Anyone else have a weird phobia?

[HangingOver]

I understand why lots of people have phobias of things that are associated with actual risk, pain or things that have left an evolutionary stamp on us due to being poisonous e.g snakes and spiders.

Can anyone tell me why I am paralyzingly scared of empty swimming pools and, most of all, octopus.

Octopus in particular I have a genuinely ridiculous reaction to... If I force myself to watch a video of one within seconds my palms start to sweat and I feel sick rising.... It's almost more like an extreme disgust reaction than fear.

Tell me your bonkers phobias please.

I have a very random phobia of the underneath of things. I have never managed to quite pin down why. In particular the underside of train and canal bridges and piers. I went on a canal boat holiday and had to hide inside the boat or walk over the path next to the canal when going through bridges/tunnels so I didn’t see the tunnel roof. I cannot go within about 100m of the underneath of a pier. I just hate it. I also can’t watch programmes where they convert old water tanks or water towers into houses. If they do a shot of the inside of the tank or tower I freak out, have to shut my eyes and put my fingers in my ears. DH has to tell me when the shots have gone. I can’t watch programmes about people going into caves either. Recently I took my car to the garage and when I returned they wanted me to look at something underneath it whilst it was on the ramp. I declined and must have looked very unwell because the mechanic asked if I needed to sit down. I also saw an accident where a car had overturned and called the ambulance, they asked me to check if anyone was in the car but I couldn’t go near it. Luckily someone else stopped so I asked them to check in the car whilst I relayed it to the ambulance.
I have no idea why I have this and DH thinks i’m wierd, but now we have been together a number of years he understands. I have never met anyone with this same phobia ever! I’d be interested to know if anyone else can suggest why I might have this

Sealife in general scare me witless

Heights in general including driving or walking over bridges, especially high ones over water.

Escalators, mainly long and steep ones, like the ones in Heathrow T5 or some of the London Underground stations. I always avoid and use the lifts or stairs.

Walking past tall buildings or structures e.g. cranes, but funnily enough I was fine in New York.

Railway tracks and freight trains give me the creeps, especially hissing railway lines when there is a train nearby but out of sight.

And the gap between the platform and the train 😱

Level crossings 😱

Another one for frogs and toads. Absolutely petrified of them.

@Damnyoureyes

Sloths. Can’t look at them. Also bobbles, solid bobbles, clusters of bobbles.

Sloths, too! I feel sick if they are on TV and have to turn over. Can’t even stand cartoon or stuffed toy ones.

I knew someone who was scared of feta cheese! If I remember rightly she'd been put on strong medication and was a bit out of it, saw the advert where the feta cubes climbed the plate of food and just freaked out. She used to laugh about how stupid and irrational it was but would still break out in a cold sweat every time she saw the cheese!

Touching wooden clothes pegs, especially if my hands are damp - I can feel my pulse quicken just thinking about it.

I am as knit-your-own-muesli as they come, but we only have plastic clothes pegs on this house.

@Helpimfalling

My teenage son is scared of....jeans

That's hilarious

Oh my DD has a phobia of other people blowing their nose with tissue.
If it's a baby wipe of handkerchief that's fine... tissue oh god no she breaks down in screaming tears

@vampirethriller

Gaps in stairs that I can see through.

I have this too.

Empty swimming pools (empty of water or empty of people).
Overhead cisterns - the old fashioned high flush loos are terrifying for me.
Weirs (sense a theme here?)

Clowns

Wet tissues and kitchen towel. It's not a fear though, more like an aversion.

Fish especially goldfish , it's their horrible googly eyes.

I wouldn't say I'm phobic but I feel a bit creeped out at the sight or the cab of an articulated lorry driving along without the trailer on, especially if it is driving through a city at night, i.e. I'm waiting at a junction and see one coming along the main road - just looks weird and creepy.

Motorway bridges over ship canals - again feel a bit creeped out when approaching one, I think it's because they're so high and I always have this niggling feeling that I might get blown off or something.

Huge buildings like Amazon distribution centres - driving past one at night with all the lorries lined up outside the loading bays - shudder!

@steppingcarefully

Belly buttons. Can’t look at them and definitely can’t touch them. Even thinking about them makes me come over all unnecessary! Magnets repelling. I work with children and seeing them try to put Brio trains together the wrong way, I have to turn away.

Oh, I am the same with belly buttons. I can't have anyone near mine and can't look at anyone else's. My other one is coins (particularly copper) and jewellery (particularly necklaces and bracelets) 🤢🤢🤢

Oh and I was phobic of escalators as a child - I think it was the fault of one of those government safety adverts where a child stands too close to the edge and gets their foot caught and all we see is a mangled welly. I couldn't go on one for years and would have to walk around to use the stairs or lift. I'm ok on them now but still don't love them!

Peach skin, cotton wool and polystyrene cups - they’ve all made my teeth go funny when they’ve been up against them and now I can’t even look at them. Difficult to even type that.

Orcas - absolutely terrified of them. I’ve lost all 3 of my DC to orcas in my dreams too.

That moment in the underground when there's a train coming and you get the whoosh of air.
I have a recurring nightmare about it where the platform is suddenly very narrow, there are trains both sides of me, and there's also noisy fairground ghost train doors covering the mouth of the tunnel!

Cadbury Freddo bars - not so much a phobia but a revulsion, I ate one at a school disco when I was 10 and spent the night throwing up presumably with a run of the milk stomach bug but now I can’t look at one without feeling queasy.

Scared of anywhere I feel trapped - the dentist, on an airplane, in a lift (I avoid those at all costs) and when masks were mandatory would often get the same anxiety in shops especially big shopping centres.

Hardback novels

@steppingcarefully

Belly buttons. Can’t look at them and definitely can’t touch them. Even thinking about them makes me come over all unnecessary! Magnets repelling. I work with children and seeing them try to put Brio trains together the wrong way, I have to turn away.

I met a man with no belly button once. You'd have loved him.