Spooktacular Fear's: Students' Phobias

Story By Izabel Lopez

To get into the Halloween spirit we’ve decided to interview some students about their biggest fears and phobias. 

Halloween creeps closer, bringing a season of spine-tingling thrills and ghostly chills. But amidst the costumes and candy, many students at Wellington are haunted by their unique fears. From the classic fright of spiders to the less common phobia of horses, we’ve gathered the craziest and spookiest phobias lurking in our hallways. Join us as we dive into the eerie world of student fears, uncovering the things that send shivers down their spines—just in time for Halloween! You might discover that you’re not alone in your fright!

Our first student with a unique phobia is Blake Zykan. His fear is known as equinophobia, the fear of horses. Blake’s phobia started in the mountains of Colorado. Blake was on a family trip and they decided it would be fun to go on a family horse ride together. As Blake explained it most horses stay on all fours but this one wasn’t normal. This horse unusually had no tail and started standing only on its hind legs. Blake was scared for his life, he thought he would be bucked right off the mountain. Since this incident in Colorado, Blake’s never been able to look at horses the same.

When you think of a scary animal you may think of a giant ferocious bear or a hairy spider with millions of eyes, or even a slimy green snake. This student’s biggest fear is none of these animals but instead….ants. Our next student is Josh Bradshaw and his biggest fear is the small insect known as an ant. This fear of Josh’s started when he first watched Indiana Jones. There was a certain scene that he explained as “giant ants carrying people away.” This is not the only reason for his phobia though as he has experienced the wrath of ants himself. Josh was once attacked by fire ants. “I was pulling fire ants off of me for two days, it seemed like there were millions of them,” Josh stated. 

The next horror story is about a tiny creature that many fear. The person who definitely fears it now is Brody Best after his incident. This story starts with Brody reaching for a towel to wipe his face off after a relaxing bath. The next part of this story is not so relaxing though, as he was about to wipe his face, a hairy brown creature came face to face with him. That creature was a spider and is the reason Brody now fears them.  Brody stated, “I gasped when I saw the spider but quickly jumped back and killed it.”

As we wrap up our dive into student phobias this Halloween, it’s clear that fears can take many forms, from the everyday to the more unusual. Do you have any unusual fears or phobias, or did any of our students' spooky fears resonate with you?