Irrational Fears

[Sarah K]

I don't mean common ones like spiders and snakes, etc. I believe that fear of creatures is biological for survival againat poisonous ones. But I might just be making shit up.

I also don't mean social fears.

Anyway, I was talking with someone about this today, and here are a couple of mine:

1) Airing up tires. I get TERRIBLE anxiety while doing this for fear of them exploding and severely injuring me. I remember a story from when I was young about a man nearly getting decapitated due to a tractor tire exploding.

2) Driving under bridges. Once upon a time, I went to school for NDT which is an engineering offshoot which focuses on testing the integrity of structures without harming them. It uses methods like dye penetrant, ultrasound, x-ray. Anyway, a big part of this is weld inspection and bridge inspection. You watch all of these horrid videos of bridges collapsing to drive home how important the job is. Curiously, I dont get nervous going on/over bridges. Only while driving under them.

[allegro]

I also have a fear of putting air in car tires. Bike tires are okay, though.

I also won't have anything to do with jumping a car battery.

I'm really afraid of electricity. I've been zapped a few times. If I have to change an outlet or a switch, I shut the whole fucking house down (main power). Actually, now I just call a pro and let THEM get electrocuted.

I'm not sure that any of these are "irrational."

[ophelia_]

It's so ridiculous but I have an irrational fear of midgets... to the point where I will cross the street to avoid walking near one. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY AND I KNOW IT'S HORRIBLE! I guess that's why it's called an irrational fear.

I am also shit scared of birds, but that's because they are the devil with wings...

Maybe I'm just scared of things smaller than me.

And if it makes you feel better, I will avoid the crap out of airing up car tyres. I actually just wait to get my car serviced instead of doing it... Fark that shit.

[elevenism]

I don't have this fear anymore, but when i was about 6 years old, i fell off of a 20 foot loft and busted my head on an oak table.
I nearly died, and it deeply changed my personality.

Anyway, for the next 12 years or so, i constantly dreamed of things like being on a ladder and trying to keep from falling off. Or i would dream that there was a tall, tall stack of random bullshit, on which i was perched precariously.

And i had a terrible fear of lowish heights. I would ride roller coasters and such, but i was scared to climb on the house.

[Charmingly Miserable]

I don't have any irrational fear, just psychological fears which probably makes me more fucked up. Then again, perhaps those psychological fears are irrational too.

[Ryan]

I don't know if it's irrational but I don't particularly like the feeling I get when driving over water even if it's a very secure road. Get the idea that I'm going to plummet.

[Sebek]

Whenever I'm walking near a sewer grate or drainage grate I have an irrational fear that my keys are going to somehow end up out of my pocket and fall into it. I know it's completely irrational.

[thelastdisciple]

This is kind of a trifecta of things all in one, it involves heights, suspension bridges (or just extremely long and high ones) and large bodies of water.

I really can't take to crossing suspension bridges whether on foot or by vehicle because for one they tend to be extremely high which i already don't do so well with and with regards to them being over large bodies of water there's the fact that i can't swim and i get freaked out by the vast blue open with no visible land (well this more so depends on location like coastal areas, Golden Gate, Lionsgate, these would make me tremble).. it makes me feel like there's nothing out there, also if i was a passenger in someone's vehicle i would start to feel the effects of not being in control while crossing over and being confined like i was in a submarine or something, i guess that's kind of a claustrophobic thing.

[[parasite]]

my 15 year old daughter is completely terrified of any one dressed up, face covered or not, it seams to be getting worse lately too, last time we were in the m&m store in London and there were 2 people dressed as m&m's and she lost it!

[Halo Infinity]

I'm not exactly sure if these fears count, but I have a fear of driving to the point where it has discouraged me from driving altogether. If I need to do it, I'd try to somehow work my way through it, but with public transportation all over the place, it's easy to dodge driving in my neighborhood. Every place I've worked and gone to school at was a bus ride or train ride away. I know I should let it get to me to the point that I don't drive for the rest of my life, but the fears of having car accidents, and either getting killed or going to prison as a result of it scares me a lot. Getting lost has also been one of my biggest fears of driving too, but that's why I wouldn't go too far if I drove with the exception of having enough practice to be more familiar with further areas.

I also have a fear of plane rides and boat rides to the point where I'd hope not to be in a plane or a boat as much as possible. (And I definitely relate to people's fears of riding in a submarine as well.) I end up wondering if that will be my last moment alive even if nothing happened. It's not to the point where I'm always completely scared though, but I sometimes can't stop thinking about plane crashes and shipwrecks. Having a movie like Cast Away being burned into my brain never helped either.

I could see how these could be normal fears, but the irrational part is how it keeps me wanting to stay at home, or just in my neighborhood as much as possible, while also avoiding driving as much as possible. Getting lost is also another reason why I find traveling to be scary, especially if I were to travel alone, as I have a poor sense of direction when it comes to new places. (At least that's how I see it, as I'm not trying to speak for anybody.)

And while I have gone out at night, I also still have some fears about being out very late. I'm sure it also has a lot to do not just with my personality, but my upbringing as well.

Interestingly enough, it actually does feel a bit good to express it.

[marodi]

Deep fryers. You won't get me anywhere near one. Either I'll get burn or it will catch on fire.

They are plain evil.

[The_Prowler]

I hate being boxed in by people. I feel more comfortable in small, enclosed spaces, but not when it's people instead of walls around me. The general confusion, the noise, everyone having different conversations and doing their own things and being jostled around give me severe anxiety. I get lethargic, defensive, confused, and eventually paranoid/afraid and panicked and have to leave. I even have a hard time in most restaurants because of it. There have been times when I've come close to passing out because of the commotion, and one night after a gig, the DJ started playing drum and bass heavy Hip-Hop at about nine million decibels and the crowd turned into an impenetrable, undulating, shouting wall. In order to make it out the door to go get my cases out of the car to pack up, I had to spend an inconceivably long time squeezing between people who would not move, which ended up with me finally making it to the door and basically being launched out of it and into a table and chair set, knocking half of it over... Everyone who saw it thought I had punched my way out the door like a madman and deliberately kicked everything over before drunkenly staggering off (I was the only sober one there, I was just having a panic attack) and the manager almost banned us because of it until I explained what happened. He actually apologized to me for it and we're cool now.
Concerts, on the other hand, are a different thing for me because everyone's facing the same direction and concentrating on the same thing. Plus the music completely permeates my mind and tunes almost everything else out (unless it's something major. And the music there is obviously something that I like or love enough to pay good money to go see instead of some shit DJ playing mind meltingly loud, repetitive crap that all sounds the same and sounds horrible). Is that weird?

[Lew]

since my imagination was forged by the brothers grimm, i have non stop streams of irrational fears.
they are always almost comically impossible, ridiculously graphic and pretty much physically impossible.
ie: i have a fear of pressure cookers. we have two. the last two times my husband used them the thing "blew" (the popping mechanism is fucked), let out an unholy scream/bang, and a jet of steam shot across the kitchen. missing me, and my up to my nose pounding heart, by half an inch. i SWEAR if i had a suit of fucking armour, a five layered impermeable bubble and a delfection ray, i would STILL goose step around the fucking thing when it is on. ugh.
and ever since i became a mother, oh my fucktardedness, the irrational fears went supersonic. lol. ie: walking the baby in his stroller and along come thoughts like "what if someone pulled a gun on me, from a car?" (this is a tiny town in ontario, canada, btw) and i would seriously spend the whole walk trying to figure out how to handle a carriage, a baby and a gunman...wtf????
these are the more "mellow" ones. the crazier ones would lead to a straight jacket dropping out my ceiling and landing, perfectly done up of course, on me.

[halloween]

Sounds like you need to learn how to "live in the moment"!

[allegro]

sie: i have a fear of pressure cookers.
I think any intelligent person has a healthy fear of pressure cookers, as well they should! Although, the newer fancy models are much more failsafe than the older models. My husband and I love making Indian food in ours, but we made sure we bought one that we were pretty fucking sure wasn't likely to explode. When I was a kid, my stepmother would use a pressure cooker all the time and I remember quite a few Swiss Steak dinners ending up on the ceiling, LOL.

[Sarah K]

Ohhhh... I will also not walk on any grates or manhole covers - or anything similar to those. Because they are obviously going to fall.

[Halo Infinity]

I'm also the same way these days. This also includes sidewalk cellars. I just found this article while typing "sidewalk cellar" at Google. It kind of scares me knowing that I sometimes forget to not step on any of those things, but at least I was lucky enough to not fall into any of them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/03/man-walks-into-sidewalk-cellar_n_5440440.html

[Elke]

People are afraid of spiders because they think small things will move proportionally slowly, and spiders move hella fast.

Also: I'm afraid of opening strange doors, going somewhere I've never been before, speaking to people I don't know, being late returning library books, travelling, using the Phone, being amongst large groups of people, loud sounds and dogs.

[icecream]

Restaurants that start with the letter Z, I don't know why. Senior citizen care homes/old people in general because I always think they are going to die in front of me.

[The_Prowler]

I'm terrified of being in school buildings. Not even colleges, mind you... I'm talking about elementary, middle and high school buildings. The worst years of my life were spent in those buildings (granted, I was home schooled after middle school, but that's because I almost didn't survive it; emotionally or physically), and so there's always a flood of horrible memories whenever I'm in them. There have been times where I was in an elementary or middle school looking around at all the young kids and thinking "I don't trust a single one of you motherfuckers, and I'm watching each and every one of you", just waiting for one of them to attack me. My school PTS is stupidly strong.
I'm fine with kids, that's not the issue. The issue is the damn school buildings and everything about them. Every corner, every locker, every dark space where the hall monitors can't see, the "idiot" desk in either the very front or back of the room (every classroom has one), the stairways, the bathrooms, everything. They're more horrifying to me than any haunted house.

[Sarah K]

"I hope there isn't a mass shooting" is something that I obsess over when I'm in a large crowd. At Pride today, the mayor was a Grand Marshall. There were counterterrorism units and some Secret Service looking motherfucker everywhere.

I also keep having dreams about being in a mass shooting. Except I never get shot. I just have to watch everyone else die.

Fuckin' 'Merica.

[Jinsai]

I also have a fear of putting air in car tires.

Not really irrational fear, unfortunately, according to a friend of mine who worked in an ER. First time I'd ever heard bout it, and now I'm paranoid. I just ask the gas station attendant to do it for me, because they know what they're doing, and I don't need to blow my face off.

[Leviathant]

I've got a great contribution: Moths are probably going to fly into my mouth.

[Ryan]

I've got a great contribution: Moths are probably going to fly into my mouth.

Now I know what to smuggle a jar full of if I ever travel to PA.

[Fixer808]

Now I know what to smuggle a jar full of if I ever travel to PA.
I pictured you saying that with a sort of hissing sound.

[Ryan]

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/hissing-rat-snake-ursula-lawrence.jpg

[Big Fat Matt]

I dislike the idea of a straw going up and around one of my top teeth and cutting my gums so much that I refuse to use most straws.

[ambergris]

I also keep having dreams about being in a mass shooting. Except I never get shot. I just have to watch everyone else die.

Because you're the shooter?


Well, I think my greatest fear is getting struck by a lightning. I'm as fascinated as I am scared of them. I count the time span between thunder and lightning to determine if the storm gets closer or moves away. In my chuldhood I was always scared during thunderstorms because our family house didn't have a lightning rod. Now that I live in a big house in the big city I can oftan rationalize my fear away. "I don't live on top, so only the other guys upstairs will be getting hit." "I'm in the middle of the road, but the houses around me are bigger, but let's not risk anything, let's go inside."

[Jinsai]

Well, I think my greatest fear is getting struck by a lightning. I'm as fascinated as I am scared of them.

Again... not irrational! Being hit by lightning is a totally reasonable fear.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/uxuuaqepvqeduom7xhyf.jpg

The more you know...

"If your hair begins to stand on end, or your skin starts to tingle, a lightning strike is imminent."


Restaurants that start with the letter Z, I don't know why. Senior citizen care homes/old people in general because I always think they are going to die in front of me.

You do not know the glory that is Zankou Chicken.

[theruiner]

Not really irrational fear, unfortunately, according to a friend of mine who worked in an ER. First time I'd ever heard bout it, and now I'm paranoid. I just ask the gas station attendant to do it for me, because they know what they're doing, and I don't need to blow my face off.I had never heard of this before and now I'm kind of freaked out.

[allegro]

I had never heard of this before and now I'm kind of freaked out.
This is also why I won't jump a car battery.

[ambergris]

"If your hair begins to stand on end, or your skin starts to tingle, a lightning strike is imminent."

I actually had about a dozen, maybe even more, dreams about getting hit by a lightning, because I know about this. And I always have this tingling feeling before waking up. And during thunderstorms, I get afraid and excited (because I'm scared, but also fascinated) and I get goosebumps. They make me constantly wonder whether now is the time to expect a lightning.

[Halo Infinity]

I suppose revolving doors and elevators might be included for me as well. I still use them if I have to, but sometimes my imagination runs wild, especially after looking up accidents, injuries, and deaths caused by revolving doors and elevators on Google and YouTube. Riding a plane in a storm also scares me, aside from my general fear of flying, which I can actually get over from time to time, but I think that's a more common fear.

[Charmingly Miserable]

Driving alongside 18 wheelers make me nervous.

[Sarah K]

Once when I was young, I was standing behind a fan, and my hair got sucked up into it and torn out. It was awful.

Now, If I'm like 5 feet behind a fan, I start holding my hair and get extremely nervous.

Also, my shoelace one time got caught at the end of an escalator. I don't get real paranoid about this, but I think about it almost every day when I'm at the station where I switch trains. I always kinda hop over the end of it.

[Joy Prevention Hotline]

Personally, I think a fear of heights is perfectly rational — it's those Russian kids fooling around on skyscrapers who are out of their fucking minds.

But I can send myself into a cold sweaty panic just looking at pictures like these (http://ontheroofs.com/hong-kong-2/). I don't even have to be there to be terrified.

Last night I lost some sleep imagining that someone talked me into climbing up the antenna of some building at night and I was too scared to climb back down. (The "too scared to climb back down" part is an actual problem I have.)

[Dra508]

Doors and fingers close by.

[hb13161705]

I have an irrational fear of balloons because I think they're going to suddenly burst any minute and scare the shit out of me. Every time I see a kid playing with one and rubbing their hands all over it making that awful squeaky noise I get panicky and have to cover my ears. I'm even nervous when I get invited to kids' birthday parties because I know balloons will be there.

[tony.parente]

I couldn't find a thread on racism, and though there are a few threads that I could POSSIBLY fit this in...it seems like it would fit this thread a little better than most. Not sure if anyone here has heard of Jane Elliott but I found this recently and thought it was an extremely interesting watch.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6MYHBrJIIFU

[Sarah K]

I have an irrational fear of balloons because I think they're going to suddenly burst any minute and scare the shit out of me. Every time I see a kid playing with one and rubbing their hands all over it making that awful squeaky noise I get panicky and have to cover my ears. I'm even nervous when I get invited to kids' birthday parties because I know balloons will be there.

I do this, too. Haha. I'm always covering my ears when balloons are near. Terrible things.



I LOVE Jane Elliot's work so much. Yes, her methods are a bit unorthodox, but I think necessary. It's always astounding to me to see people making excuses and comparisons. In that video, the one lady is comparing her husband having to wear a suit for his job to being white. I believe it is the same lady who says she doesn't have to be black to understand what it is like, and says she has faced just as much racism since she is white. The one girl who states that she had lived in a black neighborhood, so she knows what it is like.

Since most racism today is more subtle, white people have a hard time understanding that it is still an extremely widespread issue. When the issue was brought of of a black person being eight times more likely to be stopped and frisked, one of them was like "OH THAT'S JUST STATISTICS"... Well like, yeah? So many people are still in just so much denial about the VERY REAL issue of racism. You can point them to all of the studies in the world, and they still ignore it. It's heartbreaking and infuriating.

[Jinsai]

I suppose revolving doors and elevators might be included for me as well. I still use them if I have to, but sometimes my imagination runs wild, especially after looking up accidents, injuries, and deaths caused by revolving doors and elevators on Google and YouTube.

One of my favorite campy horror movies

http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMG_00199.jpg

take the stairs, FOR GOD'S SAKE, take the stairs!!!!! They really need to release this on DVD or Blu Ray...

[Marie]

I'm really scared of touching shiny cardboard and polystyrene, much to the amusement of my colleagues, it makes me retch and/or vomit, I have no idea why. It's really embarrassing.

[Sutekh]

Champagne bottles being opened make me wince

which is ridiculous, I don't wince when I cross the road but a car would hit me a million times harder and is more likely to happen. I have a good grasp of physics but when fizz is being opened even if the bottle is pointing the other way I suddenly become a believer in magic bullet physics

[Millionaire]

I fucking hate needles. Always have, always will. Even though it doesn't hurt that much, I really, really hate getting shots. I actually close my eyes and hold a chair or something.

[Sutekh]

could we combine this and the ebola thread?

(joking!)

[Throw_it_away9]

Irrational belief that some sort of natural disaster/fire/armed revolution or something will happen at any moment that could require me to walk on broken glass, over fire, for miles and miles etc. Hence, I must keep my shoes on when visiting your home on the off chance that this will happen, because when it happens, there will NOT be 2 minutes for me to get my shoes on.

[Sutekh]

that's interesting, I try to go barefoot as much as possible so my feet are nice and tough for when the apocalypse destroys the global economy and shoes dries up

[Joy Prevention Hotline]

I fucking hate needles. Always have, always will. Even though it doesn't hurt that much, I really, really hate getting shots. I actually close my eyes and hold a chair or something.
Needles … ygyritchlaaaa. That's the most intelligible thing I can say.

Another thing that's maybe less irrational than stupidly unconscious: eyedrops. I can never put them in my eyes because my eyes clamp shut as soon as I get anywhere near them. Even if I manage to hold my eyelids open with my other hand, I just completely miss the damned target and have eyedrops rolling down my face. :mad:

[Sarah K]

Needles … ygyritchlaaaa. That's the most intelligible thing I can say.

Another thing that's maybe less irrational than stupidly unconscious: eyedrops. I can never put them in my eyes because my eyes clamp shut as soon as I get anywhere near them. Even if I manage to hold my eyelids open with my other hand, I just completely miss the damned target and have eyedrops rolling down my face. :mad:

I used to do this, too. I now put my head up, close my eyes, and then put the drops on the inside corner of my eye. Then, I open my eyes while my head is still looking up. Then the drops fall in!

[Big Fat Matt]

I fucking hate needles. Always have, always will. Even though it doesn't hurt that much, I really, really hate getting shots. I actually close my eyes and hold a chair or something.
I pass out when i get blood taken. Like, i hate how much it bugs me. That one scene in Saw 2 is the ONLY scene in 7 flicks that made me not feel good.

[Joy Prevention Hotline]

I used to do this, too. I now put my head up, close my eyes, and then put the drops on the inside corner of my eye. Then, I open my eyes while my head is still looking up. Then the drops fall in!
I've tried! My face must be curved funny 'cuz most of it still ends up dribbling down my chin. Blech.


I pass out when i get blood taken. Like, i hate how much it bugs me.
Blood … oh god. I could lose a whole pint from a nosebleed and not give it a second thought, but if you're gonna to take it from my arm — with a needle! — it's like I'm at death's door. Might as well start digging that grave ahead of time so it'll be ready for me after you're done.

[Big Fat Matt]

Blood … oh god. I could lose a whole pint from a nosebleed and not give it a second thought, but if you're gonna to take it from my arm — with a needle! — it's like I'm at death's door. Might as well start digging that grave ahead of time so it'll be ready for me after you're done.

Ive dug out two planters warts, and removed two toenails within the confines of my bathroom. If its a cut or wound its fine, but a tiny fucking needle is like satan fucking my dickhole.

[JessicaSarahS]

Snails. Stupid, benign incident from childhood.

And occasionally, I have an overwhelming fear that I'll die in my sleep. So I stay up as long as I can until I'm so sleepy that I can't take it anymore, and think "Eh, fuck it. If I die, I die." It sucks because I've had one friend and one relative recently pass away in their sleep and now it's exacerbated my situation even more. I've had medical checkups and everything as this has been a new thing (within the last couple years) and nothing's shown up. It's just stupid anxiety fucking me over. :mad:

[gorast]

I've got a couple.

No matter where I am, if I'm outside at night (or sometimes even in broad daylight), if a car drives slowly past me, I get this horrible, crushing feeling that I'm about to be straight-up murdered. Even if they're slowing down because, you know, there's an intersection ten feet away from me. Doesn't matter, I'm going to die, right up until they pass me and I'm still alive.

I also used to have this huge fear of getting shocked by static electricity. My friends made fun of me in high school because they noticed that I would always touch the wood of a door before touching the handle. It became such an ingrained habit that I would do it with cars, too, which obviously makes no sense whatsoever. I think I may have finally overcome it, but that might just be because it's become a subconscious thing for me. I think I might still open doors with my shoulder when I can, now that I think about it.

[Millionaire]

No matter where I am, if I'm outside at night (or sometimes even in broad daylight), if a car drives slowly past me, I get this horrible, crushing feeling that I'm about to be straight-up murdered. Even if they're slowing down because, you know, there's an intersection ten feet away from me. Doesn't matter, I'm going to die, right up until they pass me and I'm still alive.
I got something similar, but its when I'm walking down the street at night and someone passes me. I steel up a bit, like the dude is gonna jump me or something, and think for a millisecond "If he tries something, I'm ready". To be fair, I do this in a city like LA, the freak kingdom, but it is pretty silly.

[The_Prowler]

I'm terrified of dying broken and alone, having no one who cares around me.

Yeah, most of my fears are of the psychological rather than the physical nature.

[Joy Prevention Hotline]

And occasionally, I have an overwhelming fear that I'll die in my sleep. So I stay up as long as I can until I'm so sleepy that I can't take it anymore, and think "Eh, fuck it. If I die, I die." It sucks because I've had one friend and one relative recently pass away in their sleep and now it's exacerbated my situation even more.
I tend to think I am dead when I'm asleep. I'm lost to the world for 8 hours, so the effect is pretty much the same — just less permanent. So death doesn't worry me.


I'm terrified of dying broken and alone, having no one who cares around me.
This is what worries me. Not the death part, but what I have to live through to get there. Spending my last years sad and alone is not my first choice — and I don't think that's an irrational fear at all.

[elevenism]

sometimes i have a TERRIBLE fear of driving, like, to the point that sometimes i can drive and sometimes i can't.
in fact, i haven't had a car of my own since i was about 20.
Dallas has a pretty bad ass bus/train system and i just made sure i lived and worked on the train line.
I'm 34 btw.

Then i got in the accident that made it to where i can't work until i get my back fixed and landed me living with my mom on old family money in the old family house...that was 2012. I unassed the highway going about 90 and flipped the van five times. This was me and jinxy's first date, and it's pretty crazy that she married me since i nearly killed her the day we got together.

This didn't help my driving phobia, needless to say.

[Butterscotch]

I have a lot of irrational fears that I could talk about, I'll just mention one for now:

Every time I hear a plane flying overhead, I'm always worried that it will crash.

[FeedYourHead]

Not sure if this is really a phobia or more of just a strong aversion, but I totally flip out and cannot be near or see styrofoam peanuts or any variation of such. I'm fine with solid styrofoam, like styrofoam coffee cups, so It's just the packaging kind. I blame it on the fact that when I was 3 years old I was playing in a cardboard box filled with those white and green peanuts and the box somehow flipped over and when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was those pieces of styrofoam. And yet I'm not afraid of cardboard boxes... haha. But this fear has been super problematic on a lot of different occasions, and also apparently applies to anything too similar to styrofoam, such as puffy cheese doodles, or certain kinds of pasta when it's over-cooked. Guys, life is so hard sometimes.

[Melancholygrl78]

Irrational fears are often more common with toddlers and children than adults so I don't know what "irrational" fears I can really say that I have. Perhaps, the impulse of wanting to throw something at someone, out of no where, while I am carrying on conversation, only other adults, comes to mind, "What if I, one day, cannot control that impulse?" I don't know where it comes from and it doesn't mean that I am angry at that person. I am usually not even irritated. It is more of a curiosity thing, I think, or maybe I am picking up on a vibe from someone around me. I am often around children and they can be pretty impulsive so when I am on the playground with a group of nine year olds and talking to the principal or the P.E. teacher and I feel that urge, it strikes me as really unusual and extremely uncomfortable. I can maintain composure until the conversation is over and then I just want to hide away for a moment. This does not happen often but it does occasionally. It's very peculiar.

[Millionaire]

I fear the potato bug. They're fairly big cricket/termite-looking hybrids. They aren't particularly harmful to humans(they do bite, but won't do it to you unless you're really messing with it), but they just give me the heebie-jeebies whenever I see one. I don't kill it on site or anything, but I have been known to leave an area and wait for it to walk away before I head back.
https://walkaboutstory.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/potato_bug_3.jpg?w=400