Submechanophobia - if so, do not enter

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submechanophobia
Fear of submerged man-made objects, either partially or entirely underwater

I'm not scared of much, have a hardy stomach so can eat most foods, drink most drinks and (touch wood) am hardly ever ill. What I do have a slight 'fear' of though is some underwater manmade objects.

I have recently found this is reasonably well known and called Submechanophobia.

My personal fear probably comes from watching the film 'IT' when I was 7 and the kid getting sucked into the drain in a swimming pool. So, as much as I love swimming and have done since I was 3 or 4, I really hate swimming over/near the drains in deep pools. The one thing could not do as a child was to swim even close to the bars that covered wave pools like at Center Parcs. It's making me feel uneasy even thinking about them but i'll of course post pictures anyway.

Diving in deep sea I had no problem with, fish around me, no problem, even the boats with underwater propellors were not a problem. My girlfriend said she really doesnt like swimming in reeds that are underwater for fear of not knowing what is in them or if she may get stuck in them. I dont really even have a problem with that. Mine is specifically bars or holes where you cannot see inside.

To the good stuff! Posting these has started to make me feel a bit sick, so will stop looking

100% nope to the first three
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Don't really have a problem with
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Makes me feel uneasy
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Never thought about it but used to do a good bit of kayaking when younger and saw quite a few close calls in weirs and pour overs. Getting sucked into the vortex sort of thing, I've been weary of weirs ever since.
 
Guest2 said:
My personal fear probably comes from watching the film 'IT' when I was 7 and the kid getting sucked into the drain in a swimming pool. So, as much as I love swimming and have done since I was 3 or 4, I really hate swimming over/near the drains in deep pools. The one thing could not do as a child was to swim even close to the bars that covered wave pools like at Center Parcs. It's making me feel uneasy even thinking about them but i'll of course post pictures anyway.
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I can relate to this, I have no fear of heights at all, but when I was in my teens I was a competitive swimmer - there was one thing which just scared the living **** out of me - really deep swimming pools, especially diving pits - they still scare the hell out of me to this day.

I think also large manmade structures under water would probbaly have the same effect, something about floating in a huge unnatural, deep, square rectangle.. hard to explain :D

And I have literally no other phobias that are related.
 
Don't have a problem with those - I know someone who gets completely freaked out by like statues underwater though - they also hate stuff like shop dummies and wax works, etc. but a statue underwater turns them into a hysterical mess.

One that creeps me out for some reason is the underneath of the floating islands in Subnautica ( https://youtu.be/pyep24_ZW04?t=160 ) - something about it doesn't sit well with me at all - nothing else in the game concerns me at all - the reapers, etc. even I find laughable but exploring underneath those islands or even going near the water holes inland on the island that lead down into that area leave me feeling uneasy.
 
Malevolence said:
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No problem with that, i've dived around a ship wreck before and been under boats. It was quite scary swimming next to a large Mantaray, but that's because I thought it might try and eat me


Minusorange said:
That sucks, are you sure it's not a fear of Delta P though ?


Sorry if it gives you nightmares
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The opposite in fact, thanks for this. It now clears up why the small slots and bars are required on drains. Much better they are there rather than get an arm pulled in! I watched it all the way through and incidents 2 and 3 I can relate most too. Maybe it is only a fear of Delta P (drowning) which I guess is a fear everyone should have, similar to getting burned alive! Both would be the worst ways to go

Screeeech said:
I can relate to this, I have no fear of heights at all, but when I was in my teens I was a competitive swimmer - there was one thing which just scared the living **** out of me - really deep swimming pools, especially diving pits - they still scare the hell out of me to this day.

I think also large manmade structures under water would probbaly have the same effect, something about floating in a huge unnatural, deep, square rectangle.. hard to explain :D

And I have literally no other phobias that are related.
Click to expand...


Rroff said:
Don't have a problem with those - I know someone who gets completely freaked out by like statues underwater though - they also hate stuff like shop dummies and wax works, etc. but a statue underwater turns them into a hysterical mess.

One that creeps me out for some reason is the underneath of the floating islands in Subnautica ( https://youtu.be/pyep24_ZW04?t=160 ) - something about it doesn't sit well with me at all - nothing else in the game concerns me at all - the reapers, etc. even I find laughable but exploring underneath those islands or even going near the water holes inland on the island that lead down into that area leave me feeling uneasy.
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I think im fine even with manmade structures like a statue, same with diving pools. I've dived at a couple of places and loved it. Granted I swam out of there quickly as I didnt really like not being able to see what's at the bottom and if I had seen grills/bars id have definately swam faster :D

The underwater world in Subnautica looks quite nice, think I might try that game. It looks interesting
 
I mean, going near a mechanical device that is dangerous because you are physically impaired by water is pretty understandable...

I’m not sure anyone has been to a wave machine and gone yeah, I’m going to get closer to those grates.

A very mild story in relation to this but a warning for anyone that is of a particularly nervous disposition in respect of such things - although really why would you be reading the thread :p

My dad actually got sucked strongly towards one of these grate things at Volcano Bay Florida in their ‘fearless river’ - there is this bit where it sucks in water for ages and unleashes this epic tidal wave around the lazy river. It’s not easy to get to because the current is so strong. My dad was fighting the current taking him away and walking ‘the wrong way’ and then got caught in the current for the big sucker and was using his entire strength not to be sucked in! He didn’t go fully in or anything and the tidal wave spat him out... but it was a weird moment for sure. I don’t think a child would have had the strength to put themselves in that position and he probably wasn’t in any danger.
 
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I'm not scared of this, but I'm scared that a shark could come out of any of these.
I have huge phobia of sharks (Galeophobia), thanks to the JAWS movie.

Once I was in a sailing boat, we all jumped in the water (I also did, but I was ******** myself) then I decided to swim under the boat, BIG MISTAKE, when I got close to the boat's keel, I've panicked (I knew was just a boat's keel) but my phobia kicked in and I could only think about sharks... my friends told me that I jumped back in the boat like a dolphin, they never saw someone climb so fast back in the boat.
 
Drangueos said:
I'm not scared of this, but I'm scared that a shark could come out of any of these.
I have huge phobia of sharks (Galeophobia), thanks to the JAWS movie.

Once I was in a sailing boat, we all jumped in the water (I also did, but I was ******** myself) then I decided to swim under the boat, BIG MISTAKE, when I got close to the boat's keel, I've panicked (I knew was just a boat's keel) but my phobia kicked in and I could only think about sharks... my friends told me that I jumped back in the boat like a dolphin, they never saw someone climb so fast back in the boat.
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:D

I was on a beach many years ago and came sprinting out the sea my mum said faster than she had ever seen me. I was screaming as crabs were biting my legs. She looked and it was my the tassels hanging down from my life jacket, the faster I ran the faster they hit against my legs. :D :D :D

@Nitefly I've read that quite a lot of people are scared of going on the lazy river riodes because of something like that happening to them. Not had a problem on (and going on) lazy rivers.

At Center Parcs, the last part of the river rapids where its inside has a small pool where all the water comes over a small waterfall. Its quite powerful, even for adult. As kids we would dare each other to swim into the middle of it, it was hard to get out but possible as we were all good swimmers. Not sure if its still like that, thats going back to the early - mid 90s
 
@Guest2 yeah that one in particularly is like a ‘super aggressive’ lazy river that’s there in addition to their regular lazy river. It’s relatively super fast and has rapids and tidal waves etc. It’s quite awesome!

Haven’t watched the whole video which might be rubbish but the exact bit I’m talking about (where my dad got ‘sucked in’) is shown in the first few seconds of this video:

 
Hmmmm, kinda. The last one with the plane underwater makes me feel a bit odd. What always gets me is when you watch videos of the Titanic being explored, and it just appears out of the blackness. Eerie.

There's a VR game about the Titanic where you can go and explore it, that got me every time it appeared, too.
 
I got my hand stuck in an open pool vent thing at the bottom of a pool when I was around 15. Smallish round hole, was uncovered and just sucked my hand in when I stupidly poked it. Unsure how long I was down there panicking, eventually managed to get my feet under me and yanked my hand out. :cry:

So **** pool vents.....also sharks.
 
It is a bit eerie. I was playing GTA 5 the other day and the bit where you go on the sub was a bit like that. I think it stems from the fact you cannot see anything then it just pops out of nowhere. I much prefer swimming in crystal clear sea compared to murky Skegness for example on that reason as I can see what is there.
 
Is this a phobia as such? Submerged objects can be very dangerous, deadly, in fact. People jumping into docks in the summertime sometime end up banging their heads on something and going under. They didn't make those PIFs for no reason.
 
I get a panicky sort of feeling when I can’t see anything below my feet. (Jumped off a boat in the ocean a few years ago, submerged my head to look what was below me, couldn’t see anything, and freaked out) couldn’t get back on the boat fast enough. Same thing with the game Subnautica.
 
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