Closed spaces. I freaked out in a closed MRI. That's the first time I realized I was claustrophobic. Since then, I can't stand to think about it. In the book "Angels and Demons" there's a scene where the hero gets trapped under an overturned sarcophagus. I knew he'd get out since the story was only half finished, but I had to skip over the whole chapter. I also couldn't get through a piece in a recent National Geographic about the deepest cave in the world - somewhere in Russia or Siberia - some of the pictures gave me the willies. I still haven't finished the article and probably never will.

My real irrational fear, one that I got over, sort of, is vines. I saw too many horror movies as a kid, and I know that you shouldn't turn your back of vines. They'll sneak up and grap you and possibly eat you. As a park ranger, I forced myself to get used to them, but I still don't like them. I saw a movie a few years ago with Christopher Lee playing a fortune teller who uses tarot cards to foretell miserable deaths to four different people. One of the stories concerned carnivorous vines taking over a guy's house and winning in the end. There was a small plant peeking up through the boards in the deck by my back door at the time. Within a few days it had taken over the whole deck. It really creeped me out.