Zabimaru
Full Member
Always amused and bemused
Posts: 241
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Post by Zabimaru on Apr 21, 2009 12:23:29 GMT -5
Is there anyone here with a weird phobia?
I have one and, since it doesn't really have any chance to be crippling for me and I think it's really weird, I find it rather amusing.
I have a, sometimes rather intense, irrational fear for large things under water.
Not a fear of water; I love to swim, and I have always spent large parts of my summer vacations swimming in the ocean. And it's not a fear of large things in general either, I actually think that most very large things like mountains, large buildings, big animals and so on are beautiful.
But when it's a large thing, in water, seen from an underwater perspective... That's something I fear, very irrationally. It doesn't matter if it's living or not; a submarine or the underside of a boat is as "bad" as a whale. It doesn't even matter if it can move; large rocks can be scary if they're under water.
If I see a submarine or a large whale in a movie or the discovery channel I get typical signs of phobia; shortness of breath, a sense of panic, heart palpitations... Even just thinking about it is making me feel a bit ill at ease.
As I said I mostly find it amusing. It's not something that really comes up in day to day life, so it doesn't bother me. It really just gives me an extra dose of adrenaline when watching movies dealing with underwater situations. But I do find the phobia pretty odd.
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Post by Sandafluffoid on Apr 21, 2009 12:30:12 GMT -5
Well I have two pretty normal ones, Spiders and dog (although I'm mostly over dogs). But I am absolutely terrified of accidentally swallowing my own tongue. I imagine that's pretty weird. When it gets really bad I sometimes have to hold it outside my mouth with my hands whenever I want to breathe.
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Post by Caitshidhe on Apr 21, 2009 12:46:15 GMT -5
I'm a severe insectophobe. Not just the normal buggies like spiders and cockroaches, but EVERY bug or creepy-crawly you can imagine. I don't even like butterflies.
Also, as I've probably mentioned once or twice before, I'm scared to death of someone chopping my hair off. (I had a teacher once, many long eons ago, who thought it would be a fun 'joke' to play on me to walk up behind me with a pair of scissors and pretend that she'd accidentally cut my plait off. She didn't understand why I was so angry with her.)
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Post by Jebediah on Apr 21, 2009 12:50:17 GMT -5
I'm afraid of closed shower curtains. I think it comes from watching too many horror movies, but I'm always convinced someone is hiding in the shower. If I walk into the bathroom, and the shower curtain is pulled shut, I have to look inside to make sure no one is there before I can do anything. Even when it's open, I still have to check, just to make sure no one is there. But when I walked in and find it closed, my mind immediately jumps to the conclusion that someone is waiting for me.
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Post by Angel Kaida on Apr 21, 2009 13:04:45 GMT -5
Sometimes when I'm in swimming pools I become convinced there are hammerhead sharks in the water and panic. I have no idea why, but I'm desperately, horribly terrified of hammerhead sharks in particular.
Storm alarms terrify me also, so that even the "this is a test" things set my heart pounding and make me have to turn on all the lights.
Can't think of any of the others right now.
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Post by Esser-Z on Apr 21, 2009 13:56:23 GMT -5
I don't have one, but my sister was (maybe is? Haven't tested in a couple years!) deathly afraid of whuffle balls. Y'know, the hollow plastic ones with hols.
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Post by Angel on Apr 21, 2009 13:57:53 GMT -5
I am terrified of jellyfish. But I think this is quite a reasonable phobia to have - they can really hurt you.
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Post by Old Viking on Apr 21, 2009 14:05:00 GMT -5
I tried to overcome an irrational fear of being naked by appearing in public without clothing as often as I could. I had to stop because nobody noticed.
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Post by devilschaplain2 on Apr 21, 2009 14:31:41 GMT -5
Not a weird phobia, but I'm a germophobe, and it doesn't help that I compulsively wash my hands because of my OCD.
(I also hate clowns.....thanks a LOT Stephen King.)
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Post by Sleepy on Apr 21, 2009 15:12:51 GMT -5
Polka dots used to freak me out occasionally. I never understood why, but they still sometimes disturb me a little.
And this one isn't a fear of anything in particular.. but sometimes when I stay up really late on the computer and I go upstairs to go to bed in the complete darkness, I dash very hastily up the stairs because I feel like someone is following me, ready to strike. I think that's from watching too many Halloween movies where Michael Myers slowly stalks his victims, forces them up the stairs, and ends up killing them.
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Post by Jebediah on Apr 21, 2009 15:22:09 GMT -5
I didn't have time earlier to add this, but I'm also afraid of ferris wheels. I used to love them, but then I went on the Ferris Wheel of Death. The one located in Coney Island. I was in a swinging cart, the ones that make you feel as if you'll be shot straight into the air and plummet 200 feet to your death. Ever since then I haven't been able to get on one.
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Post by SimSim on Apr 21, 2009 15:56:24 GMT -5
...I go upstairs to go to bed in the complete darkness, I dash very hastily up the stairs because I feel like someone is following me, ready to strike. I get that too, but then I'm scared of the dark. I'm okay with places I'm familiar with, just a little nervous about something lurking in the dark. Places I'm unfamiliar with always make me feel uncomfortable if it's dark. I'm sacred of heights, I hate climbing things and going up on ladders. Ferris wheels always have scared. Oddly though, I love rollercoasters, so long as I'm not flipped upside down. I also sometimes get the shower curtain thing if I'm in the shower.
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Post by Art Vandelay on Apr 21, 2009 17:23:57 GMT -5
I have a phobia of being electrocuted. I don't have any problems with appliances and setting up circuits and whatnot, but if I think there is even a slight risk of me even getting a minor zap, I won't go near it. I especially hate static electricity with a flaming passion.
It made for an interesting situation a few years back. When I was around 10-13 I loved trampolines, however they have a tendancy to build up a static charge which is nigh-on impossible to avoid without just jumping straight off. For a while I had a trampoline that was set up on gravel, and whenever I felt like getting off I'd usually opt to just jump straight off onto said gravel rather than touch any of the metal parts and climb off like a normal person. There were occasions when my feet hurt too much to make me want to leap onto gravel and then I'd usually steel myself and inch my finger slowly towards one of the springs, usually followed by a liberal stream of swear words when I discharged the bloody thing. Even back then I could see how stupid it was but I still couldn't just climb off like a normal person due to those fucking static charges.
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Post by gadfly on Apr 21, 2009 18:00:38 GMT -5
I have a strong fear of heights -- so much so that the scene in Devil's Advocate where Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino are talking on the roof of a skyscraper with, like, no guardrail or anything really freaks me out, more so than anything else in the film.
I also have a very strong fear of home invasion (which made High Tension the scariest film ever for me) and a very strong aversion to vomiting.
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Post by Bluefinger on Apr 21, 2009 18:35:29 GMT -5
Whilst I'm okay with spiders, in general, I can't sleep when I know there's one near my bed. I get all "Damn it, got to go kill it" otherwise it just stays on my mind.
When in the dark, I sometimes get the feeling I'm about to get pounced, though this is a feeling I just disregard most of the time. Not so much a fear, just an annoying feeling I get which my mind kills every time it begins to surface. That said, walking out at night, I'm always on alert and pretty much have ears intently listening and checking behind me every so often. However, I like being in the dark when I know I can scare someone, which is weird...
Dunno what I have a proper phobia on, just a few weird feelings I get...
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