What scares you the most...

[Marcel Admiraal]

Hello,

I was just wondering, with all the horror books in the world based on so many fears and random scary stuff, what is it that scares us the most?

Is it clowns, little girls, spiders, being buried alive, dead people coming back to life, dying, never dying, seeing dead people, some dead guy with knives on his fingers, etc.
Or are they all the base fears that stem from when we were just living in caves?

As you can see, the choice is myriad.

Let's see what we can come up with, shall we?

 

[beer good]

John Carpenter once said that all horror stories really started back on the savannah in Africa, a hundred thousand years ago. At night, people would sit around the campfire and tell stories. Some would look over their shoulders, out at the darkness, imagining all the horrors that lurked out there beyond the perimeter, wanting to eat them. Others, however, would stare into the fire, into themselves, seeing the darkness within and what they were afraid that they themselves might do. All horror stories since then, he said, were variations on one of those two themes.

I definitely prefer the second one.

 

[Will]

A world without a good horror novel is a scary concept. Can you imagine? A tale in which the protaganist goes into their local book store to pick up a horror novel only to find the horror section dominated with book upon book dealing with tales of faux-scary, teenage-angst and brooding semi-romance... oh wait...

On more serious note ;-) I like to read most things, and it's not a particular concept I find scary, more an author's execution and imagination of their own idea. A good author can make the most mundane thing scary. There's a definite psychological aspect which would lean toward base fears which an author will tap into no doubt, but again this comes down to their skill and ability to 'sell you' your base fears repackaged into something else entirely.

 

[sparkchaser]

John Carpenter once said that all horror stories really started back on the savannah in Africa, a hundred thousand years ago. At night, people would sit around the campfire and tell stories. Some would look over their shoulders, out at the darkness, imagining all the horrors that lurked out there beyond the perimeter, wanting to eat them. Others, however, would stare into the fire, into themselves, seeing the darkness within and what they were afraid that they themselves might do. All horror stories since then, he said, were variations on one of those two themes.

I definitely prefer the second one.

That is a great quote.

 

[A.sweet]

Thanks deer good I enjoyed reading your post..and I don't know about thise only today.
I hate to read or see a horror things because I always imagine it behind me:blink:.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I like that quote too.

 

[Rhynedahll]

Water.

Several years ago, my sons and I had the opportunity to visit Europe for two weeks.

All during the nine hour flight going there, all I could think of as the plane cruised at 35,000 feet was this scenario: The plane explodes and plummets into the ocean. I somehow survive the crash only to drown in the middle of the burning wreckage.

 

[DavidRM]

What I'm afraid of is loss of control. Imagine being rolled up in a blanket or carpet, so that you can see, but you can't *do* anything. And maybe someone starts tickling your feet...

What scares me in books or movies? Not so much any more. I can be disturbed. Usually once per concept. Like I remember the scene in "Last of the Mohicans" (the movie) when Wes Studi is cutting the Gray Hair's heart out. That got me the first time I saw it. In books...there was one quick line in an Andrew Vachss book that still sticks with me. I won't repeat it.

-David

 

[-Carlos-]

Down here in Miami we got giant Palmetto Roaches! When they go air borne, I run away like a girly-man. I love bugs and can hold all of them, but when it comes to Palmetto bugs forget it. It's a phobia specific to those kinds of flying insects. Go figure.



Off-Topic I know.

__

 

[ClarkPeterston]

Candyman Candyman Candyman....Did I just do that?

Having said that, that blood sucking half body that lived under the floorboards in Hellraiser made me take precautions....never mind the creature with skin hooks. Scary? Yes.

 

[ClarkPeterston]

On the subject of scary bugs. Meet Russell, a cockroach that we met in Thailand.....

 

[sparkchaser]

Down here in Miami we got giant Palmetto Roaches! When they go air borne, I run away like a girly-man. I love bugs and can hold all of them, but when it comes to Palmetto bugs forget it. It's a phobia specific to those kinds of flying insects. Go figure.



Off-Topic I know.

__

 

[753C]

The ocean scares the crap out of me. And doctors offices and hospitals. And bees of any kind. And that's about it.
I do remember my uncle took me to see Hellraiser when I was way to young to see something like that and it traumatized me for a couple of months, so I hear you on that one ClarkPeterson.

 

[cajun_duck]

Spiders, and the thought of failing everybody I care for.

 

[eclair]

People. People scare me, with their eyes and their legs and arms and fingers, ewww fingers.

 

[Lincoln Rhyme]

A world without a good horror novel is a scary concept. Can you imagine? A tale in which the protaganist goes into their local book store to pick up a horror novel only to find the horror section dominated with book upon book dealing with tales of faux-scary, teenage-angst and brooding semi-romance... oh wait...

On more serious note ;-) I like to read most things, and it's not a particular concept I find scary, more an author's execution and imagination of their own idea. A good author can make the most mundane thing scary. There's a definite psychological aspect which would lean toward base fears which an author will tap into no doubt, but again this comes down to their skill and ability to 'sell you' your base fears repackaged into something else entirely.

I've read Pet Sematary. I really didn't think that it would be as scary as it was. I mean really, pets coming back from the dead,how scary can that be?

I was flipping through each page in horror of what was going to happen next. Same with Cujo.

 

[jimthompson]

One thing I have noticed in my travels and dealing with different cultures, they all tell ghost or monster stories. These are meant to keep children from running off. I believe this is the origin of horror stories.

 

[dude]

People.

Not sure how serious you were being, but yeah, people get my vote. In times of crisis, everyone's enemy are each other and that's what's scares me the most; what people will resort to and turn themselves into in order to save themselves. The dumber people are, the more they suck at self-preservation and there are entirely too many dumb people for me to feel safe.

 

[venichhe]

ooooo...eewwwww... those are some creepy crawlers... nothing scares me more than ghosts though, but those.... ooooo... one time I saw an episode of X files with cock roaches going into human bodies... that scene haunted me for years...

 

[Isabell]

Regular household roaches....if I ever, and I mean EVER find one in my house- I'm packing up and moving out that minute....crying and screaming the whole time.

I don't have any other phobias, but this one gets me every time.