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

Australian aboriginal art. Particularly the humanoid figures, but to some extent also the animals or even abstract designs. There's just something about the patterns of dots and stripes which I find uncanny.
 

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As a kid I was scared to death by the picture Mona Lisa. Something about her smirk andI eyes.
I think it is a rather creepy portrait. I don't understand the fascination with it, or why it is such a high valued painting. In my eyes it is just a rather gloomy looking photo of a rather plain woman in black clothing.

In Amsterdam, some of the tourist tatt had pictures of the Mona Lisa with a joint and a huge smile on her face....

I much prefer the versions people have made with cats replacing the grumpy looking woman's face myself.
 
I think it is a rather creepy portrait. I don't understand the fascination with it, or why it is such a high valued painting. In my eyes it is just a rather gloomy looking photo of a rather plain woman in black clothing.

In Amsterdam, some of the tourist tatt had pictures of the Mona Lisa with a joint and a huge smile on her face....

I much prefer the versions people have made with cats replacing the grumpy looking woman's face myself.
amonasmoker.jpg
 
I think it is a rather creepy portrait. I don't understand the fascination with it, or why it is such a high valued painting. In my eyes it is just a rather gloomy looking photo of a rather plain woman in black clothing.

In Amsterdam, some of the tourist tatt had pictures of the Mona Lisa with a joint and a huge smile on her face....

I much prefer the versions people have made with cats replacing the grumpy looking woman's face myself.
Not as bad as "Whistler's Mother", though. She may not be looking at you, but you have to wonder what she is looking at.
 
Aside from the living statue in the pyramid sketch of Sesame Street, there was a sketch where the blue muppet (he had no name) who got annoyed by Grover, and he was going through wigs or toupees. He goes through too little and too large and finally gets one right, which Grover tells him not to. He turns around and it says 'feed me!' in a high-pitched voice that caused him to faint and me to nope it.
 
When I was a young kid, about 5 or 6, I had a bizarre fear of low levels of oxygen in my bedroom whilst I was asleep. I figured that if the door and windows were shut how did the oxygen which I was using up during breathing get replenished. Wouldn't it eventually get completely exhausted and then what? So after my Mum had said goodnight and closed the doors and window I would push the door slightly ajar. When I told her the reason my Mum said something along the lines of don't be so daft but she let me keep the window slightly open anyway. I now realise my worry was completely unfounded but to this day I am still a fresh air fiend I will always sleep with the window slightly open even in the depths of winter. I know there is nothing I can do about it but I also dislike those sealed windows which cannot be opened in modern office blocks and hotels.
 
a bizarre fear of low levels of oxygen in my bedroom whilst I was asleep
Actually not entirely bizarre.
In an enclosed environment with little ventilation the levels of carbon dioxide exhaled would quickly (relatively) build up.
And estimates of available oxygen in an average sized (UK) bedroom, and average respiration rates, indicate that an average person would start struggling to breathe properly at any point after about 3.9 days, and by about day 12 there would likely not be enough oxygen to survive any longer.
Now that is probably a bit longer than people would expect, but that is based on averages, so you could easily imagine the extreme ends of the data being shortened somewhat if you account for, maybe, smaller rooms, more than 1 person in the room, 'heavy' breathing, etc.
 
This got me thinking about if anybody had ever been trapped in an elevator over a weekend and had died of suffocation. Googling it it seems there are no recorded cases as most elevators do have small ventilation holes designed in the elevator car and also there is a small gap under the sliding doors. Also nowadays most modern elevators have an emergency hotline which can be activated to summon assistance in case of mechanical failure.
 
Actually not entirely bizarre.
In an enclosed environment with little ventilation the levels of carbon dioxide exhaled would quickly (relatively) build up.
And estimates of available oxygen in an average sized (UK) bedroom, and average respiration rates, indicate that an average person would start struggling to breathe properly at any point after about 3.9 days, and by about day 12 there would likely not be enough oxygen to survive any longer.
Now that is probably a bit longer than people would expect, but that is based on averages, so you could easily imagine the extreme ends of the data being shortened somewhat if you account for, maybe, smaller rooms, more than 1 person in the room, 'heavy' breathing, etc.
I guess this would apply if the room was actually airtight, but most bedrooms in most houses are anything but!

Although I had an ex who was so afraid of burglars that he would lock and seal all windows and doors in his double-glazed house every night. I would often wake up convinced I was suffocating (I'm another fresh air fiend!) and find I was sealed in with no way of opening a door or window because he had hidden the keys. I asked what would happen if the place caught fire and he just said 'Oh, I'll wake up and open the door'. I was not convinced.
 
Humorist James Thurber had a relative named Brigs with the same worry:
"We had visiting us at this time a nervous first cousin of mine named Briggs Beall, who believed that he was likely to cease breathing when he was asleep"..."he took the precaution of putting a glass of spirits of camphor on a little table at the head of his bed. In case I didn't arouse him until he was almost gone, he said, he would sniff the camphor, a powerful reviver"

You Know This Is a Bad Idea:
"Briggs, awakening in the midst of loud shouts of fear and apprehension, came to the quick conclusion that he was suffocating and that we were all trying to "bring him out." With a low moan, he grasped the glass of camphor at the head of his bed and instead of sniffing it poured it over himself. The room reeked of camphor. "Ugh, ugh," choked Briggs, like a drowning man, for he had almost succeeded in stopping his breathing under the deluge of pungent spirits"

And then it just goes downhill: https://www.acaedu.net/cms/lib3/TX01001550/Centricity/Domain/562/Week 19 - Night bed fell story website.pdf
 
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I inadvertently activated the emergency help button with my elbow in the lift at work whilst jostling with a large piece of kit about 25 years ago. It was supposed to be a direct line to the Lift company but from the sounds of it I'd got through to their fax machine.
 
most elevators do have small ventilation holes
Elevator cars are mostly made of a steel framework with ill-fitting panels with gaps you could put your hand through, but when you're inside them they seem quite solid. They have to be made so that they do not fill up with water in the case of a fire and the sprinklers going off, or hoses of water directed into the building by firemen.
 
Elevator cars are mostly made of a steel framework with ill-fitting panels with gaps you could put your hand through, but when you're inside them they seem quite solid. They have to be made so that they do not fill up with water in the case of a fire and the sprinklers going off, or hoses of water directed into the building by firemen.
Great. A new irrational fear of drowning in an elevator. I'm not totally claustrophobic. And don't have a problem in small spaces, but if it is a tight space and someone is blocking the exit ie. they would have control of allowing access into or out of, I feel quite uncomfortable and have to leave.

I will never get into a submarine as, if the hatch was closed and it has the remote possibility of submerging, I know that if something went wrong, there is almost 0% of survival. I have never even toured a moored submarine museum.

A plane is ok to me because if it has problems and starts to go down, I can still breathe. Go figure.
 
Great. A new irrational fear of drowning in an elevator. I'm not totally claustrophobic. And don't have a problem in small spaces, but if it is a tight space and someone is blocking the exit ie. they would have control of allowing access into or out of, I feel quite uncomfortable and have to leave.

I will never get into a submarine as, if the hatch was closed and it has the remote possibility of submerging, I know that if something went wrong, there is almost 0% of survival. I have never even toured a moored submarine museum.

A plane is ok to me because if it has problems and starts to go down, I can still breathe. Go figure.
You are not alone :)
 
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