Last week my brother, Storyteller, reminded me of my youthful obsession with the spooky show “Night Gallery”. I’ve since been obsessed with “Twilight Zone”, “X-Files”, and  "Highlander". For some reason I am drawn to the odd, spooky, weird, and supernatural.  When a show on aliens or supernatural phenomenon comes on TV my husband will call out “your kind of show is on”.

One aspect of my fascination comes from that little thrill you get when you hear something that can’t possibly be true. Or can it?  It is a little thrill of fear.

Fear (n): synonymous with terror, dread, horror, fright, panic, alarm, trepidation, and apprehension

Here are some common fears.

“I’m Scared, But I Probably Won’t Die”

 (scary movies, rollercoaster rides, spooky stories told around a campfire)

You may have a hard time going to sleep because of this kind of fear, but you probably won’t be harmed physically.  My son Andy has this kind of fear. Andy is my 6 foot 1 inch sixteen year old, and for some reason the movie “Mothman” got under his skin. He refuses to go unaccompanied outside at night. When I press him to “please get my book from the car”, he will give me a “you’ve got to be kidding” look and say, “Mothman”, as if that explains it all. Last June, our family flew to Cincinnati for my oldest daughter’s graduation.  We were there for about 5 days. A week later we were back home in Idaho and Andy was looking at an Atlas of Ohio. Suddenly he let out a high-pitched squeal. I hurried to see what was the matter. He showed me how close Cincinnati was to Point Pleasant. I’m just glad he didn’t know about that before the trip.

            We watch scary movies all the time and have discovered that if things get too intense all you have to do is turn the sound off.  It’s that dang music that gets you all worked up. My daughter Lisa, who teaches Music 101, shows a segment of “Signs” to her class. It is near the end where the alien is in the house. The music changes from scary to hopeful when they finally put 2 and 2 together about the helpful qualities of good old H²O. 

Phobias: inexplicable or illogical fear

(claustrophobia, agoraphobia, hydrophobia, or arachnophobia)

I went to the grocery store last week and purchased many items, including Hobo spider traps. (Hobos are large, very fast poisonous spiders that love to migrate indoors every fall.)  When I was at the checkout a young female employee was routinely scanning item after item. She picked up the trap, flipped it over so the bar code was down, saw the picture of the Hobo on the front and promptly screamed and threw the traps into the air.  She was red in the face with embarrassment; everyone around her was red in the face from laughing.

It’s not so funny, though, when you are the one with the phobia. My illogical fear is of mice.  Spiders don’t bother me.  I have been known to squash a spider with my finger if there wasn’t a shoe handy. But let a mouse run across the room and I will do my best to keep both feet off the ground while screaming hysterically.  I have had some terrifying experiences with the ferocious little beasts that makes it perfectly logical as to why I am reduced to sobbing and making high leaps onto anything close by, but I’ll save those stories for another day.

“I Can’t See It" or "I Don’t Know What It Is” or Fear of the Unknown:

Death would come under this category.  I truly believe that if we knew what happens when we die we wouldn’t be scared of it anymore.  I don’t have this particular fear.  What I am afraid of is the pain and suffering that comes before death, but come to think of it, I have given birth to 5 children, had multiple gall bladder attacks, and have chronic back pain. I guess pain is all that bad, so there’s nothing to worry about.

Fear of ghosts, spirits, or any other manifestation from the other side is another one. Another of my daughters, Abby, has had a few experiences with the supernatural. She will be in her room trying to go to sleep and her lamp will suddenly light up. Also on many occasions she felt someone breathing right in her face. She was not afraid, but annoyed that she was not able to sleep.  When she told me about it I told her it was probably her deceased grandpa coming to check on her.  All she needed to do was say out loud, “Hi grandpa.  I’m glad you’re here, but I need to get some sleep so please stop breathing in my face.” The very next night she reported that it happened again and she took my advice. The breathing stopped and Abby was able to sleep.  I think maybe I would have been wide awake after that!

            I was walking my dog, Oscar, around the cemetery one afternoon while waiting for Andy to finish up with the weed-whacking there.  There was noone else in the cemetery and it was a quiet peaceful afternoon. All of a sudden, Oscar jumped and started growling and barking at one particular spot under a tree.  He circled around this spot, barking the whole time.  It was exactly the same kind of bark he used when a stranger would show up at our door.  I know there was someone there that Oscar could see, and I couldn’t. Was I scared? No. If anything I was jealous.  I would like to be able to see a little bit more than what I see. Does that make me weird?  Maybe.

Real Fear

I do fear for the safety of my family, that they will not be harmed or make poor choices. I am afraid that I haven’t been the kind of mother I should have been (good mothers don’t have to be good cooks, do they?).  I’m sure that if I fell off a cliff I would experience real fear as I traveled down.