We all have fears. Some are the spectacular phobia kind, things like spiders and heights. And other fears come from all the media we consume, the narratives of abduction and murder that dominate television and movies.
And still others are a bit more realistic. These tend to be the one's that really make us shiver.
Of course, everybody has that one fear that seems to rise above the rest. For some reason, it seems more plausible and more catastrophic than the others all at the same time.
Curious to hear what the top fears out there are, Redditor THE_FALL1N_1 asked:
"What genuinely scares you to the core?"
Many people opted to share the more outlandish possible catastrophes. These weren't very likely, but their spectacular horrors made up for that.
Avoidance of Suffering
"Being tortured I think. I feel a healthy amount of fear towards death. Like I am not thinking or worrying about it everyday, but I try not to get in risky situations either."
"BUT The thought of someone provoking me an immense amount of physical pain with the whole purpose of making me suffer just scares the sh** out of me."
Like a Plague
"A swarm of flying cockroaches." -- Affectionate-Sock-62
"I'm in Texas, so imagining our Texas-sized roaches flying en masse is pretty scary." -- 3-DMan
"Fu** that I'm scared of even one roach!" -- Rocket-Tree
"Minor"
"Nuclear confrontation. Even at a minor scale." -- edgeofsanity76
"With nuclear bombs there is no 'minor' scale" -- ron_sheeran
"This, absolutely. There're now more countries with nuclear weaponry than ever and we're 100 seconds to midnight." -- GlebRyabov
Other people feared suddenness. They just couldn't fathom the idea of it all ending like a bolt out of a clear blue sky.
Just Happens
"That everything can change in a second."
"Just over a year ago my dad went for a walk, had a heart attack and died straight away. He was in great shape. there was no warning and he was only 50. Everything changed that day."
-- TpotCharlie
A Common Choice
"Brain aneurysms! You could just be going about your day and bam! All over" -- indistrustofmerits
"One of our colleagues today was rushed to the hospital for an aneurysm. Apparantly it's non operable and she has 48 hours left. It really puts things in perspective." -- meltedsnake
Never Good
"Phone calls late at night or at awkward times when people normally don't call. Those are never good calls." -- spockgiirl
And others went with the very realistic, existential threats out there. These had a lot to do with time passing and a thousand moments of bad luck all adding up.
The Withering
"I'm not afraid to die. I'm scared of getting old, and losing control over my body and mind. That is far scarier to me than having it all end" -- Silas-Alec
Eroding at the End
"Having a long-term illness that is a burden on my family and wipes us out financially." -- irishamerican
"My grandmother has become that kind if burden and she doesn't care and intentionally makes life impossible for my family. We will probably be sending her to live with my POS aunt because of how they both are behaving."
"My family might lose our house because of everything we are going through. My grandmother needs to be out of the picture. She's not even a good person and she brought her illness on herself, so I have no pity." -- LaunchesKayaks
To Be Loved
"As a 36 year old man with no kids and having never been married, dying alone. Getting old never having known what it feels like to have someone who chose you scares the hell out of me."
-- ramboy18
What If It's Just Not Enough
"Doing everything right financially, saving for retirement, investing, paying down my mortgage, etc. and everything crashing. As a millennial I have already been through 3 major recessions, I'd prefer to not ad a depression onto that."
Just in case you were feeling safe, secure, and confident about the future, hopefully this list didn't upturn it all.
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Even the strongest of personalities have that one paralyzing fear or phobia that cannot be understood by others.
Many phobias – like the fear of clowns – can be considered irrational.
Although, clowns should be universally feared after "Pennywise" – the Dancing Clown from Stephen King's It became a part of pop culture.
"Down here, we all float." Not with you. Bye-bye.
Slicing Fingers
"That when i fall while ice skating, someone wont see me on the ground and theyll skate over my fingers slicing them like carrots. luckily i dont ice skate much and if i do i hold the wall."
"edit: so ive been getting comments on how this isn't irrational (because it really isnt) and how this has happened to people and im letting you know that the last time i remember skating is when i was 7, and i havent been on the ice since. since i havent skated in almost a decade, why does my brain worry about getting my fingers cut off???"
– uhh--
It's A Snap
"Breaking my neck or spine. Not too realistic but working as a lifeguard one summer I was always on super mega alert while watching the diving well. I can't imagine living the rest of my life being paralyzed."
– thefishwillfloat
Upon Reflection
"I hate looking in mirrors for a prolonged amount of time due to the fear of my reflection not matching. Also, mirrors at night are just freaky."
Bye Shins
"Tripping over while walking up granite stairs with sharp edges and end up breaking my shins into multiple segments."
– SubcooledBoiling
Sharing The Road
"When I drive buy a cyclist I'm always afraid they're gonna fall off right as I'm next to them and roll under my tires."
– DeadInsideWiggs
The Depths
"Being in a swimming pool alone for fear of sharks/fish. IRRATIONAL"
– _mellowello
"Omg I had this fear as a kid too!
"We had a pool which would get partial shade over it during the day, idk why but I'd sometimes freak myself out that a shark was going to suddenly appear in the shaded parts of the pool so I wouldn't swim in it or avoid those parts (even tho they'd move throughout the day) and I'd be happily swimming in the sunny bits."
"I dont feel this way now about swimming in pools but I'm glad I'm not the only one who had/has this irrational fear :)"
– bookittyFk
They Didn't Do It
"Being accused of some horrible crime and having my whole life destroyed because of it."
– FonkyChonkyMonky
Crashing At Your Place
"Every time I hear a plane fly over my house my heart starts pounding because I think it's going to come crashing down."
– booksoverppl
Arachnophobia
"I f'kn hate spiderwebs, and spiders too."
"I squeal like a little bitch if I feel a web on me... Ugh."
"Yesterday, was vacuuming and stuck my hand in the gap behind the fridge and hit web, pulled hand out, spider attached... #Screamfest 2020"
Wrong Place And Time
"I'm gonna cross the street and get stuck in a time glitch and when time corrects itself a car will suddenly be right next to me and run me over."
– ET318
Everyone is afraid of something, but for most of us it's something that "makes sense" like spiders, snakes, etc. That's not the case for everyone, though.
Scientists haven't fully figured out the mechanisms of fear. Some seem to be instinctive, like our fears of predatory animals such as sharks, crocodiles, etc.
But others don't seem to make any sense at all. There are theories that they may develop after a trauma, but that's not always the case.
As far as science is concerned, the mechanics of fear are an unsolved mystery.
Some people develop fears of totally innocuous things like butterflies, pieces of string, or the breeze. Yes, a fear of the breeze or moving air is a real thing.
It's called "aerophobia" and can be so bad that people who suffer from it can't go outside, be near a window where they might see plants swaying in the wind, or even be in a room with a fan.
Quora wanted to know:
What is a weird fear that you have?
People's responses were incredibly varied and unusual - demonstrating that just about anything can end up as a trigger to someone. Before we get into the answers, we wanted to take a moment to thank responders for their willingness to be vulnerable and share.
Some answers have been edited for clarity or language.
Wrists
I know this is going to sound odd, so bear with me.
I have a fear of wrists.
For as long as I can remember, I have been terrified of the underside of wrists. I can't look at my own wrists. I definitely can't touch them. I don't own a single watch or bracelet. Sometime I even struggle with long sleeved shirts, because I can feel it touching my wrists.
One time, I scratched my wrist on a nail and I almost passed out.
Anytime wrists are shown on TV, I have to turn away. Once someone unexpectedly cut their wrist during a show, and I curled up in the fetal position and couldn't move for at least 10 minutes. I still shiver when I think about it.
I haven't met anyone else with a fear like mine. Most people just laugh and hit their wrists together, just to see my reaction. *shudder*
Oh, and wrist tattoos? I will never understand how anyone could ever want one.
DoodleBob
GiphyAs a kid I was terrified of DoodleBob.
Whenever his episode would come on I would run to the kitchen and hide, peeking every couple minutes to see if the horror was over yet.
I don't know why, but I found him so scary. I couldn't stand his talk, his walk, or his look. Maybe it was because he was a mock-off of the loveable SpongeBob.
With every "'me hoy minoy'" I trembled with fear. With every crazy shriek I screamed on the inside. Every time he flicked that pencil and came up with something new I feared that he would create something even more horrifying than himself.
Looking back now, I actually find it kind of funny and feel a bit stupid that DoodleBob had managed to make me run for the hills.
On Purpose
I have an insane fear that someday I'm going to crash my car - on purpose.
Sometimes, while I'm driving, and I'm being tailgated, I have this incredible urge to slam on my brakes and have the guy behind me plow into me. More often, though, when I see a stopped car in front of me, I want to hit it with mine, just to see what would happen. Even pedestrians, I start to target them before I realize what I'm doing. I want to watch them jump and run away.
Also while driving I get insanely-strong urges to:
- While I'm at a red light, just go, even though there's cross-traffic going.
- Take my hands off the wheel and see how long I can go before I crash.
- Drive into the reservoir. It looks so pretty.
- Close my eyes and see how long I can last.
That last one especially scares me. Once or twice I even started to do it - just closed my eyes for a few seconds before I stop myself.
Butterfly In The Sky...
The fear of butterflies. I don't know exactly why or how I came of to be scared of such innocent and innocuous creatures, but I am afraid of butterflies since childhood and even now at the age of 22! Not to mention how utterly disgusting moths are.
Even seeing a picture of butterfly on internet causes heart palpitations.
Ancient humans have always been afraid of flying creatures, maybe I somehow carried the trait. It is strange and embarrassing at the same time, to be afraid of such things. Generally I am not afraid of insects and reptiles. Neither am I afraid of birds or bats.
But encountering a butterfly really sends chills down my spine and my mouth runs dry. Eww it's so disgusting.
Socks
I have a very weird fear. Well, it isn't so much a fear but an aversion. I loathe the very idea of it.
I have a phobia of 'socks'.
It is worse if it is wet socks or dirty socks. Muddy socks. Old socks. Unwashed smelly socks. Socks with threads coming off.
I know that socks won't bite me and they won't band together to attack me or anything. It isn't exactly fear but more like disgust. That doesn't mean I don't run to a completely different corner of the room when I see socks. I just hate them.
I hate the very thought of them.
This phobia is so weird that it doesn't even have a name.
Elevator
I have a fear of elevators… something about falling down and getting splattered at the bottom. Or even weirder, to go up so fast that it flies out of the roof and falls down the building.
Nowhere Is Safe
ANTS!!!!!
I am truly afraid of ants.
When I was 13-ish, my ex-stepdad tried to "toughen me up" by making me help him remove weeds and plant some new plants in the garden without any gloves. He shoveled a large chunk of ground into my hands and I was supposed to place it to the side. It turned out that that particular piece of ground was also an anthill. Not the superficial useless dirt on top of the ground but the actual heart of the thing.
He shoveled an ungodly amount of ants into my unprotected hands and chest. I passed out a bit, then bolted into the shower screaming obscenities to everyone and everything. I ran and stripped naked as fast as humanly possible, got under the frigid water and danced like an octopus doing Capoeira while on meth.
My dad walked in and told me I was a wimp for being afraid of ants. Then, very large, very red and EXTREMELY ITCHY spots appeared on my skin. I ended up having to go to the hospital. That's where we were informed that I am actually highly allergic to ant-bites.
After that debacle, I swear ants hunt me down! They follow me everywhere to finish the job!
One time, I was using the toilet when I noticed a black tiny speck moving up my calf. It was an ant. I looked to my right and there was a literal conga line of ants ambling unto the back of the toilet. They were going for a sneak attack!
Then, I was doing push-ups during martial arts class and an ant bit me on my left hand right between my index finger and middle finger. It swelled up and I could not use my left hand for anything. That single ant bite removes my ability to use that hand for about a week. A clear use of intimidation tactics and psychological warfare to lessen my will to live.
Another time, I saw an ant on top of my foot while I was showering. Rambo Ant hated me so much that it decided to attack me through a literal waterfall of death (to the ant). Rambo Ant risked its own life to attack me when I was most vulnerable — half-asleep, naked and alone.
Last month, I was happily reading under my covers at night when I felt a tiny imp stab my inner thigh. It was an ant. It bit me about 2 inches away from my genitals. The area swelled up and I could not wear underwear for days. The ant could have gone for the money shot but, it did not. It chose not to. It was a warning. The ants were telling me that nowhere is safe. Not my home, not my bathroom, not my bedroom and not my own bed. NOWHERE IS SAFE!!!
Moo
GiphyI thought my fear was pretty weird, but after reading some of the other answers I feel pretty normal.
I'm terrified of cows; to the point of panic attacks, lots of tears and an awful lot of swearing.
An Extension Of My Mind
I'm afraid of things puncturing my skin, because my skin feels like an extension of my mind. I have to look away and distract myself when I get vaccines. There's no way I could ever inject medicine into myself. I can poke my finger with a pin, but just barely, and it takes all my willpower, and the very outer edge of my finger doesn't count as part of my skin anyway.
Bad news: I'll probably die of something that could have been treated using injected medicine.
Just Watching
I have a certain fear that people would say was weird. I'm afraid of portraits. They make me feel very nervous and self conscious. They're just literally watching me, their eyes following me wherever I go.
I don't like photographs of people looking at the camera, it's as though they're staring back at me. Any magazine, poster or picture of people looking at the camera or at me will make me either leave the room or cover the pictures over.
Flush
Flushing toilets. If the toilet isn't flushing it's fine, but every single time I flush the toilet it scares me. I absolutely can NOT flush a toilet in the middle of the night. I like using public washrooms cause flushing a toilet in public is the least nerve wracking for me. Don't know why it freaks me out but it has ever since I was around 7.
I hate clowns. Like a lot. I know a lot of people have a clown fear, but mine manifests more like an irrational anger towards clowns - thing is, I have a really good reason for it.