Closet Fears

[ling]

On the news the other day, we heard that this guy had crawled up into
his attic, walked across to another person's house and entered through
their attic door. Now, I didn't catch if this was an apartment complex
or a condo/townhouse. But ever since hearing that, we've been
wondering if someone was going to suddenly appear in our bedroom
closet. So we have set a sleeping schedule so that we can keep watch
in the evenings.

Since we're talking about the closet, and this is a short entry, I'm
going to talk about how I was afraid of the closet. I know that lots
of children are afraid of the closet. I mean, they wrote a whole
children's move about it. But how many of you were afraid of E.T. and
thought he lived in your closet?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I used to sleep with the covers over my head because if he couldn't see
me, he couldn't hurt me. It didn't matter if it was a totally hot
summer, I'd seat under those covers to protect myself!

Somewhere along the way, I lost that particular irrational fear only to
pick up a new one. I have an irrational fear of the bathroom inthe
middle of the night. I don't know what I think is in there or what it
will do if it caught me, but I am in and out of there as soon as I
can. And it doesn't matter if I have the lights on or off because the
moment I leave, something is totally going to come out of there that
will grab me.

I can't explain where I got this irrational fear from. I only assume
that something so traumatic happened that I've just blocked it out. Or
I saw a scary movie that involved a scary bathroom. Hell, just the
commercial for that one movie scared the pee out of me. So I'm not
ruling that out either.

Do you have irrational fears? Do you know where they come from? Do
you think I'm weird?

Comments

[shaolingrrl.livejournal.com]

I used to have pretty much the same fears. I didn't have to stay completely covered up, but my hands and my feet couldn't dangle over the edge of the bed or whatever lived under there would take them off. And I still feel better if the closet door is closed when the light's off.

You're not weird. Well, not in a bad way. :-)

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

You remember that urban legend where the dog would lick the girl's hand and the boogalar licked the girl's hand after killing the dog? I so didn't dangle my limbs after that either!

[shaolingrrl.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever heard that one. I just kept my hands and feet in the bed on general principles.

And I was never scared of any humans. Always monsters.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

When I was a very small child, I thought bears lived in my closet. Unfortunately, my closet had a trapdoor in it leading to the unfinished cellar, so there was plenty of room for there to be bears down there. The fact that I never saw any bears in my closet, in the cellar, or indeed anywhere except at the zoo made no difference to my belief in and fear of the bears in the closet.

I no longer have this fear. Of course, I'm 53 and haven't lived in the house with bears in the closet for 48 years, so I think I'm safe.

No, I don't think you're weird.

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

I've never lived in a house with a cellar, although we did look at a house in Davis that had a basement and it creeped me out to no end. So I can understand the fear of unfinished cellar!!

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

I have to keep the closet door closed when I'm sleeping. Lyndon thinks I'm silly, but he'll be damn grateful when the demons can't get out of there some night!

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

I used to need to do that too, but Chris sleeps closest to the closet, so I figure he'd go first if anything came out to get us. LOL!!

[frabjouslinz.livejournal.com]

Well, my current clost *has* no doors, so less places for anything to hide behind.

When I was a kid, I was certain that monsters lived pretty much anywhere shadows could be, so at night they'd come out. I slept very still, because I'd convinced myself if I didn't move, they'd think I was a statue and leave me alone. Mom said that she almost never had to do much to make my bed in the mornings. Then I got a fear of vampires - I slept with a baby blanket over my neck, just in case. I was afraid of the lane lines in the bottom of the pool, because they were actually holes into under the pool, where the pool monsters lived. I would try to keep my feet away from them, just in case something would grab me and pull me under. And of course, the irrepressable fear of certain creepy crawlies.

I sometimes wonder if this is one of the reasons I have pets. I figure if monsters are going to come get me, the animals will let me know by being really upset about them being in the house first. That's my hope, anyway. I'm still irrationally afraid of spiders. I don't know what I think they will do to me, but I wake up sometimes, certain one has landed on me in my sleep, and jump gasping from the bed, brushing myself off. Yeah. It's a fun time. So I'll reassure you that the bathroom is safe at night, and you can reassure me that the spiders aren't going to kill me in my sleep. Howzat?

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

That's a deal, and I'll keep the lane line monsters at bay too.

weird

[zellandyne.livejournal.com]

I was terrified that E.T. would come out of my closet. I made my mother take back the E.T. toy she'd bought me as a kid.

I also have an irrational fear of the bathroom in the middle of the night. Have to turn the lights on, but that only helps a little bit. I still bolt back to bed as soon as I've turned the bathroom lights out.