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 Pete Melvin wrote:
As a kid I used to think the Chinese were watching me. This is cold war era so I guess it was because of that? I was a weird kid.

I also had pretty bad claustrophobia from when my sister wouldnt let me out of a wooden chest when we were playing hide and seek with friends. She just sat on it while I had a panic attack.

I was over it for decades until me and the better half went to Egypt on holiday and we went inside one of the pyramids. When we got to the bottom of the first chamber I just froze. I could NOT go any further. My wife turned round and said I was flat against the wall white as a sheet.
There is this small, steep and loooooong entrance and people can only go up OR down,not both at the same time so I had to wait while a lot of overweight tourists shambled down this passageway which was barely being controlled by two locals at the top and bottom.
I thought my heart was going to explode. I could feel the million tons of rock above me bearing down.
Never again. I don't even particularly like large crowds of people anymore, it seems to have triggered it off badly.

The Pyramids are super cool, but I have NO desire to go inside the deep complex tombs.

Universal Studios, the Star Wars part of the tour.

Gamera for some reason.

Children of the Corn.


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When I was a kid, my brother and I fought over the bottom bunk.

I won, but that night he told me a story.

Dwarf people come at night to plant eggs in people's stomachs. They
are afraid of heights, and when the eggs hatch spiders grow and
crawl up your throat and out your mouth.

After I hid in the closet, he told me a story about what happened
to people who fall asleep in closets.

KingCracker wrote:

Wow that's kinda crazy...... yet the dream you're describing does make it seem creepy in a Hitchcock kind of way.

I get the intense, illogical sensation I'm being watched by it. Like when you're staring into space and realise you're actually looking at someone and they're mad. But times, I dunno, an irrational amount.
I'm not a werewolf, or trying to be funny...

Pete Melvin wrote:As a kid I used to think the Chinese were watching me. This is cold war era so I guess it was because of that? I was a weird kid.

Genuinely more common than you'd imagine. I have a dear friend who was growing up around the same time, who as a child tried to jump out of a moving car, because he was terrified the Chinese driver was somehow evil. I'm glad he failed, but such was the demonisation of the country at the time, especially in the mind of children!

I was over it for decades until me and the better half went to Egypt on holiday and we went inside one of the pyramids. When we got to the bottom of the first chamber I just froze. I could NOT go any further. My wife turned round and said I was flat against the wall white as a sheet.
There is this small, steep and loooooong entrance and people can only go up OR down,not both at the same time so I had to wait while a lot of overweight tourists shambled down this passageway which was barely being controlled by two locals at the top and bottom.
I thought my heart was going to explode. I could feel the million tons of rock above me bearing down.
Never again. I don't even particularly like large crowds of people anymore, it seems to have triggered it off badly.

That's not dumb or anything to feel bad about. It's absolutely understandable. I hope you can still enjoy conventions.

I can sympathise - I wasn't claustrophobic until one day I was trapped in an elevator between floors in an unfinished apartment building. The intercom was not yet fitted, and of course my cellphone was effectively shut down by being in a big metal box. The fear was escalated by having absolutely no idea how long I'd be stuck in there- it was 7am on a Sunday. As it turned out, the Machine Spirit was with me that day, or rather a very dutiful security guard in the CCTV office had seen me enter the elevator on one floor, and not come out.
Ever since I've had scattered, acute episodes, often in very embarrassing situations. Imagine trying to explain to a spookhouse Leatherface with a revving petrol chainsaw that he is not frightening you, you're having a panic episode due to the width of his crudely built corridor, and would like to use an emergency exit. I can laugh now, but I'll be honest, I cried at the time and nearly passed out.

Conventions and the like are fine, as long as there is somewhere with space I can break out to if the crowds get too bad. Its shops I generally cant stand. Theyre already usually rammed full of shelves so when they're busy with people as well I often feel very uncomfortable.

 jreilly89 wrote:


The Pyramids are super cool, but I have NO desire to go inside the deep complex tombs.

I honestly wish I hadn't, I still get the sweats just thinking about it. They were letting too many damn people in there as well, it was muggy and the atmosphere was thick.

I just remembered a childhood fear.
Men who did not have beards.

My father was part of a group of folk musicians, going to school and seeing less hairy men was a bit of a culture shock for me.

"If your dad doesn't have a beard... you've got two mums! " Clearly you've been raised correctly.

Peacocks. My school's got 3 of them, and they are scary. Just... I scream when i see them.

When I was a kid (really young, I don't remember this it's just what my parents told me) I loved Thomas the Tank Engine, but there's one scene in an episode where one of the trains got covered in tar or something. Apparently, every time that scene came on I'd hide behind the sofa!

I am really frightened of falling. Yet I do parkour and a run up walls, but its harder to get down for me.

Scariest thought in the world: You need a license to drive a car, but any dumbass can have and raise a kid.

There was a mouse on the floor in my house when I was about 11 or 12, and for some reason I assumed it was a toy for my brother (although he was 8, and didn't play with toys like that) so I went to pick it up, and it moved. I was scared of mice for a while.


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 Matthew wrote:
Peacocks. My school's got 3 of them, and they are scary. Just... I scream when i see them.

I got chased by one before so I concur, they are pretty scary. Although it feels silly to be scared by a sparkly pretty bird!

 Pete Melvin wrote:
As a kid I used to think the Chinese were watching me.

lol totally reminds me of this: http://southpark.cc.com/clips/187263/olympic-nightmare#

Not scared but I get very anxious in cities, and like malls.

I live out in the middle of nowhere. No cable, no pizza delivery, no streetlights etc.

People ask my family and I if we're scared living out there alone. I tell them no. We know our land better than anyone, day or night. If anyone or anything comes and goes, we will know first, miles out.

And I get along really well with animals, ....and bugs too....

But cities.... I have no idea who's who. And there's too much to watch. While I still spend a lot of time in cities to do business, it still gives me a lot of anxiety.

But I guess it's opposite for most people. It's like the reverse Blair Witch.

I think it depends on the person. In more of a leave me alone type as well and also get a bit on edge in crowds. I'd rather be relaxing in the woods or near a fire.

 Matthew wrote:
Peacocks. My school's got 3 of them, and they are scary. Just... I scream when i see them.

The peacock is the symbol of the angel Tawsi Melek, worshipped by the Yazidi sect in Mesopotamia and believed by some to be an incarnation of Satan.

See, being afraid of peacocks is not that dumb after all.

 Agent_Tremolo wrote:

 Matthew wrote:
Peacocks. My school's got 3 of them, and they are scary. Just... I scream when i see them.

The peacock is the symbol of the angel Tawsi Melek, worshipped by the Yazidi sect in Mesopotamia and believed by some to be an incarnation of Satan.

See, being afraid of peacocks is not that dumb after all.

Well if he didn't have a reason before, he certainly does now