By Olivia Kriz/GG Staff Writer
October brings Fall weather and Halloween. Halloween is a time for tricks and treats. But it’s not the only scary thing. Phobias can affect people year round.
According to Dictionary.com, a phobia is a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.
With over 100 types of phobias, there’s a name for everything. Phobias and Halloween are often associated with each other.
Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. During Halloween, spiders are a sell out. Spider rings, spider figures, the list goes on. It’s used for decorations such as the spiders that drop down from the ceiling.
According to Listverse.com, in Russia in 1990, there was a sergeant who was in an elevator who was afraid of spiders. He heard a sound on top of the elevator, that sounded like something crawling around. He shines his light and eight black, beady eyes stare at him. The three-foot long spider jumped on him and landed on his face. The spider sinks his jaws into his cheeks and sucked out blood. The sergeant fired his gun on one of the spider’s legs and the creature ran off.
Another phobia connected to Halloween is Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. Not all clowns are sweet and innocent. Halloween is the time for killer clowns, which are nothing like Ronald McDonald or clowns used for birthday parties.
Recently, there has been a problem with people dressing up like clowns chasing people. It’s all over the internet. Sophomore Derek Webb said, “My thoughts on clowns are they’re stupid, like why? Why do you dress up and wear makeup?” These clown sightings aren’t good for people who have coulrophobia.
The actual phobia for something that is Halloween related is Samhainophobia,the fear of Halloween. According to Fearof.net, some triggers for samhainophobia are seeing people decorate for Halloween, all the zombies, spiders, blood, skeletons, etc. Sometimes it’s triggered from the anxiety of strangers ringing the doorbell.
It is said that gradually and repeatedly facing your fears is a good way to solve them, but whatever the phobia may be, it’s important to face and conquer it.
