As an adult what scares you?

[Ginger89]

I’m 30, not scared of anything (apart from something happening to my child or myself leaving my child motherless) but any pointy fingered creature, the plague doctor bird mask really terrifies me, I watched a movie once called the poughkeepsie tapes & was so scared I actually threw up! (I was led to believe it was real footage at the time) as an adult what things scare you?

Not afraid of dying.
Afraid of anything happening to my children naturally
Afraid my partner will die first and how I will cope
Afraid of falling anywhere and breaking a bone in my hip or leg or ankle
-but not enough to stop me from running although I never jump off things anymore.
Apart from all that I am quite fearless :)

@HarebrightCedarmoon

Heights - anything I might fall off, not going up tall buildings in a glass lift, which is thrilling, but hiking - can't do anything with a drop or steep downhill. Also have to take some stairs and down escalators slowly as I suddenly find I can't feel my legs.

Did watch that one episode of Luther, switched it off part way through and never watched again. Hate tv/films that deliberately play on women's fears of rape etc, especially if done in a titillating way for entertainment. So that rules a whole lot out.

I enjoy a good spooky ghost story but generally hate gory horror (see above paragraph for one reason). I can easily scare myself into insomnia though.

Just looked at the film OP mentioned on Wiki and it's almost entirely horrific things being done to women.

It's so strange. If there was a genre of thriller/horror which solely featured awful things happening to dogs, there would be outrage, but the rape, torture and murder of women is entertainment.

Anyway. Aside from my loved ones dying and super bugs, I cannot stand small spaces. I can't even watch stuff like potholing on TV, it makes me feel unwell.

Drowning and darkness.

A huge anaconda or python dropping on to me from a height and squeezing me to death (fortunately only likely to happen to me in a rain forest! somewhere!)

Airports, ferry terminals and to a lesser extent, railway stations. Vast "male" expanses of concrete; grey, noisy, windy, transitory, and impersonal. No trees or greenery. No where cosy or comfortable to hide. Everyone stressed and hurrying.

Heights, I can't deal with them anymore, but that's my own fault.

For years it was never a problem. I did a lot of yacht racing and have been up the mast loads of times. Then at university in the early 90s I did a bungee jump, what a tosser!!!

That was the most terrifying thing I've ever done, I couldn't talk for ages afterwards, I just sat staring into the distance. I guess it was shock.

From that day on I can't deal with heights. I can cope with a step ladder and that's it. Something really buggered up in my head after that.

Nothing much really scares me any more, and I'm not scared of death, but I do get scared or unnerved by Vast expanses of deep water or Falling off the back of a ship into the ocean, large voids that just descend into complete blackness,
The thought of society turning into an Orwellian/nazi/ handmaids tale type existence is terrifying, I'd rather die

Dogs, cows and horses. I am not an animal person. It makes going to the country side very fraught!

I worry for the future of humanity when people use 'myself' instead of me. Civilisation is in huge trouble.

@grantoderek I have just developed a massive fear of turning into a proper boring pedantic mumsnet poster on a light hearted thread shudders

I'm actually serious. I do worry about the future, people are not being educated and are not learning social skills at home. Houses have become properties or worse, units and me and I are obselete.

Getting old
Getting stuck
The dark

Outdoor heights ( I will climb an indoor climbing wall but not an outdoor one)
Lifts
The London Underground or anything similar like been underground!
When I'm in a large crowd and proper staff fighting

@BlitheringBlathers

Ooh this is a good thread! For me it's spiders/daddy long legs 😓 and a few years back I watched this terrifying video on YouTube...I've since tried finding it to show other people but have no idea how to find it (I came across it accidentally). It was old black and white footage of a man (he might've been a prince but not sure), I think he was bandaged and it was something about self mutilation and he was rocking back and forth in a chair. I don't remember many details but it really scared me at the time!!

I think you might mean Begotten? It’s an avant garde silent film that starts with God in a chair stabbing himself over and over. Lots of horrifying imagery but interesting in a nerdy, film school sort of way 🤓

Getting lost I am the absolute worst for getting lost (walking) even in areas I know I have got lost and had to phone dh to come find me when I've freaked myself out so much. Lorries on motorway (not driving) use to close my eye and grip my seat was so worried about them tipping over I have got better with this now I just watch intently to make sure it's not swaying or going to tip

Needles, medical waste and old fashioned hospital equipment. The old machines always look so big and noisy and I it scares me that procedures were done without consent or people were builied into trying out new techniques. I know that's how medical science moved forward but it still unsettles me.

I love horror films but recently saw a short called Hospital Dumpster Divers which I had to cover my eyes during, I really hated it.

Level crossings, I won't drive or walk across them

I’m a therapist who works predominantly with trauma and ptsd, so I’m used to hearing about god awful things in extreme detail all the time at work. This has made me generally pretty fearless and resilient, and aside from the usual (my kids dying etc) not much scares me.

But I did watch this film on my own last night and omg I shat myself 😱

My daughter is scared of whales, she’ll be reassured to know she’s not the only one! Not sure I could get her out on a boat though!

Zombies

I worry for the future of humanity when people use 'myself' instead of me. Civilisation is in huge trouble.

Don't be ridiculous! Civilisation may be in huge trouble, but the use of 'myself' instead of 'me' is neither a reason nor a symptom of it. Mistakes, variations and changes in word usage have existed since language has existed. Some of them become the norm. Others pass. I find the 'myself' one as irritating as the next person, but it hardly indicates the downfall of civilisation!

I really hate empty swimming pools

I have similar with ‘In the hall of the Mountain King’, or more commonly the Alton Towers song. It’s the way it speeds up and stuff, makes my heart beat faster and I feel sick. It’s weird.

@lazylinguist

I worry for the future of humanity when people use 'myself' instead of me. Civilisation is in huge trouble.

Don't be ridiculous! Civilisation may be in huge trouble, but the use of 'myself' instead of 'me' is neither a reason nor a symptom of it. Mistakes, variations and changes in word usage have existed since language has existed. Some of them become the norm. Others pass. I find the 'myself' one as irritating as the next person, but it hardly indicates the downfall of civilisation!

Obvs was tongue in cheek. Obvs stupid people trying to sound clever is not the end of civilisation. Bless you for worrying souch though

What scares me? Change. Everything is changing, society, my body, my brain. Change is bad. ("If change is good, ask the climate.")

Animatronics - especially animatronics that are partially or fully submerged in water. Even typing that out has made a chill run up my spine. It's called submechanophobia. The thought of being on something like a ride with animatronics in the water freaks me out. The machinery under water getting ready to make the model spring to life, and the potential to fall in and get trapped in the workings of it makes me feel sick. I know it's never going to happen, but still. It gives me the willies!

Kids hands too. They're all weird and pudgy, and I am germ phobic so to me, they're the ultimate germ-collectors. I love my niece to bits, but I have to wipe everything down after she has been. I feel awful for doing it, but it's just how I am.

Deformed vegetables
Slugs
Priti Patel