Fear of Coconut Crabs & Driver Ants

[Topher925]

Some of my friends (yeah, I heave friends) are scared of the dumbest things. One is afraid of robots, one of needles, and a girl I dated in HS was afraid of raw meat. I'm not talking about healthy fears, I mean if they saw any of these things they would pass out or run for their lives.

I will admit, there is one thing that makes me scream like a little girl, crabs. Especially the coconut grab as it has the power to crush a human skull. It has been documented that in 1951 coconut crabs killed 26 people by crushing their skulls while they were sleeping!

http://www.coconutcrab.co.uk/Pictures%20Used/crab%20on%20tree.jpg

Coconut crabs, and maybe driver ants.

Driver ants. These little black ants live in Africa, with colonies of up to 20 million strong...and they eat everything in their path. They are perhaps the only insect that views human beings as prey, and will swarm over, kill and eat human infants in their cribs. In a documentary this troper saw, a group of driver ants attacked a land crab, but couldn't bite through its armor, so they do something that embodies Nightmare Fuel: soldier ants pull open the crab's mouth, allowing workers to climb inside and begin slicing the crab up from inside its mouth and throat. Other soldiers bite into the crab's joints, allowing smaller workers to climb into the wounds and begin cutting out pieces of flesh, essentially eating their way into the crab while it's still alive. In a similar vein, when driver ants do kill humans, the cause of death is usually suffocation...from ants invading the lungs.

 

[Pupil]

Anything from this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_17199_7-most-horrifying-parasites-on-planet.html

I don't remember if there is strong language in it or not, but don't read it if you're afraid of the 7 dirty words.

 

[Pengwuino]

Anything from this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_17199_7-most-horrifying-parasites-on-planet.html

Guess I'm never sleeping again.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I'm claustrophobic. I also have a bit of a fear of falling. Not hieghts so much as being in high places where I could easily fall to my death.


I have heard some interesting phobias. Women seem to have the most unusual ones that I have come across. One woman told me she had a fear of answering the phone. Even with caller ID if she sees her mother is calling her she will wait until she leaves a message and then call her back.

I once over heard a woman talking about her phobia of textures and patterns. There was apparently no ryhme or reason to which ones she had an issue with just that when she looked at them she would suddenly get tingles and chills up her spine and she would then know that it was not a pattern or texture she could stand to be around or touch.

Of course most women I have met are ridiculously afraid of "creepy" insects no matter how benign. One of my exes even freaked out over fake spiders and pictures of spiders.
That same ex had a fear of zombies aswell. She said that when she had gotten older she overcame that fear only to read somewhere that Haitian witch doctors supposedly do infact have a means of making people zombies and her fear returned.

 

[junglebeast]

Some of my friends (yeah, I heave friends) are scared of the dumbest things. One is afraid of robots, one of needles, and a girl I dated in HS was afraid of raw meat.

I briefly dated a girl who was deathly afraid of wet paper...she'd go into an emotional breakdown and couldn't go near even a slightly damp piece of paper, paper towel, toilet paper, or anything similar.

Those crabs are awesome. This gives me a great idea for a practical joke...

 

[Cyrus]

Some of my friends (yeah, I heave friends) are scared of the dumbest things. One is afraid of robots, one of needles, and a girl I dated in HS was afraid of raw meat. I'm not talking about healthy fears, I mean if they saw any of these things they would pass out or run for their lives.

I will admit, there is one thing that makes me scream like a little girl, crabs. Especially the coconut grab as it has the power to crush a human skull. It has been documented that in 1951 coconut crabs killed 26 people by crushing their skulls while they were sleeping!

http://www.coconutcrab.co.uk/Pictures%20Used/crab%20on%20tree.jpg

Coconut crabs, and maybe driver ants.

Oh man, when I see that my mouth starts watering. I love love loveeeeeeee to eat me some crabs. I've got the Old Bay on stand by. (You non-Marylanders don't even know what Old Bay is)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Oh man, when I see that my mouth starts watering. I love love loveeeeeeee to eat me some crabs. I've got the Old Bay on stand by. (You non-Marylanders don't even know what Old Bay is)

You'd need a big pot for one of those things. And you might have to wrestle it to get it in there.

 

[drizzle]

cut the crab! want something freakier;

http://www.y1y1.com/data/media/243/Dhab_7.jpg

I think it’s called spiny-tail, it’s my worst nightmare. you better watch your fingers when you deal with that creature, you'll probably lose it if he bites them

 

[humanino]

No animal compares to human beings. Maybe Eric Theodore Cartman does.

 

[redargon]

i have a phobia of needles an often feel faint or have slight panic attacks when I am about to be injected. The worst is if you try to take my blood with a needle.

 

[BAnders1]

My roommate is a girl who is deathly afraid of moths or butterflies. I asked her once and she said she would get out of a moving vehicle if she saw a moth in it.

As for me, I have not so much a phobia, but a strange discomfort with being in a pitch black room with a mirror in it and having knives on the counter top pointing towards me.

That crab though... no thank you.

 

[turbo]

The mother of an old friend has an awful phobia about snakes. She loves to garden and likes to watch birds and other wildlife, but is so afraid of snakes that when she gets her monthly gardening magazine, she won't look at it until her son goes through it to make sure there are no pictures of snakes. If there is a picture of a snake, he has to cut it out of the magazine before she'll look at it. I once brought in a set of close-up pictures that I took of a bull moose eating weeds that I took while fishing. I thought she would enjoy seeing them. Before she would open the packet, she asked me if there were any pictures of snakes in there, and I had to assure her that it only contained pictures of a moose.

 

[Topher925]

She said that when she had gotten older she overcame that fear only to read somewhere that Haitian witch doctors supposedly do infact have a means of making people zombies and her fear returned.

That is awesome! I for one welcome the zombie apocalypse. Anyone play left 4 dead?

As for me, I have not so much a phobia, but a strange discomfort with being in a pitch black room with a mirror in it and having knives on the counter top pointing towards me.

Why, are you afraid your going to stab yourself?

Oh man, when I see that my mouth starts watering

I'm sure the crab feels the same way when it sees you.

 

[BobG]

As for me, I have not so much a phobia, but a strange discomfort with being in a pitch black room with a mirror in it.

I have a similar fear, except it involves being enclosed in a box lined with perfect mirrors and a candle, which I accidently extinguish.

 

[lisab]

Totally creeps me out.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Am I weird if I think those giant coconut crabs are cute?

 

[JaredJames]

Can't say there are any animals, insects etc that scare me. My biggest fear is uncontrolled freefall, sounds stupid I know, but I hate it. As long as I'm in control/know somethings in control (roller coaster tracks and such) I'm ok, but when there is no control I panic. Steep waterslides, where once your going there's nothing you can do about it. Just freefall to the bottom (I went on summit plummit in disney and absoloutely bricked it).
Still, even with that fear, I still have a go, can't be a wuss all your life.

On another note, I was reading an article a few years back about fears, and someone in it said "there's no such thing as a fear of an object/thing, just the fear of the unknown".

 

[Topher925]

Am I weird if I think those giant coconut crabs are cute?

Yes, there is definitely something wrong with you.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Yes, there is definitely something wrong with you.

They remind me of my pet hermit crabs from when I was a kid.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't like heights but I have never let that stop me from doing anything... except perhaps skydiving. I always wanted to try skydiving but for some reason never made the effort. Somehow I just can't see myself stepping out of the plane. Strangely, I enjoy a good freefall, which is why I would like to try skydiving. I have flown and stressed a fully aerobatic aircraft. Also, Tsu and I did a 100 foot belly flop from a crane once.

 

[moose]

You know when you get your blood pressure tested at Walgreens or any other pharmacy? You sit in the chair and the device puts far more pressure on your arm than a doctor normally does. Anyway, the one thing I cannot stand is the feeling of your own heart beat (it's almost as if you "hear" your heart beating). It's not really a "fear", but it's something that I just about cannot do. My blood pressure is far higher on those machines if I do stick through it and I get fairly close to having a panic attack. It bothers me that this happens because I know it's completely irrational. Other than this, every fear I've ever had, I've gotten over.

 

[waht]

I have a weird phobia of anything that has to do with kidneys.

When I was 10 or 11, my dad was explaining to me about kidney stones and how painful it is. In fact, my dad described it so vividly that it left an everlasting impression to this day. He was telling me about urinating blood, the worst pain a human being can experience. He told me stories about some people that had kidney stones, and how some people had their kidneys removed.

Why the hell would you say to this to a 10 year old? It screwed me up forever.

Whenever a topic about kidney comes up I get very uncomfortable, the sight of beans is enough to make my stomach queasy. The concept of dialysis raises my heart rate. The thought of any kind of renal failures makes me really scared. Even though I've never had any renal problems, let alone kidney stones.

I know this is irrational, but it's deeply rooted.

 

[lisab]

They remind me of my pet hermit crabs from when I was a kid.

Wow, MiH, what kind of creepy hemit crabs did your parents get you...?

 

[Math Is Hard]

Wow, MiH, what kind of creepy hemit crabs did your parents get you...?

I ordered those Crazy Crabs from the back of a comic book.

I saved my babysitting money to get them.

 

[Borek]

Am I weird if I think those giant coconut crabs are cute?

Cute or yummy?

 

[turbo]

I had crab-salad sandwich and some of my spicy grilled jumbo tiger shrimp for supper. Mmm! Gotta say, I love that shrimp, though it's pretty high on some peoples' "fear list" due to the habanero content of the basting sauce.

 

[Moonbear]

Am I weird if I think those giant coconut crabs are cute?

I don't think your views on coconut crabs are necessarily related to whether we think you're weird.

I wouldn't fear those crabs, but oddly, their bodies look like a primitive brain shape to me!

I can actually understand the textures thing. It's not a fear for me, but every once in a while, I encounter something with a texture that just makes me shudder a bit. I'm not going to run away and not work with it, but I also can't always control that shiver that runs down my spine when I look at it.

A guy I work with has a similar reaction to tape. You know the sound and feel it has when you pull tape off a roll? He can't stand that, and will do his best to avoid using tape if he can.