When we are children, many of us are afraid of some pretty ordinary things. Most of the people that I knew during childhood were afraid of the Boogeyman and the dentist. Others were afraid of some pretty unusual things, such as Big Foot and even E.T. My fear was probably the most unusual one. I was, and still am, afraid of toilets.
How I Became Afraid of Toilets During Childhood
When I was about four years old, my cousin told me that a scary clown lived in the toilet. He also told me that the clown lived in the hamper, but that wasn’t such a scary thought- the hamper lip always stayed closed and I didn’t have to sit on the hamper to pee. My cousin also told me that the clown lived in the pipes. The clown would only come out of the pipes at night to eat little girls when their mommies and daddies were sleeping.
As you can probably guess, I never got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet on my own. For years, I would hold it until the next morning or if it was a real emergency, I would wake my mother up so that she could accompany me while I used the toilet.
Eventually, I thought that I had grown out of my toilet phobia, the same way that other children grow out of the fear of Freddy Krueger. Unfortunately, when I became a pre-teenager, I found out that my fear of toilets was not gone.
How My Fear of Toilets Returned When I Was a Pre-Teen
The very first thing that we talked about during health class when I was in the sixth grade was how you can get pubic lice by using a public toilet. While I was no longer afraid of using the toilet at home, I was scared to death of just the idea of ever having to use a public toilet.
When I was in high school, never did I ever use one of the available school toilets. On the few occasions that I had no choice but to use a public restroom, such as when my family traveled, I made sure to use a toilet cover or line it with toilet paper before even attempting to hover over it. If someone was going to get pubic lice from a public restroom, it certainly wasn’t going to be me.
Unfortunately, my fear of having to use public restrooms meant more than just being afraid. My life was a whole lot different than if I had not been afraid of using public restrooms. I had irrational fear of leaving the house and not being able to use a toilet if I really needed to.
Although I am a bit more accepting and not afraid of using public restrooms, unless they’re very dirty, I am now finding myself afraid of something else toilet-related.
How My Fear of Toilets Recently Returned
The other night, I was watching a special on the world’s most dangerous animals. I expected to see grizzly bears, sharks and lions. It didn’t even surprise me that pit bulls were on the list. What did surprise me was that snakes can crawl up through your pipes and into your toilet. In this case, the snake was some type of Python. Once again, my childhood fear is back.
After watching this special, I did a little bit of research on how often people find snakes in their toilets. Although I only could find three cases in which families have found snakes (mainly pythons) in their toilets, there are other people who have found other types of animals in their toilets. For example, there was one case in which an iguana climbed into the toilet. In another case, a squirrel, who had also somehow managed to climb up through the pipes, ended up scratching a lady when she sat down on the toilet.
While it is very rare for animals and snakes to climb up through pipes and into toilets, it has and can happen. It makes me wonder if my cousin may have heard about something like this when he told me that clowns lived in the toilet when I was a child.
All I know is that I will be sure to look twice before sitting on any toilet, whether be it my own home toilet or a public restroom toilet! Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets does not seem all that far fetched anymore!
