Fear of the sky

I was just thinking about what I read. Is it possible to be afraid of the sky for no apparent reason. Why wouldn't this also be a trademark sign of alien abduction? Hypothetically if aliens did exist. Wouldn't someone just look skyward and have some notion.

That they've been up up there? Of course no one would believe them. But deja'vu exists. Yet many people, claim to have, numerous feelings of, being somewhere before. I mean having dreams of flying is one thing. Having the feeling of being in space is another.

Is this thought totally irrational?

It's perfectly rational. This is way normal compared to some of the threads I've seen on this forum.

I've never heard of somebody actually being afraid of the sky but there is a chance that somebody could develop it due to fear of UFO's.

Originally posted by tokyodynamite
It's perfectly rational. This is way normal compared to some of the threads I've seen on this forum.

I've never heard of somebody actually being afraid of the sky but there is a chance that somebody could develop it due to fear of UFO's.

Yeah, you pretty much summed up my theory. This phenomena is very interesting. Not once have I read an alien abductionist that was afraid of the sky.

Bu there is that one chance.

Funny, I dated a girl in college who was afraid of the night sky — she absolutely would not look at the moon or stars. Which always fascinated me. Even when I'd be engaged in conversations about astronomy, she'd become very uncomfortable and excuse herself.

Strange, because this chick was ultra-rational about everything, she was multilingual, and she had a genius IQ.

When I asked her about this phobia, she said it was because she couldn't wrap her mind around the immensity of the Universe...just the thought of the infinite void made her nauseous.

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 6/27/2010 by Doc Velocity]

I had a fear of the night sky for a while.. I couldn't look up when I was outside at night or I'd feel like I was being pulled upwards and would start panicking etc. It was especially worse when I looked at a star, I'd get dizzy and sick and have to sit down.
It's not as bad anymore but it's still there.

I looked on google and heaps of other people experienced it too, it even has a -phobia name.

[edit on 27/6/10 by Nventual]

How about amazement of the sky? Which is what we all have!

Fear of the sky would means I guess a fear of void, of emptyness driven by the wrong concept. Life for example, fear of solitude or lost. That said, PPl who are abbductee, I guess could have aloraphobia ('above' fear) if not mistaken.

If I turn your question recto side, have you ever wonder why some many, if not all, marvel at the sky wondering what's there?

That's also, a phobia. Of being alone. That, also is explain by, (maybe) we are not alone.





[edit on 27-6-2010 by korats]

reply to post by Doc Velocity


If aliens weren't invovled. I always chalk it to the fact. We'll space is pretty much infinite, right? Even though we don't know that. It seems to go on forever. Sprinkled with stars, nebulas, red dwarfs, etc.

Everything that makes up our night. I thought it might have to do with what else we might not know about. What else might be lurking out there that we might have overlooked. Whatever it may be. I once read an artical about atmospheric beasts.
Creeped me out.

Or is it just me?

reply to post by korats


At this point anything else someone else will say. It definitely won't be the wrong answer. I can't get enough information as it is with the phobia. I find more about Heaven than our actual skies.

I think it's called "Astrophobia" which is "fear of stars or celestial space".
When it was bad for me I managed to find a website with people who were posting their experiences with it but I can't find it anymore. It took ages to find last time because of how uncommon the fear is.

Well, in the case of the girl I was dating, I used to ask her how she felt about UFOs, also, and her response was the same. She didn't want to think about it, it was too much of a mystery for her... She had a low mystery threshold, apparently.

On the other hand, I can remember one instance of being afraid of space, myself.

I wrote a lot of sci-fi and space fantasy when I was younger, before I fell out of love with fiction. I always went for realism in my writing, trying to imagine all the many details that other sci-fi writers just ignored, such as the physics of FTL travel, the physics of Time Travel, the seemingly insurmountable problem of interstellar communications, the fact that you must take at least one other complete starship with you for parts, and everybody's least favorite sci-fi topic, deep space navigation... Not only going where no Man had gone before, but finding your way back.

One of the things that a lot of space fantasy writers don't stop to consider is that, when you jump to hyperspace for a while and then re-enter normal space, not only do all your familiar constellations vanish, but the apparent luminosity of all the stars changes, as well, so you can't just look around for familiar stars and adjust your navigation system accordingly. What you'd have to do is drift around for a while, scanning with your onboard radio-telescope, searching for pulsars with familiar rhythms, and then reset your navigation based on pulsar coordinates. Which could take a while.

Anyway, I used to get so deep into these sci-fi thought experiments that I'd dream about deep space travel. It wasn't anything like you see in the movies or television series. It was extraordinarily frightening, knowing that you were the only living thing for a thousand light years in any direction, knowing that the slightest little malfunction could maroon you in the void for the rest of your life. It was an intensely claustrophobic and paranoid experience, a real nightmare.

I don't feel that way anymore, since I realized that the whole Universe is aware of itself — not that this knowledge would save your ass if you became lost in space, but at least you'd know you weren't alone.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 6/27/2010 by Doc Velocity]

this is going to sound strange - and while its not a fear or phobia - i feel it has some relevance

i love to lay back and just watch the night sky or get out my binoculars / telescope and study things

but i do find my self pondering the question :

is the universe still there ?

when we look up - we cannot see the stars , all we see is the ligh emmited by them , take as an exaple the andromeda galaxy easily located and visible to the naked eye - its 2.5 MILLION light years away -

is it still there ??

we assume it is - mainly because we cannot convieve a logical mechanic by which it might have ceased to exist

we know that individual stars can explode [ super novas ] . and we have found evidence that the age of stars in fifferent galaxies varies widley [ all stars we can detect now were not formed at the same time ]

but all this is a ` snapshot ` of how the univers was millenia ago - and we have no evidence that it is still there

hey - i told you it was a strange thing to dwell on but like i say - i dont fear it , i just contemplate the posibility

Yeah, as a teen I used to go out early in the morning with my marine binoculars, before dawn, and search the sky for satellites, which are pretty easy to spot about an hour before sunrise.

As for the existence of the rest of the Universe, we have absolutely no way of knowing what's still out there. The closest star to our own, Proxima Centauri, is about 4 light years away from us — so, if it blew up right now, we wouldn't know about it until 2014.

On the same token, if a big-ass gamma burster exploded in our neighborhood right now, with its gamma fountain pointed our way, we still wouldn't know about it until the super-lethal gamma beam cooked every living thing on whichever side of the Earth was facing it. No warning whatsoever.

Pleasant thought, eh?

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 6/28/2010 by Doc Velocity]

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
One of the things that a lot of space fantasy writers don't stop to consider is that, when you jump to hyperspace for a while and then re-enter normal space, not only do all your familiar constellations vanish, but the apparent luminosity of all the stars changes, as well, so you can't just look around for familiar stars and adjust your navigation system accordingly. What you'd have to do is drift around for a while, scanning with your onboard radio-telescope, searching for pulsars with familiar rhythms, and then reset your navigation based on pulsar coordinates. Which could take a while.

An interesting fact here, I must say. As an aspiring author, I may just keep this in mind.

On the subject; however, as a very small child I used to hate being alone in my bedroom, especially toward eving. I was always afraid that monsters... from the SKY would come and snatch me away. Now ponder that for a moment... why would I have had a silly fear like that?

What if you lived on a planet that had six suns. Your planet is illuminated on all sides and has been since before you could remember. You have never experienced night and you have no idea of the concept of "stars".

Now imagine that on a fluke, ALL of the suns set, and darkness comes upon the land and you witness stars for the first time. Would you be able to handle it?

This thread reminded me of a sci fi book I read a long time ago called Nightfall by Isaac Asimov.

I will quote from Wikipedia:

"Nightfall" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, about the coming of darkness to the people of a planet ordinarily illuminated at all times on all sides. It was later adapted into a novel.

Nightfall has been anthologized four dozen times, and has appeared in a half-dozen collections of Asimov's stories. In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers of America voted Nightfall the best science fiction short story written prior to the establishment of the Nebula Awards in 1965 and included it in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964.

and

The short story was published in the September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine under editor John W. Campbell.

It was the 32nd story by Asimov, written while he was working in his father's candy store and studying at Columbia University.

According to Asimov's autobiography, Campbell asked Asimov to write the story after discussing with him a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!

Campbell's opinion to the contrary was: "I think men would go mad."

I very much enjoyed this book and I recommend it highly.

These people had a GREAT fear of the night sky, full of stars.

en.wikipedia.org...(Asimov_short_story)

reply to post by Ronnie K.


Ronnie K.....

Here are some phobias that might influence such feelings:

agorophobia fear of open spaces
astrophobia fear of stars
acrophobia fear of heights
ballistophobia fear of missiles (flying objects)
hypsophobia dread of heights
nyctophobia fear of darkness
pantophobia irrational fear of everything
uranophobia fear of the sky; dread of going to heaven

For the fun of it, here’s the rest of the phobia list.....there’s some really ”unusual” stuff in here!

ailurophobia dread of cats
algophobia morbid fear of pain
alektorophobia fear of chickens
amathophobia abnormal fear of dust
amaxophobia morbid dread of boarding a trolley car
androphobia fear of man or men (males)
anemophbia dread of hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes
anthropophobia fear of human beings
anthophobia fear of flowers
arachnophobia fear of spiders
arachibutyrophobia fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth

basiphobia fear of steps
botanophobia intense dislike of flowers and plants

carcinophobia fear of cancer
cathisophobia fear of sitting down
chionophobia dread of being snowbound
chromophobia irrational fear of certain colors
chronophobia dread of time; impulse to smash clocks
claustrophobia fear of narrow or enclosed spaces
clinophobia fear of going to bed
cyclophobia fear of bicycles
cynophobia morbid fear of dogs

demonophobia fear of demons or evil spirits
dendrophobia fear of trees
dentophobia fear of dentist
dermatapathophobia morbid anxiety about the skin and its diseases
dinophobia fear of becoming dizzy
dysmorphobia dread of deformity

entomophobia irrational fear of insects
ergophobia fear of work
erotophobia morbid dislikes of sexual love
euphobia fear of good news

gaphyrophobia dread of crossing bridges
geniophobia fear of chins
genuphobia fear of knees
graphophobia fear of writing
gymnophobia fear of nakedness
gynecophobia fear of woman or women (females)

heliophobia dread of sunlight
helminthophobia fear of worms
herpatophobia fear of snakes
hydrophobia fear of water; rabies
hydrophobophobia dread of rabies
hypsophobia dread of heights

iatrophobia fear of doctors
iophobia dread of poisons

kinesophobia morbid fear of (rapid) movement

lalophobia fear of speaking (often associated with stuttering)
levophobia fear of objects on the left side of the body
linonophobia fear of string

maniaphobia dread of madness; morbid fear of insanity
mechanophobia morbid fear of machines

nebulaphobia fear of fog
necrophobia fear of dead bodies
neophobia dread of something new; fear of change


ochlophobia morbid fear of crowds
ochophobia fear of vehicles; dread of riding in a moving vehicle
odontophobia fear of (animals') teeth; fear of being bitten
odynophobia morbid dread of pain
osphreisiophobia fear of body odors

pedophobia fear of a child or of children
pentheraphobia fear of one's mother-in-law
pharmacophobia fear of drugs or medicine
phobophobia fear of fear
phonophobia dread of sounds (particularly loud or sudden sounds)
phronemophobia fear of thinking
potamophobia fear of rivers
prosophobia fear of progress
psycrophobia abnormal fear of cold
pyrophobia fear of fire

scopophobia fear of being looked at; dread of spies
siderodromophobia fear of railroad trains; (literally fear of iron road)
sophophobia fear of learning

tapinophobia fear of small objects
taphephobia dread of being buried alive
thaasophobia fear of boredom
thalassophobia fear of the sea
thanatophobia abnormal fear of death
thermophobia fear of (excessive) heat
topophobia fear of certain places
trichophobia irrational fear of hair
trisksidekaphobia irrational fear of number 13
tropophobia fear of moving or making changes

xenophobia fear of strangers or foreigners
zoophobia fear of animals

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

Fear Not, For above is below, and below is above.

clinophobia fear of going to bed

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Wow, she would be a great character in a short story! I see her point though. I was just watching a bunch of old "Cosmos" clips by Carl Sagan last night, and pondering the immensity of the universe can be rather daunting. In one clip he was going over The Drake Equation, calculating the possibility of intelligent life in the universe, and for a moment even though we live on a planet with all these people, I felt so alone.

As for the OP's fear of the sky, I can see that becoming a possibility with some people. I think just about anything one fears can escalate into a phobia, given the rig circumstances in a person.

I think with fears, one needs to make a conscious effort to suppress them on a daily basis, once they gain a foothold on your psyche, then they become more powerful and difficult to slay.

Originally posted by Praxilla
Wow, she would be a great character in a short story! I see her point though.

Yeah, she was something else, we were Yin & Yang. In my youthful exuberance, I almost married her, but we called it off a week before the wedding... Whew. Strange, I remember the night it happened, we were in bed, both woke up — we had the same dream.

The dream was that we were getting married on a stage in front of an auditorium full of people, and both of our parents came running down the aisle sobbing, and the entire chamber was sobbing, jeez, the whole wedding was a disaster, and we ran out the back door into broad daylight, jumped in a convertible and raced away from the scene.

We BOTH had that dream, simultaneously, and we woke up together.

Wow! I just dreamed that we were getting married, but we absconded instead!!

No shît! I had the same dream!!

Well... The marriage was OFF. Fearsome forces didn't approve of our union, (fearsome forces being her mother) and the psychic repercussions echoed down the corridors of Time.

Apparently.

— Doc Velocity

Originally posted by Maybe...maybe not

For the fun of it, here’s the rest of the phobia list.....there’s some really ”unusual” stuff in here!

alektorophobia fear of chickens
anthropophobia fear of human beings
ergophobia fear of work
erotophobia morbid dislikes of sexual love
geniophobia fear of chins
genuphobia fear of knees
linonophobia fear of string

phobophobia fear of fear

sophophobia fear of learning

gymnophobia fear of nakedness
gynecophobia fear of woman or women (females)

Maybe...maybe not

Massive props to you, this gave me something to chuckle at while having breakfast this morning. Fear of Fear?? Fear of Naked Women... never mind I mis-read that part.