People have been sharing their ‘unusual phobias’ – 23 proper outliers that really do keep someone awake at night
Anyone who has ever seen the clip of the woman who is scared of snowmen – which will be lots of people, as it went wildly viral – will know that we can be oddly terrified of the most seemingly innocuous things.
Other people’s strange fears are utterly fascinating, as they’ve been discussing on the AskUK subreddit after user Interesting_Net1297 asked this:
Do you, or anyone you know have an unusual phobia? Spiders and heights are relativity common, just wondering if there is any interesting ones out there. My neighbour is terrified of cats and has her husband check the garden and under the car before she leaves the house.
And plenty of bizarre fears were thrown up, like these…
1.
‘My friend is terrified of Claudia Winkleman. Whenever she comes on the TV or the news, she shudders, lol. Don’t ask me why.’
–Loose_Avocado4670
2.
‘I really don’t like buttons on clothes. No idea why but I find them revolting and will avoid them if I can.’
–desertcanyons
3.
‘My ex was petrified of empty coat hangers. He’d panic if he opened the wardrobe and saw empty coat hangers. I ensured there were always some in there.’
–Aromatic_Pea_4249
4.
‘Went to a butterfly garden which had a ‘pub’ in it. Someone put out food for them and it was a swarm of wings. All flapping round my head. Can’t cope with anything fluttering near my face now.’
–Slight-Character5826
5.
‘I have a phobia that is so specific that I’ve only come across one other person (online) who has the same phobia. I’m afraid of church bells. Literally, leg collapsing heart racing terrified of them. It isn’t something that comes up often in daily life, so I didn’t find out until I was 15, but subsequently I’ve had to avoid church towers and other locations where bells might be hidden.
You might think that’s a fairly easy modification to make to one’s life, but I’m training to be a vicar…’
–whizzymamajuni
6.
‘Cotton wool. I don’t know how it started but I have fainted when exposed to the stuff unexpectedly in the past.’
–MedicalCook6653
7.
‘Megalophobia! I hate pylons, skyscrapers, cranes, big trees, anchors and cruise ships to name a few. Unfortunately a crane has been erected right next door to me for some building work so I’m living in a perpetual state of ‘that thing will fall on me’ at the moment.’
–KindPrawns91
8.
‘My wife has a phobia of balloons. She can’t be in the same room as one, and once nearly crashed our car avoiding one that was floating across the road.’
–RikB666
9.
‘I have linked phobias of clowns and vomiting, along with a hatred of orange squash. When I was a kid I went to birthday party with a clown who was handing out orange squash. I drank so much I projectile vomited on the steps of the Trafford Hall Hotel.
The clown was later sent down for armed robbery. Unrelated, I think.’
–InsaneInTheCrane79
10.
‘Seeing people brush their teeth make me want to puke. I have no problem with brushing my own or the kids, but on TV etc, I cant watch!’
–Icy-Hippopotenuse
11.
‘I’m extremely uncomfortable with a big ‘wall of water’. Even if it’s just in a movie. You’ll never, ever see me anywhere that tsunamis are a risk.’
–Ahleanna-D
12.
‘I am absolutely terrified of a human dressed up with a realistic animal head on. Full on, truly terrified, want to throw up and run away. So that weird fox human hybrid from the Foxy Bingo advert was my nemesis for years on TV. Ugh. Hate it hate hate it.’
–ohnobobbins