# Things that scare you [horror]



## anero (May 8, 2011)

Basically, fears. One thing I like is the psychological horror genre. OOGABOOGA DEAD BODIES gets only so far.

What scares you?


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## Icky (May 8, 2011)

Environments where society accepts killing as a sport, like "The Long Walk" or "The Hunger Games".


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## Deo (May 8, 2011)

I have this re-occuring nightmare of this dog that follows me. It's always silent except for the soft padding sounds that it makes as it walks, because all of it's feet are human hands. The head of it twists at unnatural angles from time to time and it never makes any noise. Last night though, as it was following me as usual, it's head twisted up and it moved it's jaws with their gleaming human teeth and it looked like it was trying to speak to me. Never before has it done this. It has never tried to speak to me. It shivered and quaked with the effort, and the jaws and exposed face muscles twitched with the words, but there was no sound. Horrifying. I wok up and have not been able to sleep since. 

It did not help that the morning after that specific nightmare I saw a baby bunny dropped by a crow. I stopped because it was so cold and figured I'd take it to the Vet buildings after my exam. I put it in my coat and had it under my feet as I took the exam. It died in my coat.


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## dinosaurdammit (May 8, 2011)

Dammit deo that sounds bad ass. I wish the link worked. I get internet tomorrow, if you can get that link to work id really love to draw that. Fucked up sounding as it is I think it would make an awesome background picture for my computer.


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## Folgrimeo (May 8, 2011)

Huge hairy spiders, or scorpions, or other small lethal creatures.
Any hallway or structure that gets enveloped into pitch darkness from your viewpoint, like a point in Silent Hill 2 where you're walking on a road in the fog at night so it's just pitch darkness ahead.
A scream or yelp instantly being cut off, indicating death. Happened in "Watership Down".
Things with no eyes, or mouths in place of eyes ("What's Wrong With This Picture?" screamer, or the One Missed Call poster).
Things with no faces.
Leeches.
"The Ring" (American version at least. Particularly the dead girl in the closet whose face looked like the life was sucked out of her. Now part of a goofy meme).
Screamers and Silent Hill games in general.
Being underwater. I never learned how to float above water. I can at least swim through water, but didn't learn how to breathe between strokes either. If I was in the middle of a body of water, I'd be helpless.
The thought of losing a dear friend, or to go away without offering closure to them of what happened to me.
Smiledog.



dinosaurdammit said:


> Dammit deo that sounds bad ass. I wish the link worked. I get internet tomorrow, if you can get that link to work id really love to draw that. Fucked up sounding as it is I think it would make an awesome background picture for my computer.


I'd like to see it too. The best way to combat Smiledog, other than constant exposure (Itakirie's profile is good for that), is to draw or parody it. And it might scare people around you enough to get them to leave you alone, if you desire.


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## CannotWait (May 8, 2011)

Religion terrifies me. I believe in God, but there are things in the Bible and otherwise that just completely frighten me. Mostly the possibility that I'm doing things wrong or I'm not getting something and it becomes worthy of eternal punishment. It gets hard to know what to believe in during this day and age and I would be lying if I stated that atheists did not rock my faith to the core. For now, I refuse to be apostate and just study apologetics to try not to denounce my faith in my doubt.


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## dinosaurdammit (May 8, 2011)

The only thing that truly frightens me to the point I turn cold, death. The thought of dying and what happens afterwards. Thinking about my husband or daughter or even my grandmother I will shake, cry, and go into a dark place that takes a while to get out of.


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## CannotWait (May 8, 2011)

dinosaurdammit said:


> The only thing that truly frightens me to the point I turn cold, death. The thought of dying and what happens afterwards. Thinking about my husband or daughter or even my grandmother I will shake, cry, and go into a dark place that takes a while to get out of.


 
You sound like you need to listen to "Don't Fear The Reaper". Sorry for your loss, but if you think about how much life sucks then death would be better if embraced. It doesn't matter what your religion, death is the final thing to happen to you and it is something to appreciate. You either see your family again or you die and no longer have to worry about it.

Unless you think you're going to hell. Then you should be very afraid of death.


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## Jeter (May 8, 2011)

medical mistakes....like going into the hospital to get your appendix removed and winding up with both legs amputated....  Waking up one morning to find that everyone you know has forgotten who you are.  Chemical/radiation exposure.  Cities...don't like urban areas packed with people, I need personal space.


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## CannotWait (May 8, 2011)

Jeter said:


> medical mistakes...


 
For me this is waking up during incredibly painful surgery.


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## Sarcastic Coffeecup (May 9, 2011)

I'm too casual to take anything so seriously, but a gory and depressing atmosphere made me feel real fear in a nightmare.


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## Radiohead (May 10, 2011)

My own paranoid thoughts, and whether or not they are right.
Whether my reality is the same as everyone else's.
Clusters of holes.
Being covered in roaches (not hissing roaches, I mean house roaches that fly).
Maggots.
Centipedes. 
Big aggressive dogs.
Growths/warts/abnormal colored skin/pus-filled wounds/frostbite
Men.

I have some odd fears. Feel free to ask for clarification on any of them.


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## Kranesh (May 10, 2011)

Well, my great fear is fall from the sky in a damaged plane, I dont want even think the horror of hear the screams of the other passengers, also I'm scared of agressive dogs, giant hornets or wasps and flesh eating maggots, also I'm scared of a nightmare I had once, I was alone in a giant cave, it was pretty dark but suddenly I started to feel dizzy, the smell of rotten flesh was everywhere and I get the feeling that I wasn't alone in there, the smell and the dizziness was so strong that I wanted to throw up, something evil was inside that cave, thank goodness and I woke up, it was my worst nightmare cuz I felt defenseless, scared and alone in there with something, something very dangerous and horrible


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## buni (May 10, 2011)

1) My biggest fear is the thought of genuine abandonment. That one day my friends and family will simply walk away from me and everything I'll have done will be for nothing.
2) One of my great existential terrors involves having to explain myself and my life and my beliefs to somebody who has power over me who isn't intellectually or emotionally equipped to make sense of what I'm saying. Language barriers, cultural barriers, religion and economics... I'm afraid that something I need is one day going to hinge on my ability to communicate my reality-filter to somebody who simply isn't interested in or capable of understanding.


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

I am actually very afraid of bowling balls, hammers, or anything that has a hard surface that is used in a way that could crush the skull.


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## ShÃ nwÃ ng (May 10, 2011)

Minorities, things from other countries, atheism, stuff not acceptable in the bible.


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

My sister never fails to scare the crap out of me at night. All she has to say is "Clay, I saw a man standing in the corner outside of your room in the dark" and then I'm scared 

Oh and moths, centipedes, uhhhhhh grasshoppers. Yeah


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

Clayton said:


> My sister never fails to scare the crap out of me at night. All she has to say is "Clay, I saw a man standing in the corner outside of your room in the dark" and then I'm scared
> 
> Oh and moths, centipedes, uhhhhhh grasshoppers. Yeah


 
Have you ever had one of those anxious nights where you try to sleep but you've played to much Dead Space or something and you see a shadow and have to just get up for a while because if you sleep it will kill you? And then there's when you have turned on the lights and everything, but you can't get out of bed because they hid under there when you weren't looking and are waiting to cut your ankles. Also there's when you're on the toilet and someone has hidden in your shower, or you're in the shower and just as you have to close your eyes because of the shampoo they climbed in with you and are waiting for you to open them back up.

Paranoia is a bitch.


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

CannotWait said:


> Have you ever had one of those anxious nights where you try to sleep but you've played to much Dead Space or something and you see a shadow and have to just get up for a while because if you sleep it will kill you? And then there's when you have turned on the lights and everything, but you can't get out of bed because they hid under there when you weren't looking and are waiting to cut your ankles. Also there's when you're on the toilet and someone has hidden in your shower, or you're in the shower and just as you have to close your eyes because of the shampoo they climbed in with you and are waiting for you to open them back up.
> 
> Paranoia is a bitch.


 Yeah the other ngiht. I thought someone was standing above me in the dark  and it was thundering and I'm scared of thunder and my sister was showing me pics from a [supposedly] haunted road called texas road behind a cemetery in Ontario and  scary


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

Clayton said:


> Yeah the other ngiht. I thought someone was standing above me in the dark  and it was thundering and I'm scared of thunder and my sister was showing me pics from a [supposedly] haunted road called texas road behind a cemetery in Ontario and  scary


 
I don't like thunder either. It's really weird because I actually, cognitively, love rain and the sound of rain, but when it storms I think I'm sensitive to the electromagnetic pressures in the clouds or something because I get nervous and jittery.


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

CannotWait said:


> I don't like thunder either. It's really weird because I actually, cognitively, love rain and the sound of rain, but when it storms I think I'm sensitive to the electromagnetic pressures in the clouds or something because I get nervous and jittery.


 I just don't like the loud sounds


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

Clayton said:


> I just don't like the loud sounds


 
Portal 2:

GLaDOS: Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud noi--[Train Whistles].


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

CannotWait said:


> Portal 2:
> 
> GLaDOS: Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud noi--[Train Whistles].


 Oooh god train whistles are scary as hell
But I just get scared by loud noises


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

Clayton said:


> Oooh god train whistles are scary as hell
> But I just get scared by loud noises


 
I forgot about all the things I'm afraid of until this thread.... I tried to rid myself of fear entirely, but anxiety persists.


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

CannotWait said:


> I forgot about all the things I'm afraid of until this thread.... I tried to rid myself of fear entirely, but anxiety persists.


 Some fears [darkness, for example] are in us because it's basic instinct to be afraid of them. It's harder to rid yourself of these fears.


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

Clayton said:


> Some fears [darkness, for example] are in us because it's basic instinct to be afraid of them. It's harder to rid yourself of these fears.


 
I know, there are times when it is very appropriate to be afraid.


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## M. LeRenard (May 10, 2011)

Haven't ever been a big fan of slasher horror.  I tend to enjoy a slow buildup with a lot of mystery elements to it, or horror stories where you're not sure if it's all just in the character's head or not.
And I guess since we're discussing phobias, I'm afraid to swim in deep water, or water that has big things living in it.  So, like, there's no way I'd ever want to go swimming in the ocean.


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## Volkodav (May 10, 2011)

CannotWait said:


> I know, there are times when it is very appropriate to be afraid.


 No I mean... humans can't see well in the dark, so it's natural for us to be afraid of/avoid the dark because way-back-when, we were prey and carnivores/predators hunt at night.


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## CannotWait (May 10, 2011)

M. Le Renard said:


> Haven't ever been a big fan of slasher horror.  I tend to enjoy a slow buildup with a lot of mystery elements to it, or horror stories where you're not sure if it's all just in the character's head or not.
> And I guess since we're discussing phobias, I'm afraid to swim in deep water, or water that has big things living in it.  So, like, there's no way I'd ever want to go swimming in the ocean.


 
Horror is a hard thing to reach. A movie or game can startle someone over and over and over, but unless they can actually make people paranoid for what they can't see in that dark corner or if something is following them it is not real fear.


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## Unsilenced (May 11, 2011)

Things that scare me things that scare me...

Most of the time when something manages to creep me out, it's because it looks ordinary but slightly off. Characters or locations that just have something strange about them. 

What DOESN'T scare me, and what never WILL scare me, is the typical horror movie approach of ZOMG SHARP TEETH RED EYES AND CLAWS ON EVERYTHING OMG AND FLICKERING LIGHTS!!!!ONEONEONE

I can't take that kind of stuff seriously enough to be scared of it. 

Zombies are particularly bad offenders in this regard, especially recent zombies. People seem to forget that zombies WERE AT ONE POINT HUMANS. 

Scary
Lulzy

NOTE THE DIFFERENCE HERE PEOPLE. 


Also important: hitting people over the head with horror right from the start NEVER works. 

Try this: Watch the last last half hour or so of The Shining WITHOUT first watching the first part. Doesn't have quite the same effect does it?


Basically, I'd say that real horror comes from the little things. I don't give a shit what your special effects budget is, you can only make claws and teeth look so scary. You really want to scare the shit out of someone, you need more than that. You need to get inside their head. Don't make them afraid of being HUNTED by the killer. Make them afraid of BECOMING the killer. 

My favorite movies are, almost without exception, ones where the main character gets psychologically destroyed. "Barton Fink," possibly my favorite movie of all time (I'm bad at picking real favorites,) follows a successful play writer trying to make it as a screenwriter... and then accidentally finding himself in a situation in which his only friend in the world is a murderous psychopath who cuts off the head of a woman Barton sleeps with LITERALLY WHILE SHE'S SLEEPING WITH HIM really more of a force of nature than a human being. At the end of the movie he (the killer) runs down the hallway of a hotel with a double barrel shotgun as flames leap up in his footprints yelling "I'LL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!" 

He then shoots two cops, talks to Barton, and goes back to his room even though the hotel is burning down around him because FUCK THE POLICE THAT'S HOW HE ROLLS. 

Barton ends the movie sitting on a beach with a box that most likely contains a severed head. 

"You think I made your life hell? Take a look around this dump. You're just a tourist with a typewriter, Barton, I live here."

Not even a horror movie and that's some scary shit right there.


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## Stratto the Hawk (May 13, 2011)

The one thing that scares me most: the loss of one's freewill or self. Two great examples would be 1984 and A Clockwork Orange.

Oh, and clowns. *cringes*


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## Volkodav (May 14, 2011)

Oh ya, zombies. zombie apocalypse. Any kind of zombies, too


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## Commiecomrade (May 14, 2011)

Anything sliding down into the Uncanny Valley.

Also, the very rare scenes in movies where there's a frame and it stays there and you see the subject in the foreground and there's a bleak dark background and then suddenly SHIT THAT THING MOVED IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG


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## Fenrari (May 14, 2011)

deep water...

I had a rather traumatic moment when I was at a pool when I was 6ish. Slipped and fell in and while my mom watched (she wasn't paying attention), I struggled and was just there... almost dying. Lucky someone pulled me out...

Non suprisingly I was afraid to swim for a good 5 years... And since then I've been afraid of anything deeper than 6 feet.


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## Volkodav (May 14, 2011)

I don't know what it is but it's some sort of tall scary thing from.... idk.. Death Note?
Idk my sister showed me a pic of it one day and it scared the crap out of me. It was in a grocery store or something IIRC


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## Stratto the Hawk (May 14, 2011)

Clayton said:


> I don't know what it is but it's some sort of tall scary thing from.... idk.. Death Note?
> Idk my sister showed me a pic of it one day and it scared the crap out of me. It was in a grocery store or something IIRC


 You mean a shinigami (Death God/God of Death)? Yeah, they're kind of creepy I guess. 
They like apples by the way, that might be the reason it was in a grocery store ^_^


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## Volkodav (May 14, 2011)

Stratto the Hawk said:


> You mean a shinigami (Death God/God of Death)? Yeah, they're kind of creepy I guess.
> They like apples by the way, that might be the reason it was in a grocery store ^_^


 
I have no idea. I don't wanna google it cause I don't want to look at it


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## KeoSilver (May 16, 2011)

I find the best horror stories are about things that are close to home. For a story to be scary, it has to have elements of reality that we know with elements of fiction. Home invasion movies are scary because it happens in real life. Not necessarily two psycho kids who enjoy torturing a family for entertainment (Funny Games), but people do break into houses. Kidnappings, neighbors with dark secrets, houses with dark histories, mysterious cults, pets, paranormal or supernormal events (within home or other personal environments), general crazy humans, etc. can all be great themes and effective themes while writing horror stories. Consequently, when these are written well, the do tend to scare me.


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