Irrational childhood fears

[Wendy]

"Tracy" wrote:

> Since it's Halloween season and time to talk of all things scary, 
> here's a topic.  What basically harmless things scared you as a 
child 
> (for example, a certain toy or household item)?  

This is fun. I sometimes think of myself as being a little bundle of 
irrational fears, but I know it's really not *that* bad. I'm still 
afraid of heights (not entirely irrational) and of swimming in water 
I can't see into, for fear of being attacked by a shark. Also not 
entirely irrational, except that I can't swim in lakes (no sharks 
there), nor in swimming pools unless someone else is swimming with 
me (to "get my back" as it were). ::grin:: Funnily enough, I wasn't 
afraid of water like this as a child - I used to swim in the Pacific 
Ocean all the time as a child, sometimes even at night. But around 
age 20 I started getting freaky about it (and no, this did not 
happen right after seeing "Jaws" - that movie came out several years 
prior to the onset of my phobia).

As a child, the "harmless" item that scared me the most were dolls. 
I hated dolls (still don't really like them, actually), which was 
unfortunate because my mother is a doll FANATIC. So there were dolls 
everywhere in our house - except in my bedroom, where I wouldn't 
allow them. I was afraid they'd come to life at night and hurt me. I 
liked stuffed animals instead, and had dozens (still have several of 
them, in fact). Stuffed animals = nice; Dolls = evil. 

I was also not fond of cockroaches and stinging insects; I've 
managed to get over both of these things in terms of being afraid of 
them. I still don't like roaches (does anyone? <g>), and I'm now 
able to be in the same vicinity with most stinging insects without 
having to run screaming. <g>

I also used to get freaked out out by horror movies - particularly 
ones with aliens. Still a bit freaked out by the thought of aliens. 
I remember this one movie in particular that had these aliens with 
huge heads and long, razor-like fingers. The scene I remember most 
clearly is one of this alien attacking a cow. It was a really old 
and horribly bad movie (I would have been watching it in the 1970s, 
but it was probably somewhat older than that). I was so scared I hid 
under the dinner table. Which begs the question - what on earth were 
my parents thinking making me watch a film like this during 
dinner?!? Argh. No wonder I'm a fearful wreck now! <grin>

:-)
Wendy