections are even worse now. When we got there, we went hiking in the Pyrenees, and I stood on a bright green snake. I had never seen a snake before outside zoos. This did not help my enjoyment of that hike, nor subsequent ones.

I finished a hike in Sileby in Leicestershire in 2023, and was walking to the station along the main street, when I was vaguely aware of a bloke unloading something from a van. As I approached, it turned out to be a huge yellow python, which he draped around himself. My heartbeat leaped to about 250, I nearly - really - had to have to change my underwear, so I ran backwards and crossed over.

This is totally ridiculous. I don’t mind giant spiders or snails, and wouldn’t mind if you put one in my hand.

One of my mates, who was reputed to be one of ‘the hardest lads in (xxxx pit village)’ absolutely freaked out if you turned a log or stone over and there was a woodlouse.

How about you?

 

[Spamcan81]

Spiders.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Not wild about insects or spiders but I've trained myself to not completely freak out about them.

On hot sunny days, a lady brings her pet boa constrictor (George) out to play on the green at Westerham. Most people are cool about it but one woman who saw him started shouting and yelling that "it shouldn't be allowed". I guess she might have had some sort of snake phobia.

 

[Busaholic]

I have never liked snakes. In fact I have to avoid them if I see them. I have no idea why.

I recently posted on the international thread:

I remember going to Andorra during an Interrail month in 1980. That involved some remarkable timetable convolutions on the Little Yellow Train and a coach trip; I believe the connections are even worse now. When we got there, we went hiking in the Pyrenees, and I stood on a bright green snake. I had never seen a snake before outside zoos. This did not help my enjoyment of that hike, nor subsequent ones.

I finished a hike in Sileby in Leicestershire in 2023, and was walking to the station along the main street, when I was vaguely aware of a bloke unloading something from a van. As I approached, it turned out to be a huge yellow python, which he draped around himself. My heartbeat leaped to about 250, I nearly - really - had to have to change my underwear, so I ran backwards and crossed over.

This is totally ridiculous. I don’t mind giant spiders or snails, and wouldn’t mind if you put one in my hand.

One of my mates, who was reputed to be one of ‘the hardest lads in (xxxx pit village)’ absolutely freaked out if you turned a log or stone over and there was a woodlouse.

How about you?

I'm entirely with you on snakes, but I think I know the reason why, other than the obvious. A young woman from Kenya who had a hand in my upbringing when very young myself returned home and later sent a distressing airmail letter that her mother had been killed by a snake in their garden. I remember becoming obsessed that a crack in my bedroom wall harboured snakes!

 

[johnnychips]

Not wild about insects or spiders but I've trained myself to not completely freak out about them.

On hot sunny days, a lady brings her pet boa constrictor (George) out to play on the green at Westerham. Most people are cool about it but one woman who saw him started shouting and yelling that "it shouldn't be allowed". I guess she might have had some sort of snake phobia.

I wouldn’t make a fuss, but blimey, I would avoid that area.

 

[Red Onion]

Leeches. Absolutely petrified of them! And yet I have a morbid fascination with them, which makes no sense.

 

[MrCheeseGrater]

Snails. Fell on top of one in the garden playing football when I was a kid and it got completely shattered/squashed into my hand. It was horrible.

 

[Jimini]

Snails. Fell on top of one in the garden playing football when I was a kid and it got completely shattered/squashed into my hand. It was horrible.

Same for me but with red ants! Landed in a massive nest of the buggers when playing footy as a small child (with a golf ball of course because my brother and I had 'lost' the regular football over the neighbour's fence ).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Getting stranded many miles from home, this after having just missed the last train of the day (or the last train of the day having been cancelled).

Fortuitously though, something that probably wouldn't ever happen in this day and age.

 

[THC]

Heights. I do a lot of walking but seldom any at altitude as I have an irrational fear of being blown away at height. I've dealt with it in part through aversion therapy, in effect forcing myself to walk paths requiring walking at height (the North Downs Way out of Dover up Shakespeare Cliff being a particular bête noire) but it's not something with which I have ever felt comfortable.

THC

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Not too fond of snakes either - SW Wales had / has a good resident population of adders , so care was needed in season. Came across them in such diverse places as our back garden.

Not wonderfully travelled - but there are certain places on a red list - such as Africa and Australia ........

 

[Ashley Hill]

Church towers,belfry’s and clock faces. As an infant my grandparents house was overlooked by a clock tower with a massive Roman numeral chapter ring. I have very clear memories of this from infancy and it scared me. Equally when it struck the hour its chime sounded so ominous. Even now some 50 odd years later I am nervous around church/clock towers and struggle to look up at one close up. You’ll never get me in the belfry or clock room.

 

[J-2739]

I hate flies. The look and the sound of them.

 

[youngiecj]

Cows for me. I do a lot of walking and will go out of my way to avoid them.. Stems from being chased by a load of them as a kid!

 

[Trackman]

Broken toilets.
Oddly enough, mine was playing up the other day as water tricking to the toilet after flushing. Freaked me out. Never look inside it as it's relatively new. It's a push button thingy, so very little I could I do - seems to have fixed itself- touch wood.

 

[Howardh]

Open tin lids. Freak me out - dunno why, maybe I think they will jump us and slash my face/eyes. maybe I had a bad dream when I was a kid?? Nope, the lid comes off and binned even if he tin's left half-full.

 

[Cowley]

Being at the front of a queue when I feel like I’m holding people up.

If we get the checkout at Tesco’s and Mrs C gets the money off vouchers out I literally have to leave…

 

[SteveHFC]

Irrational fears? Baked Beans! Can't stand them - I cringe if I even have to handle a bowl that they've been microwaved in and my fingers touch the sauce!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Fairground rides. I fell out of one as a kid and never been on one since, apart from the tame kiddie ones when my daughter was a toddler....

 

[Busaholic]

Irrational fears? Baked Beans! Can't stand them - I cringe if I even have to handle a bowl that they've been microwaved in and my fingers touch the sauce!

I don't think it's irrational, they both look and smell awful. Aisles full of the bloody things in supermarkets, which make me feel I was born in the wrong country!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Fairground rides.

Especially when what is supposedly a "scenic railway" turns out to be a (rickety) roller coaster!

 

[Gloster]

Being suffocated by a mass of dancing whelks on the Tuesday before Good Friday in Ashby-de-la-Zouch…which I avoid by keeping well clear of Ashby-de-la-Zouch on the Tuesday before Good Friday (and at any other time). Being serious, that is no dafter than some irrational fears: I knew somebody who was terrified of being knocked down by camels, which are rare in north Lincolnshire.

I do have a dislike of shutting doors when I am alone in a building and will almost always try to make do with just pushing them to. There was a vague story of me being trapped in a room in a hotel in Falmouth when I was five. On my first day at public school I unwittingly used the toilets when they were out of bounds and couldn’t get out. I pulled and pulled the handle but the door wouldn’t open. Finally, I slumped against the door in despair and it swung open.

 

[778]

I am scared of squid and octopuses. I actually quite them because they are interesting creatures in lots of ways, but I do find them terrifying, the bigger ones especially. I would prefer to be in the water with a great white shark over a giant squid any day of the week.

 

[Calthrop]

I am scared of squid and octopuses. I actually quite them because they are interesting creatures in lots of ways, but I do find them terrifying, the bigger ones especially. I would prefer to be in the water with a great white shark over a giant squid any day of the week.

Going a bit off-topic; but how do you feel about eating the creatures concerned? In recent times, my brother and I have reluctantly decided to renounce eating octopus: having learned that these beasts are quite highly intelligent. (Squid are thick, by comparison; we have no qualms about continuing to eat them.)

Re irrational fears: all I can submit is, rather boringly, not being over-keen on spiders. Not an acute case of arachnophobia: realise "with head" that no British spider can do me any harm (hence the "irrational" bit): it annoys me to feel as I do -- as with you and cephalopods -- spiders are fascinating and accomplished creatures, and I wish I could like them.

 

[mikeg]

I know this sounds really daft but those drains at the bottom of swimming pools. I just don't trust them...

 

[Arrpi87]

Slugs and snails. Can't really explain why. The just induce a panic and a sudden onset of nausea.

As a kid I'd leap 6ft in the air if I came across one unexpectedly, I can't even look at pictures of them. I even find them uncomfortable in animated films such as A Bugs Life. Even typing the words at the start of this post wasn't great as it forced a mental image of them into my minds eye.

 

[CarltonA]

I have an aversion to wooden cutlery such as used by Starbucks. Can't abide the sensation of it in my mouth.

 

[MotCO]

Moths - I can't stand them flying around quietly at night, knowing they could be eating away at some curtains, carpets etc.

 

[778]

Going a bit off-topic; but how do you feel about eating the creatures concerned? In recent times, my brother and I have reluctantly decided to renounce eating octopus: having learned that these beasts are quite highly intelligent. (Squid are thick, by comparison; we have no qualms about continuing to eat them.)

Re irrational fears: all I can submit is, rather boringly, not being over-keen on spiders. Not an acute case of arachnophobia: realise "with head" that no British spider can do me any harm (hence the "irrational" bit): it annoys me to feel as I do -- as with you and cephalopods -- spiders are fascinating and accomplished creatures, and I wish I could like them.

I don't think I would want to eat either, but may have to in future, now that fish populations are declining. I don't think an octopus would attack a human but a squid probably will if given the chance.

 

[jmh59]

For me it's the deep end of reservoirs. For some reason I have this fear of falling in and getting sucked into the pipework. And those reservoirs where the outflow is like a huge plug hole make me nervous too...