nice try Freddy Krueger, or jigsaw, or pennywise or whoevery you are.

I’m afraid of drinking through a straw. I’m convinced (against all logic) that I’m going to inhale it and choke.

However, I recently started drinking through a straw again at my dentist’s recommendation, to protect my teeth from carbonation. I have a set of reusable metal ones. They don’t trigger my phobia at all. Maybe the texture makes all the difference.

An ex was afraid of butterflies but not moths. They could explain what their were afraid of but not why it applied to butterflies and not moths.

My SO loves butterflies but is afraid of moths.

I’m not afraid of either. I’m afraid of being incapacitated though, so things like ledges or working under a car makes me uneasy.

Fear of losing my teeth. Spent about 5 years with dental braces, teeth pulled (permanent and baby to make room), and oral surgery to have a tooth exposed to pull down slowly in place over time. I have some fucked up dreams, but nothing disturbs me more than one where my teeth are breaking, cracking, loose, or falling out. Maybe it is a bit of dental PTSD.

Fear of right wing extremists taking over the world

Heights. There was some movie or show where people were hanging from a skyscraper window after an earthquake, and I regularly have vivid nightmares about it. It’s not to the point of a phobia but a really strong fear. I went up the Seattle space needle with my husband, and he was clowning against the glass while I was only able to stay in the middle. Had nightmares about him falling or me falling off it ever since.

I grew up in the country with an in-ground swimming pool that we heated with a solar cover. When the cover was retracted/rolled up Bullsnakes would hide inside. There were quite a few times when they’d hastily slither out unexpectedly, and I’ve been pretty freaked out by snakes ever since.

I weirdly have a fear of spiders, but only irl. And am relatively fascinated by them when viewing them on pictures/video.

Long loose hair for some reason

Bears, even though I think they’re really cool. It’s gotten worse over time. I’ve seen a lot of videos of idiots interacting with them, getting too close, leaving food out at campsites, etc.

Plus my ever-declining faith in humanity, it means the likelihood of a bear I would encounter being made more dangerous because of other people is high.

I used to want to go to the Adirondack mountains, but after reading reviews about one of the main camp areas being overrun with black bears (due to eating human food) that’s no longer on my bucket list.

Even on a fairly recent camping trip with a friend with equal knowledge about bear safety, they left a plate out with some meat grease overnight. We heard all sorts of sounds and the plate was far from the eating area in the morning. Like can you not leave a welcome present out for the apex predator, please?

I used to be afraid of looking at mirrors at night. Idk what it’s called, spectrophobia maybe? Well, anyway, one night I took acid and happened to look at a mirror while blasted off my mind. Staring at it felt so disappointingly mundane that I laughed at myself for expecting anything to go wrong. Lost my fear permanently.

I’m horribly afraid of heights and can’t even stomach a normal wall climb (like with a harness and everything) without quivering like a leaf.

Also most BIG bugs, especially if they have a lot of legs… though I think I’d probably be fine with a tarantula, for some reason. No idea why. The small ones are usually fine, minus wasps and hornets.

I’m kind of afraid of the dark too, but it’s also not really about the darkness itself. I’ll find myself vividly envisioning things like a snarling wolf suddenly lunging from the darkness to tear my throat out, or a large, unhinged man sneaking up behind me, or some shit like that. It usually only happens outdoors in rural areas where nights are much darker, which allows my imagination to run more wildly than usual. Thankfully, I live in a city now.

Not weird

My biggest fear is that the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be able to dispense coffee.

Corny jokes aside, germs.

This is as good as it gets. Everyone struggling to rent, find jobs, finding out that a substantial portion of people around you hate you.

Bees, but only because I’m allergic.