Does anything scare you?

[Kyriakos]

A simple question, with the possibility to be replied elaborately.
I used to be scared by many things, from basic ones (such as bullies at school) to more intellectual ones (as in hallucinations), but now i probably am not frightened of those anymore, either because they stopped existing, or because i don't view them as a threat.

However i frequently aim to frighten in my stories, since although they are not entirely part of the traditional horror genre, they have elements of it.

So i am interested in reading what scares others, so that i may choose to incorporate something of the sort in my work, provided that it does not command a departure from my chosen style and themes which i cannot afford to pursue.

Sometimes fears become popular, although not 'innate', such as is the case of popular or quasi-popular fear of the end of the world, looming according to various not that reputable sources. Other times a fear can be extremely atomic, specific to one or just a few individuals. I am interested in all types of fears though, hopefully you won't have the fear particular to sharing them though

 

[Tee Kay]

I'm scared of everything.

 

[Winner]

Large grasshoppers and locusts. I have a phobia against them from childhood. I only discovered that a few years ago, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I also don't like heights very much, but I guess that's relatively normal.

 

[Kyriakos]

Large grasshoppers and locusts. I have a phobia from childhood. I only discovered that a few years ago, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I also don't like heights very much, but I guess that's relatively normal.

Interesting Does the term "jump" have any special connotations in czech?

 

[Counterclaw]

I am scared by murders that have a supernatural element to them. Such as the woman in Texas who drowned her children, saying the devil told her to do it. Or the Jared Loughner shrine.

On a sillier note, I am also scared of mice (particularly when they drop down on me from hotel ceilings) and lizards - unless I am expecting them.

 

[Winner]

Interesting Does the term "jump" have any special connotations in czech?

You mean "skákat"? No, not really. We call grasshoppers/locusts "luční koník" (meadow little horse) and "saranče". I hate the big ones.

One evening a few years ago, I was about to go to bed. It was dark in my room and the window was open. As I reached for the blanket, I touched one which somehow got in and sat on the blanket. It squirmed disgustingly when my hand touched and then jumped directly against my face.

This was the first time in my life I was truly scared into the sort of panic when you just know you have to get the *** out of wherever you are.

 

[Kyriakos]

Meadow little horse is almost the name that is givne in greek to the 'Praying Mantis'. In fact it is called "little horse of Mary" (as in the mother of jesus). Probably because it is seen as something that is in praying position, although that does not explain the Mary part (for example why not call it 'little horse-saint'? or just 'little praying-horse' etc?)

Generally anything that has the word "horse" in it can allure to sexuality in the minds of very small children (at least that is well documented in various books, such as Freud's study of 'Little Hans')

Generally you can get which way this is going (by this i don't mean that your own phobia is explained by it of course; each person is different), namely that a 'little horse' can be seen symbolically as the same as a human being, etc.

 

[Zelig]

Prions scare me.

 

[Winner]

Meadow little horse is almost the name that is givne in greek to the 'Praying Mantis'. In fact it is called "little horse of Mary" (as in the mother of jesus). Probably because it is seen as something that is in praying position, although that does not explain the Mary part (for example why not call it 'little horse-saint'? or just 'little praying-horse' etc?)

Generally anything that has the word "horse" in it can allure to sexuality in the minds of very small children (at least that is well documented in various books, such as Freud's study of 'Little Hans')

Generally you can get which way this is going (by this i don't mean that your own phobia is explained by it of course; each person is different), namely that a 'little horse' can be seen symbolically as the same as a human being, etc.

Really? I've never seen anything that could possibly allude to sexuality in this insect

As a very small kid, I used to play with grasshoppers in my aunts garden, and it usually ended horribly for them. I guess it created some very negative associations in my mind, because although I don't like insects in general, locusts and large grasshoppers really repulse me very strongly, to the point of panic when I am in enclosed space with them. (After the experience I described, it took me about half an hour to get the damn thing out of my room. I was scared I could kill it, which would have made the situation even worse, as you can now guess.)

It's the only phobia I have that I am aware of, thankfully.

 

[Kyriakos]

I can relate to that. As a small child i used to play a lot with ants, and killed a number of them (as in hundreds probably...). I always remember that murderous behavior with sadness.

 

[Winner]

It wasn't a sadistic game or something, I was just very little so I didn't understand what would hurt them. I think what really messed up my mind was exactly that - they were dying and turning into disgusting things even though I just wanted to play with them.

I don't know. I am still surprised how little it takes to damage a child's mind.

I wonder what made me hate fish/sea food

 

[Disgustipated]

men scare me

But I'm pretty much scared of everything to varying degrees.

 

[SKILORD]

I'm somewhat frightened of the idea of dying alone, and leaving no mark on this earth to commemorate my presence here.

 

[warpus]

I'm not afraid of many things, but the one thing I positively cannot watch on tv is open heart surgery. I don't know if I get scared, but I just can't watch it.. I flinch and turn away.

I'm also afraid of heights, but I've been fighting that with my embrace of rollercoasters and such. Those don't scare me anymore - but the rides that pull you wayyyy up, hold on to you, and then drop you, do scare me.

 

[Leonel]

Death, the idea of possibly just ceasing to exist, scares the bejesus out of me!

 

[Kyriakos]

Never-mind ceasing to exist, can you imagine how potentially painful the moment of the supposed extinguishing of life will be, considering that even having part of you die causes a lot of somatic/psychosomatic pain?

Besides, i have never met anyone who recalls his/her first moment of existence, so there is at least a possibility that there actually wasn't one to begin with.

*

What about childhood fears? I used to wonder if my toys gained some sort of energy from me, due to the various roles i kept attributing to them. I once watched a tv program where the toys rebelled against their owner, and it did scare me

 

[Skwink]

I have a strange fear of the French.

 

[ZeletDude]

Heights. lol but even then it has to be extreme, I am fine when I'm on the Space Needle (for example).

 

[Cheetah]

I'm not really scared of anything. As I grew up, I lost my fear of darkness, the fear of needles and the fear of going to the dentist. Never had a fear of heights or insects.

Also, apparently, when I was 5 or so, I explained to my mother that I was afraid of three things in life: The War, The Fox and The Excavator. War was probably something I picked up from the news or something. The fox was a bad character in a children's play I had watched in theater (he tried to eat the mouse hero!). And my fear of excavators were that I always thought they were gonna turn quickly around and attack me with the bucket...

Those fears all disappeared though, and if I ever feel anything remotely similar to fear nowadays, it's more of an appreciation of what risks I'm taking.

But if you're looking for something scary:

1. Characters who you expect to be good who are actually evil is scary. Like a mother who goes insane and drowns her own children, or the father in he Shining, etc. Children who are evil is also a good scary element. As is doctors, priests and other people who are supposed to be good, caring authority figures.

2. Losing ones mind! If you can make up stories where the character - or even better, the narrator - that the reader identifies with, starts to question his own sanity. When you can't make up your mind over what is real and isn't things can become quite scary (If you get the reader to be sympathetic with the narrating character, of course.).

 

[cardgame]

Surprise spiders terrify me. I was walking around my home's carport and lo and behold there was a huge spiderweb between some of the support beams with a giant garden spider in the center. I didn't see it until it was less than 6 inches in front of my face. I jumped out of my skin and was shivering for at least 5 minutes afterwards.