Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain What Absolutely Terrifies Them To The Core

People Explain What Absolutely Terrifies Them To The Core
Melanie Wasser on Unsplash

Fears.

We all have them, but not all fears are the same.

There are things that make us a little uncomfortable, but then there are things that completely terrify us.


Reddit user, Immediate-Salary-736, wanted to know what makes your hairs stand up on the back of your neck when they asked:

"What terrifies the sh*t out of you?"

Trapped

"Locked in syndrome."

"Cannot move your body, speak, do anything but think."

"I think you can move your eyes?"

"Maybe?"

"Otherwise you're completely at the mercy of your surroundings."

"If I ever get it, just kill me."

Brachiozord

Losing Control

"Alzheimer's disease"

Dapper-Way-1114·

"On a similar note, Parkinson's. My grandfather was lucid to the end; but physically he was just completely helpless."

mossadspydolphin

"Yup. I don't fear death, but the prospect of losing my personality and sense of self little by little terrifies me. If I ever get diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia I'm going to go out on my own terms."

Northerleyfire

In An Instant


"A brain aneurysm. One killed my mother when I was 23, instantly. I rang her 4 days before and she didn't even have a runny nose then bam, dead. Late fifties."

"Supposedly I'm more likely to have one on a hereditary level. F**king terrifying"

[user deleted]

Clots

"Blood clots, aneurysms anything that you cant really detect happening in Your body until it’s too late. Like WTF."

Deus_Ex_Machiavelli

"In a 5 year stretch I knew 12 people who died of blood clots in their legs. 3 of them were related a dad and his two daughters. They all started out with a weird pain in their leg. Then dead. I’m petrified of this. Whenever I get a leg cramp I freak out."

klsprinkle

Late Discoveries

"Finally discovering very late in life, what I was supposed to have been doing the entire time."

MeToolMovement

"This one definitely resonates very strongly with me. I just turned 40 and I've failed to achieve much of anything for myself... after college I was totally lost and directionless- and I never stopped being that. I often lie awake at night wondering if any hypothetical positive that might occur at this point in life could make up for all of the wasted years already behind me."

DonktorDonkenstein

Thought not everything has to do with the body. Some people had real world fears and phobias.

Seaworthy

"The thought of Being in the middle of the ocean stranded"

crackonwednesdays

"Ooof, Open Water. That film would’ve stayed with me for years even if I hadn’t known it was based on a true story, but knowing that those two people were just abandoned in the open sea (and that no one realized they were gone for TWO DAYS) just ruined me."

Elvis_Take_The_Wheel

"The last scene in The Perfect Storm where the guy is alone in the water during the storm and the camera pulls away until he disappears."

Ardothbey

Pest Control

"Cockroaches when they start flying."

luvkakar·

"I went to South America for a summer in my teens. I stayed with a very poor family and slept on the floor. I will always remember being woken up by these strange noises. I turned on the light and the room was absolutely teeming in giant flying cockroaches. When I turned on the light half of them started flying around. I've never been more grossed out and horrified in my life. It still haunts my dreams."

rburgundy69

'We have a saying here in Mexico: Todos son muy machos hasta que vuela la cucaracha 'everyone is too tough until a cockroach flies.'"

alxtronics

Open Road


"Driving. Especially out of town. I do it every day in my own town, and have very few issues, although I do get a little nervous sometimes. But man. Put me on a road trip even just 2 hours away and I'm a nervous wreck. Unfamiliar traffic and driving conditions will never not scare the shit out of me."

"Oh, and heights. F**k heights."

[user deleted]

Wreckage

"Getting into a serious car crash."

Primary_Asparagus_58

"So, here's how mine went if anyone's interested. Moral of the story is don't drive tired. Might be a little long, but it's here if anyone wants to read it."

"I fell asleep driving once. When the car went off the road, that's exactly when I woke up. So opened my eyes to going downhill in the grass, at about 100kmh/55mph. My reaction was just steer away from the trees and mash the brakes. I avoided the trees, but hit the end of a steel culvert sticking out from under a driveway."

"The culvert caught the car just below the steel bumper support, ripping the bottom half of the rad and condenser off, the oil and transmission pans, and part of the floor, as the wheels straddled it, and the car went up and jumped the side of driveway, becoming airborne. Landed completely sideways in the driveway on all 4 wheels."

"The scariest part was when it stopped, my glasses were gone (found them in the rear window deck) from the airbag, and I put my hand on my face and felt lots of warm liquid running down my skin. I figured it was blood, and when I pulled my hand away, it was brown?... looked down, my coffee was still in the cup holder, no lid, half full. It was coffee."

Mechanicface

We all face our fears daily.

Hopefully we never have to face the ones that truly terrify us.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Andy Ogles; Bad Bunny
Heather Diehl/Getty Images; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

MAGA Rep. Dragged After Claiming Bad Bunny's Halftime Show Depicted 'Gay Pornography'

Tennessee Republican Representative Andy Ogles was widely mocked after he claimed Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show was "pure smut" that depicted "gay pornography"—even going so far as to write a letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee demanding "a formal congressional inquiry" into the "indecent broadcast."

The rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, delivered a largely Spanish-language show that has been hailed as a "love letter to Puerto Rico" and that drew from his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year just a week ago.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Brown (left) and Bad Bunny (right) are pictured separately amid online backlash and praise following Bad Bunny’s record-breaking Super Bowl halftime performance.
Marc Piasecki/WireImage; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Chris Brown Slammed After Appearing To Throw Bizarre Shade At Bad Bunny's Halftime Show

Bad Bunny’s record-breaking halftime show pulled in over 135 million viewers—fans, stans, casual watchers, and yes, professional haters who tune in just to be mad. Which brings me to the loudest one in the room: Chris Brown.

Brown took to social media to offer an unsolicited—and frankly bizarre—reaction to the Puerto Rico-inspired performance, posting a cryptic message that immediately rubbed people the wrong way.

Keep ReadingShow less
Todd Richards; Big Air Snowboarder Seungeun Yu
@btoddrichards/Instagram; Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images

NBC Broadcaster Speaks Out After He's Caught On Hot Mic Trashing Men's Snowboarding Competition At Olympics

Well, we've officially got our first hot mic oopsie of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics!

Broadcaster Todd Richards took to Instagram Sunday to apologize for comments he made during the men's big air snowboarding event that he didn't realize were being broadcast.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amber Glenn; Donald Trump
Andy Cheung/Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Olympic Figure Skater Reveals 'Scary Amount' Of Threats She Got After Her Criticism Of Trump

Amber Glenn, the first openly queer woman to represent the U.S. in figure skating, spoke out in an Instagram post about the torrent of threats she's received after criticizing President Donald Trump's treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.

Glenn had voiced criticism of the Trump administration earlier in the week during a pre-Olympics press conference, describing the period as especially difficult for herself and others in the LGBTQ+ community. Her comments were among several political statements made by U.S. athletes in the run-up to the Winter Games in Milan, Italy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rick Scott
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

MAGA Senator Slammed After Saying U.S. Olympians Critical Of Trump Should Be 'Stripped Of Their Olympic Uniform'

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott was slammed after sharing a video criticizing U.S. Olympians who are conflicted about representing the United States amid President Donald Trump's controversial policies.

Scott spoke out after multiple Olympians made headlines for criticizing the Trump administration amid its nationwide immigration crackdown.

Keep ReadingShow less