The inability to visit a cemetery or graveyard is called coimetrophobia. Interestingly, the main character of the TV series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (Sarah Michelle Gellar) had a fear of cemeteries and refused to film any shows in a real one. In this article, you will also meet a few people who had a fear being buried alive.
Coimetrophobia
The inability to visit a cemetery or graveyard is called coimetrophobia. Interestingly, the main character of the TV series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (Sarah Michelle Gellar) had a fear of cemeteries and refused to film any shows in a real one.
Taphophobia
What do Harriet Martineu, Edmund Yates, Wilkie Collins, and Giacome Mayerbeer have in common? They were all afraid of being incorrectly pronounced dead and of being buried alive. It seems to be a common fear amongst the literary types. Perhaps they had too much of an active imagination.
Harriet Martineu: Martineu was a historical figure certainly left her mark on the world before she died. She was a writer, who eventually became the first female sociologist and the first female journalist in England. Throughout her life, she created quite a buzz by the different fields she explored. In journalism circles, she was considered controversial. She also dabbled in political economy, abolition, philosophy, and feminism. Martineu left her doctor $35 and with instructions to make sure she was truly deceased and asked that he cut her head off before she was to be buried.
Edmund Yates: Living during the 1800s, Edmund Yates was a British novelist and dramatist that also shared a fear of being buried alive. Before his death, Edmund Yates left behind money for any surgeon willing to cut his jugular vein before he was placed in his coffin.
Wilkie Collins: With a body of work that includes roughly 30 novels, 60 short stories, 14 plays, and more than 100 non-fiction works, Wilkie Collins was a wildly popular English novelist during the Victorian era.
Fearing that he would be unprepared when the moment came, Wilkie Collins tucked a letter in his pocket that asked anyone who found him ‘dead’ should contact the nearest physical to get a second opinion.
Ichthyophobia
Brad Pitt probably can’t stand through an entire showing of ‘Jaws’ because he is afraid of sharks, which is known as ichthyophobia, which is the fear of fish (including the fear of eating fish or the fear of dead fish). Galeophobia is a subtype of ichthyophobia that specifically focuses on one type of fish: sharks. Another phobia centered on sharks is selacophobia, where actress Christina Ricci has also been attached to this fear. Ricci also claims to have a fear of indoor houseplants (botanophobia), stating: “They are dirty. If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, then it just freaks me out.”
Ornithophobia
While Alfred Hitchcock was fearful of eggs, the fear of birds is called ornithophobia, which affects the infamous footballer David Beckham.
Ataxophobia
David Beckham is also known for taking perfectionism to a whole new level. He is said to suffer from ataxophobic ” a person who fears disorder. For example, his closet is filled with shirts organized by their color. He lines up sodas in neat order and dislikes an uneven number of items.