I was asked recently if there are any animals I am scared of. The answer is no, though I am not a fan of centipedes or fire ants, though for good reason (I have had one too many of these in my field pants and their bites are extremely painful). There was a time when I was a kid when I really didn't like spiders, but I cured myself quickly of this after a summer at a camp filled with giant wolf spiders, which are no match for the much larger spiders I lived with in the forest in Borneo for years.
For a long time as a child I had an irrational fear of sticky things--but this I could relate back to all of the band aids I remember getting while suffering through spinal meningitis when I was 3 years old and I finally got over this as well. And I think panty hose should never have been invented--but that's probably because when I had to wear it for a time in the 80s I found it horribly itchy and it made my legs turn purple. But there are a few things I will admit to having a strong aversion to for which I cannot pinpoint any obvious trigger. Here they are, in no particular order except that clowns will likely remain #1 on the list:
#1) CLOWNS. "Nice" clowns, evil clowns, clowns in any circumstance--but especially clowns in sewers and drains (of course this last part I can at least blame on Stephen King's "IT", even though I didn't watch the movie for the first time until I was in grad school). I don't find clowns the least bit amusing and I certainly wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley. I was overjoyed when the giant clown face blew off the side of the Fun Land building at the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach in a hurricane, but then discovered it years later, reattached at another site within Fun Land, right across from the Haunted House.
A man I work with shares my aversion to clowns. I left him this drawing on his dry erase board::
Pennywise, the clown from Stephen King's "IT"
#2) DOLLS. Especially old fashioned ones. My great aunt Jean owns a doll shop--never have been there. My poor mother had to buy herself doll houses when I was a child, since I had so little interest in dolls. There was a time as a kid when I expressed an interest in learning ventriloquism. My mother, being the wonderful mother that she is, got me a vintage Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist dummy to practice with. I didn't have the heart to tell her until many years later how creepy I found Charlie to be and for a long time I covered him with a blanket, since it seemed that he was always looking at me. He is currently back at my parents' house in a rocking chair in the guest bedroom, as creepy as ever!
I find all dolls to be creepy, but especially vintage ones
A Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist dummy
#3) A CERTAIN SHADE OF PURPLE. I understand that many people like purple and I have nothing against the color per se and certainly not with the people who like purple of all shades. But this particular shade of purple makes me uncomfortable. Once in undergrad the only binder available at the bookstore was of this shade of purple and I eventually gave it away because I was starting to dislike the course for which I was using the purple binder to store my notes. As soon as I started taking notes in a different color binder, I loved the course again as well. I also once found myself inside an airplane flying between Japan and Chicago that was upholstered in this shade of purple. I will admit feeling abnormally relieved when we landed safely in Chicago.
#4) SMALL TALK. Small talk at work, small talk in a social setting. Some people recharge by going out and being social. Although I do experience extreme loneliness when I focus on the memory of people who are no longer in my life who I miss, I enjoy being alone or spending time with cats, non-human primates, or trees in the forest more than I do with most people most of the time.
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