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Irrational Childhood Terror

That's it! Sorry for being confused on the title ... The volume I knew it was in (Adventures in Time and Space) was lost with the rest of my library in a fire a few years ago.
 
There's a Stephen King short story, Crouch End? about travelling into a strange and dangerous place.
I remember one about a man descending a seemingly endless series of steps, set in a tube station I think.
Also one about an afterlife in which ghosts can only remain on Earth by holding onto something metal, otherwise a sort of reverse gravity pulled them away.
Irrational, and quite common it seems.
 
amarok2005 said:
The story EnolaGaia mentions sound suspiciously like "He Who Shrank," by Henry Hasse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Who_Shrank

Even freakier than falling to nowhere (to me, at least), was gravity not working right and falling up forever. A famous example is Joseph Payne Brennan's "Levitation", adapted for comic books and Tales from the Dark Side. The whole story is online here:

https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/10/joseph-payne-brennan-levitation.html
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That reminded me of the works of Tim Powers, in which those who dabble heavily in the occult become repelled by the Earth and require harnesses to hold them in place, otherwise they float off into oblivion.

The Anubis Gates was the first Tim Powers' novel I read. It is full of Fortean themes and I recommend it very highly.
 
I'd endorse that, The Anubis Gates is a brilliant book.
 
I remember reading a book in primary school. It was about a group of kids living in a seaside town. One night, they stowed away on the pier until after it closed for the night. No-one knew they were there. They played and messed about on all the rides and activities. A storm damaged the pier and part of it collapsed into the sea, cutting them off from the mainland. I think a fire also broke out but the kids ended up being rescued. I can't remember the name of the book, but it made me afraid of walking the pier on holidays. Just looking down between the boards to the sea below, plus all that Victorian iron and steel that's been battered by a century of salt water and wind, gave(and still gives) me the screaming horrors.
 
smokehead wrote:

I remember one about a man descending a seemingly endless series of steps, set in a tube station I think.
Also one about an afterlife in which ghosts can only remain on Earth by holding onto something metal, otherwise a sort of reverse gravity pulled them away.
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I believe the first story was "Descending" by Thomas M. Disch. The second is definitely "Radio Waves" by Michael Swanwick, which hit me when I first read it like a punch in the gut. Certainly a unique vision of the Afterlife!
 
Thanks for that.
I can never remember titles and writers.
 
I had an irrational fear of fish. I remember going to the cottage and refusing to go into the water. Then I saw Jaws. Now, I have an irrational fear of sharks. Go figure. :p
 
Mine isn't just a childhooh terror, it's one I still have.

What I can't handle and it makes me cringe big time is seeing what I call 'dead finger and toe nails'. Nothing creeps me out more than when someone cuts their finger and or toe nails, is seeing them make little piles in front of them which just grow and grow full of those dead things.

Doesn't take long before all those dead nails look like they are slowly waking up to having a life of their own taking on bizarre and weird personalities, as if they are about to start dancing or doing odd things like stalking just to freak everyone out...

My only saving grace is that so far, none of them have tried to talk to me... yet...
 
min_bannister said:
I don't think that is irrational! They are highly efficient, streamlined killing machines. I think they are amazing. But scary.
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I'm not sure how I managed to skip out the part about the fear of fish being a childhood fear. I was around six or seven years old at the time. I loved swimming but I remember that overwhelming fear I felt in my tummy when we were at the cottage. There was no way I was getting in that lake. I never told anyone about it, not even my family.

Then I saw Jaws, I remember as my brother and I were exiting the theater, there was a couple, walking with their arms around each others waists, in front of us and she asked her boyfriend or husband, or whatever he was if there was such a thing as man eating pickerel. My brother and I laughed and he said I guess their going to the lake this weekend. I said so am I. That weekend I remember standing on the edge of the the dock and feeling the same fear I felt when I was a 6 or 7. I forced myself to dive in the lake anyway because logic dictated that there are no sharks in a lake. But, I still found myself unable to just stay in the water and swim around like everyone else was doing because I could not see the bottom of the lake and the thought of all the creatures that were in there with me really bothered me so, I had t get out. lol
 
michael59 said:
I'm not sure how I managed to skip out the part about the fear of fish being a childhood fear. I was around six or seven years old at the time. I loved swimming but I remember that overwhelming fear I felt in my tummy when we were at the cottage. There was no way I was getting in that lake. I never told anyone about it, not even my family.

Then I saw Jaws, I remember as my brother and I were exiting the theater, there was a couple, walking with their arms around each others waists, in front of us and she asked her boyfriend or husband, or whatever he was if there was such a thing as man eating pickerel. My brother and I laughed and he said I guess their going to the lake this weekend. I said so am I. That weekend I remember standing on the edge of the the dock and feeling the same fear I felt when I was a 6 or 7. I forced myself to dive in the lake anyway because logic dictated that there are no sharks in a lake. But, I still found myself unable to just stay in the water and swim around like everyone else was doing because I could not see the bottom of the lake and the thought of all the creatures that were in there with me really bothered me so, I had t get out. lol
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No sharks in a lake - true, yes. But what about snakeheads?
giant-snakehead.jpg

Sharks, pike and pickerel all prefer moving water, but snakeheads will live in a lake. Also...eels.
 
Just be grateful Myths not a shrink




You arnt, are you? :O
 
Oi!
Et tu, Shady? I thought you were my friend.
[shambles off, a shadow of his former self]
 
But, but, brat usually denotes a youngster, tis a compliment :D sorta
 
Shady said:
But, but, brat usually denotes a youngster, tis a compliment :D sorta
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The word 'brat'...has connotations. Not a compliment at all.
 
I just read the comments at the top of this thread. I had missed a few. You were right, Shady, I do post to fast. :oops:
 
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