Buoys Scare Me.
3
May
I have a weird phobia. I am scared of buoys. Yes, those floating things in the water that help boaters avoid running aground. I fear them so much, that I am certain I would drown before swimming over to one.
There is a buoy that is particularly creepy. And it’s in the Great South Bay off Long Island NY. The name of this buoy is “Crazy Charlie” because it moans, squeeks, and has a creepy bell on it. So one summer day I was out on a boat with friends. I was below deck making something for us to eat. As I was coming up the ladder, my friend Glenn shouted for me to look port-side. I looked over and no more than 2 feet away was Crazy Charlie. I freaked, slipped, fell backwards, hit my head, slid down the ladder and everything went flying. They thought it was funny. I let them clean up the mess.
I have the same creepy feeling when I am waterskiing. When I am waiting to be pulled up by the boat, and I can’t see the skis that are below the water, and my head is above but body is below, I get a creepy feeling. I like water skiing. I like scuba diving. I like boating. And I love being in the ocean when the water is clear. I don’t like lakes, and hate buoys.
I will tell you a really sad story about buoys. I heard it one day when I told some friends about my buoyphobia. A friend and some fellow frat pledges were all taken out with their girlfriends and the rest of the fraternity on a boat. They were pledges and hazing was a common occurance at this college. So these boys were told to get off the boat, and get on to a buoy. They jumped from the boat to this buoy, and the boat rode off, taking their girlfriends, and leaving them in the night to hang on until they were picked up the next day. Well one of the boys didn’t know how to swim, and couldn’t hold on all night. And he fell into the water and died.
My friends issue is much freakier and I am sure his memories will last a lifetime. My fear is much more the fear of the squeeking, rusty, giant, ominous, bell-ringing, eery, creepy, bobbing-alone-in-the-dark murkiness of the water, held there by an rope and attached to a block of concrete which fixes it to the bottom of the unseen blackness.
Oh my God! I thought I was the only person afflicted by this particular ridiculous phobia. I get nothing but laughter and derision from my friends if I tell them. The funny thing is, I loooove the water- swimming, snorkling, boating- I just can’t stand buoys. Just reading your post about bouys ( and the worst part, the teather!) AAAAAHHHH!! My skin is crawling.
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omg I thought I was the only one!!!!!!!!!!!!! buoys scare the snot outta me! omg i”m not alone :]]
After telling my friends of my fear of buoys (who laughed at me) I decided to google it to see whether or not I was alone. Didn’t get many results other than this blog entry
But at least I know I’m not completely alone. They are so ominous and scary. The thought of them makes my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It makes you feel so stupid to be scared of an inanimate object but I can’t help it.
Thankfully I don’t swim in the sea and don’t go out on boats so hopefully I’ll never get too close to one.
I am scared to death of buoys… I thought I was the only one!
Not only do the actual buoys scare me, but also things that float in the water. I can’t swim up next to a floating log to save my life. I’m also scared of swimming up to an innertube that is floating in the water… so my friends have always teased me.
I’m even scared of the floating buoy line in swimming pools… you know- the blue and white ball-things? Yeah… I can’t swim up and touch that either. I have no idea why.
I’ve had a few boyfriends in the past who thought it would be funny to force me up next to buoys and floating barrels, etc. I thought I would have a heart attack! No one should ever force someone to do something that they are that scared of. I am the same as you… I think I might drown before I would willingly swim up to one!
I have to admit me too, i think they are horrible. i hate buoys, it is my all time fear… we are not alone LOL
I understand completely. I have always been freaked out by them. They are so scary! I hate that I can’t see the bottom. I have no other phobias, but the buoys are just scary. It makes you think what else you can’t see under water. ahh.
I could not believe it when I came across this site…there are indeed more of us out there! I don’t know what it is…maybe just seeing them bobbing there, slimy and dark…some things are just not to be touched. Ew. I don’t like clowns either, but that’s another story. Thanks for the post!
hi my name is brette
i am a frshmen girl in highschool and for some stupid reason i am petrified of buoys
i cant explain it, its just steel fastened together to make a floatie but i just feel like they are so coniving, i even wore a helmet all day yesterday incase one jumped outta no where and pounced on me
i always thot i was alone in this phobia i had but now i feel at home,maybe now i can focus on a new sensless phobia like computer printers or bicycle tire spokes
thanks for the support!!
I have the same phobia whether it be the navigational buoys in the channels warning boats of where to go or not to go. To the markers telling of people where not to swim. This phobia is not a freaking out when I see one just of an anxiety that grows with getting near one. I also don’t like those naval mines that blow up ships especially the hedgehog mine.
Buoys just freak me out! I’m not sure if its the rope that holds it into place or the corrosion around the buoy…what I am sure of is that you will not catch me swimming close to one any time soon!
i hate buoys so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! but the part that really freaks me out is that rusty old chain holding it in its place. i cant stand them!!!!!
i hate buoys so much!!! and my friends all laugh at me too when i tell them about this wierd phobia. but the part that freaks me out the most is that creepy rusty chain. aaauuuugggg
I feel completely at home on this page. I grew up in a fishing village in Halifax Nova Scotia. A bad place to have a fear of buoys, because there are atleast 50 of them ( of the small pink or orange ones) everywhere and everybeach you go to. I hate them. I want to cry even when I remotely think about the creepiness of the inflated rubber ball bobbing.
“THats all they are, there’s no reason to be afriad” is the response I get from most people… there is a reason to be afraid. Im not sure what that reason is, but buoys just give me a reason. Its not irrational. You dont know whats on the chain or rope… I have the bottom of them THe balck black bottom from all the scum. I cant stand water trampolines either. if you think about it, they are the same thing….
Yea.. im going to go cry now.
Ahh! I am scared of buoys as well. Like most everyone above others think it is odd, as do I. The white plastic ones are def better than the huge white rusty bottomed ones that are out in deeper lakes. It may be the rust thing for me with the combination of not knowing whats on the bottom. But I also am not a fan of big rusty trains or electric poles that are wooden with all those rusty nails and staples sticking out. I picture myself on the Maury Povich odd phobia show with someone chasing e with a buoy…ha.
List of phobia’s
hey…
i can’t believe it. I was always thinking that i was the only one with this phobia….
please, search Buoys Scare Me on facebook… let’s try to know how many we are!
When I was young I swam for the first time in the ocean. I closed my eyes doing breast stroke as far as I could, feeling liberated and free. When I opened my eyes I could see a buoy bobbing right next to me. All I could feel was the gut-wrenching terror. The huge, rusty.. ahh! Does it move? What if I get stuck under it? Now I’m older its even worse knowing that they’re anchored to the bottom of the ocean.
If I can’t see the bottom of the buoy, I can’t see what else is under the water. but if i look, i might be terrified. If somethings is there, maybe its better i don’t see it. The buoy is a symbol of mystery, helplessness, and fear. After all these years I’m going to face my fear and climb on top of one from a boat. I think its the first step towards being in the water with one. You couldn’t pay me enough to swim anywhere near one. Ugh.
OMG im soooo glad im not the only one!!!
They freak me out. I went sailing in a little 2 person boat about a year ago and the rudder got caught on one. I literally couldnt move, i just curled um in the fetal position and cried…FAIL.
xxxx
OMG I thought I was the only one. I am terrified of bouys!
I knew I couldn’t be the only one! ( I know, everyone else has pretty much summed that up) Ughh, they’re just so creepy! And not just buoys, either. ANYTHING in the water that I can’t completly see freaks me out ( rocks, seaweed, rope, ect.) Just something about them is…
Unnatural…
Anyway, thanks for posting this (even though it’s so old)
Wow…I also thought I was the only one scared of buoys. Good thing I came to the idea of actually googling it
Anyway, the things that creep me out are the aforementioned rusty slimy chain that goes somewhere under water where I can’t see, the way it keeps floating around (covered in slime and who knows what else) etc.
I’m also somewhat scared of oil rigs, wouldn’t want to swim near those either, but in the case of buoys it’s much much worse. That’s probably why I don’t like swimming in the sea – the mere thought of being in the same waterbody as the buoy… And submarines rising to the surface. I suppose it’s the whole concept of things under water and floating in the water. However, I don’t have a fear of being under water and I really enjoy that.
When I was younger I actually had nightmares of being on a stormy sea, clutching on to a buoy. There’s really n o t h i n g that compares to that.
I too have a severe anxiety (not sure if it could be called a full blown phobia) of buoys and anything large in the water. That said, I’m certain I would freak out if anywhere near one in the sea! As said it’s their sheer size, the rust and the big metal chains tethering them. I also freak at ship’s Plimsol Lines. Arrrrh.
Plus I freak at canals’ lock gates, when the water is low on the ‘lifting’ side of the lock gate. I hate the towering wooden structure above me with all the green algae, rotted wood, etc. Arrrrh.
Plus I find the pumps’ outlet ports in swimming pools bloody freaky; especially when you see them on the bottom of the pool, all distorted by the refractive quality of water. I’m getting the willies just thinking about all this…… Arrrrh.
….Plus, as mentioned, war mines too! Esp., as mentioned again, the ‘hedgehog’ ones with the firing pins dotted over them. Arrrrh
LOL
Re. buoys: it’s the way that big rusty chain just gradually becomes ‘lost’ as the water gets more opaque!!! FREEEEEAKY!
I’m not into it.
I’m afraid of buoys too! I love the water though and love kayaking. I always associated it with a fear of deep water. As long as I can perceive the bottom I feel comfortable. Something about buoys (especially the rusty tether disappearing into the depths) though makes the water seem bottomless. I’m fine being near them in a boat, but you wouldn’t catch me in the water next to one. Even the really small ones used on lakes and rivers to designate a no-wake zone freak me out. When I paddle by I keep my distance. Its not as scary if I can’t see the tether.
I am SO glad other people have the same fear! they are too creepy! and you cant see what’s beneath them, as well as the gross sea weedy roughened rope, or the rusty horrid chain! my sister pushed me up against one once, whilst i was asleep on a lido, and when i opened my eyes i swam back to the shore within about 2 seconds i swear! they actually make me tremble
i hate the way they just bobble about, like disembodied heads! URGH. its not even like they’re clean either! i guess its just the way you cant see what’s attaching them to the bottom 
Thank you for making this page! i don’t feel so alone any more ^^
my friend showed this article to me, and i finally realized that i am not the only one with this ridiculous fear.i cant explain what it is that makes them so scary especially since they are harmless but something about how you cant see where the chain ends… i’ve always had a fear of anything in water where i cant see the bottom. i want to get over this fear but having to get on a buoy or close to one is unimaginable.
OMG me too i have a horrible fear of them and people just laugh and say im crazy well im glad that there are others
im exactly the same as you Ali!
i was scuba diving and went quite far out and i looked up and right in front of me was the thick rusty chain of the buoy holding it down. i had a panick attack and almost drowned but luckily my dad saw me and helped me up into the boat.
i never thought of them as being scary before but that one time when i saw it in front of me i freaked and since them ive hated them.
i think its the fact i cant see where the chain finishes its just blackness or just the fact you cant see underneath it, its just floating there….
im exactly the same as you Ali!
i was scuba diving and went quite far out and i looked up and right in front of me was the thick rusty chain of the buoy holding it down. i had a panick attack and almost drowned but luckily my dad saw me and helped me up into the boat.
i never thought of them as being scary before but that one time when i saw it in front of me i freaked and since them ive hated them.
i think its the fact i cant see where the chain finishes its just blackness or just the fact you cant see underneath it, its just floating there….
even seeing pictures of buoys freaks me out when i clicked on this blog and the picture came up my heart skipped 1000 beats.
Wow I actually thought I was alone until I Googled it! I have the exact same fear as al. Markers buoys boat lane lines etc I cry if I’m in the water and a feel like I’m drifting near them and I can’t go past them. Also those naval mines too its irrational I know but I feel like if I can’t see the bottom that they’re there, beyond the markers. I hate my random irrational phobia.
I’m an accomplished scuba diver and triathlete – no fear with regard to water. But buoys are creepy. Some odd psychological gap perhaps – the rational mind calculating depth in murky water. It doesn’t apply in clear water. Jaws has something to do with it. Seaweed beds freak me out but that is a Creature from the Black Lagoon thing.
Somewhat related. Summer camp as a boy. A lake in the Midwest. There was a tradition that we were to jump in the cold water early in the morning to waken us for inspection. A few days before a waterskiier had crashed, died and not washed up. They made us jump in and made it clear that the body might be nearby. He washed up in the area a few days later. We were all haunted by that.
its kinda depressing to know that other people share the same phobia as me… thought i was just messed up or special! -_- lol but i agree 100% with the description!! thats exactly how i explain my phobia to people and everyone just kinda gives you the WTF? expression. im sure everyone commenting can probably relate to that in some way or another :L but one things for sure, id rather die than touch one of those things whilst alive.
I come from a fishing family so I know all the reasons why buoys are put there etc. but I am just so afraid of them! I don’t mind the unsubmerged part but I would never go near one just because I can’t stand the thought of the submerged part of the buoy and the chain going down! I’m the same with icebergs (obviously a completely different object), but whenever I see pictures of some of the iceberg above the water and most of it below, it just gives me shivers.
that god there are people like me! everyone thinks i am crazy but i cry my eyes out when i get near buoys! i feel so much better knowing i am not the only one
Wow!!!!! I also thought I was the only one! When I watched “Sleeping with the Enemy” and Julia Roberts escaped by hanging onto a buoy I thought No Way! I am so glad I am not alone. I wonder what it signifies?