What frightens you the most?

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
As a big horror buff becoming interested in writing, and the need to get under readers' skin, I am curious to know what sort of thing gives you the creeps. What do you find the most frightening? What gives you deep chills? It doesn't have to be something tactile, just anything. Whatever it is that frightens you the most -- the sky's the limit!
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
It used to be anything with the supernatural; things like demons and hauntings.
Growing up Catholic gave me a feeling that the devil was hiding in the closet ready to take me to hell.
One documentary included supposed photos of real ghosts; ectoplasm and everything!
I don't think I slept for a month.
Now that I'm an atheist and skeptic, that stuff does not bother me as much.
Real life events can creep me out. e. hatsumi's remark reminded me of a documentary I saw once where several people
were stranded in a raft in the middle of the ocean. One woman was wounded and blood and pus was filling up in
the raft. With no water, the woman started babbling in the dead of night, and in the morning she was dead.
Damn show freaked me the hell out!
 
Real life events can creep me out. e. hatsumi's remark reminded me of a documentary I saw once where several people
were stranded in a raft in the middle of the ocean. One woman was wounded and blood and pus was filling up in
the raft. With no water, the woman started babbling in the dead of night, and in the morning she was dead.
Damn show freaked me the hell out!
ooooh luckily I haven't watched that documentary yet! I saw a movie once (but I forgot the title) about a group of fishermen in their fishing vessel stranded in the middle of nowhere (well, an ocean or sea) and there's a storm coming. I gasp in terror when I saw those huge waves engulfing them. :eek:

Not being completely alone could be even worse!

LOL I'd rather wish to be alone (me and the boat) than with these lovable creatures! I wonder if I played dead I'll be safe LOL
 

Caburus

Active Member
The most frightening experience I ever had was staying overnight in a house and finding it so quiet. Not just normal silence, but so quiet it was thick with it. If you shut your eyes there was absolutely nothing to hear - not even your own breathing. It was like all the noise was being swallowed up before it got to the ears. It really freaked me out. I was only twelve.
 

RLynn

Active Member
The most frightening experience I ever had was staying overnight in a house and finding it so quiet. Not just normal silence, but so quiet it was thick with it. If you shut your eyes there was absolutely nothing to hear - not even your own breathing. It was like all the noise was being swallowed up before it got to the ears. It really freaked me out. I was only twelve.
I once spent about ten minutes in a totally dark anechoic chamber at Duke University, a really weird experience! Ten minutes is about all I could tolerate.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
There was a movie made not that long ago where two people are abandoned by the boat while scuba diving.
They did not even have a raft and they were surrounded by sharks.
It was pretty good, but I forgot the name of the film.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I believe this painting was done by W. Homer??? If I'm not mistaken?
Yes, indeed. I believe the title is Gulf Stream. When asked about it, Homer usually explained that the fisherman was doomed. However, one time he heard that some woman had berated him for painting such a hideous scene. He wrote her a letter explaining that the fisherman would be rescued by a passing ship, taken safely home to his loving family, and live happily ever after. :D
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
I saw a movie once (but I forgot the title) about a group of fishermen in their fishing vessel stranded in the middle of nowhere (well, an ocean or sea) and there's a storm coming. I gasp in terror when I saw those huge waves engulfing them. :eek:
Was it A Perfect Storm, maybe?
m
Thank you very much for responses. Please, keep them coming!
 

RLynn

Active Member
A Perfect Storm is what the description sounds like. That's one of the few fairly recent movies that I actually went to a movie theater to see. (The only other I recall was Apollo 13.) Some films need the big screen for maximum effect. This was a winner.
A fearless person cannot be brave.
 

RLynn

Active Member
Me no like really large spiders, beatles, cockroaches, Japanese hornets, and such like. :eek: Fortunately, these critters are not particularly aggressive. Actually, human beings are potentially the scariest of all animals.
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Actually, human beings are potentially the scariest of all animals.
Agreed. Other animals have patterns and single-minded methods, whereas humans are so different from one another, that each individual is such a mystery, that it can be scary at times. (We just can never know what someone else could be thinking.)
 

RLynn

Active Member
Agreed. Other animals have patterns and single-minded methods, whereas humans are so different from one another, that each individual is such a mystery, that it can be scary at times. (We just can never know what someone else could be thinking.)
Unlike wild animals, I believe that humans can be truly malevolent. They can hurt someone just for the perverse pleasure of doing so, while the violence of animals is motivated by survival or self-preservation (self-defense, food gathering, protection of offspring, etc.).
 

Caburus

Active Member
It's not just the fear from humans doing harm, but the fear of potential harm to come, whether the human is actually threatening, or just some one you fear a threat from.
Maybe the greatest fear comes from our own imagination?
 
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