Why am I afraid of heights?

III · Aug 27, 2007

Riding a Ferris Wheel
Driving over a big bridge
Being on a high balcony

These things totally wig me out. No way would I ever go up in a hot air balloon. Flying is no problem, or rides where I'm strapped in. Why do I have this irrational fear?

aadams73 · Aug 27, 2007

I dunno, but they terrify the hell out of me too. That I-10/410 interchange? I won't drive over it.

cray · Aug 27, 2007

you spelled wuss wrong in the poll.

rhymegirl · Aug 27, 2007

III said:
These things totally wig me out. No way would I ever go up in a hot air balloon. Flying is no problem, or rides where I'm strapped in. Why do I have this irrational fear?

I don't know but I'll go on a hot air balloon ride with you.

reigningcatsndogs · Aug 27, 2007

Because in a previous life, while living in exile in South America, you were chased by soldiers and police, and had to jump off a tall cliff into the river below, even though you could not swim and had no time to remove your boots.

Bmwhtly · Aug 27, 2007

On a vaguely serious note (sorry). there is a theory... ach, I'll let the voice of knowledge tell you:

Douglas Adams said:
I've heard an idea proposed, I've no idea how seriously, to account for the sensation of vertigo. It's an idea that I instinctively like and it goes like this.

The dizzy sensation we experience when standing in high places is not simply a fear of falling. It's often the case that the only thing likely to make us fall is the actual dizziness itself, so it is, at best, an extremely irrational, even self-fulfilling fear. However, in the distant past of our evolutionary journey toward our current state, we lived in trees. We leapt from tree to tree. There are even those who speculate that we may have something birdlike in our ancestral line. In which case, there may be some part of our mind that, when confronted with a void, expects to be able to leap out into it and even urges us to do so. So what you end up with is a conflict between a primitive, atavistic part of your mind which is saying "Jump!" and the more modern, rational part of your mind which is saying, "For Christ's sake, don't!" In fact, vertigo is explained by some not as the fear of falling, but as the temptation to jump!

*sigh*
I miss him

NeuroFizz · Aug 27, 2007

It's because our height detectors are wired directly into our scrotums (scrota?). Why else would altitude give that tight sensation in the marble sac?

III · Aug 27, 2007

rhymegirl said:
I don't know but I'll go on a hot air balloon ride with you.

must .... resist .... hypnotic ......... rabbit .......

cray · Aug 27, 2007

III said:
must .... resist .... hypnotic ......... rabbit .......

iii, those aren't her eyes,...the rabbit suddenly grew a very very long mustache which is in obvious need of an ironing.

Haggis · Aug 27, 2007

III said:
Riding a Ferris Wheel
Driving over a big bridge
Being on a high balcony

These things totally wig me out. No way would I ever go up in a hot air balloon. Flying is no problem, or rides where I'm strapped in. Why do I have this irrational fear?

It's not irrational at all. Those places are high, man. Way up there. *shudder*

III · Aug 27, 2007

NeuroFizz said:
It's because our height detectors are wired directly into our scrotums (scrota?). Why else would altitude give that tight sensation in the marble sac?

Fizz, people like you are the reason people think I'm retarded.

"Oh yeah, well I have this friend who's a PROFESSOR and HE told me that your doo-dads are height detectors!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh. He even told me that."

Sassee · Aug 27, 2007

I don't fear the height itself. What I fear is the splat after I've fallen from the height.

Bmwhtly · Aug 27, 2007

Sassee said:
I don't fear the height itself. What I fear is the splat after I've fallen from the height.

Yeah, speed doesn't kill. It's the suddenly coming to a stop that does it.

Stew21 · Aug 27, 2007

mine started here:

I can't swim!
What are ya, crazy? the fall will probably kill you!

BenPanced · Aug 27, 2007

Because I am, too!

Yet I love flying.

thethinker42 · Aug 27, 2007

Because scarletpeaches saw a monkey having sex with a guy's face in the drive-through at Chik-Fil-A.

Devil Ledbetter · Aug 27, 2007

Sassee said:
I don't fear the height itself. What I fear is the splat after I've fallen from the height.

Indeed.

MidnightMuse · Aug 27, 2007

Nancy-boy.

III · Aug 27, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Nancy-boy.

Up your butt with a coconut

acharity · Aug 27, 2007

I hate bridges O_O I always get these really paranoid thoughts that it's going to collapse underneath all of the weight... It also happens when I'm at places like Wonderland. You can't help but wonder how those really tall water rides, etc., can hold all of the weight that goes on it! *shudders* and what makes heights worse for me; those stupid stairs with the gaps in between? Ugh... I'm so incredibly freaked out by those things. I always think that my foot is somehow going to slip through the gap and I'll end up falling down, or through, or over the edge. Ack!

JoNightshade · Aug 27, 2007

WUSS!

I don't have a fear of heights in the least, but I will confess to being tempted to jump. Perhaps that confirms the evolutionary-theory-thing. For me, it's the same as when I'm driving on a crowded freeway and I start thinking "All I'd have to do is jerk this wheel one way or the other and my life would be over."

Nobody else gets that? Uh... excuse me. ::Jo leaves::

III · Aug 27, 2007

I have to go get on a plane to Minneapolis, so let me say pre-emptively for everyone planning on posting "wuss" comments - up your butts with coconuts. BenPanced - I'm leaving you in charge of the coconuts for the rest of the day.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 27, 2007

III said:
Why do I have this irrational fear?

There's nothing irrational about a fear of heights. It's the most rational of things. Falling from heights kills. Our bobies aren't meant to handle the splat at the end. If man was meant to be up high he'd be a bird.

MidnightMuse · Aug 27, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
... Our bobies aren't meant to handle the splat at the end.

You're just the cutest thing

Why am I afraid of heights?

Why am I afraid of heights?

Because I'm a little nutsy

Because I'm a wimp

Because heights are dangerous I SHOULD be scared

Because I'm secretly worried Orlando Bloom will push me

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