What frightens you?

[HollowTalk]

I'm going to a talk by a horror writer this week and I've been thinking how men and women are scared of different things.

I knew a man once who said he'd never been physically afraid. I know that's unusual (he was built like Jack Reacher in the novel, not the film!) but I don't know a woman who hasn't been scared at times. Just walking home late at night, I'm on full alert.

Leaving aside losing a child or a child being ill, which has to be the most terrifying thing ever, what frightens you?

Definitely walking on my own in the dark when there's not much lighting and I'm aware of someone behind me, or I can see a man approaching in front of me particularly if hooded or looks like they might be trouble.

I suffer from anxiety so many many things. Social situations top of the list.

Walking on my own after dark? Doesn't bother me in the slightest

Around here, the council has lowered the wattage of the street lights and it's made such a difference. I notice it when I'm driving, but when I'm walking it's much worse.

I also hate multi-storey car parks - so many opportunities for someone to hide!

Also, getting cash out of a cashpoint at night.

Bad things happening to my kids.

Losing my mind but being aware it's going.

This is random, but I'm terrified of lying in bed at night alone, and hearing someone shout my name from somewhere else in the house.

I wanted to leave our children out of it, though, Furiosa - anything bad happening to them would be really awful. I agree with you, though.

Anything bad happening to my family.
Getting dementia. All the females of our family (maternal and paternal), have had it early on from late 60s. I reckon I only have ten good years left.
Having gangs of yobs hanging around the house late at night. I can't keep away from the windows and it sends my stress levels right up!
But on the other hand...
I'll happily camp on my own in the middle of Dartmoor
Walk out late at night on my own
Go to scare events and not flinch.

Putting the bins out at work now it’s dark early. Yellow bins (work in care), so I have to put them out otherwise they’ll stink! But the area isn’t lit properly at the moment, it’s at the back of the building, which backs onto woods.

Other than that, the other day our shower curtain and pole fell down into the bath at 3am the other day....shit myself!

Oh yes, I hate going down our alley at night to put anything in the bins!

That shower curtain and pole - that would've really frightened me - any noise in the house at night would.

Mine is a bit embarrassing... end of the world scenarios! Every time there's an article about it, and even though I know it's statistically unlikely, I can't help but feel anxious until the time passes that it's supposed to happen. I was an absolute wreck leading up to 21st December 2012!

What were you like when we hit 2000, @moochops89? Did you think everything would fall down around us?

@HollowTalk I was only 11, I remember being aware of it but don't remember being scared at the time. Although there was a power cut at midnight which did make me panic a bit

he was built like Jack Reacher in the novel, not the film! Tom Cruise is actually not scared of anything!

I'm scared of putting my hand into somewhere I can't see, like when you have to reach behind something but you don't know what's back there IYSWIM.

Being lost somewhere, when you don't speak the language. All those people around, and no one helping you.

Turning the truck around, and feeling it start sliding back down the hill towards traffic , breaks are doing nothing and speed is picking up

As a LP I find the times when you wake up in the night hearing a noise the worst, knowing you have to go and investigate or you'll spend the night worrying someone is standing at the foot of your bed...
And dementia, as a PP said. I also have some family history of it, which makes me completely paranoid when I do things like leave keys in the car or forget where I've just put something down. I think it's hard when there's no adult to chat to in the evenings to stimulate your brain and remind you of holidays or events - feels a bit like it's all sliding away never to be found/remembered again (dramatic!).

Nothing really scares me.
None of the things listed so far bother me.

I've never really been scared walking alone in the dark; in fact I don't tend to be frightened by anything to which I feel I'd be able to react. Even if I can't stop something bad happening, I'm not afraid of situations where I'd at least get to try. I don't know why, I'm just not. Self-confidence maybe.

What I am scared of is the unpredictable! A car suddenly swerving onto the pavement and taking me out; a dog that suddenly snaps; a plane crash; a sniper on a tall building taking people out at random.

So, despite all my self-confidence and fearlessness in self-determinable situations, I can actually be really anxious. Because for me I can walk home alone on a dark night without a care in the world, but I'm constantly on the look out for the unpredictable threat, and I can't get on a plane unless drunk!!

I have a random fear, possibly inspired by an episode of Luther, of going to shut my curtains at night and seeing a man standing on the street looking up at me. Gives me a shiver and then it passes.

I am very fearful of offending people or being disliked so I have had a tendency in the past to be a bit of a people pleaser and to push down my own feelings. Getting better at standing up for myself now.

I got in the car yesterday to drive the kids to football training and as I started driving a bloody spider fell down in front of my face! I am not generally scared of spiders but that almost made me crash the car! It was also very Halloweeny the thing sat in front of my face for the short journey until I could stop and get rid of it