Submerged/sunken man-made object phobia.

[Creed of Heresy]

I really have no idea what exactly the name of this particular phobia is but apparently I'm not the only one with it. Basically, it's a phobia of man-made objects submerged in a body of water. I've had this for a long time, apparently, and didn't know I ever had it until I played Mario 64 and played the level with the sunken ship. Something about that ship scared the piss out of me and I've noticed that I've had that fear in other instances. I cannot get near buoys out in lakes or oceans, not just because of the submerged part of it but because of the weird terror that grips me when I see the chain disappearing into the depths of the water, or, worse, if I FEEL the chain under the water it will scare the bajeezus out of me.

This only happens in select circumstances. Say I am taking a bath and I have a little toy boat [shut up, I like pushing toy boats around in the bath!] and I sink it. No reaction. Say I take said toy boat to a lake and sink it. Still no real reaction. But say I come across a sunken canoe or rowboat. The phobia starts to kick in, albeit lightly. If it's made out of wood, the phobia is less, if it's made of metal, the phobia is greater. The phobia also increases depending on the size of the object; I once was diving in the Chesapeake, where there's a lot of scuttled sailboats further out, either for disposal purposes or caused by capsizing during storms or whatnot, and I happened across the mast of a sunken sailboat. I freaked the fuck out and almost swallowed a lungful of water in my panic.

Images of sunken ships do not have the same effect as seeing them in person does. And this can be anything. Sunken buoys, boats, cars, etc. All of them just creep me the fuck out.

Anyone else share this phobia? Or, hell, at least know what the hell it's even called? Or where it comes from??

[Minimalist]

Uboatophobia?




Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[Jackalope]

I used to, I discovered it when I started scuba diving. Ten years later, I dive on shipwrecks. INSIDE shipwrecks.

Go figure.

[The Grand Nudger]

Does it have to be man-made objects, or is any sufficiently large submerged object terrifying?

[Creed of Heresy]

Well the best way to conquer a phobia is to face it head-on, so I can see how that would work, Cthu.

Min: ...UNTERSEEBOOT? D8 *lol*

Rhythm: It DOES seem to have to be man-made objects. Fish, coral, hell, even whales don't seem to even get the slightest twitch from me. In fact coral reef formations fascinate me. The colors.

[Anomalocaris]

Uboatophobia?




Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I suppose I should not play recordings of Sonar pings or the theme music from Das Boot when you are in the water.

[Jackalope]

Well the best way to conquer a phobia is to face it head-on, so I can see how that would work, Cthu.

I still.get a little twitchy if I am caught completely off guard (like in the dark or other poor visibility conditions).

It took a lot of time in the water to get over it, for the most part. Still have moments.

Now the one thing that would really freak me out is running across human remains when not expected.

[Jackalope]

A few thoughts occurred to me.

One, there may be a psychological impact from things that are out of place, and where trauma or loss of life may have occurred. For me, there is a.world of difference in anxiety between diving a wreck where loss of life occurred, and those who were intentionally sunk. I avoid ones that contain unrecovered remains for that and other reasons.

The second is that its natural to have fear of potentially hazardous situations, and submerged objects can be very hazardous. There may be an irrational aspect to your fear, but it is not without rational basis.

[Cato]

One, there may be a psychological impact from things that are out of place, and where trauma or loss of life may have occurred.

Interesting thought. Keep in mind that the 'thing' out of place may be us; leading of course to the fear of inherent danger in an environment that we haven't evolved to exist in naturally; the fear of a lack of control over our environment (perceived control, I'm not inviting a philosopher to drop in at this point and argue that the human idea of control is an illusion).

I was a submariner. Some of our NUBs (new guys, NUB = non useful body) would start getting preoccupied with the manner of death at crush depth. Once it was demonstrated that the death would be almost instantaneous, they got along quite well.

This brings me to the next bit. Perhaps the fear is really the fear of the manner of death. Drowning has to be a terrible fate. Cthulhu said as much by citing the difference between submerged objects that likely resulted in previous death and others that haven't already claimed a life.

[Jackalope]

Good point, cato. That's one of the things that draws me to the underwater world - it is completely alien and inhospitable. It's the closest to unexploring the unknown that I will ever achieve.

Having come close to drowning (at the fucking surface, no less), I can say it is high on the list of terrifying experiences. Easily available oxygen is easily taken for granted.

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Edited to add - cato, many of the scuttled wrecks have claimed lives - diver's lives. Somehow that's different. I dive within the limits of my training and risk tolerance, so that my fate is substantially in my own hands.