I have a mate who has a genuine phobia of buttons (as in clothing fasteners, not the chocolate sweets or the pantomime character). This sounds like it wouldn't make a big difference to his life, but he can't wear shirts and has to choose all his clothes very carefully accordingly.

I had a light bulb explode on me once because a couple of huge spiders were fighting/eating a moth on it.

I've heard of this one, and always wondered how you can be scared of buttons. What do these people expect them to do that's so bad? Or is it seeing/feeling them a 'nails on blackboard' kind of feeling for them?

Either way, they're mental.

I've heard of this one, and always wondered how you can be scared of buttons. What do these people expect them to do that's so bad? Or is it seeing/feeling them a 'nails on blackboard' kind of feeling for them?

Doesn't that apply to most of these though, no Spider you'll find in the UK wild is going to do you any serious damage either for instance.

Doesn't that apply to most of these though, no Spider you'll find in the UK wild is going to do you any serious damage either for instance.

I have a massive phobia of bees and wasps (Myoptika will attest to this, as he mocks me for it regularly). I am allergic to them. Not to the point of dying from being stung, but to the point of swelling up a ridiculous amount and needing to see a medical professional every time it happens. Which is a colossal annoyance.

Yuck. We had several weeks' worth of accumulated recycling (our bin went missing) so I duly hauled it all to the 'civic amenity site' yesterday, and got swarmed by wasps as I tried to throw the bottles into the bottle banks. I was literally seconds away from screaming 'FUCK THIS!' and just dumping the rest of the stuff there and leaving. Instead, I managed to finish, and at this point, one wasp decided it REALLY LIKED/HATED me and followed me... which was tricky as I had to get back into the car without it coming in too.

I think I can co-win the thread with Teh Rev by combining all your phobias.

When I lived in London, all the lights in my room were in wall sconces (or whatever you call those things that go on the walls). I'd regularly have bees, wasps or flies get stuck between the two panes of glass in my window (as a cheap alternative to proper double glazing, the land lady had put in a set of 'inner' windows to compliment the normal single glazed outer ones). One of these wasps then somehow got into my room one night, and after terrorizing me, flew to the light coming out of the sconce. I seized a can of Raid and sprayed downward into the sconce, hoping to kill it. There was an almighty bang as the room went dark, and I panicked and ran out, closing the door behind me.

I slept on the sofa that night. The following day, I discovered that the cold of the Raid's propellant and the heat of the lightbulb hasn't agreed, causing the bulb to explode, spraying shards of glass everywhere. Somehow I hadn't stepped on any glass during my escape, and the corpse of the wasp was in the middle of the floor, no doubt having been flung there by the blast.

And then, Mr Chris pulled out a DEAD BAT!

I think I can co-win the thread with Teh Rev by combining all your phobias.

Post of the week there Rev.

When my mother was little, HER mother accidentally sewed her finger with a sewing machine.

That is to say, the needle went straight through the fleshy bit on the side of her finger next to the nail. She (grandmother) fainted.

I also hate eye-pressing scenes in movies. I can't watch the end of 28 Days Later because of Cillian Murphy doing it to the solider (why did you discard your rifle, you twattock?)

A gym teacher in high school told us the tale of a kid who lost his nadgers after being smacked in the crotch with a soccer ball.

When my mother was little, HER mother accidentally sewed her finger with a sewing machine.

That is to say, the needle went straight through the fleshy bit on the side of her finger next to the nail. She (grandmother) fainted.

What about that guy who was climbing and fell and got his arm trapped under a rock and then had to choose between dying of dehydration or hacking his own arm off to escape

I hate injections as well. It was weird - I was supposed to give blood recently for a medical research doohickey I had been coerced into doing by my daughter and when the nurse stuck the needle in my arm I was fine, but there was no blood forthcoming (made of stone, eh!) and then about 30 secs later I could feel myself becoming chilled, going light headed and starting to sweat. It was weird feeling it happening even though I don't have a particular phobia about blood or needles, but it was like my body was going into shock just because someone was trying to nick some of my plasma.

What about maggots. Eurgh. Someone here had them coming out of their ceiling, didn't they?

What about maggots. Eurgh. Someone here had them coming out of their ceiling, didn't they?

Anyone who's ever fished quickly gets over the maggots thing. I once, at the end of a fishing trip, attempted to fling the rest of my maggots into the river. I didn't take account for the lip of the container, so instead of going into the river, the whole lot went all over some guy's boat. Sucks to be him.

Did you warm the maggots in your mouth to make them more 'lively'?

I know someone who did this, much to my disgust, but then he wasn't afraid of anything.

sightless mouth. .

How unnatural! A mouth without any eyes in it.