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Strange Things That Scared You (But Aren't Obviously 'Scary')

Floyd1 said:
In the first couple of years I was there- 'Primary School' smell. (Not to be confused with 'Village Hall' smell).
Perhaps more irritating than scary though.
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There was also 'Church' smell, which seemed to come mostly from the stacks of hymn and prayer books, Bibles etc.
 
Mythopoeika said:
There was also 'Church' smell, which seemed to come mostly from the stacks of hymn and prayer books, Bibles etc.
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I remember standing at the entrance to a Shinto shrine in Tokyo and the smell triggered memories of being a cub scout when I was about nine. It took me a few moments to work out it was the smell of all the wood (at least that's what I thought the smell came from)
 
catseye said:
You could be on to something here. As children we were usually told 'not' to pull at big heavy things above us, and often told in graphic detail what would happen if they came off the wall/fell on us.

And then we were expected to do that very thing, with a big china box of water seven feet above our heads!
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I remember being scared of our toilet that had a low down cistern like most toilets have now. I thought something could come back out of the toilet and get me when flushed. I can't think why it might be. Maybe they produce some sort of high-pitched sound frequency that only young children can hear? It might be enough to instill fear if it was specific to a toilet flush and was very loud.
 
I'm assuming that when all of you Brits refer to "cistern" that you are talking about the toilet tank? I used to be afraid of putting my hand into the toilet tank cuz the water couldn't be seen clearly. Now, as an adult who has had to stop a toilet from leaking, I know that water is clear.

I have seen water cisterns which are below ground or, in my one grandma's case, in her basement. They don't frighten me.

I can say that "dark water" creeps me out to this day. What I mean by dark water, is water that comes up from something that, to me, feels nasty. Example, toilets, bathtubs or sewer pipes becoming clogged and backing up, as well as low lying land that is below water level.
 
catseye said:
You could be on to something here. As children we were usually told 'not' to pull at big heavy things above us, and often told in graphic detail what would happen if they came off the wall/fell on us.

And then we were expected to do that very thing, with a big china box of water seven feet above our heads!
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It happened to the In House GP's niece - she pulled the chain on a high mounted cistern in a school toilet and it did fall on her head.
 
I hated going into unfamiliar toilets when I was young. Probably down to the noise of the water travelling along the pipes, and a particular scene in the House That Bled To Death (even though that wasn't toilet related).

I might only have seen high mounted cisterns on TV, but for no obvious reason I've always found them creepy. Older style toilets in office blocks and other public buildings still tend to give me the creeps as well. As an adult there really shouldn't be a reason.
 
I'm fascinated and surprised to read a lot of people posting about their fear of toilets and/or flushes. You're making me think that maybe I should be frightened of them! Is there a word for it? 'Flushophobia' would do for me, but maybe someone has already coined a proper word for it.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
I'm fascinated and surprised to read a lot of people posting about their fear of toilets and/or flushes. You're making me think that maybe I should be frightened of them! Is there a word for it? 'Flushophobia' would do for me, but maybe someone has already coined a proper word for it.
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Be afraid, very afraid.

It doesn't appear to have a name, apart from toilet phobia. Get your suggestion copyrighted. I'm pushing for cludgiephobia.

Believe it or not, it does feature on this website (for some reason I can't copy the full URL for the relevant page):
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk
 
Beresford said:
I'm pushing for cludgiephobia.
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Pushing is fine, Beresford - but do please try to resist the temptation to strain.

Ah yes, the 'cludgie' . A term I was unfamiliar with until about 10 years ago, when friends moved to a new home which had a downstairs loo just inside the front door which they called the 'cludgie'. Is it a regional colloquialism? It sounds kinda Scottish to my southern softie ears.

'Cludgiephobia' does have a ring to it. Not to be confused with budgiephobia (fear of small colourful caged birds), or pudgiephobia (fear of mildly obese people), or fudgiephobia (fear of passing slightly-too-soft stools).
 
I would suggest that, (seeing as phobias always seem to be named after 'the Greek word for xxxx') we used the term 'Depozhitophobia', as the Greek word for a tank/cistern is "ντεπόζιτο" which has the pronunciation 'Depozhito' in English.
 
Trevp666 said:
I would suggest that, (seeing as phobias always seem to be named after 'the Greek word for xxxx') we used the term 'Depozhitophobia', as the Greek word for a tank/cistern is "ντεπόζιτο" which has the pronunciation 'Depozhito' in English.
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Thanks, Trev. How about we could shorten it to just 'zhitophobia' .... assuming that isn't already taken?
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Pushing is fine, Beresford - but do please try to resist the temptation to strain.

Ah yes, the 'cludgie' . A term I was unfamiliar with until about 10 years ago, when friends moved to a new home which had a downstairs loo just inside the front door which they called the 'cludgie'. Is it a regional colloquialism? It sounds kinda Scottish to my southern softie ears.

'Cludgiephobia' does have a ring to it. Not to be confused with budgiephobia (fear of small colourful caged birds), or pudgiephobia (fear of mildly obese people), or fudgiephobia (fear of passing slightly-too-soft stools).
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It's very much a Scottish word, used In the West and possibly popularised by Billy Connolly. I'm not sure if it's used in the East, but there are a few residents of those parts of Scotland on here. Perhaps they can confirm or otherwise.
 
catseye said:
I was holding out for 'swooshyswooshyrattleclankophobia', but realise that this is of very limited use.
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Beresford said:
It would earn a fair number of points in Scrabble.
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catseye said:
t would also require four and a half 'hands' worth to play...
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It wouldn't fit on the board, seeing as it is a 15 x 15 playing area.
You would need to create some kind of new rules allowing the use of 3 boards side by side, or create a new board that was at least 32 squares across (or down).
And then you've got the question of whether or not the letter distribution would allow for it.
Unless you have both blanks available it's unlikely, as there are only 2 of the letter H and you'd need 3.
 
Trevp666 said:
It wouldn't fit on the board, seeing as it is a 15 x 15 playing area.
You would need to create some kind of new rules allowing the use of 3 boards side by side, or create a new board that was at least 32 squares across (or down).
And then you've got the question of whether or not the letter distribution would allow for it.
Unless you have both blanks available it's unlikely, as there are only 2 of the letter H and you'd need 3.
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I call for NEW RULES SCRABBLE!
 
lorac61469 said:
I too was afraid of the toilet flush but only at night.
For a few years as a kid I was terrified of getting ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday. I have no idea why.
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Because it's a rather sinister ritual? It might have felt like being marked for death, or at least as "do not resuscitate"; or perhaps it reminded you of marks on plague victims' doors.
 
LymeswoldSnork said:
Because it's a rather sinister ritual? It might have felt like being marked for death, or at least as "do not resuscitate"; or perhaps it reminded you of marks on plague victims' doors.
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I think some toilets are really noisy, and scary - particularly the older ones.
 
lorac61469 said:
I too was afraid of the toilet flush but only at night.
For a few years as a kid I was terrified of getting ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday. I have no idea why.
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I vaguely have a memory of devout worshippers going around with the ash marks on their forehead and my mum telling me it was ashes. I think I got it confused with people's ashes from cremation and having the same sort of fear as you.
 
catseye said:
I vaguely have a memory of devout worshippers going around with the ash marks on their forehead and my mum telling me it was ashes. I think I got it confused with people's ashes from cremation and having the same sort of fear as you.
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They're not Jesus' ashes then? Whose ashes are they? :hahazebs:

Why do they use ash? I don't think I have ever known why some churches do that....
I never went to the sort of church that did them....
 
catseye said:
I vaguely have a memory of devout worshippers going around with the ash marks on their forehead and my mum telling me it was ashes.
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Blimey. I read that too quickly and I thought you had said 'devil worshippers'. I thought "what kind of upbringing did you have, catseye!??".

salt-man said:
More to the point why did the 70's TV adaptation of The Owl Service have what can only be an extremely loud toilet flush during the weird music in the opening credits? Toilets in any form play no part in the book at all.
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I vaguely remember the tv serial of "The Owl Service" - and have coincidentally just bought the book. I'm quite relieved to hear that toilets play no part in it. That would just be weird.

I believe I'm correct in saying this : I think the weird guttural sort-of roaring sounds that the fearsome Yeti (well, fearsome to a six year-old) made in their second appearance in "Doctor Who" was actually achieved by electronically treating a recording of a toilet flushing. I'm not sure if that would explain why some people are frightened of the untreated flushing sound though. Perhaps the sound engineer chose that noise because he was scared of it? Just a theory.
 
Earthly oddity said:
They're not Jesus' ashes then? Whose ashes are they? :hahazebs:

Why do they use ash? I don't think I have ever known why some churches do that....
I never went to the sort of church that did them....
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Ashes were supposed to signify repentence for one's sins - Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, so it's supposed to be when you think upon your sins. Back when I was young in the 60s the church was still more of a part of people's lives than it is now and I went to a church school, so we did church services for what the church considered Important Occasions,

I'm still slightly surprised nowadays that nobody knows about things like this, but I guess it's not taught any more.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Blimey. I read that too quickly and I thought you had said 'devil worshippers'. I thought "what kind of upbringing did you have, catseye!??".


I vaguely remember the tv serial of "The Owl Service" - and have coincidentally just bought the book. I'm quite relieved to hear that toilets play no part in it. That would just be weird.

I believe I'm correct in saying this : I think the weird guttural sort-of roaring sounds that the fearsome Yeti (well, fearsome to a six year-old) made in their second appearance in "Doctor Who" was actually achieved by electronically treating a recording of a toilet flushing. I'm not sure if that would explain why some people are frightened of the untreated flushing sound though. Perhaps the sound engineer chose that noise because he was scared of it? Just a theory.
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I seem to remember that some of the 'noises' in Dr Who were made by scratching piano strings and then playing the sound backwards, but I might be misremembering that.
 
catseye said:
I seem to remember that some of the 'noises' in Dr Who were made by scratching piano strings and then playing the sound backwards, but I might be misremembering that.
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Yes, famously that was how they created the distinctive "wheezing groaning" sound of the the TARDIS dematerialising.
 
A b&w version of this photo of Fatty Arbuckle freaked me out, and I would avoid looking at it for fear of it when looking at a book we had on old Hollywood stars. The book was big, so as a small kid his face was HUGE on the page... I found it unexpectedly hideous.
fatty.jpg
 
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catseye said:
Ashes were supposed to signify repentence for one's sins - Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, so it's supposed to be when you think upon your sins. Back when I was young in the 60s the church was still more of a part of people's lives than it is now and I went to a church school, so we did church services for what the church considered Important Occasions,

I'm still slightly surprised nowadays that nobody knows about things like this, but I guess it's not taught any more.
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I grew up in the 70s. I went to church but not the sort that did ashes on foreheads....

It reminds me of the idea of marking front doors with a cross to identify plague victim homes......Maybe that is what might disturb a child, if they have heard of the plague/marking front doors.....?
 
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