Social Anxiety Support Forum banner

fear of escalators

9K views 24 replies 18 participants last post by  elvn 
#1 ·
Anyone share this fear of escalators, particulary the ones that are going down? I always fear I'll fall. I don't like the fact that the ground moves when I try to step on it.... I end up finding the stairs and using them instead.
 
#2 ·
I don't really mind escalators...except in one train station there's a HUGE one & i'm afraid of heights so i use the stairs then. Although it has crossed my mind that i'm going to get caught in it....I'm way more frightened of elevators though, can't stand small spaces & the idea of getting stuck in one.
 
#3 ·
I don't even think twice about escalators. Although, when I think about it, I should have some sort of fear.

When I was around 5 or 6 a bunch of us went to the circus and coming home we were exiting the train station, and I forget how it happened, but like 4 of us ended up falling on the escalator in a pile of some sort. I don't remember it too much, I just remember crying and laying on the steps as it was moving. I think someone pressed the stop button eventually.
 
#6 ·
My mother used to be afraid of them. She always used to make us take the elevators in department stores. This was fine for her, but not for me since I was afraid of elevators.
 
#8 ·
hema said:
I'm leary of them, years ago when platform shoes were popular (the first time!!!) I almot fell down one, while going up, so I always think thrice about my foot positioning;-)
I hope the goldfish in your disco shoes survived. Maybe your bellbottoms cushined the impact???
 
#10 ·
I did see child fall down the bottom of the escalator one time. It stopped immediately. Whatever happens in the horror movies where you become "one with the escalator" simply doesn't happen. Where does that "special light" come from anyway? Although, I have more of a fear going up them than down - the height and knowing I can fall over sideways.
 
#12 ·
i fell up an escalator once. i rode it all the way to the top and tripped when i tried to get off. i ended up with scrapes from the grooves in the steps across my knees because my pants had such huge holes in them from all the normal sidewalk stumbles. im pretty good with escalators. i just hold on to the rail (without curling my fingers around it, cuz i think they'll get caught in the moving part eep), and i just ride the step im standing on to the end.

i do escalators much better than regular stairs, especially carpeted. i had a friend in middle school who lived in a 2 story house, and i wasnt used to stairs at all, so i ended up tumbling down them all the time. when i tried to go up the stairs to quickly, my feet would slip out behind me and id get rugburn on my chin. i never get hurt so its always funny when i fall.

:banana <-i still dont understand why sometimes this is a dancing banana, and sometimes its a static banana.
 
#13 ·
millenniumman75 said:
I did see child fall down the bottom of the escalator one time. It stopped immediately. Whatever happens in the horror movies where you become "one with the escalator" simply doesn't happen. Where does that "special light" come from anyway? Although, I have more of a fear going up them than down - the height and knowing I can fall over sideways.
I am sure they are safer now but within the past few years there used to be an ad in the paper every once in awhile looking for witnesses for a legal case. A little girl got mangled by an escalator at a local mall...I think she lost some fingers at the very least.
 
#14 ·
When I was at the Air and Space Museum in DC once, I saw a little girl wearing ballerina shoes get the tip of one caught between the stairs at the bottom and crushed her foot. You definately have to watch where your toes go when you ride on them.
 
#15 ·
lol I was only afriad of falling but I guess I got some other things to worry about now, losing my fingers, getting foot crushed etc haha.
 
#18 ·
:lol When I was about 8 , I was in Detroit airport and on one of the Huge escalators (going down) , and my shoe-lace got caught in the stairs, I was so scared thinking for some reason it was gonna eat my foot :lol , but when it got to the bottom , it just kinda let go ....
I'm not really scared of them, but I'm really cautious and a little nervouse on them .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"they'll never see, I'll never be , I struggle on and on to feed this hunger burning deep inside of me"
 
#19 ·
YES!!

Hi! Wow, this is so funny! I thought I was the only one, but yes I am absolutely afraid of the 'down' escalator! My family and friends know that with me, it's always the stairs...I'm uncomfortable with the 'up' ones, but I can do it. I get teriffied though of tall, 'down' escaltors, that my breathing shortens, my hands get cold and I really have to concentrate. I just hate how it keeps moving and my foot might get stuck between two and I might fall plus I get dizzy because of the height....Well, it's nice to know I'm not alone ;)
 
#21 ·
yeh ghost :lol , I espescially am afraid of those stairs if they are wooden and the wood is rotted partially , or starting to look old and brittle ( I actually fell down stairs like that cuz the stair was rotted and broke off :afr )


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"they'll never see, I'll never be , I struggle on and on to feed this hunger burning deep inside of me"
 
#22 ·
I'm afraid of those stairs, too! That's the kind they have at the mall here and I just HATE them. I picture my foot sliding into, my shoe falling off and down it, etc. I realized long ago that one of my problems is that I have such a VIVID imagination, that I not only worry about things other people don't think about, but I can also picture them happening so clearly and going thrugh every detail. Those stairs really set my imagination going, but mostly I just make it through anyway...but why can't they just cover those slats up? It's so dizzying! :afr
 
#25 ·
ooohohoh! My friend told me not that long ago that she's afraid of going down escalators! I don't share this fear but I can totally see how you would be afraid of it! I mean... You're up high and there're these steps that keep going down.. What if you step out at the wrong time and fall down etc? Sorry, if this makes you feel worse! :p
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top