Page 16 of Innocence

Porphyrophobia: Fear of the color purple

Pteridophobia: Fear of ferns

Pteromerhanophobia: Fear of flying

Pyrophobia: Fear of fire

Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween

Scolionophobia: Fear of school

Scoptophobia: Fear of being stared at

Selenophobia: Fear of the moon

Sociophobia: Fear of social evaluation

Somniphobia:Fear of sleep

Tachophobia: Fear of speed

Technophobia: Fear of technology

Thalassophobia: Fear of the ocean

Trichophobia: Fear of hair

Tonitrophobia: Fear of thunder

Trypanophobia: Fear of needles/injections

Trypophobia: Fear of holes

Venustraphobia: Fear of beautiful women

Verminophobia: Fear of germs

Wiccaphobia: Fear of witches and witchcraft

Xenophobia: Fear of strangers or foreigners

Zoophobia:Fear of animals

Zuigerphobia: Fear of vacuum cleaners

They could hear students laughing, joking about the fears listed on the sheet of paper.

“Seriously? A fear of beautiful women? What the hell is wrong with someone that fears a beautiful woman?” said one young man.

“Fear of vacuum cleaners. That must be my mother’s problem,” said a girl.

“Merinthophobia. Isn’t that what that girl was afraid of,” said a young man. “The one that was killed. Tracy. Wasn’t she afraid of being tied up or something?”

The professor stared at the young man, then slowly looked up at the three visitors in the back of the room.

“I believe she did say that was one of her fears,” he said quietly. He cleared his throat and continued.

“The fears are real to the individual and can be debilitating, even paralyzing. People often find themselves in the middle of what they fear the most and cannot move, cannot think, or find a way out of their situation. It is not a thing to make light of.”

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