Family-induced phobias (was Other Weasleys (Percy, Fred))

[Milz]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:

> This reminded me. For many years I was unable to go to sleep with my
> back to the room (as opposed to the wall), because once my oldest
> brother hid under the bed and when I got up on it, he reached up 
from
> underneath to grab me. Scared the you-know-what out of me. [Made 
worse
> by the other brother pointing out, when I said I was safe by the 
wall,
> that some monsters had lots of arms like octopuses, and they could 
come
> up from any side. I was still betting on the wall being the safest,
> though.] It wasn't until my teen years, when my bed was box springs 
and
> a mattress on the floor, that my subconscious got the message that 
there
> was no "under the bed" there, and I could sleep facing away from the
> room. [Due to this incident *and* a scary short story I read in 
college,
> I *still* won't sleep with anything dangling over the side.....]
> 
> Ah, family. What fun.
> 
> --Amanda

I was about 4 years old, when my brothers (ages 8 and 6) got a toy 
rubber snake as a gift (undoubtedly from some deranged person). 
Anyhow, they used to hide behind corners and jump out to scare me. 
They would make hissing sounds behind me then throw the snake on me. 
They would hide it in my bed, under my pillow. I credit them with my 
dislike of snakes.

:-)Milz