fear of

My grandparents lived on an old farmhouse with no indoor plumbing. That meant late-night trips to the outhouse. With flashlight in hand, my mom would lead the way, with 7 children following closely behind. While my younger sister and I were taking our turn, I saw a spider crawling right beside me and I totally freaked out. I thought surely there were millions of spiders down in the "hole" (to which I thought there was no bottom), just waiting to swarm all over my bum and bite me. From that day on, a trip to Grandma's meant constipation for me, because no way in HELL was I going to sit that long on that stupid hole!

Boo

Until I was in my teens, I believed that a monster lived in the toilet, just past where you can't see. When I flushed, I would make a run for it before it reached out for me.

Anon

i used to believe that if you sat on the toilet in a storm the lightning could come up through the pipes and get you. I thought that it was the same as when adults would say don't talk on the phone in a storm. Apparently not.
But i remember being terrified to use the toilet during a storm.

Allason

My older brother told me there were special animals that lived under outhouses. According to him, these animals lived mostly on toilet paper but occasionally they leaped up from the darkness and bit a child's behind.
I'm 42 now and to this day, outhouses make me a bit nervous.

Abby

when I was in grade school, about 4th grade, maybe younger, I heard someone talking about a monster in the toilet. I don't know who it was but for the longest time I would flush the toilet and run away, never staying in the room after it had been flushed. Aparently the monster could only get out if you flushed it.

bendaini

I used to be afraid to go to the bathroom at night, because I was absolutely convinced that there was a man hiding behind the toilet with a gun who would shoot me if I went at night. My mother used to think that there was a man who lived in the toilet who would reach up and grab you at night. Surprisingly, we're both almost normal now.

Muffy

When I was a child, I thought if you were sat on the toilet, doing a 'number 2' and reading a magazine, if the magazine article had a photo of a celebrity looking out, then their face would appear in the toilet bowl beneath you looking at your bottom. Put me right off going to the toilet.

Weird, I know...

Harry Palmer

when i was young, i used to believe that straight after i flushed the toilet snakes would come out of the wall, and attack and eat me. therefore i used to sprint out of the toilet as fast as i could.

milz

There was a time when I was around 8, where I read of some exotic spider in South America that hid in outhouse toilets and proceeded to deliver FESTERING DEATH through repeated noxiously poisonous bites to your exposed, turdy bottom. Regardless to the truth of this story, I have lived my life continually looking between my legs on the porcelain throne. I still do.

Ashton Sanderson

My sister was terrified after watching television commercials for a cleaning product called "Tidy Bowl". In the commercials, a tiny guy in a boat rowed around the toilet, cleaning the ring from the bowl at the water's edge. She feared that the "Tidy Bowl Man" would appear while she was on the commode.

SailorMan

I was so scared of the flushing noise (especally at night) that I would rush out of the door as soon I has had pulled the chain. This was associated with a recurring dream (quite underserved!) about an aunt who once surprised a family Christmas party by bursting in unnanounced. As I hadn't seen her before (1947-ish) she seemed to assume an evil persona, though this was NOT the case, but for years aftereards I had recurrent dreams involving her as the villain.

PS: Not unassociated with another recurring recurrent dream in which a coal fire appeared as a blue flame *descending* from the chimney. I called it in my private language: "fire-blaze-up".

Richard GL56 9BZ UK

I believed alligators lived in toilets, and one apparently got hold of my sister.

Anon

I used to believe that there was a monster in the toilet who would eat me if i went to the bathroom.

Anon

When I was a kid I was afraid to flush the toilet for fear that a flushing it would let a shark come up. My brother suggested putting the lid down before I flushed it, or I could slam it down after I flushed. That way the shark would hit its head and go away.

Timothy

When I was younger, my mother used to tell me that if you used the public rest stops (like the ones on the interstate highways) there would be people in the stall next to you and they would take a razor blade and slash your ankles while you were on the toilet. I am 24 now and I still to not use the bathrooms at rest stops when I am traveling. Thanks, Mom!

Nicole

I used to believe there was a giant slime-covered hand down the toilet which would grab you and pull you down it if you sat there too long.

Foz

When I was about 6 we moved to a house that had an outside toilet, I was very afraid of going there at night and thought that the devil would bite my bum whilst I was sitting on it.

Ella

When I was little I thought the devil lived in the toilet and if I flushed it he would come out and take me with him. So I would flush and run really fast into the living room. Silly me!

Kelley