Happy Halloween!
And BOO!
What Scares Me
This particular holiday revolves around scary things. Ghosts, goblins, monsters, vampires, witches, headless horsemen, jabberwockies, things that go bump in the night...and all things trendy and popular and not so scary, too, of course. But for this blog, I wanted to talk a little about the things that scare me. Trust me, it's not the usual suspects.
So here we go.
The Top Five Things That Scare Me.
Number Five
Sinkholes. Yes, sinkholes. Those big gaping holes that open up in the ground and swallow houses and cars and sometimes people. Think about it. Sinkholes are random and terrible and can't normally be anticipated. They're one of the sneak attacks nature can throw at us. If it's a tornado or a hurricane, you can evacuate or take shelter. Same with most storms. Flooding you can usually see coming, too. Earthquakes aren't common enough in my part of the country to be a concern, but for the millions of people (maybe billions) who live in an FEZ (Frequent Earthquake Zone...I made that up), they can be traumatizing. Of course, Earthquakes tend to be on known fault lines so you always have the option of not moving into a FEZ, or moving away. But sinkholes? They start out deep in the Earth and can rarely be predicted or anticipated, although we are getting a lot more sophisticated about knowing where they have a high risk of potentially forming like Florida and Louisiana, for starters. There's a monster sinkhole in Bayou Corne that recently started swallowing trees whole!
And they can pop up anywhere, even in Siberia. So I confess, I have a deep fear of huge, gaping holes opening in the ground beneath my feet and swallowing me. Call me paranoid.
Number Four
Killer bees. I live in the American Southwest. And one of my neighbors has a huge network of bee hives. Killer bees have migrated into the southern USA from South America over the last few decades and they were given that name for a reason. They form aggressive, angry swarms.
'Nuff said. That alone could give me nightmares for a week.
Number Three
Rattlesnakes getting into my house. No, I haven't had that happen yet, but I did have one get into my garage last summer. I blogged about it as a guest with author Carysa Locke, here. It actually turned into some pretty nifty research for Pets in Space. I've encountered the random venomous snake or two on the ranch, and although that's unnerving it's not terrifying. But the thought of a pit viper invading my personal space and slithering around...now that's a horrific thought! And it does happen. Check it out.
Number Two
Sharks. Yes, I know. I live in the desert. Why should sharks scare me? Well, probably because I live in the desert, and movies like The Shallows, and Jaws, and Open Water always have sharks showing up that eat people who go in the water. I have no desire to swim in the ocean. Okay, I did swim in the ocean once, in about 20 feet of water off a catamaran in the Caribbean. But honestly, I was looking for sharks the entire time. What's fun about that?
Fortunately for me, Landsharks are only the stuff of comedy skits. Or are they?
...and the NUMBER ONE thing that scares me?
One of my manuscripts. No, I'm not being silly. I have a manuscript that I've had to let lie for several years now because the research absolutely terrified me. Why? Well, let's put it this way. My story is about the power of the mind, and has a few scenes where something really horrible and dark and menacing happens. While surfing the internet for information one day, I discovered there are documented cases of what I had created fictionally actually happening. Yikes! That's frightening. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.
Now granted, the accounts may also be a work of fiction, but if they are even partially true...Well, it's just really hard to go there without becoming terrified out of my mind. It's one of the same reasons I don't watch television shows about the paranormal. I don't want to know about these things! My imagination is active enough all on its own, thank you very much.
Especially when I'm home alone, and it's dark, and I start hearing noises...
Okay, that did it. I'm going to end right here and go look at funny cat videos on Facebook now!
For Trick or Treats, leave a comment and tell me what scares you. [Insert scary sound effects here.]
~~~~~~~~~~ From Laurie ~~~~~~~~~~
