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Posted: 03-05-2013 18:27 Post subject:

I remember being scared of loads of things as a very young child, including the dredgers in the docks (I was born in Hotwells in Bristol) and the Beardsley prints on the stairs, I remember my father having to carry me past them as I refused to on my own. The dredger fear was transferred to the man in the tractor with a hedge cutter attachment when we moved to the countryside. And I made a name up for him, and the monster in the pipes - the house I was born in was 200 years old and probably had the original plumbing.

Posted: 03-05-2013 18:34 Post subject:

Can you say the name, marionxxx or are you like me and bunnymousekitt? Laughing

My younger sister had a terrifying nightmare when she was little, involving a witch who chased her and said a particular short sentence. I had to promise my sister that I would never, ever say that sentence to her because she would be so unutterly terrified. It's good insurance Twisted Evil

Posted: 03-05-2013 22:56 Post subject:

I've never mentioned them or written them down, they are silly childish names, best be safe and keep them secret Wink

Posted: 04-05-2013 00:27 Post subject:

Posted: 22-08-2013 06:33 Post subject:

Posted: 22-08-2013 08:37 Post subject:

I don't know, 'Don't fear the Dredger' doesn't have quite the same ring to it. I don't think it would have been a hit Smile

I'm afraid I've always been the sort of person who, on hearing a strange noise in the night, wants to go out and find out what it is. It's a miracle I haven't been abducted by aliens. Mind you, some people probably wish I had been.

Posted: 05-09-2013 13:57 Post subject:

For some reason I cannot explain I was absolutely terrified of sailing ships when I was young. I don't mean yachts like posh people have as I do enjoy sailing but big multi masted sailing ships.

Whether I saw one on the tele, a photo in a magazine or most scary of all for real. Absolute and complete terror always ensued.

Consequently for most of my life I have stayed away from places where sailing ships might be found.

Only once did I forget this sub-coscious rule when I moved to a flat in the docklands area of London not far from Tower Bridge. This was back in the 90s I might add when normal people could afford to rent a flat there. Anyway I was on my way home from the supermarket and I decided to take a slightly different route back to the river to cross Tower Bridge. Walking round a corner I was suddenly presented (at extremely close quarters) with not one but two full sized sailing ships. I instantly broke out in a cold sweat and had the overwhelming urge to run. This was very strange as I was 29 at the time and surely should have left this terror back in my childhood. I did turn around and walk away and never went home that way again from the supermarket.

Moving on a few years and I was living in Sydney, taking the river catamaran from my home in Meadowbank to the centre of the city for the first time, the catamaran stopped at its final pier in fornt of 4 enormous sailing ships. Again they made me feel nervous although the fear factor was nowhere near as srong.

Now at the age of 48 if I see a sailing ship on the tele they still make me feel nervous or mildly frightened.

I have no idea why I have spent my life being frightened of sailing ships.

I am also frightened of poisonous snakes but that makes sense to me - I have no idea why this issue with ships with multi-masts.

Perhaps I was press-ganged in a previous life ... any other ideas?

Posted: 05-09-2013 16:24 Post subject:

Posted: 05-09-2013 22:15 Post subject:

I've never been on top of a mast on a sailing ship, but when I see a photo or a clip taken from that vantage point looking down at the deck, I do feel an uneasy vertigo. Not the same thing, probably, but that's my story.

Posted: 05-09-2013 23:32 Post subject:

Indeed rynner2, I have never set out to discuss such an irrational fear before but a thread entitled Chlidhood Terrors seemed the perfect place.

i am not a great believer in this past life stuff and i grew up in the fenlands of Cambridgeshire miles from the sea.

So why do sailing ships freak me out?

Wierd stuff. luckily there aren't any in kiev where I live now.

Posted: 06-09-2013 08:38 Post subject:

Young children can pick up ideas, good and bad, very easily, and an early traumatic experience can set off a life-long fear. If the experience happened when the child was young enough, it might be forgotten, or pushed out of their mind, with the fear still remaining.

I have first-hand knowledge of this. I saw a really horrible thing when I was nearly 5, and ever afterwards I was afraid of the thing, even though I forgot the original incident. Perhaps my little mind couldn't cope with the awful memory.

Anyway, I had this minor phobia and then suddenly, as an adult, I remembered the horrible incident. It didn't stop the fear but at least I knew where it came from! Wink

So... a fear of big sailing ships might have come from some long-forgotten childhood trauma. Someone might have read you a slightly frightening story from a well-illustrated book, which would give a visual association of the ships and a feeling of fear. You might even have caught a bit of a scary TV programme about tempests or shipwrecks. It doesn't have to be any more dramatic than that for a small child.

I bet if you were hypnotised, it'd all come back to you. Or in time, when your subconscious thinks you're ready, the memory may surface of its own accord. Wink

In fact, if you can ask your parents they'll probably have an idea about what happened.

Much as I love the weirdness of life, I don't think phobias come from anywhere except our own minds, with a little help from the environment.

Posted: 22-09-2013 12:52 Post subject:

Earwigs.

Heard a terrible tale as a toddler, told by my much older sister, that a young boy had been sleeping when an earwig crawled into his ear. Days later the boy felt somewhat unwell, which led to severe pain in his ear and eye. It was later discovered that the earwig had munched through his sinus cavity and gnawed its way around the back of his eyeball. As if this wasn't enough, it finally burrowed into his brain and began to devour that, too.

I am only half certain that this is a tall tale to this day, and my sis says she can't quite remember it.

But around the age of 10 to 13 I often slept with honking great headphones over my ears. When this became too uncomfortable I purchased a very fluffy pair of earmuffs to sleep in, to protect me from such a hideous fate.

Posted: 22-09-2013 19:22 Post subject:

I'm a retired Infant teacher. I do remember a child in my class who had to have an insect removed from his ear at our local A&E dept -I'm not sure that it was an actual earwig. Smile

Posted: 22-09-2013 19:39 Post subject:

Was it The Twilight Zone which had the story of the insect burrowing through a man's ear into his brain and out the other side? He's very relieved when it emerges, then gets the bad news: the insect was female and it's laid eggs in there. Or is that an urban myth?