23 of the Weirdest Fears That People Have
People treat the word “phobia” as if it just means “fear,” which it technically does at its Greek roots, but in psychological terms, it’s specifically an irrational fear. By definition, it’s impossible to have a phobia of tigers or narrow ledges outside tall buildings or YouTube’s recommendation algorithm — all of those things will kill you just as soon as they get the chance.
There are also phobias that are so common as to be nearly rational. Fears of clowns and spiders have eminently reasonable origins, namely that pop culture depicts them as nothing but evil. On the other hand, some people are afraid of things that simply make no sense. “I’m terrified of balloons popping,” user Own-Ad-7756 told r/AskReddit. “I can't even be near a birthday party!”
They then asked, “What’s an unusual fear you have?” and their fellow Redditors certainly weren’t scared to share what scares them.
