So we're having a bit of a spider invasion of the house at the moment, not helped by the fact I cut the screen out of my window last week. (Erm ... long story). And I can't seem to find out what species they are. They bear a resemblance to the black house spider, but with the general body shape and leg distribution of a white-tail, and, for some reason, red-tipped legs. Given that none of the families I've narrowed it down to are harmless, and some are downright necrotic, I've been going on a bit of a killing spree.

I'm explaining this to demonstrate that I don't normally murder harmless arachnids, just the ones who might make my legs drop off.

So I was in my room, stalking a particularly large specimen with a shoe in one hand and surface spray in the other, when a large and bewildered-looking moth struggled in through the open window (cf screen removal).

Naturally, upon seeing this, I screamed like a banshee, sprinted across the hall, slammed the door and tried to remember how to breathe.

So ... I guess, post your really stupid phobias here. I don't mean things like sharks. Eeryone's afraid of sharks, that's perfectly rational. I'm talking full-on fear of something completely incapable of harming you, even if it desperately wanted to. Short of flying down your oesophagus, I suppose.

When I was about five or six years old, I watch Joe Dante's (Who later went on to bring us the beloved Gremlins and less beloved Gremlins 2) film Piranha [imdb.com].

While all modern reports state it was actually a very funny movie and not all that scary, my prepubescent self did not see it this way.

I couldn't go near a stream, lake, or swimming pool for about two years afterwards.

Now, I can hear the pedants flutter "But a piranha is a perfectly rational fear. It could really Eff you up, man! They've got really pointy, sharp teeth!"

While this may be true, fictitious pedant, considering the nearest piranha is probably some thousands of miles away and I still catch myself glancing in the pool before I jump in, I will list this as irrational fear # 1 on my hit list.

I have a fear of tall buildings, stressed busy lightning fast people and generally anything else commonly found in cancerously overgrown big cities.

Considering the amount of people who like these sorts of places, I can only assume this fear must be irrational.

In Response to unFalln (#24442):

How the hell did you survive coming to Sydney then? You certainly didn't LOOK scared...

In Response to snipergirl (#24446):

Yes, he did. He squealed like a girl every time it rained.

In Response to tynic (#24448):

That's right, I'd forgotten about that! Teeheehee... what happened to da photos?

Cockroaches. I lived in an apartment building in Hong Kong.

I used to be afraid ot the drain in the deep end of any pool.

I used to go to family reunions, and after eating we would go over to my second cousins house and swim in the lake that he lived by. Even though I knew that aligators did not live in the lake, I was always afraid that they did and were going to eat me.

The summer after my Junior year of high school; I was participating in a "swimming workshop" at my high school. The pool could either be two pools in one (each with lanes of 25 yards or meters) or it could be Olympic sized. This summer it was set up for the 50 meter lanes. Here's [k12.in.us] a picture of part of the pool, I hope it helps at least a little. Anyhoo, for a couple days over the summer the water got really cloudy so that you could barely see three feet in front of your face. And every time I swam by the deep end I always got the feeling that something really big was just waiting for me to swim by so that it could eat me or give me a good chase - which I am also afraid of (being chased) but that's rational.

I know someone that's afraid of toe socks [sock-dreams.com].

Ants.

But I read Phase IV [trashfiction.co.uk], a book based on a movie of the same name.

Anyone who reads that book or sees that movie and doesn't develop an ant phobia is whacked.

I got over this one, but when I was a kid, I was scared to death by James Earl Jones reciting the alphabet on Sesame Street.

Context: it was about 1970, and Jones had just finished starring in The Great White Hope. He was bald, and somebody thought it was a good idea for him to stare unsmiling straight into the camera and bring that basso profundo voice to bear: A. B. C. D.... It took him a full minute to get all the way through, and it scared the snot out of me.

Seeing Star Wars at the age of 10 certainly didn't help.

I finally got over my irrational fear of James Earl Jones reciting things when Letterman invited him, on 31 Dec 1999, to recite the "Top Ten Ways Things Will Be Different in The Year 2000". Number 10:

Stuff's gonna 'splode.

Letterman lost it, the studio audience lost it, James Earl Jones just slowly turned to stare at Dave, unsmiling, which sent Letterman into another fit of giggle. JEJ held it together until the end of the Top Ten, then broke down laughing.
 

Global Warming, OR a second ice age... They don't really bother me... but it seems a lot of people are worried about them nowadays, I know the whole worried about how it will effect us thing... but honestly... Its only going to affect future generations... and if i'm wrong... well... the net will prolly be down before i get to see how much shit I'll get from everyone.

In Response to Humbaba (#24486):

If your brains were dynamite, you couldn't blow your nose.

Fuck-wit!!

In Response to Humbaba (#24486):

Humbaba,

Welcome to the forums. Niceties aside, keep your posts on topic, IRRATIONAL FEARS, or you're going to get a lot of abuse.
Read the F.A.Q. [goats.com] for some guidance!

What, Ice ages and global warming are irrational fears... people are afraid of them, they aren't likely to happen, aren't they irrational and aren't they fears? According to the topic this was a place to post irrational fears.

In Response to Humbaba (#24502):

According to the topic this was a place to post irrational fears.

No, the topic [goats.com] was to post your stupid phobias. You took the opportunity to criticize others for their fears (and to judge them as irrational).

If you'd been around these forums more, you'd know that there are people here who know a hell of a lot more about global warming/ice ages that you (or I) ever will, and they'll likely chew on you for calling them "irrational."

So when Deerboy comes by and abuses you, just keep this thought in mind: "Man, I really invited that."
 

In Response to Humbaba (#24502):

Ok,
First off, when replying to someone's comment use the 'reply' button in the gray area below the comment. Then it is nested under the comment you are replying to. That is if you are reading the forums in nested mode.
Second, your post is on topic but tynic is looking for silly fears like "I can't step on a yellow line crossing the street.".
Lastly, read the F.A.Q.

In Response to snipergirl (#24446):

That was how I look when I'm scared. You should see me when I'm angry.

In Response to tynic (#24448):

Thankfully, it pissed down for the next 5 days after I got back home. It was so fuckin' good, I played helicopters.

In Response to GeminiCrash (#24458):

That person is me. Fucking toe socks. Those things are freaky as. Oh yeah, I'm also afraid of blood oranges. Those things are totally the vampires of the orange world.

In Response to gtyrrell (#24506):

Nah, sometimes I like to watch 'em squirm all on their own. The attack dogs barely notice when I'm not in pack. Especially when the fruit hangs this low. Particularly when the ducks are in a row. You know, horseshoes and handgrenades.

As far as mankind's future, screw global warming. I'm not sure if I'm more worried about robotics or nanotechnology. Crap, those are rational fears. Damn you, damn you all to hell!

In Response to deerboy (#24521):

I'm really not so sure I want to know how the meek are going to inherit the earth. That is a rational fear also, because Jesus said so.

When I was maybe twelve, there was this ridiculously stupid kids' movie on TV (I suspect it was actually made for TV) wherein the plot was essentially that this weirdo could suck your soul/life energy/whatever out of your body via mirrors.

For approximately the next six years I avoided mirrors assiduously, shied away from reflective surfaces in general, and I still don't enjoy finding them in unexpected places, especially by seeing myself reflected in them.

I still get the screaming heebie-jeebies when I walk down a road near my parent’s house at night. It is one small section, maybe 20-30 yards, on one side of the road. I walk along paths that are completely unlit without any problem, but this small stretch of well-lit footpath just sends me completely doo-lally; I still find myself running when I go past. I got scared there, by something that I can’t even remember now, when I was seven or eight years old and thirty years on I still cannot control the dread that comes over me when I walk past in the dark.
The biggest problem is that it is on the shortest route from the office to the pub!

I’m afraid that I’ll wake up one day to find out that this life was only a test! If it had been a real life I would have been told where to go and how to get there! So everyone sleep well to night. As Bob Wear said, “Dreams are lies. It’s the dreaming that’s real.”.

In Response to snipergirl (#24519):

I like the taste, but I have to eat them with my eyes shut.

In Response to Nagy_Vilmos (#24536):

I smell Steven King novel!