For me, clowns anywhere other than the circus or stage where they belong is a big one. Pretty much the freakiest thing I can think of is hearing the doorbell ring at three in the morning, and when you open the door, there's a clown standing there. It doesn't even have to be an evil clown; a friendly, big-nosed, floppy-shoed clown is enough.

So what's something that freaks you out?

[EDIT to quiet my inner grammar Nazi.]

Where do you live?
*goes to amazon and buys a clown costume*

On Topic:
Nothing really freaks me out, I don't think. I treat clowns the same way I'd treat snakes or anything else that deserves a certain amount of healthy respect for the dangers presented. Don't break eye contact while backing away as slowly as possible, then turn and run away with arms flailing once outside of striking distance.

Oh my goodness, what doesn't? Outer space. Deep water. Dams (I *hate* dams). Atoms. Childbirth. Erosion. Glaciers. Mountains. Icebergs. Whales. A cloud in front of the Sears Tower. Tylenol (specifically, acetominophen poisoning). Hair, if I think about it too much.

Death. That's...that's pretty much it, right there. Absolutely terrified of it. I hate falling asleep because of it, since every night I could pass and not even know it. Driving can be a chore if it's hovering over my head. I fight against hypochondra constantly. Flying takes liqour because I'm sure I'm the statistical outlayer who will plummet in a fiery hell ball to the ground. Aneurysms are my ultimate cold-sweat fear, though spontaneous combustion was a pretty close second when I was a child. I've refused to look at dead bodies as wakes and I have a general sense of doom that I carry everywhere I go.

Yup. Death.

Would you believe that I'm a pretty cheerful person in real life?

I'm squicked out by images of broken bones, or even graphic descriptions thereof. I can't listen to people talking about surgery if it involves bones. It's weird. I remember exactly when I developed this aversion - my mom was talking about her friend's spinal injury while we were at a McDonalds and I ended up puking up my fillet o' fish. I was about 19 or 20 at the time. I had never had a problem with bones previously.

Needles. Nothing else really bothers me, and it's not even the idea of getting pricked with something small that's the problem (I sometimes poke at myself with sewing needles) - it's really someone else jamming something into a blood vessel that bugs me. Keep your needles away from me.

Snakes. To the point where when my brother had a pet one in a cage, I wouldn't even go in his bedroom. I spent several field trips in elementary school in tears because they brought out snakes for us to touch.

When I was five years old, my parents took me to a travelling circus. While there, we were on stage watching a performance when they asked for volunteers from the audience. I was one of the volunteers, along with another little boy as well as a little girl. When we got up on stage, they told us to close our eyes. When we opened them, we found that they'd placed a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach on each of our shoulders.

The little girl screamed and the other little boy threw it off before running back to his mommy. I loudly proclaimed that it was the coolest thing in the world and tried to take it home with me.

That's one circus filled with terrible people who enjoy making children scream and cry for other people's amusement, Kajin!

Wow, do I want to see that circus.

I was going to put this in simple pleasures and current annoyance but I'll put it here instead:

Love.

I'm getting better about this one, I think?



If you have to go as far as death itself before you freak out, then yes, I'd say that fits quite well!

I have way less of a problem with poking myself with things than other people doing it*. When I got diagnosed with diabetes, a nurse came to give me my first insulin shot and said, "I can do this one for you, or I guess I could talk you through doing it yourself" and I was like "GIVE ME THAT." She seemed surprised. Heh.


* I also have WAY less of a problem doing it to myself than doing it to other people. I babysit for a kid with diabetes and I'm always like "please don't be high please don't be high" when I check his blood sugar. I know it doesn't hurt to get an injection, obviously ... it still freaks me out!

Crickets. Around here, they can get borderline plague numbers in fall and winter. When I was a kid, it freaked me out big time walking around and having crickets just jumping out of the way in big waves and jumping ON me.

Dirty feet near my hands or face. Just...no. Not funny. Don't play at touching me with dirty feet. I'll hurt people.

I used to have problems with spiders, roaches, snakes, and mice, but those problems faded when my family moved into the country. I'll dodge wasps, but that's just because those things are made of pure rage and hate for EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE and I'd rather not get stung. I got over my thing with needles, too.

Bees, I don't mind so much. Wasps don't freak me out, but as giggles notes, they despise everything not wasp. I've been randomly walking along and had a wasp sting me... on the nose.

Otherwise, other bugs don't... bug me at all unless they're walking on me and I don't realize it til I feel something and look down. In that case it's generally more surprise than anything else.

Needles aren't a problem at all. I grew up in a doctor's office and had hearing problems at a young age - they thought it was some sort of chemical imbalance, and to figure it out, it meant lots and lots of blood getting drawn, until today it is just kind of *roll up sleeve* get it over with.

I used to get pretty freaked out in the dark by working myself into a panic attack about how it could potentially be all dark and full of terrors. Eventually I learned to a) shut that cycle of fear off and b) realized that the dark was pretty cool.

Generally, nowadays it takes something pretty surreal to really get me freaked out. The last time something kind of got to me even a little was when I watched the Marble Hornets Slenderman video storyline. The concept of being stalked by something in broad daylight, that you may or may not be able to see with the naked eye, or remember encountering afterward is kinda creepy. I felt much the same way about the Doctor Who Silence aliens.

Augh! Yes. Also, for me, grasshoppers. If a grasshopper jumps on me and sticks to my skin, we're talking full-on shrieking flailing running defcon 1 reaction. (If I ever find myself in some kind of locust swarm like in that Laura Ingalls Wilder book, I will probably just have a stroke and die on the spot.)