People Reflect On Their Most Intense Childhood Fears

We all have something that can make our skin crawl, or send a chill down our spine. Fear is a natural human response, and when you’re young it feels like danger is always just around the corner. It doesn’t help that children’s shows are filled with creepy villains and monsters of every kind. While everyone has things that keep them up at night, certain fears are a bit less… conventional.

You may have feared the dark or the boogeyman as a child, but others thought that their bedside table was going to spring to life and devour them. Some kids worried they would be swallowed alive by quicksand–which is a reasonable concern when you consider the number of quicksand-related deaths that occur in movies. Read on to discover people’s normal, weird, and just plain bizarre childhood fears…

Into The Darkness

I can’t stand the sensation that someone (or something) is chasing me in the dark. Usually when I’m home alone, I get the chills. It feels like something is hiding, waiting in the shadows. I don’t know what it is—but it’s coming for me. It’s almost routine at this point to sprint up the stairs after turning off the downstairs lights.

I’m not the only one I know who does this, either. I think people just have a natural fear of the unknown, and we never know what’s lurking in the dark. We start seeing strange figures at night after watching a scary movie, or we dream of being chased by something evil. A combination of paranoia and fear makes the dark utterly terrifying, even today. Reddit User: DunnoHowToSayThisBut

Doll House

Nothing is freakier than dolls. My sister had this one that used to talk when you pressed a button, and there was a creepy light in its chest. I swear it used to start talking by itself. I remember finding it in my wardrobe one day—it was speaking, but no one was around. I had no idea how it got there. In hindsight, it was probably my brother being mean, but at the time I was convinced it was haunted.

One night, I was terrified and didn’t want it anywhere near my room, so I flung it down the stairs. My sister wasn’t happy about it, but I don’t regret it at all. Clearly I’m not the only one who is freaked out by dolls either, because there are so many scary movies and urban legends about possessed toys. Even now I find them super creepy. Reddit User: SnarkyLeprechaun84

Mirror, Mirror

I never look into a mirror at night. I’m absolutely terrified of seeing someone standing behind me, be it a ghost or a living person. This fear started in childhood, but it’s never left me. The very idea of seeing a scary reflection frightens me so much that I have to close my eyes at night when I go to the bathroom.

That’s not all though… I also have to sleep with all my doors (including the closet door!) closed, shut, and locked at night. I’m afraid of ghosts or evil people coming into my room. Driving past cemeteries, I always hold my breath to prevent ghosts from entering my body. I guess you could just say I’m a tad superstitious. But honestly, who isn’t afraid of all the evil that’s just waiting for us out there? Reddit User: lwlwlwlwlwlwl

Folklore Fears

When I was six, I watched a (fake) documentary on the Chupacabra, that weird vampire-alien hybrid creature in folklore. In the movie, the Chupacabra could fly, bullets couldn’t injure it, and it had (supposedly) descended from space. I was convinced it would come for me, despite being on the other side of the world.

The anxiety I felt eventually morphed into an intense fear of the dark, complete with nightmares and night terrors. There are actually a surprising number of Chupacabra sightings reported these days, but I choose to believe that none of them are real. I wish I had never watched that documentary.

Later on, I watched a different horror film about a weirdly aggressive lamprey, an ugly type of sea snake. Thanks to that, I’m afraid of the ocean now, too. I should probably stop watching scary movies before I’m scared of my toaster. Reddit User: Tinkie_Winks

No Seeds, Please

When I was younger, my parents read me a story about a small child who ate a seed and started having fruit growing out of his belly button. Ever since then, I’ve refused to eat any foods that contain seeds, including watermelon, strawberries, and apples.

I generally stay away from most fruits, even though I know they’re good for your health. I know how irrational it completely is, and everyone laughs at me when I tell them about it. I’m 32 years old now, but I still refuse to eat anything with seeds in it.

Will I end up overcoming this fear one day and will I be able to enjoy an apple with my work lunch? I’m honestly not sure. At this point, I think I might just be happier being absolutely sure that I’ll never grow fruit out of my stomach. Reddit User: RemiV

I Hate The Dentist

Dentists are the worst. I’ve never had anything traumatic happen at the dentist–I don’t even have a filling, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as I enter the dentist’s office, a full-blown anxiety attack hits me. This makes taking my kids to the dentist super fun. I try to convince them how fun it is to be sitting in the cool chair, without showing my own terror.

I know it’s normal to not be thrilled about going to the dentist’s office, but I’m still not entirely sure where my deep-rooted (no pun intended) fear comes from. Maybe I had a nightmare about the dentist as a kid that I’m not remembering. Whatever the reason, I only go in when I absolutely have to and even then, each appointment fills me with dread. Reddit User: Hyberbo1e

Sizing Me Up

I’m scared of little people and dwarves. It makes me feel like such a bad person. I don’t want to discriminate against anyone, but it’s the truth. Once, I went to the doctor and my boyfriend stayed in the car. When I was done, the nurse gave me my file, walked me to the waiting room, and told me to give it to the clerk at the window to schedule my next appointment.

Two little people stood in the clerk line as well, a mother and daughter, I assume. My heart started pounding as soon as I saw them. My breath stopped. I tried to decide if I should sit down and pretend like I was waiting for something or needed the restroom.

Before I could make a decision, the older woman looked right at me and smiled. That was it. I threw my file at the clerk and ran out. My boyfriend was in the car, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. He said, “I saw them walk in.” All I could do was yell back at him, “GO!” Reddit User: MamaDukesM

Health Scare

The idea of getting sick is terrifying. When I was about eight, I started to read those kids’ picture books about illnesses like tonsillitis and epilepsy. I still remember the first time it got to me; I laid awake in bed, swallowing constantly to make sure I still could.

What if I fell asleep and my throat closed up? Nowadays I’m a huge hypochondriac, totally afraid of doctors, and I’m always worried I’ll die in my sleep.I find it interesting how I can pinpoint one moment in my life–one decision I made–that changed me so much.

I can’t watch any horror films or shows that have any type of gore, needles, etc., because it instantly triggers my fear response. And to just think: it’s all because I looked at those pictures and read those books when I was a kid. Reddit User: Hikari-x

Oh, Honey

Everything about bees makes me uneasy: the way they swarm, the sounds they make, and the terrifying hives they live in. I don’t remember this story obviously, but my parents told me… I was a baby, no older than one, and I was outside with my mom and dad.

A bee landed on my arm. My mom was about to swat it away, but my dad said leave it be and it would go away.As soon as it left, I started crying. They saw its stinger stuck in my arm. Yeah, I don’t exactly trust the “leave them alone and they won’t sting you” advice.

Maybe it’s possible that that particular bee just happened to be having a bad day and decided to take it out on me for some reason. Honestly though, I think most bees just aren’t nice, and I plan on keeping my distance from them. Reddit User: [redacted]

Struck By Fear

I absolutely refuse to take a shower when there’s lightning, no matter how far away it is. I close every window in my house because I fear lightning coming in and bouncing off the walls. If I’m driving home during a lightning storm, I’ll literally wait in my car until it’s over.

All of this started because my mom would freak out about lightning when I was kid. Her fear became mine, and it’s stuck with me ever since. I know there’s a saying that you’re “more likely to get struck by lightning than X” or whatever, meaning there’s a very slim chance.

But statistics and data don’t change the way our minds work or change the things we fear. Thunder is loud and scary, sure… but lighting is flat out terrifying to me. When a storm comes, there’s nothing at all we can do about it. Reddit User: yeethavocbrah

Wall Monster

Did you have a wall monster? I was afraid of the monsters under my bed, over my canopy, and in my closet, of course. Then my mother decided to paint my whole room pink and my twisted little-kid mind thought the pink turned blood red when the lights were off. I thought a monster lived in the wall and came out at night while I slept.

In my teen years, I saw Nightmare on Elm Street, which definitely didn’t help the situation. I probably never should have watched it, but it’s too late now. Freddie liked to emerge from walls, drains, water beds, and everything else. He was terrifying and just reinforced my fear. I still don’t like to stand near or touch walls in the dark. Reddit User: titlejunk

A Sunken Feeling

I’ve always had a fear of any large, submerged object. There’s an abandoned quarry near my parents’ retirement home that has filled up with water over the years. It’s is currently several hundred feet deep and still rising. When my older brothers were little, they used to sneak in and go swimming there.

The water is incredibly blue, and I admit it’s quite lovely. However, around the edges of the road leading into the quarry, you can see the tops of trees, just under the surface of the water. I don’t know why, but that just really scares me. Even worse? Somewhere down there, in those invisible depths, are all the little temporary buildings from when the place was operational, and lots of old construction equipment, including an entirely submerged CRANE.

A FREAKING CRANE. I don’t know why it terrifies me so much, but I will NEVER go swimming in that place, even though the buildings and construction equipment are likely too far down for me to encounter. Even thinking about it gets me all uneasy. Reddit User: Angeldown

 If We Were A Movie

I had a completely random fear when I was around four or five. I was extremely terrified of the credits. Yes, I am referring to the words at the end of movies. As soon as the credits began to roll, I would scream, cry and run out of the room. My parents would have to stop the movie before the credits came on when we watched videos at home.

I honestly don’t know where the fear originated from. I guess I was afraid that the movie would be stuck on a loop forever, because I thought the movie restarted at the end of the credits. Technically I was right, because you could just rewind the tape if you wanted. I loved Cinderella as a kid, but I was still afraid of watching it endlessly on repeat. Reddit User: mysteriouspeguin

Baby Shark In My Juice

I used to have a fear of marine animals. I was never scared of the water itself, since I was a very strong swimmer and grew up near the sea, but I hated the thought of anything lurking below. Sharks, eels, stingrays, jellyfish, whales… Eventually I developed your standard childhood fears revolving around eels in my bathtub or sharks in the local swimming pool. I think almost every child has that moment of “what if a shark gets into the pool?” thanks to cartoons and films.

That’s all fairly normal childhood stuff. This is where my bizarre fear comes into play. I’ve always had vivid dreams, which can sometimes be totally and utterly disorienting. At age four, I had a highly realistic dream, where I opened up a Capri Sun and found two tiny baby sharks waiting for me inside.

They didn’t do anything besides swim in circles and occasionally snap their jaws. My mom fished them out, and I enjoyed my juice before waking up. I knew it was a dream, but I still made my mum check my juice boxes for the next two years. Reddit User: WeaselWrites

Color Me Worried

As a child, I strongly associated colors with characters on TV and in books. For instance, Spongebob would be symbolic of yellow and Clifford was anything red. I hated touching certain colors or having them near me, because I was terrified it gave those characters the ability to read my mind and spy on me. It was some Black Mirror-level fear.

Once, when I was fourteen, I set up a makeshift tent on my bed with white sheets. ONLY white sheets. I wanted a safe space where I could read and relax… without feeling observed. I legitimately thought that Spongebob would be able to access my thoughts and fears, which felt scarier than it sounds. The paranoia went away with time, but that fear resulted in a stressful childhood. Reddit User: [redacted]

Heart Attack Bug

My grandfather died of a heart attack when I was three or four. I was too young to understand what that meant, so I was really scared of having a heart attack for a while. That’s not the weird part though. You see, my bedroom window was right below an exterior floodlight, which attracted a lot of bugs..

One type of bug that would gather was this little brown beetle-looking thing. For whatever reason, my toddler brain decided that bug was a “heart attack bug” and that if it touched you, you would have a heart attack and die. I was terrified of those bugs. but never told my parents about them, so I never got the confusion cleared up. Instead, I laid in bed feeling terrified most nights. Reddit User: Guac__is__extra__

Stop The Bells

Church bells were my biggest fear when I was growing up… I would be scared if I saw a church tower and if the bells rang, I was literally terrified–but I didn’t know why. It was only in my late teens, at a family wedding when my parents and grandparents were reminiscing, that my grandmother spoke about a time she remembered from when I was very young.

My parents took me on a tour of a cathedral somewhere, which included a tour of the bell tower. We were near the bells just as the hourly chimes rang, which apparently freaked me out. It still seems to get to me today, although not to any great extent. I live opposite a church with a clock that rings the hour and that’s alright, but I would struggle to go see the bells if invited. Reddit User: Stooby2

Tick Tock

The sight of ticks makes my skin crawl. When I was a Boy Scout, we went to this camp and these two kids went into a tent that was right under a tree. They were like, “nah, let’s not put up our bug-repellant sheets! And if we are under a tree, that means no rain will fall on us!” I’m sure it sounded like a great idea.

Anyway, the kids didn’t put up any covers, and in the morning I heard screaming. I got up, looked around the corner, and saw that every inch of these two guys was coated in ticks. To this day, I  can’t stand the sight of them. They really, really freak me out. Spiders,  fine. Snakes, sure. Crocs, cool. Ticks? NO! Kill all of them! Reddit User: StormWarriors2

Moon Face

Seeing faces on the moon used to bother me. Not the actual moon, but any time the moon was drawn with a face, it freaked me out. Honeymooners opening? Hide under the bed. Sesame Street ABC/123 for the NES? Never could play Grover’s game. Certain images of faces drawn on a moon would give me nightmares for a week, no matter what the face looked like.

It was especially hard to deal with in elementary school. So many of the children’s books we read were beautifully illustrated with a smiling moon. It’s really hard to explain what I thought was so scary. I mean, I was totally fine with seeing the sun or planets smiling, but that moon… It’s beautiful to look at… as long as there’s no face. Reddit User: JoeDiesAtTheEnd

Alien Concept

For some reason, I envisioned that aliens had X-ray vision and could see through blankets, so I would sleep with four or five blankets each night, hoping they would protect me from harm. I was never abducted, obviously, but it was pretty inconvenient in the summer when it was boiling hot outside and I had to use all those blankets as alien repellant.

I also used to sleep with a ridiculous number of stuffed animals on my bed because… well, because I was a kid. I would wake up and they would be scattered all over the floor, so I thought aliens were taking them off my bed at night. It didn’t occur to me that they could have just fallen off naturally. I watched too many episodes of The X-Files, I guess. Reddit User: reward160

Attack Of Sam The Robot

It started with Sesame Street. Once when one, and only once, I saw an episode with a character named Sam the Robot. My mom tells me I literally screamed for hours until I lost my voice and wore myself out. This was years ago, and I haven’t seen the character since then, until just now, when I Googled this horrific creature of my childhood nightmares.

Guys, I’m in my 40s now. All I wanted was to find a link to an image or maybe a Wikipedia article, purely out of curiosity. And I just started to have a freaking panic attack. A 46-year-old, pickup-truck-driving, meat-eating American redneck just lost it seeing a cymbal with googly eyes. It’s just so creepy, I can’t. Reddit User: Manager_Mister

Lights, Camera, Action

I was afraid of this one specific lamp my parents had. It was right next to my bed, and I somehow had the idea that it would hurt me if I didn’t entertain it. So every night, I would take my stuffed animals and try to put on creative little shows for the lamp until I passed out. Every. Single. Night.

I really went all out. My gorilla and penguin stuffed animals would have talent shows. Sometimes I would even sing to it if I wasn’t too tired. I should be a musical composer at this point. I have no idea where this fear actually came from, or why I didn’t just ask my parents to move the evil lamp out of my room. Reddit User: [redacted]

 Bloodlust

I had an awful fear of vampires until I was 29. I couldn’t watch shows or read books with them… even lame, sparkly vampires like the ones in Twilight and True Blood. I just had a lot of anxiety around them, even though I was 99.9% sure they weren’t real.

I’m not sure why the fear disappeared right before I turned 30. I can’t figure out what about them that was so terrifying to me. Maybe it was the fear of getting my blood sucked, but then I should have also been afraid of moths and mosquitos… which I’m not.

Vampires just aren’t the sexy monsters Hollywood makes them out to be. Interestingly, my daughter has had a fear of cannibals since she was three or four. We aren’t a horror movie watching family, so I have no idea where it came from. Are inexplicable fears heredity? Reddit User: Dog-boy

Monster Entrance

Not only did I think that there were monsters under my bed, I had worked out the elaborate way they got there. It wasn’t like Monsters Inc., where they would just come through a door. There was a special route that led straight to me. My bedroom was above our unfinished basement and I just knew the monsters had a secret entrance built into the floor.

Once in the basement, they would stand in the space directly under my bed and an elevator would slowly lift them up, while a trap door under my bed would open. They would then spend the rest of the night waiting under my bed. Little did they know that I was wise to their shenanigans and could refrain from using the bathroom all night. Reddit User: [redacted]

Stay Out Of The Basement

The basement at my parents’ house creeped me out. I didn’t have a fear of the dark or anything. It was more like disgust at the musty smell or stepping on the ancient shag carpeting. I’m 32 and still hate it, despite the fact I haven’t lived there for a number of years. In fact, just talking about it now makes me shiver.

It’s a disgusting place, and that carpet… it’s been there my whole life and has survived multiple flooding events. It’s been steam-cleaned occasionally, but that smell never goes away. Add onto that the fact my father is a hoarder and has the entire basement filled with junk. If you stuck me down there for a night, I’m pretty sure I’d lose my mind. Reddit User: Nekosom

Judge A Book By Its Scary Cover

I was always afraid of this one picture book with a terrifying cover. If I even looked at it out of the corner of my eye, or if I knew it was somewhere in the room, I would break into a cold sweat. In first grade, the school principal came in to read it to my class, and I started screaming and crying as soon as I saw the cover.

After that, I was afraid to go to the principal’s office because I was convinced the book was in there. If I absolutely had to go to the principal’s office, I would do it with my eyes closed. My mom didn’t understand why. She thought I was afraid of the principal because I’d been reading Captain Underpants, and she was convinced that Captain Underpants had taught me all principals were bad. She had the right idea but the wrong book. Reddit User: demoncupcakes

Closing Time

Being in a store right before they close makes me super anxious. As a kid, I hated being in those mall stores that have the big metal gates that lower after closing. I always wanted to leave long before the gate would shut. Even when my mom told me that we had another hour until we had to leave, I always felt like there was a chance they’d lock the doors and I’d be stuck inside for the night.

In my defense, this isn’t exactly a scenario that’s unheard of. It’s been the plot point on a ton of different sitcoms, and Natalie Portman was in a movie where she literally moved into and lived inside of Walmart for a while. But I’d like to believe that with all the technology in place today, there would be an easy way to get out if I ever got stuck. Reddit User: Highway94Rider

So Extra-Terrestrial

When I was a little kid, I used to love watching Discovery Channel shows like How It’s Made and Mythbusters. Around the time they (and the History Channel) were giving up on being educational, I was sick on my living room couch, home alone, and watching my favorite channel. A “documentary” about alien abductions came on. I think I was about seven or eight at the time.

As you can imagine, I took everything they said at face value and was absolutely terrified by the drawings of ridiculous-looking aliens and the various “spooky” effects they applied to the photographs. I was pretty traumatized and for a few months afterwards… I was afraid of being on my own, especially out in the open. I spent weeks fearing I would be abducted. Reddit User: Xisuthrus

Shark Lane

I was a swimmer for a while when I was a kid. One day, when I was seven and at a competition, I was standing on my diving board and awaiting the start of the race. It was all fun and games until I looked down and saw that my lane had a big “S” painted on the pool floor. Naturally, that letter S must stand for “sharks.”

To my seven-year old mind, this meant that sharks lived in the “S” lane and if I dove in, the sharks would get me. The gun went off and I just stood there, screaming about sharks and how they would never take me alive. My mom just stood there in the stands. She was completely confused, horrified, and probably more than a little embarrassed. Reddit User: [redacted]

Shut Up And Drive

I was deathly afraid of being in an idling car with the driver out. Thanks AFV for playing countless clips of people leaving their cars in gear, causing them to roll away. I would lose my mind screaming whenever my dad did it, so he would have to turn the car off every time.

I was also afraid of the Christmas tree stand at the cabin after the tree fell on me once. There was this weird picture my aunt and uncle had in their house that scared me, too. It depicted a monkey pulling a lady’s hair, and her distress made me really upset.

Then, off course, there was the antique parking meter by uncle used for decoration. That thing was the bane of my existence. I was terrified of it and wouldn’t enter the house unless it was removed from the living room entirely. Maybe I was just afraid of everything… Reddit User: rahyveshachr

Popped

Balloons have scared me since I was a toddler. One time when I was about four- or five-years-old, my dad and I were at a street festival and I got a free balloon from one of the merchants. I can’t remember the exact circumstances, but my dad thought it would be funny to pop it in my face. It caught me by surprise and scared me so much I started crying.

He felt really bad about it later… but after that I had a fear of balloons. I had to leave the room at birthday parties whenever they would play a game that involved popping balloons because of it. And forget clowns or circus events or theme parks. If balloons are present, I’m out. I don’t know if my dad thought it through before he decided to scar me for life. Reddit User: -eDgAR-

Where’s The Quicksand?

Quicksand. It seemed like quicksand popped up as an issue in every single show for kids when I was growing up. I figured the problems I could expect in life were: trying out a new food, fighting with a friend, falling in quicksand, and wanting to fit in with a new group of people.

Turns out only half of those are real adult problems. I also expected to be on fire a lot more, considering how much we learned “stop, drop, and roll.” It’s a useful skill and I’m glad I’ve never had to use it, but I was just expecting it to come up a lot more often as an adult.

I feel the same with earthquake training… though I guess whether or not you need it depends on where you live. People in California may need it more. I better not come across any quicksand though, because I still haven’t been trained for that. Reddit User: OneGoodRib

To Infinity And Beyond

The concept of infinity used to keep me up at night. It caused a surprising amount of anguish to 5-year-old me. Then one day, I was hanging with my sister and my nephew asked, “what’s the last number?” I cringed thinking about the box of tricky concepts and paradoxes that his little mind was about to open up.

You know… some pretty frightening ideas, like imagining infinite possibilities or thinking about versions of you that are different in infinitesimally small ways. He would have had to wrestle with what the idea of “forever” really means for the first time.

Then my sister looked up from her phone and confidently responded “psi,” which is apparently the name someone gave to a hypothetical, axiomatic last number. To my relief, he was satisfied, and he never opened that mental wormhole. Not in this universe, anyways. Reddit User: Muffinizer1

Ghosts Under The Bed

I was terrified of the ghosts under my bed. I would sleep on the very edge because the ghosts would obviously come out between the bed and the wall, and I kept falling out of bed. Never mind that the extra few inches wouldn’t have kept them away. One night my dad asked me why I was sleeping on the edge of my bed and I told him.

He never would have made fun of my fear, but he thought it would be a good idea to point out that ghosts would have an easier time coming out the front of my bed. Naturally, I got hysterical and climbed onto my chest of drawers, so dad picked me up and let me sit in his lap and watch Gunsmoke. I loved Gunsmoke. Marshall Dillon could keep the ghosts away. Reddit User: marsglow

Beware Of Chuck E.

I can’t be around anyone in a costume that is covering their face, like Chuck E. Cheese or the ones at theme parks that people take photos with. When my family would go to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party, my parents would have to request the table in the back and have my back facing the stage where the characters would sing and dance.

They would also talk to the managers so that the guy in the costume wouldn’t come over to our table. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time the staff heard that request, since a lot of other people I’ve talked to aren’t fond of costumed characters either. I still get nervous when I see people in masks. Don’t even get me started on Halloween. Reddit User: FrequentBandWagoner

An Olive Branch

I was terrified of a certain grove of olive trees at a park near my childhood home. A little girl approached me when I was about six and told me that another little girl had once wandered in there, died, and was never found. But the olive grove wasn’t that big – only ten trees deep and six trees wide – and you could clearly see all the way through it to find a way out.

I thought the only plausible explanation for the girl getting lost was that the grove was supernaturally bigger inside, and that it trapped you forever. I was also afraid that it could sense my fear, and would lure me in. I was even afraid that it could teleport my bedroom inside of it while I was sleeping.

The gnarled branches and drab leaves were creepy and sinister to me. My parents had no idea how to assuage this fear. I obviously grew up to think rationally about it, but the idea of being in an olive grove still makes me uneasy. Reddit User: calliope720

Don’t Make Me An Oompa Loompa

The Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory scared me so much as a kid. I was so terrified of them that you couldn’t even say the words without me freaking out. My mom told me I would turn into an Oompa Loompa if I ate too much candy. I always thought they were children that Wonka kidnapped, fed too much candy, and then turned into slave workers.

I was afraid of them until my high school years. For the record, I’m talking about the original version with Gene Wilder… not the Johnny Depp version. The Oompa Loompas in that movie were all just one weird guy, which was fine. Thankfully I grew out of my fear. The original movie is one of my favorites now. Reddit User: Portr8

The Butterfly Effect

When I was about four, I caught a butterfly that had gotten trapped in our house and showed it to my jerk 15-year-old brother. He started crying and told me he was going to miss me. Confused, I asked him where I was going. He told me that the underside of butterfly wings were poisonous, and I had deadly poison all over my hands.

Of course, I didn’t die from the under-wing poison. I guess I thought I’d gotten lucky. After that, I was terrified of butterfly under-wings. This wouldn’t have been a problem… but have you seen butterflies fly? With their unpredictable, uncontrolled flight pattern, they might accidentally fly at you and get poison on you! Then I got older and stopped being an idiot.

I knew there was no poison, so butterflies weren’t scary anymore… until I went on a class field trip in 6th grade to visit a butterfly house. I completely freaked out. It turns out I’m still scared of them, even without the poison. Reddit User: iamasecretthrowaway

The Mask

I hate those creepy porcelain harlequin masks. The ones with the neutral expression and no eyes. I bought a couple of them at the dollar store once because they were glittery and pretty. Big mistake. I hung them on my wall, and then spent the next few months shivering in terror as they stared down at me in the dark of the night.

It felt like their empty eyeholes led somewhere terrible. I also worried that they were judging me for not being pretty enough. It never really occurred to me to just take them down… it’s like I thought they wouldn’t have let it happen. They were stronger than I was at the time. I eventually panicked and took them down. Oh yeah, and then I buried them all. Reddit User: mus_maximus

Fish Out Of Game Water

Swimming in video games is the worst. Super Mario 64 really messed me up when I was a kid. I became terrified of fish monsters after playing one level where Mario was swallowed by a giant red fish with freaking sunglasses. Something so silly still made me so scared. I could barely get myself through Beyond Good and Evil and a few other games with underwater sequences.

I would also get scared in Skyrim when I’d come across the slaughterfish, and Sekiro almost made me cry with the carps, even though they aren’t that big of a deal in the game. It’s not as bad anymore, but I still have major anxiety with water in video games. I’m beyond happy that there are no fish enemies in Breath of the Wild. Reddit User: Sandi_the_Claws