Phobias, anyone?

[lspencer534]

when I was much younger, I discounted phobias...actually laughed at them, "What a wuss!", I thought of the person confessing a phobia. Then it happened to me.

When I was 19-years-old I was working on a barge in the Mississippi River just North of New Orleans. Our job was to take soil samples from the river bed to see if the soil (and beneath) was stable enough to support a bridge across the river. Taking soil samples is just like drilling for oil: You have a drill rig with sections of hollow pipe that go deeper and deeper until you hit "solid" ground. Roughnecks handle the stems of pipe, and tubes of soil can be captured by the pipe. I wrapped the soil samples in foil and dipped them in paraffin to preserve the samples.

Now..working in the middle of the river didn't bother me at all: I loved water--swimming, boating, doing stupid and dangerous things underneath the water. That is, until a tug boat pushing some other barges lost his barges, and they came straight for my barge. Backing up, the river channel at our location was about 100'-150' deep, and the current was pretty strong. Also, barges have steel decks, and our drilling "mud" (to keep the hole open) was slicker than the proverbial owl shit.

The stray barge hit ours with a mighty bang, and I was knocked down on the deck...and I kept moving in the mud on the deck. I slid overboard into the river. In either seconds or minutes I was swept about 300'-400' down the river. Only God saved me and swept me out of the current onto the shore. I crawled ashore gasping and exhausted. My crew sent a boat for me, and I was rescued.

I read in the newspaper in the 1990s about a man from Greenville, MS who had fallen into the Mississippi near where I fell in. The article said that he was only the second person to survive the ordeal. I knew who the first was.

Since then I've had Aquaphobia--the irrational fear of water. If I jumped into a pool now, I would behave like a non-swimmer: Panicked thrashing about, sinking, taking water into my lungs. Believe me...I've tried it. It isn't fun..and I have no control over it. I was formerly an excellent swimmer and diver; that is all gone now.

I'm not trying to "confess" or to make a big deal out of my phobia. All I'm saying is that phobias are very real and not to be laughed at. I even dream about death by drowning or not being able to otherwise breathe.

[DAB]

What do you call a fear of southern lawyers with cats?

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by DAB

What do you call a fear of southern lawyers with cats?

Completely rational.

[Skia]

Tall bridges!!!! They terrify me.

[markids77]

Don't you trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer....they even wrote songs about y'alls.

[Rob]

Few miles further north and my Dad would have been the one looking for you if you didn't make it to shore.

He works for the Sheriffs dept in Memphis and is on the search and rescue team where they drag lakes and rivers. He is finally retiring this January at 74 years old.

I guess you could say he is scared to not work any more. That is his life and those people at the sheriff dept are his family.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Did the fear of water inspire you to substitute gin as your clear beverage of choice?

[CertInsaneC5]

Heights.

When I was a youngster I used to climb up everything. I would climb up the tallest trees until I got to the point the branches would start to break. And then hang out there. Swaying in the wind.

As a teenager and into my college years I worked construction. Roofing, siding, framing. I also used to do tree work. Using nothing but a rope harness. I have worked on 20 story buildings. Outside, on nothing but a 4 inch beam.

Then about 6-7 years ago I slipped and fell on the ice at the end of my driveway retrieving the trashcan. Broke my leg in 3 places. Ever since then, I have been afraid of heights. Its the weirdest thing. I still will dream of being in a high up place and when I do. It will wake me out of a dead sleep in a heartbeat. I thought when it first happened it would fade after time. No so.

[markids77]

I have had the reverse experience. I used to be afraid of heights until I did a face first 20 foot fall from under an overhang while rock climbing in the Shawangunks. Once my heart started beating again I found the exposure no longer bothered me.

[CertInsaneC5]

Originally Posted by markids77

I have had the reverse experience. I used to be afraid of heights until I did a face first 20 foot fall from under an overhang while rock climbing in the Shawangunks. Once my heart started beating again I found the exposure no longer bothered me.

Another thing. I seem to be good up until about 10 foot or so. After that. No good.

[mrvette]

Up north, houses are built with at least 1/2 basements, meaning for a 7-8' basement ceiling/joist height they put in window wells, a crescent shape typically galvanized 'wall' to hold the dirt back from the window that is about 2-3' deep from surface....

So as a little kid I grab a ladder and try to pick a rose from a rose bush in back yard next to a well, sure enough, I fell off the ladder, and landed in the well head down, so I had my hands out to catch myself, and was there crying, when folks found me.....I dunno how old I was, but suspect single digits age.....ever since then....even over 60 years later, I good to some 20' height, after that, it's don't mess with me or it's KILL TIME!!!!

funny thing is, airplanes don't bother me at all....weird.....


another phobia, I lost my first car, a '60 vette, bought in '66 and dearly loved that car....put sand in the rear to hold the ass end down, but the sand got wet and started to fracture the glass deck....took it out, one wet night into a phone pole....car gone....

been PARANOID over any tail assed light car ever since.....freeking HATE that feeling of the damn ass end slinging out on me....no freeking WAY in HELL I try to catch my own ass with my nose.....EFF THAT!!!!!

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by markids77

I have had the reverse experience. I used to be afraid of heights until I did a face first 20 foot fall from under an overhang while rock climbing in the Shawangunks. Once my heart started beating again I found the exposure no longer bothered me.

I dunno if I have them anymore, but over a decade ago my son sent me some pix of him out in the Rockies doing some mountain climbing....hanging off a rope over some shituation or other, and his belt/gear, and I just sat here with my palms sweating.....

then my trip out to see him/wife/grandson last spring, and so the 'valley' at 3500' elevation between the high Sierras and the Rockies, and the 'roads' out there cut into granite on one side and a sheer drop good for a 2000' drop on the other, no guard rail.....only thing to stop you are some sort of super tough trees that manage to grow from a granite wall....THAT is determination and so 2-3-4 of them may stop your fall......another trip I don't care to repeat......one slip, dead.....

[StaticCling]

I am terrified of heights. No Shit.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by chinaski

I am terrified of heights. No Shit.

Isn't your "work desk" in a helicopter?

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

Isn't your "work desk" in a helicopter?

[MrPeabody]

And I have a fear of helicopters. When I was a kid, I was in a hard landing in one when the engine quit shortly after takeoff. Not really what you would call a crash, no one hurt, but it was starting to rotate and hit the ground pretty hard and lean over a bit on one skid before finally setting down level. It was a very small helicopter used for crop dusting. The booms for spraying the chemicals was what kept it from going over.

Haven't been on one since.

[Thunder22]

[Aerovette]

Bugs, insects, crawly things. Aside from a lightning bug, any bug near me and I am Ziiiiing....GONE.

[Blademaker]

Heights

[island14]

Surprising to hear you have a Phobia of water Larry since we have talked a few times about taking some boat trips together..

So I'm guessing as long as you're in a boat it does not bother you?



Not sure if you would call it a Phobia, but snakes scare the shit outta me, especially Cobras every since I was a kid.

To be stuck in a pit or a cave with them would be terror for me.

Not like you see many Cobras growing up in Ohio..

But even though they scare me.. anytime I ever see a poisonous snake, Copperhead, Water Moccasin, or Rattlesnake.. I go after it to kill it! as long as it is on land.

If in the water I just want to get as far away from them as I can.. asap!

A few times I have been snorkeling around here and come across them, and I can't swim fast enough to make me happy..