What was your most irrational fear as a child?

[tinydancer]

I was afraid of store mannequins. I thought they would come to life and chase me.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by GammaGirl1908

*The big one: escalators, especially very fast ones. I was convinced the teeth would eat me.

I have heard that escalators result in a significant number of injuries every year, so I don't think your fear was irrational. My sister got her sneaker "eaten" by an escalator at a Hyatt Regency in Florida. She was with her first husband (an attorney) and my parents. There was a bent piece of metal at the bottom of the escalator, creating a small space that was just big enough to trap the tip of her shoe between the bottom platform and the stair teeth. Her foot was trapped and her husband had to work to rip her shoe off, while the escalator was still running and people were coming to help. My mom told me the story and I thought she was exaggerating, until I saw the shoe. The sole was sliced completely through...this shoe was mangled! I could not believe she wasn't injured. The hotel paid for a new pair of shoes.

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

I have heard that escalators result in a significant number of injuries every year, so I don't think your fear was irrational. My sister got her sneaker "eaten" by an escalator at a Hyatt Regency in Florida. She was with her first husband (an attorney) and my parents. There was a bent piece of metal at the bottom of the escalator, creating a small space that was just big enough to trap the tip of her shoe between the bottom platform and the stair teeth. Her foot was trapped and her husband had to work to rip her shoe off, while the escalator was still running and people were coming to help. My mom told me the story and I thought she was exaggerating, until I saw the shoe. The sole was sliced completely through...this shoe was mangled! I could not believe she wasn't injured. The hotel paid for a new pair of shoes.

...you realize you just put GammaGirl1908 back in counseling, right?

[naraht]

Originally Posted by GammaGirl1908

(DC folks: the escalators at White Flint mall usually were the scene of this drama).

At least it wasn't at the Wheaton Metro station...

[Xidelt]

Some others:
Aliens. I can't remember the title of the book, but there was a nonfiction book published in the 80s or early 90s about a guy who claimed to be kidnapped by aliens. I made the mistake of reading a few chapters. I had nightmares for years about aliens and they still kind of freak me out.

Staircases without risers between the steps: I always felt like I was going to fall through the stairs.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

Some others:
Aliens. I can't remember the title of the book, but there was a nonfiction book published in the 80s or early 90s about a guy who claimed to be kidnapped by aliens. I made the mistake of reading a few chapters. I had nightmares for years about aliens and they still kind of freak me out.

Is that the one they made the movie from, Fire in the Sky, with that guy from Cutting Edge?

[Xidelt]

I think so!

[GammaGirl1908]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

Staircases without risers between the steps: I always felt like I was going to fall through the stairs.

I STILL hate those. There's a location of a gym that I sometimes go to that has a staircase with open backs, and I don't look down.

Re escalators: Ha @ Wheaton! Too true!

Come to think about it, that fear may have come from the time that I was at a hospital because my older sister was getting treated for something, and another patient was a kid whose foot got caught in an escalator. Not to be too graphic, but suffice it to say that he had on flip-flops, and... yeah. I didn't actually see it, but I heard the doctors talking. Hadn't thought about that in years until this thread.

Indeed, perhaps I should talk to a professional...

[KDCat]

A co-worker of my dad's had his little girl lose 2 toes that way. She was 3 and wearing sandals and didn't step off at the end. Her toes went into the escalator, but they couldn't salvage them after they got her out of it.

[aephi alum]

"Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator!"

-- Mallrats

Add me to the list of people who were afraid of escalators as a little kid. I was convinced that the teeth at the end of the escalator would eat me. After all, they were eating the steps, weren't they? So I would jump over the teeth rather than stepping off like a normal person.

[Cheerio]

Well, it wasn't SPAM!

[carnation]

I am still afraid of Maleficent.