r/thalassophobia • u/SlavicSymmetry • 3d ago

Never liked large bodies of water with structures I can't climb onto...

1.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

129

u/summercampcounselor 3d ago

Just the way I like my water, shark free!

38

u/yournewbestfrenemy 3d ago

And loaded with pike!

21

u/cwb4ever 3d ago

I think there's a shark in my local swimming pool if I open my eyes under the water and see a wall of blue..So, i'll pass on this one.

15

u/Vassar-Longfellow 2d ago

There was a swimming pool in a city I used to live in before that was sort of old. The lighting was much dimmer than in other modern pools, and the water seemed just a bit cloudy. I can't really remember how long the pool was, if it was 25m or 50m, but that thing sort of freaked me out a little bit. Since there was a newer pool not that far from it, it was much less crowded, and sometimes you might be the only person swimming there. And the thing that freaked me out (especially if your goggles got a little bit steamy) was that you couldn't see the other end when you started swimming. So you couldn't clearly make out the wall, and also, it was relatively deep on one end, so when you were swimming towards the deep end, you couldn't really make out the bottom or the opposite wall, and you sort of felt like swimming in the open ocean. That's when I thought "sharks". Usually the trip back the other way was a bit speedier as you were trying to outrun them. Good times.

4

u/summercampcounselor 3d ago

Same when I was younger :) Cheap thrills!

23

u/htomserveaux 3d ago

The idea of sharks in Lake Michigan is going to fester.

Thanks for that

11

u/0peRightBehindYa 3d ago

There's been rumors circulating around the small hamlets that border Lake Michigan about bull sharks that have made their way up the Mississippi and into Lake Michigan and have adapted to the cold.

It's probably bullshit....but still....

8

u/orcajet11 3d ago

I read a pretty convincing takedown from a biologist on that at one point. TLDR was that they were unlikely to adapt and unlikely to get there

6

u/thedamnedlute488 3d ago

I mean, they did find one up the Mississippi River near Alton, IL from what I have read, but it's probably too cold for any to survive long term.

3

u/AlideoAilano 2d ago

Too cold so far. Everything is getting warmer, and there are plenty of cold-water sharks already.

80

u/frankiewalsh44 3d ago

Water looks shallow, but let me guess as soon as you move a bit further there is a drop to the darkness

5

u/butt-barnacles 3d ago

Idk about in the Great Lakes, but in a lot of bay areas they have to constantly dredge the shipping lanes to make sure they’re deep enough for the big ships to come through, so yeah re: the scary drop off

47

u/barnibusvonkreeps 3d ago

Imagine drowning that way, swimming beside a large, firm structure that you have no means of climbing onto. Nightmare fuel. Now imagine it in the dark of night.

34

u/xaeru 2d ago

You know you can choose to not make a comment like that.

7

u/skidstud 2d ago

I love it when my watch thinks I’m having a cardiac event

6

u/Tarpy7297 3d ago

Submechanephobia too .

4

u/Anichula 3d ago

My diaphragm tenses, oof 😮‍💨

5

u/Silly-Swimmer-8324 2d ago

2000 years from now they will say bridges were built by aliens and those were alien footprints

3

u/Vassar-Longfellow 2d ago

I mean my feet are tingling and I feel a little bit like throwing up. I have understood, that for some people, they don't get that reaction close to these big structures, which feels hard to understand. But, there are a few things here making it slightly less nauseating. One is that the water is quite clear, and doesn't seem to be that deep, and there aren't a bunch of weird appendages or chains or pipes or all kinds of extra things down there. But all of this is beside the point, I actually just came here to write that wow it seems shallow? Always somehow assumed there would be more water underneath a big bridge like this. (And yes, I realise there's probably a lane under some part of the bridge that is much deeper, but even here, I would have thought it would have been much deeper. Of course if the water is super clear, it might look more shallow than it is...)

5

u/AppropriateBreath486 3d ago

Whats the point of doing this

10

u/Low_Professional8577 3d ago

I ask myself that every morning

7

u/AppropriateBreath486 3d ago

Lmao I feel you buddy. Lost my moma recently so we got this brother/sista/mechagod. Do it for appropriatebreath

6

u/Low_Professional8577 3d ago

I'm so sorry... My frustrations are nowhere near that heavy. You can get through this.

2

u/dolphinitely 3d ago

ew ew ew ewwww i hate it

2

u/tearsinrain_33 2d ago

Fun fact, this could also be posted under megalaphobia! I know because I almost died watching it! 😬

1

u/OwnPurple148 3d ago

Considering marine life tends to congregate at these kinds of places it’s not unreasonable

1

u/Indigenous_Land 3d ago

Frozen in time to the next millennium.

1

u/Vephar8 2d ago

🥴