When I was but a wee lad, I was afraid of some things. I'm sure that comes as no surprise as most people are. I was afraid of the usual suspects, like spiders and heights. I was also afraid of really really weird things. Like a chair. Not any and all chairs, or that would have made for a really awkward childhood. But I was afraid of one specific chair in my house. On the bottom basement of my house (we had two basements) there was a room in the corner which had no windows. My dad used it as an office for a while, but by the end of our stay there it was a server room. I digress. In this room was a largeish office chair. It was blue. And I was afraid of it. No particular reason other than the overactive imagination of a child, giving the chair life, personifying it with evil. I don't know when it started and I can't remember when I got over it, but for years I would not willingly go into the room. I would not pass by the room. I would go around a different way in order to not pass it. Sometimes at night I would imagine the chair coming to get me. I slept almost directly above it, albeit four floors above it, and it still got to me for some reason.
And one day I got over it.. I guess. In the last many years spent at that house I spent plenty of time in that room, sitting in that chair, alone. I lived alone in that basement from the time my brother Matthew got married to when we sold the house, and never worried about the chair coming to get me. When I was 16 or so, I set up a darkroom in that room (I don't think my dad appreciated that very much). I didn't sit in the chair, but I merely pushed it aside so I could fit a folding chair in. And even in the complete darkness I didn't even think about the chair. When we moved, the chair went to DI. I'll never see it again. And I am indifferent.
The other huge fear I can remember from my childhood is the intro to 'DTV', a cartoon on the Disney Channel that put disney clips to music (mostly what we would consider 'oldies' today). This morning as I was lying in bed trying to get over this stupid cold, I thought about that into for the first time in years. And it freaked me out a bit. But being 21 years old, I thought "come on man, you can't still be afraid of that". So, with the power of YouTube, I faced my fears:
Okay, it's still a little scary. But when I was young I was absolutely terrified of it. I couldn't watch it. I would run out of the room if it came on. On occasion I would watch it under physical duress, but not without a fight. I've watched it a few times this morning under my own willpower, and my heart rate only increased a little.
I remember one particular night I was trying to sleep and I imagined those walking gloves coming at me. I woke up in a cold sweat many a night. Man, that's freaky stuff...
And I thought I was alone, until I sent Matthew the YouTube clip just now.
"Matthew says: Daisy always scared the heck out of me when she'd do that dance"
and it wasn't only the two of us.
"Matthew says: I just showed Jarom. His face went stone cold"
So, maybe there are more out there like us that have an irrational fear of this little video.
