Decided to create this thread after having an entertaining discussion with someone on deviantArt about weird phobias [like the fear of being looked at, or the fear of the color lavender xD]. I seem to be on a kick right now with strange topics of discussion on this site.
I imagine plenty of people have at least one phobia that’s, well, strange. How about you?
I don’t have many of the more common phobias.
Most things that scare people don’t bother me at all. Dead things [I almost became a funeral director, so...], rodents, spiders [I especially like tarantulas lol], snakes and other reptiles, dangerous animals [I have a healthy respect for them, but I’m not quite afraid of them], flying [my grandfather had a small airplane, so maybe that’s why], sharks, doctors, and so on, and so forth.
Rather, I’m afraid or distrustful of some rather bizarre things that I can’t necessarily explain, probably due solely to the fact that...
Spoiler below!
I’m mentally ill. The more you know.
… Although you most likely would have guessed that from my explanations for the first two phobias listed. Whatever.
My phobias are really silly overall, so feel free to laugh at me xD. If you know me at all, you know that I’m an odd person – and I’m proud of it, at that.
My primary phobias are:
Shadows [or even anything featureless and dark in color]
Spoiler below!
This one stems directly from my psychological state. I sometimes see things, and most of the time, those things are shadowy in form. I don’t find them all that disturbing, since they are gone in the blink of an eye and rarely take the form of anything I find troubling. But, occasionally, they are a tad creepy – I’ve seen the shadows of objects randomly move, change shape, or, in one fairly alarming instance, I saw an ownerless [meaning there was no object present to cast it] shadow, with distinct eyes and a smile, reflected in a mirror.
Thus I rather dislike shadows, in general.
People standing on the roadside
Spoiler below!
For basically the same reason as above – I see people on the roadside who aren’t really there, sometimes. It namely bothers me because I can’t always verify if they were actually there or not, and it screws with my head.
Scarecrows
Spoiler below!
This isn’t as much a fear as it is an irrational distrust. I read this book of assorted articles on folk magic once when I was younger, and there was one that suggested there was a way to create a scarecrow that would actually leave your garden in the late autumn, after the final harvest, to go winter in a warmer area until the next growing season started. I’ve been creeped out by scarecrows ever since.
Ironically, when I was a kid, I found Jonathan Crane rather disturbing, although he ended up becoming one of my favorite Batman villains eventually, despite the whole scarecrow thing. The Scarecrow also happens to be my favorite Wizard of Oz character [...whom also says the quote that's used in my sig ].
Being around hospitals [Not Nosocomephobia, which is the fear of hospitals themselves, but being in close proximity to hospitals.]
Spoiler below!
For whatever reason, hanging around the outside of hospitals gives me the same sensation as being in a cemetery – like I’m surrounded by something that I can just barely detect, but cannot physically see or interact with. I don’t get the sensation when I’m in a hospital, though, which is odd.
When I did volunteer work in a hospital in high school, as part of my vocational health class, I had to work to compose myself once I stepped off the bus, and I didn’t feel comfortable until I had finally passed through the ER entrance doors.
Large fish [specifically kept in home tanks]
Spoiler below!
Not including things like sharks or fish you’d find in an aquarium, but rather varieties of fish kept in home tanks that just happen to be large.
I don’t know why, but they give me the heebie-jeebies; there’s just something eerie about the way they float around and stare. I have very strange dreams sometimes about coming across dark tanks full of them in odd places that cause me to wake up abruptly. It’s especially strange because I’m a Picese and I’m inclined to like fish; I just don’t like these ones.
Anytime I’m in a pet supply store that sells large fish, I usually go and look at them briefly just to see if I can get past that sinking feeling of unease, but I usually end up having to move away from the tank in a hurry. The last time I ever did so left me feeling even more uneasy around them, as one of these really large ones I was looking at [I don’t recall what exactly they were, but they dwarfed the shark that was in the tank with them] came up to the glass closest to where I was standing and just stared at me. Then every time I moved, it would follow me, just to continue staring directly at me. I don’t really know how to feel about that.
Despite all of that, big fish in the ocean and other places [like those six-foot-long beasts in the Amazon basin] don’t bother me at all. Strange.
Red eyes
Spoiler below!
I think this one stems from memories of hearing stories about ghostly creatures and monsters with eyes like that – not to mention, instances where I’ve seen people who’ve been injured in such a way that their sclera turns red; very creepy, as well as nauseating. The funny thing is, they bother me far more if they are creatures that are black in color [such as Black Shuck, the black cat of Killakee, things of that nature] – which is another common theme in those aforementioned legends.
That being said, albino creatures don’t bother me at all, regardless of how dark red their eyes are.
And, now that I think of it, the Black Rabbit of Inle doesn’t bother me, either. The passage in WSD where he’s described it quite possibly my favorite thing ever written - “The Black Rabbit spoke with the voice of water that falls into pools in echoing places in the dark… and in the dark El-ahrairah could see his eyes, for they were red with a light that gave no light.”.
Plants with large flowers
Spoiler below!
This one I’ve never been able to understand. Especially considering how much I adore plants.
I just really, really dislike large flowers. The first time I remember becoming aware of my distaste for them was when I first saw a photo of one of those jungle plants [I don’t recall the name of it]; a giant, almost cartoonish, red and white insectivore. Something about that thing just bothered me, and I’m not sure why, exactly; I quite like insectivorous plants, but not that one. I’m not a fan of the corpse flower, either.
It also applies to things like Brugmansia, which can have very large blossoms. My mother used to keep a pair of them, and while I thought the flowers themselves were beautiful, I didn’t want to be anywhere near them, and looking at them made me nervous. I know that they have uses in shamanism, but that doesn’t exactly reassure me at all.
While the fact that they’re poisonous makes me wary of them in general, I don’t have the same fear of other poisonous plants in the Solanaceae family; in fact, I find them oddly charming.
Like with some of the other phobias I mentioned, there is an exception; sunflowers. For whatever reason, sunflowers, no matter how huge they are, don’t bother me. We used to grow them when I was a kid, so perhaps that has something to do with it.
Certain types of effigies
Spoiler below!
This one is particularly strange, due to the fact that I’m fascinated by effigies [thanks to studying my ancient ancestors], but certain ones bother me. Things like the twig figures from The Blair Witch Project, for one, which elicit a sort of ‘what the hell am I looking at?’ visceral reaction from me.
Any of them with a vaguely humanoid shape, but without defining human characteristics seem to be the primary catalysts. Most notably, certain varieties of [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppet]poppets[/url] [a relic of folk magic, mostly relocated to Hoodoo nowadays – otherwise known to laymen as “voodoo dolls”] bother me, although I’m not entirely certain why – I find the wax ones to be especially creepy, along with some of the fabric ones. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, as I own a fabric poppet named Amos, whom acts as my little sidekick once in a while [especially in my artwork; he’s made occasional appearances in my art since 2005, I believe]. My mother bought him for me, so I consider him to be a good luck charm.
Folk Art [yes, utterly ridiculous, still]
Spoiler below!
I watched Watership Down a lot growing up, and while I’ve always loved that movie [it’s also my favorite book lol], the opening sequence has always freaked me out. If you’ve ever heard that theory about how old games were scarier because lower-grade graphics make it difficult to identify what you’re looking at [the ‘it looks vaguely like a human, but is it?’ sort of thing], this is like that. The depiction of the fox alone makes me shudder.
That seems to have left me feeling rather ambivalent towards folk art. Some of it I love, but anything that has that sort of vaguely abstract quality to it just sends me running.
If anyone here has ever seen the old 1975 Chuck Taylor cartoon of Rudyard Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi, the opening credit sequence of that [with the sort of folk-y Indian-style art] always gave me the creeps as well – I’ve no idea why, though. Something about the way that style of art was done there just never sat well with me… Then again, the way they portrayed Nag and Nagaina never sat well with me, either.
… Yes, I’m aware that I’m a strange individual. The word ‘crazy’ is in my name for a reason, you know xD.
...The only people worthy of consideration are the unusual ones. Common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. - L. Frank Baum
(07-12-2014, 10:45 PM)ThatCrazyShaman Wrote: Folk Art [yes, utterly ridiculous, still]
Spoiler below!
I watched Watership Down a lot growing up, and while I’ve always loved that movie [it’s also my favorite book lol], the opening sequence has always freaked me out. If you’ve ever heard that theory about how old games were scarier because lower-grade graphics make it difficult to identify what you’re looking at [the ‘it looks vaguely like a human, but is it?’ sort of thing], this is like that. The depiction of the fox alone makes me shudder.
That seems to have left me feeling rather ambivalent towards folk art. Some of it I love, but anything that has that sort of vaguely abstract quality to it just sends me running.
I just bought Watership Down book and am planning to read it soon.
(07-12-2014, 11:09 PM)Dogfood Wrote: horses
i dont really freak out but they make me feel uneasy
I also have this because their long faces are sort of strange
(This post was last modified: 07-12-2014, 11:17 PM by Froge.)
i dont really freak out but they make me feel uneasy
I know some people are intimidated by their size or general appearance for some reason. The only time I was ever worried around them was when a very large mare I used to ride kept stepping on my foot lol
(07-12-2014, 11:17 PM)Froge Wrote: I just bought Watership Down book and am planning to read it soon.
It's a really good book - I just can't read the part recounting the destruction of Sandleford Warren, anymore... Once was enough. I didn't think a book could give me claustrophobia before that.
...The only people worthy of consideration are the unusual ones. Common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. - L. Frank Baum
(This post was last modified: 07-12-2014, 11:32 PM by ThatCrazyShaman.)
Yes, I was terrified of dogs back in the day. Dunno the reason behind my fears, perhaps being bited by my friend's dog did something to my brain.
Darkness.
As a kid, being alone (well, alone in my room) at night was the most terryfying thing I could imagine. Plus, my imagination liked to play tricks on me.
I'll actually raise my hand and say that I am afraid to put my head under running shower water.
As a reflex, I close my eyes, and my nose stops breathing, forcing me to open my mouth and physically force myself to manually inhale and exhale.
It sort of simulates a moment where I am drowning.
I too, am afraid of dogs. I don't mind small ones; but I classify 'big' as one which can stand on it's hind legs and be able to reach above my waist. A rough estimate would be about 3 ft (91cm) upward.
When I travel by car or bus, I always imagine that we're going to crash or fall into a ravine or something of that sort. I don't panic but it's enough to keep me uneasy and vigilant the whole ride. For this reason I've never felt the willingness to get a driver's licence, and I tend to refuse or avoid lifts from people I don't know that well (for example, co-workers) or people I don't know at all (friends of friends, etc.). Even when I used to work night shifts, I'd rather take the train than a lift from a co-worker.
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Got any odd or somewhat ridiculous phobias?
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