Tell me a weird fear/phobia you have

[WhimsicalMoth]

I don't meal like bugs, heights, death ... I mean something strange.. unconventional.. something that might need a bit of explanation.

I'll go first -

Water towers ... the thought of them makes me shudder.

Clowns. I'm 53 and could never go to a circus without sedation.

Shortcrust pastry. Even the thought of it makes me feel uncomfortable. It's a texture thing #shudder

Same - just the thought of wooden cutlery in my mouth / against my teeth freaks me out to the point I'd rather starve

Same - just the thought of wooden cutlery in my mouth / against my teeth freaks me out to the point I'd rather starve

Just remembered another one - as a child I would refuse birthday cake at parties because of the blowing out of candles which was usually accompanied by a fine mist of saliva. I love cake, but not that much....

When I had my son, as a toddler he would, like many cute small children offer me partially chewed food from his own mouth, sometimes just poking it into mine without warning if the opportunity arose. It would take every ounce of self control not to vomit because I didn't want him to feel rejected. It's been 30 years and I'm not in contact with any small children and haven't been for years, so I'd kind of forgotten about it. But reading this threads updates has brought it back and I have serious ick at the memories.....

Interestingly though, I have no problem with anything "intimate" involving my mouth. Go figure.... phobias are weird..

Gephyrophobia. Travelling over bridges, particularly ones over water. I go light headed and wobbly. My family take the piss and think it's hilarious.

Cotton wool. Port-a-potties. Toe nails.

Ergh feel sick thinking of them now

The feel of sand on my hands. Blagh

Me too. Unfortunately I once got trapped in a dress in the fitting room in Debenhams, and I swear to God I was this close [ ] to screaming and ripping the bloody thing into 1000 pieces, I was completely panicking. (Thankfully it finally moved and I was able to escape from it, but my face was absolutely purple and my hair looked like I'd been in a fight!)

Another thing I hate is net curtains. Even the thought of them makes me catch my breath, but the feeling of them when they catch against your fingers...yuk.

Birds, I nearly pass out if a pigeon flies anywhere near me & don't get me started on ducks & swans. I can't even look at a picture or video of any feathered creature.

@DistressedDamson Oh my goodness, yes, me too. I remember some public toilets in a park that we were taken to as children, and they had those cisterns above the toilet. You had to pull the chain to flush the toilet and I was always terrified that the cistern would collapse and fall on me. Awful, fearful things!

Heights.. I can't even go up 2 rungs on a ladder without freezing and freaking out.. I am dyspraxic so maybe it's a self preservation thing that deep down my body knows I'm very very likely to fall off something high!

@snapdragongirl and @Nobledeedsandhotbaths Me too! So terrifying. Makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I live on the same road as a boat building firm. I sometimes have to walk past a fence which overlooks a view down into an empty pit (don't know the official name) where a boat/yacht normally goes....a huge gaping hole with nothing in it. Makes my skin crawl. Arggghhh.

@MrsALambert Yes!! Awful. Just awful. So freaky.

@Jemmy78 Initially I thought this meant people whose heads are actually growing out of their legs (i.e they have no actual torso). That is pretty damn freaky, I thought. 😂

@TeaPleaseX @DistressedDamson Thank you!!! Black toilet seats.....yes....so scary and awful. Why do they exist. Just why.

@brytersky That is so interesting. I have always felt uncomfortable about this too and have never been able to put my finger on exactly why. It's almost as if you are telling a complete stranger your deepest, darkest secret. Only yesterday I had to give my full name to someone over the phone and felt slightly resentful about it. So weird. Thank you for sharing this!

@Scrumbleton Oh my goodness....Brian Cox!!! Yes! I have a morbid fear/fascination with the man. His voice, his big shiny lips......what is it about him....makes my teeth go on edge. Arrggghhh. As for men with ling finger nails.....I bet Dr Brian Cox has these, just to complete the gag fest.

Buttons, especially shirt buttons.

The feeling of milk or toothpaste if it accidentally gets on my hands.

Anchors or chains or shipwrecks underwater.

Being on a pier or boat and realising that the water beneath me is so deep and dark and never-ending. Utterly terrifying.

Huge water towers and sky scrapers. They just kind of.....loom.

Anything to do with eyes. I have terrible eyesight, but the thought of ever trying contact lenses is to me horrifying.

Going up a hill in a vehicle and it not catching on a gear change and going backwards. On windy little mountain roads I either have to close my eyes and count or jump out and walk. It sounds so silly, I don't even know if it's possible.

Elections,
They really give me the colly-wobbles.

I haven't yet RTFT so don't know if anyone else has mentioned it, but I have a really severe form of Emetophobia. Not of myself, but hearing OTHER people be sick/seeing it. I really start to shake and feel like I want to cry. Sometimes it sounds really scary depending on who it is doing it, and my heart and nerves just go insane. It really feels like a form of a meltdown. I just want to hide and cry, I really do.

Yes, I find them really scary. I don't know why.