h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Heights. But only when there is actually a fair chance that I'd fall through my own actions. Not in a plane for instance, but an unsteady ladder doesn't have to be very high before I won't clib it.

Totally irrational I know, but I've been known to faint if a moth, butterfly or small bird is flying free inside a room. In the open air, no problem, bees & wasps (which could really be serious if they sting due to an allergy) I catch in a glass & put outside. same with dragon flies, daddylonglegs, spiders and all other insects/bugs, rodents & amphibians etc that the cats bring in the house alive.

I managed to conquer my fear of hypodermics when my son was very ill and needed lots of blood transfusions. Although he has a different blood group to mine, I started donating blood as a thank you. I still don't like them much though.

I love bees. I therefore get upset when someone kills them 'because I'm scared of them and they sting, anyway.'
I don't object to people being scared of bees and wasps (bees and wasps! covered in bees!) but to kill the former is really not fair. This probably won't do any good, but be told! Bees do not sting unless provoked, i.e if you're trying to kill them. And they will die themselves afterwards, due to the sting being attatched to the rest of their innards. Not a pretty sight.
By all means kill wasps, nasty vindictive little buggers that they are.

Having just this minute put all the books back on one shelf of the bookcase, I emptied it to catch a stag beetle that came in on the washing. I can honestly say that I won't kill anything I can catch and return to it's natural habitat. I would perhaps make an exception for cockroaches and woodworm.

Earywigs. Nang.

George W. Bush being elected President. Oh wait...

No. Stop there Fraulein. That will do.

*bursts into tears*

Don't cry over George W. He's not worth it.

Here's a piece of scrumpled Kleenex if it helps.

In the 60s the prospect of Bush's predecessor with his finger on the button scared the hell out of me. But it's impossible to remain that frightened for over 40 years. So now, "I'm a brave brave mouse, I go marching through the house and I'm not afraid of anything"? (that's out of copyright, moderators) Well no, there's always dentists

An episode of The Tomorrow People where people were being attacked by giant beachballs and forced to wear skintight jumpsuits. This still scares the hell out of me...

Any kind of pattern on a shirt or a tie. It's like wearing someone else's signature. Or a logo that I haven't subscribed too - which I won't wear either. prefer straight colours - that way I can create my own message about who I am.

Unsafe heights. Looking over the edge of a cliff or a tall building with a handrail - not a problem. Looking down from the top of a wobbly ladder or chair...

Stick Insects. I gradually overcame my fears, but they're just too big and look too fragile. Like some kind of insectoid leper, they look as if something could fall off of them...

Automatic sliding doors. This isn't fear so much as paranoia. I approach them expecting them to open and they don't - until the very last minute. Is the machine ignoring me? Am I invisible? Have I suddenly been transported into another universe? Why does the door refuse to acknowledge my presence?

That's just the evil shop-dwellers who have machines to delay the action of the doors. So you stride up to the door, then do that daft pigeon-like bobbing uncertain lunge at it in case it doesn't open. It would be a lot better to go marching into solid glass with style, but no one has the willpower to do this.
This is why I'm scared of shops. Hives of evil.

Bees and wasps - i'd never kill one - far too scared to get that close! - got stung once and my leg swelled up to the size of a small elephants leg - off school of weeks - its was great!

Clowns, Ventriloquists dummies and dolls, but especially the dummies - god that film with anthony hopkins scared the bejessuss out of me. dolls have always freaked me out. saw a really scary 'play for children' type things when i was a kid and it had one of those horrible wooden heads in a glass booth thing terrifing a small child - had the same effect on me! .....

Absolutely PETRIFIED, like, PRIMEVAL *TERROR* : Dark rooms in modern art galleries (especially if they have loud sounds and big screens with moving stuff on it) and anything to do with the middle of the ocean (under it, especially in it, submarines...*shudders*). Big crunching can-only-be-described-as-Victorian machinery (mills, those pistons in the engine room in 'Titanic'....). Even those fast trains that they get you to stand back from as they rush through the station. Big statues in quiet places.

Rather boringly: unsecured high places and taking off in a plane.(Always used to be ok with that as a child, perhaps it's a growing awareness of my mortality...Hmmm... *ponders rather 6-form-ish-ly*)

Also commonly: bees and wasps. When I was about four I thought I had a fly on my neck so went like _that_ (*goes like _that_ with his head and his shoulder to demonstrate*) and it turned out to be a bee. I keep telling myself it was 22 years ago, but still to no avail...

Waking up and not loving my boyfriend any more. Him doing similar.

Darth Vader.

Af
x

How is the edge of a cliff not an 'unsafe height'? There's nothing between you and a vertical drop. Richard and I visited the island of Hoy a few years ago (Hoy is part of the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland for anybody that doesn't know). There's a famous rock stack called 'The Old Man of Hoy' off the coast, and we went to have a look at it. You have to approach over land and, as the Old Man's a stack, the land ends at a cliff just before you reach it. Richard went right up to the edge for a good look. I stopped a few feet away. Call me a wuss if you like, but that sort of unprotected drop really does scare me!

Hello W****E, Hello Aphrael,
Haven't seen either of you here for ages. Its been too long. s and es to you both.

Hello 'Star,
My sister is 46, and bites her dentists. I think he is afraid of her. I like going to the dentist, myself. I discovered a great way to drift through the time in the chair once by accident, after a surprising but enjoyable time the night before. I just lay in the chair dreaming my way through a re-run.

Hello everyone else!

***B

Worms
Spiders don't bother me but I can't stand worms
YUCK

Over the years in various corners of the globe I have a) fainted before the dentist touched me b) vomited over the white shoes of a supercilious nurse c) screamed in Russian (not a language I had had any contact with for the past 30 years)at an Australian dentist d) sworn violently at a gentleman friend who was trying to be comforting and e) cried throughout the procedure -often. My dentists would have been GLAD if I bit them

i believe someone mentioned a fear of the ocean....

its not the ocean that scares me so much, but rather the thought of dying in it... that movie "The Perfect Storm" (dont know if UK title was different or not) with George Cloony scared the living snot out of me. (especially as I spent lots and lots of time on Cape Ann as a kid, Gloucester is on Cape Anne.) I remember when they died (although i wasn't living in New England at that time.) but still, as someone who grew up on the water, that sort of stuff really really freaks me out.

Spiders.
Eight hairy legs attached to a tiny body, able to move in almost any direction... Creepy. And FAST...
Woke up in Florida once facing a *HUGE* hairy beast with fangs on the wall right next to my face... A safely sealed house, but noooo, *they* will find a way....
Remember that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy brushes those tarantulas off the guy's back? AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Oh, yeah, Dubya scares me, too. Two hairy legs attached to a tiny head... creepy.
A safely sealed (White) house, but noooo, *they* will find a way...
Remember that scene in Silence of the Lambs when Hopkins makes his escape? Reminds me of Dubya in a weird kind of way....
uhm...