7 Things that scare the bejesus out of me

1. Losing my kids.

We were in a shopping centre in Belfast two years ago, looking for another suitcase to pack all the accumulated presents back to Australia. It took only a second of our concentration focused on which size case to buy for them to disappear. Little hands slipped from ours unnoticed and when we turned around they were nowhere to be seen. The couple of minutes searching frantically seemed like an eternity, and I felt like throwing up, screaming hysterically and a terrible weight in the pit of my stomach, all at once. Just when we thought we were  going to have to see the security guards to check the CCTV footage we spotted Master BG checking out the Halloween costumes, and Miss BG calmly stripping a mannequin of its accessories.

2. Ghosties-

I’ve never seen a ghost, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them. The anticipation, the adrenalin surge when I’m in a ‘haunted place and this belief all combines to make me jumpy, on edge, and dare I say, slightly thrilled. Being scared of ghosts however has not precluded me from going on a range of ghost tours…My first was a night time tour of Port Arthur the scariest thing was walking back through the ruins with Mr BG after having heard some hell raising tales. We have also been to the Convent Gallery in Daylesford, which was part tour and part ghost hunting… the highlight of the evening was sharing drinks with some of the participants and staff at the Convent Gallery who had a few stories to tell. Ballarat has its own tour that takes in some of the more haunted buildings in Ballarat. I did shiver quite a bit, but it may have been more to do with the sub zero temperatures in December than any real spirits. Overseas, we visited Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh in 2001 and felt chilled to the bone. I was thankful when it finished and was able to escape into the sun. I did want to do a ghost walking tour in York but didn’t want to do it by myself. I need someone’s hand to grip.
2. Horror movies

The Blair Witch Project, Exorcist, Scream, Poltergeist- they have all scared my socks off…

3. Apocalyptic- themed movies/books

This is slightly different from horror movies in that they’re about the end of the world. I saw and read ‘On the beach’ and had nightmares afterwards. This is a type of genre I avoid, as it’s a fear I hate, rather than love.
4. Earwigs and ‘creepy crawlies’

This basically comes from having one crawl onto my dress and onto my skin when I was four years old. I was terrified it would bite me and shrieked the house down. To this day I loathe those little buggers. Oh and that scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where they come across this room of bugs and a centipede crawls into Willie’s hair? I can’t watch that without covering my eyes.

6. Death/Loss of my parents

No, they haven’t died, but every time they have a health scare, the feeling I get in the pit of my stomach is never a good feeling. It’s that yawning chasm of nothingness that would be left behind, or that overwhelming sense of grief that is something I don’t want to experience.

7. Swans

Silly, I know, but those graceful creatures on the Lake become vicious creatures when they’re out of the water. I’ve been stalked by a couple of swans because I have simply gotten too close to their cygnets. Worse thing is, they still remember me when I walk around the Lake.

Some of my fears are predictable, and some of them are just plain weird. What are your fears?