Life ain’t all sunshine and daisies. We all know this by now. But sometimes we come across a single thought that gets into our heads and slowly erodes any sense of positivity. Or maybe that’s just me.
Anyways, terrified Redditors came up with a list of things of horrifying rabbit holes they tumbled down that gave them new things to be scared of. You won’t find any ghost stories here or creepy urban legends, but you may find yourself succumbing to an overwhelming sense existential dread.
Sleep well!
Source at the end of the article. Comments edited for clarity.
Space.
That void hanging over us that’s so vast that while we’re staring at everything we’re seeing practically nothing?
Definitely Space.
ixtechau & Vondi
Getting older
I used to think it was called the golden years because it was so great. Now I think it’s called the golden years because everyone ends up peeing themselves.
michmichboo
Cockroaches. Let’s look at some facts:
-Roaches can fit into openings as thin as a dime.
-Roaches can sense changes in air pressure, and therefore are able to hide quickly when you enter your home, or a room.
-They can survive for a time without their head.
-Roaches can and will eat your skin cells and drink your sweat in your sleep.
-A microscopic crumb is enough to sustain a roach for a long time. They really don’t need that much food.
-Roaches reproduce quickly, and therefore adapt quickly enough that they become immune to most insecticides, passing on this trait to next gen roaches.
-For every roach you see there were ten you didn’t see.
Prankishbear
I saw a video the other day about how deep the ocean is. It’s over 10,000 meters deep. Possibly deeper than that. Who knows what kind of ocean life are in those depths.
ColaMySoda
That the professionals out there aren’t anymore with it than you are. Take a doctor for example. When I was little I thought, ‘Ok this person is a professional doctor I’m in safe hands.’ Now that I’m older and know a few doctors, lawyers, etc…I’m terrified.
These people are just as messed up as the rest of us. They could be going through a divorce, an audit, any number of issues.
My father in law is an investment advisor and there is no way I’d trust that guy with my money.
It’s a bit unsettling to know.
poopalupagus
Fighting and physical violence.
It’s so easy for a person to hit their head and be killed in a simple brawl.
It’s scary what one man can do to another.
Socialist7
Jellyfish.
It’s a potentially immortal, mindless, eating and killing machine. Even the tiny ones can be deadly, and if you look, they’re kind of hard to spot (the little ones – the big ones look are kind of pretty in a way that makes you want to crawl out of your skin and flee). Plus, they’re multiplying rapidly due to changes in water temperature.
MH24
The human body. It’s the equivalent of learning that a car you bought has more and more parts than you expected. It’s horrible because it just means you know more stuff can break down in unexpected and horrifying ways.
RIOTER66
I watched “Going Clear” in April and since then I fell down the “How is Scientology still a thing?!” rabbit hole. It’s a scary, scary thing, and David Miscavige is a terrifying guy. Like his picture alone gives me the heebie jeebies. Also his wife hasn’t been seen since 2007.
starshock990 & IndyAJD
The ocean, which makes up 70% of our planet.
We’ve explored more of Mars than we have our own seas.
Sharks are older than dinosaurs.
We look to the skies and wonder what ultra-intelligent beings may come down upon us, never wondering if they’re waiting to rise from the depths of the seas which we never bothered to look to.
JFMX1996
How filthy keyboards and smartphone screens really are.
Zhanteimi
The False Vacuum.
Long story short, it’s the possibility that what we know to be the lowest state of energy (the vacuum) is not the truly lowest energy state possible and that the moment a lower-energy vacuum bubble comes into existence anywhere in the universe, it would expand at the speed of light, destroying everything in its path instantaneously.
Our entire existence could be snuffed out, randomly, without warning. All that humanity has ever achieved, wiped out in an instant.
disembodied_voice (Source)
How the food we eat is made.
Squdub
The mental illness pandemic. We can’t treat it fast enough or effectively enough. People are suffering and dying. If only it was taken as seriously as other diseases that affect such a large number of people.
Hurray_for_Candy
The amount of abuse rampant in the American prison system. Prisoners are treated virtually as slaves, rarely given the appropriate opportunity to redeem or rehabilitate themselves, and are routinely physically abused by guards and other inmates.
Society doesn’t care about them, they are thrown away in many cases.
llcucf80
Scuba Diving.
It’s actually terrifying, all the different ways you can die, from just being underwater. You can even get “high” from being too deep for too long time, and that can make you laugh uncontrollably without even knowing why. When that happens, and you’re alone, you are almost certain to drown.
ThoughtShes18
Vladimir Putin.
He kills his political opposition: Hunting KGB Killers is a documentary about the poisoning of Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 at the behest of Putin. It is well worth the watch at about 1 hour. (Source)
He steals from his own country: Additionally, read Browder’s testimony to the senate Judiciary Committee. This takes less time but lays out clearly how Putin is stealing Russian money, hiding it in the west, and wanted Trump to win to repeal the Maginitsky Act that slapped sanctions on Putin and several of his buddies allowing us to freeze their ill-gotten gains in the west where they had invested them in…real estate…(Source)
Not to mention disrupting western democracies. Invading nearby countries. Stoking anti-LGBTQ sentiment.
kungfoojesus
A.I. and automation in the workplace.
The government is just not prepared, and most people don’t realize that we could be looking at a huge increase in unemployment in the next 5-10 years. Just imagine a large decrease in retail, fast-food, and transportation jobs. It’s an economic disaster waiting to happen.
TreeBaron
North Korea is beginning to scare me. That last ICBM they tested could definitely hit U.S. mainland if they have capability to guide re-entry. There is a lot of saber-rattling going on and a war always increases a president’s approval ratings, at least historically. Also somebody shooting their own people and even an uncle with an anti-aircraft weapon doesn’t seem like a man that is mentally stable.
gjbbb
A photoshop for sound.
There is a product by Adobe called Voco. It lets you edit Audio files and even insert words in the audio with the speaker’s EXACT voice even when the speaker never said those words.
It has the potential to call into question every thing you hear especially paired with all the fake news running around these days.
djokky (Source)
The super volcano under Yellowstone National park, which is due for an eruption and when it does, could take out North America. I think I’ll drive my V8, and have extra bacon, please.
whiskeyalpha7
The police, or more what the police have to deal with. My wife is two months away from going to the academy and reading stuff from officers and dispatchers about their worst police calls makes me terrified about what she’s going to have to deal with. And in turn, what I’m going to have to help her deal with.
jhimiolek
The moment of death.
Imagine reality unwinding itself around you, unspooling.
I can’t fathom it. I don’t want to fathom it.
And sometimes when I get a good glimpse into even a shade of what it’d be like, my day is almost ruined. Even worse, the idea of witnessing it in someone I care about. How could you move on after seeing something so monumental. The essence of a person, such a grand event in time, escaping from you. Like sand through your fingers.
The bitter, disgusting knowledge that no matter what you amounted to in your short time on this Earth, it’s all gone. Into nowhere.
airlockengage
Aneurisms are definitely scarier the more I think about them. A guy I know had one at work.
He was just standing at his work station when he put both hands in the air almost like he was celebrating, then he grabbed at nothing, clenched his fists and fell backwards totally rigid. Arms still out.
Scariest thing I’ve ever seen. The Dr’s gave him a 15% chance of recovery. He survived And came back to work after maybe a year.
He’s not the same…
JaHizzey
Totalitarianism: A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.
The more you read about it not only do you realize how awful it is, you also learn that it’s inevitable. A significant portion of the population is wired to embrace it from time to time. It’s virtually unstoppable. It will always be with us somewhere, some time.
MacChuck234