Phobias • Non-Gaming • General Non-gaming • Eurogamer.net

Rogueywon 6 May 2018 22:32:43 12,387 posts
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The old spiders thread getting bumped had me thinking about phobias. I'm fine with spiders. I wouldn't say I "like" them, in that I never think "I know, let's go out and play with some spiders", but nor do they particularly trigger any of my fight-or-flight instincts. I normally just put them out the window if I find them at home. A false widow the other year did come to a quick end thanks to The Cambridge Ancient History Volume XIII (Later Roman Empire), but that was moderately dangerous and I'm not daft. Snakes are also fine. I mean, I wouldn't do anything stupid with a dangerous one, but I've shoed a few grass snakes out of the garage of our place in the US before (just wave a broom at them and they slither away) and when we had a rattler on the driveway (which is a genuinely dangerous one), I just called pest control and ignored it until they arrived.

But jellyfish... those fuckers set me right off. Can't stand the sight of them. Just looking at a photo of one can give me goosebumps. The thought of going anywhere near a real one, even a dead one washed up on a beach, is enough to make me shiver. It's a daft, irrational phobia but there's nothing I can do about it.

Anybody else got anything equally daft?

elstoof 6 May 2018 22:34:23 28,126 posts
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Rice in the sponge

Dougs 6 May 2018 22:40:04 100,414 posts
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Level crossings. Hate them. It's not as if I can't drive over them but every time I can't help but think the train will mow me down.

Frogofdoom 6 May 2018 22:40:19 17,973 posts
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Not great with snakes and one of my mates had 2, he left them feeding on the coffee table eating baby chicks and went out asking me to keep an eye on them. One of the stupid cunts started falling off the table causing me to have to save it mid feed, i wasn't happy about it. Still makes me a bit sick thinking about it.

OnlyJoeKing 6 May 2018 22:42:45 1,293 posts
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I really like spiders. Until the point of physical contact. Then I'll immediately leap away like a terrified child..

Having had to endure an hour and a half of walking along a blind, winding, 50mph road today, with no footpath, my new phobia is bad holiday decisions. And cars.

Rogueywon 6 May 2018 22:44:07 12,387 posts
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@Frogofdoom Hah, yes, I can see that being in the nightmare-fuel category. I've no phobia of snakes, but I don't quite get the attraction of having one as a pet. You don't exactly get the affection you get from a dog or cat.

LegendaryApe 6 May 2018 22:48:31 2,500 posts
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Tidal waves. I can barely watch when they're in a scene in a movie etc. I've also had dreams of them. Not fun.

Decks 6 May 2018 22:50:29 31,014 posts
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Not a big fan of maggots. Spiders and snakes and all the other stuff you're supposed to be scared of I quite like. I have Trypophobia obviously but if you don't have that you're a fucking deviant.

Rogueywon 6 May 2018 22:55:33 12,387 posts
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@LegendaryApe Right at the start of my career, I did a very junior role for a study team looking at rogue waves. Totally different from tsunamis/tidal waves, but still fucking terrifying. They were considered the nautical equivalent of urban legends until 1995 (when one was measured hitting an oil rig in the North Sea). There was a lot of interest in studying them (hence my first job) from insurance companies, who'd suddenly realised that waves big enough to punch through the hull of a post-panamax container ship actually existed.

Enough to make you never want to get on a boat again.

Though on the tsunami front, google Lituya Bay if you want a real horror show.

fontgeeksogood 6 May 2018 23:29:34 12,913 posts
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Being murdered

Nitrous 6 May 2018 23:50:58 2,295 posts
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Wasps and its because I was stung as a kid in the top corner of my ear which swelled up. The buzzing sound really gets to me and if I see one flying about I'll get myself as far away from it as possible.

LegendaryApe 6 May 2018 23:57:51 2,500 posts
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@Rogueywon

I googled Lituya Bay. The word Megatsunami is my least favourite word.

rockavitch 7 May 2018 00:33:32 1,303 posts
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Moths. Hate those zombie butterfly twats. I know they don't bite or anything but I read about one getting stuck in someones ear when I was younger and each flap as it struggled was like a drumbeat in his head. Caused ear to bleed and had to go to hospital to have it removed.

Terrified of it happening to me as I sleep. Even today no matter how warm it is I will sleep with the windows closed. I'm 33.

BillMurray 7 May 2018 06:51:03 9,736 posts
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RandolphCarter wrote:
Heights because I genuinely get an overwhelming urge to jump from them. The thought of being drunk whilst on a high balcony terrifies me as there's a possibility I would give in to the internal voice that begs me to jump off.

This!

For whatever reason I also have a physical reaction deep in my guts. For example, if I were to look over a first floor banister I would get a weird feeling right deep down in my guts. Must be hereditary too as my Mum has the same involuntary gut feeling.

Despite all that I will happily jump on the biggest, scariest rollercoaster I can find. I guess if I know it�s a fall I can possibly survive then it�s guaranteed to give me a case of the willies.

mothercruncher 7 May 2018 07:58:15 19,475 posts
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Eastenders.

Deleted user 7 May 2018 07:59:53

Mustard round the anus.

challenge_hanukkah 7 May 2018 08:09:36 14,400 posts
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Adults under 4"10 give me acid flashbacks.

It can actually be quite debilitating.

Zomoniac 7 May 2018 08:10:01 10,628 posts
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Wasps and burglars are mine.

My wife has a massive phobia of worms, if she sees one on the pavement she�ll cross the street. I�ve never known anyone else with it.

hedben2013 7 May 2018 08:20:29 2,266 posts
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I can't stand biting into a peach. Nectarines are fine, but fuzzy peach makes my skin crawl. (No, this is not a euphemism, I am not pulling a DJ Khaled)

Also, wasps can go extinct for all I care. I'm not scared but I fucking hate them since childhood because my mum's allergic and goes into anaphylactic shock if she gets stung.

Deleted user 7 May 2018 08:48:19

Addyb_V2 wrote:
Mustard round the anus.

I can hear the cease and desist letter being written already

Load_2.0 7 May 2018 09:49:44 33,582 posts
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Mustard around the anus is a scientific marvel and well known cure-all for many maladies.

Fuck spiders. The moment you take your eye off them they teleport. Closer and closer before biting your eyeball with their poison fangs or laying their spider eggs in your brain.

Also cranes, fucking cranes all unbalanced and ready to topple over and crush you when you walk near them.

UncleLou Moderator 7 May 2018 10:03:55 40,723 posts
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Weird how scary we find spiders although there haven't been deadly spiders in Europe for thousands of years. Don't really have a phobia, but I don't need to touch bigger ones...

Good to remember though that we woud absolutely drown in (usually much more dangerous) insects if it wasn't for spiders. We couldn't walk for flies, mosquitoes, and whatnot without them. It helps to see them that way!

nickthegun 7 May 2018 10:29:10 87,711 posts
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I really judge people who are terrified of spiders. Spiders are great and if it wasn't for them, our houses would be full of flies who are complete arseholes. We have this argument all the time in our house. 'aaaargh! Aspidergetridofitgetridofit!!!!' 'no, they eat flies, flies are wankers, the spider stays'.

It just seems to be the thing that people almost deliberately allow themselves to become completely hysterical over. I honestly just don't understand it. They are tiny little things, pull yourselves together, you fannies.

Edited by nickthegun at 10:31:54 07-05-2018

Decks 7 May 2018 10:34:04 31,014 posts
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Evolutionary instinct to be scared of them innit. But yeah spiders are great.

Shoebill cranes freak me out a bit. I imagine being chased by one is truly terrifying.

Edited by Decks at 10:34:20 07-05-2018

wuntyate 7 May 2018 10:35:59 17,494 posts
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Sandpaper or sweets with sugar on top. Makes my skin crawl even looking at either. Don't know what that's called.

I used to have a mild fear of spiders but got over that by making myself pick every one up I found in the house. Worked great, til I picked a huge fucker up that bit me. Didn't break the skin but hurt and freaked me out a bit. So I'm back to having a mild fear of spiders. Dead ones freak me out ten times more than live ones though.

Edited by wuntyphyve at 10:37:56 07-05-2018

nickthegun 7 May 2018 10:40:43 87,711 posts
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Decks wrote:
Evolutionary instinct to be scared of them innit. But yeah spiders are great.

You could make a case for us being able to spot and be wary of them but carrying on like a great big flapping vagina is pure conditioning.

Edited by nickthegun at 10:41:03 07-05-2018

Load_2.0 7 May 2018 10:43:33 33,582 posts
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I totally accept their place in the ecosystem and the little money spider types are fine to handle. I am 100% catch and release.

But the midsize ones, nah uh. They kill people ALL THE TIME. You just don't hear about as it gets hushed up by the government so the public doesn't panic.