Poll: What scares you the most? (Trigger warning)

[scarletstitcher]

I once read a scary story as a kid...

Spoiler

... about someone who was working on a jigsaw puzzle. As he completed more and more of the puzzle, he realized it depicted the window in his own bedroom. He wigged out but felt compelled to finish it to see what was going on. The window was the last portion. Something was at the window in the puzzle, but it was indistinct. Finally, the last piece made it clear: a twisted, demonic face hovered at the pane in the puzzle, When he looked up, the same face was - naturally - staring back at him through his own window.

I remember that story, and it scared me as a kid. I don't know if that's the origin of my fear or not, but I just cannot handle open windows at night. My second fear is heights in buildings, like staircases and things like that. On a school field trip we went to the Statue of Liberty and they have little parts open where you can see the inside of the statue all the way up or down. Long story short, I couldn't get myself to walk back down all the stairs and my friend had to help me.

[stitchingmama]

I once read a scary story as a kid...

Spoiler

... about someone who was working on a jigsaw puzzle. As he completed more and more of the puzzle, he realized it depicted the window in his own bedroom. He wigged out but felt compelled to finish it to see what was going on. The window was the last portion. Something was at the window in the puzzle, but it was indistinct. Finally, the last piece made it clear: a twisted, demonic face hovered at the pane in the puzzle, When he looked up, the same face was - naturally - staring back at him through his own window.

I remember that story, and it scared me as a kid. I don't know if that's the origin of my fear or not, but I just cannot handle open windows at night. My second fear is heights in buildings, like staircases and things like that. On a school field trip we went to the Statue of Liberty and they have little parts open where you can see the inside of the statue all the way up or down. Long story short, I couldn't get myself to walk back down all the stairs and my friend had to help me.

I was afraid of "open stairs" as a kid & my friends' dad would have to carry me to her room. To this day they still freak me out if I'm carrying things especially if I'm carrying a baby. Also I learned in psychology class that most of us have irrational fears and that it is rare to have a rational fear like a fear of stairs.

[yessamaca]

I was afraid of "open stairs" as a kid & my friends' dad would have to carry me to her room. To this day they still freak me out if I'm carrying things especially if I'm carrying a baby. Also I learned in psychology class that most of us have irrational fears and that it is rare to have a rational fear like a fear of stairs.

Open stairs are dangerous and just a bad idea to have. Sounds like good sense to be scared of those.

My fear is random and specific. Like I am absolutely terrified of open windows at night. As soon as the sun starts to go down all the windows in my house have to be closed and the blinds pulled down. I'm just so scared that one day I won't close them and I'll walk into a room and there will just be a face staring back at me. Does that count as the dark? Because it's really not the dark that scares me, it's the demon face I always expect to pop up.

So I read this yesterday and thought 'Huh, yeah I can see where that fear comes from. That would suck!' Then I went on home and did the evening routine and took my younger child downstairs to her bedroom...where the blinds were all up. This is Sweden so the sun goes down really early right now and it was black outside. I had to close the blinds on THREE windows all while staring as hard as I could out the window hoping not to see a scary face. Oh, and I had to pretend I wasn't at all freaked out because there was an impressionable 2 yr old watching me. Then, naturally, I got the giggles.

[TigerLily]

I was afraid of "open stairs" as a kid & my friends' dad would have to carry me to her room. To this day they still freak me out if I'm carrying things especially if I'm carrying a baby. Also I learned in psychology class that most of us have irrational fears and that it is rare to have a rational fear like a fear of stairs.

Open stairs are dangerous and just a bad idea to have. Sounds like good sense to be scared of those.

You two just reminded me of something. I'm not sure if it would be classed as a fear, but I don't like walking down any stairs in homes. For me, that's only because I've fallen down them so many times, fracturing my ankle one of the times. Any time I'm walking down the stairs in my house, I have to keep my head down looking at where I'm placing my feet. I reeaally don't want to fall again.

[yessamaca]

I was afraid of "open stairs" as a kid & my friends' dad would have to carry me to her room. To this day they still freak me out if I'm carrying things especially if I'm carrying a baby. Also I learned in psychology class that most of us have irrational fears and that it is rare to have a rational fear like a fear of stairs.

Open stairs are dangerous and just a bad idea to have. Sounds like good sense to be scared of those.

You two just reminded me of something. I'm not sure if it would be classed as a fear, but I don't like walking down any stairs in homes. For me, that's only because I've fallen down them so many times, fracturing my ankle one of the times. Any time I'm walking down the stairs in my house, I have to keep my head down looking at where I'm placing my feet. I reeaally don't want to fall again.

I do that too. If I can't see my feet then I go down the stairs really, really slowly and make sure each foot is secure before I put my full weight on it. I also always grab the banister and it bothers me when my hands are too full to do that. I've fallen down the stairs a number of times while carrying a laundry basket but what really scared me was when my husband fell. He was carrying our younger daughter who was just a week or 2 old. He fell near the top and managed to throw himself backwards so he went down the stairs on his back. He still has pain in his ankle over 2 years later and his back was really torn up. The baby was completely fine, but we were both terrified. He put rough strips on the stairs that night but we're both still kinda scared and think about that night often. He feels guilty for falling while holding our baby. I think he's a hero for being able to think clearly enough to throw himself back and secure her head and neck with one hand and her body with the other. A person's instinct would tell them to throw out a hand to catch himself, but he didn't. Anyways, yeah, stairs are scary.

[rockinwithrammstein]

I picked three. Spiders because...well, I had never been afraid of spiders until I moved to the desert and all the spiders were roughly the size of the palm of my hand. Heights, but my fear of heights is conditional. I can be 50 stories up and be fine, but you put me on a balcony that's 10 feet up and I panic. It's weird. And I picked other because I am also terrified of what the future holds for my kids. The unknown, you know?

[LinkIsMyHomeboy]

Spiders, enclosed spaces, and "other." I hate flying insects with stingers (bees,wasps, hornets...), feet, and being sticky. With the exception of the feet (more of a gross out thing) any and all of the others can cause me to have a full blown panic attack.

[scarletstitcher]

My fear is random and specific. Like I am absolutely terrified of open windows at night. As soon as the sun starts to go down all the windows in my house have to be closed and the blinds pulled down. I'm just so scared that one day I won't close them and I'll walk into a room and there will just be a face staring back at me. Does that count as the dark? Because it's really not the dark that scares me, it's the demon face I always expect to pop up.

So I read this yesterday and thought 'Huh, yeah I can see where that fear comes from. That would suck!' Then I went on home and did the evening routine and took my younger child downstairs to her bedroom...where the blinds were all up. This is Sweden so the sun goes down really early right now and it was black outside. I had to close the blinds on THREE windows all while staring as hard as I could out the window hoping not to see a scary face. Oh, and I had to pretend I wasn't at all freaked out because there was an impressionable 2 yr old watching me. Then, naturally, I got the giggles.

Oh no, I've spread my fear!

[yessamaca]

My fear is random and specific. Like I am absolutely terrified of open windows at night. As soon as the sun starts to go down all the windows in my house have to be closed and the blinds pulled down. I'm just so scared that one day I won't close them and I'll walk into a room and there will just be a face staring back at me. Does that count as the dark? Because it's really not the dark that scares me, it's the demon face I always expect to pop up.

So I read this yesterday and thought 'Huh, yeah I can see where that fear comes from. That would suck!' Then I went on home and did the evening routine and took my younger child downstairs to her bedroom...where the blinds were all up. This is Sweden so the sun goes down really early right now and it was black outside. I had to close the blinds on THREE windows all while staring as hard as I could out the window hoping not to see a scary face. Oh, and I had to pretend I wasn't at all freaked out because there was an impressionable 2 yr old watching me. Then, naturally, I got the giggles.

Oh no, I've spread my fear!

It seems to have been temporary. I closed the blinds last night without even thinking about it. Didn't realize it until just now when I read this. I'm cured!

[Ally]

I don't think I'm truly terrified of anything (living in Australia sort of desensitises you to the creepy crawlies, since there's so many of them!) but there are things I absolutely hate, the main one being dentists. I have no idea what possesses a person to want to spend their professional lives poking and drilling and stabbing around in people's mouths, but I don't like it at all. I'm not overly fond of heights either, but it's more the prospect of free-falling that gets me.