I have this recurring fear whenever I ride in elevators that the elevator will start to move when I’m on the way out, and the elevator will just move and cut me in half. Or the doors might suddenly close and I’ll get caught in them, and then the elevator will proceed to move and then cut me in half.
Honestly, I feel that the few seconds that it takes for a person to walk in or out of an elevator are probably really dangerous for that reason. I’ve seen too many movies like Resident Evil where such a death occurs… and it freaks me out.
Jump in or run out, but whatever you do… don’t dawdle!
I don’t know why, but I think it’s that little gap between the floor and the elevator that you have to cross over; that little gap that leads into nothingness, like a glimpse of the abyss that is just waiting to consume you the moment you cross its threshold.
So I rush in and out of elevators. If there are people crowding the doors, I’ll just hang back a bit till I have enough space to hop in/out.
I also just read that someone in New York died in exactly this manner just recently… which means that my irrational movie-induced fear is not that irrational after all!
Drew's Soapbox 
Sliding doors freak me out too. Especially the glass ones at grocery stores. I know those bastards purposely won’t open when I step in front of them or close as I come close. I know personally a few stores that need to clean their glass at approx 6 or so feet high to get my nose print off the glass.
The worst is the spinning carrousel doors….I never go through those. It resembles a spinning blade that will just chop me to bits if I go in.
hahaha … funny!!! I’m always afraid those spinning carousel doors will revolve too fast while I’m in there, and I’ll emerge in a dystopian futuristic society run by monkeys.
OMG that’s the most random fear hahahahaha!
Oh yeah! Luckily there aren’t many of those in Singapore. I wonder if there are any injuries or deaths associated with those…
I have the same fear of gaps as you, Drew, but mine is the gap between the station platform and the subway car. (I like how in Hong Kong they have a little sign on the platform floor that says ‘mind the gap’). I’m also afraid that the doors will close while I’m halfway through, and I’ll either be cut in half, or stuck in the doors as the subway car takes off down the tube, and we all know how painful that can be.
I don’t fear getting cut in half by those doors (I’ve done an Indiana Jones stunt a couple of times with them), but I am always paranoid that I’ll drop my phone into the gap! If you look at my knuckles, you’ll see that they’re white from gripping my phone so tightly!
Dude, your fear of the gap is equally rational! Check out this news report! http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_809642.html
hehe … that’s what she gets for not minding the gap!
The only thing about elevators that creeps me out is when there’s only me and a man on it. As a woman, I just know (or have been told by the same people who tell you not to get into a car with strangers) that he’s gonna violate me or kill me, or probably violate me and then kill me. I think if I had to choose, the cut-in-half would be better…and probably a lot quicker…Great, now I’ll be thinking about TWO bad things that might happen to me when I contemplate getting on an elevator. On the other hand, the stairs are a great exerciser…as long as there’s not some creepy guy with a knife on them…
Yeah that is a legit fear… that’s when some knowledge of self-defense or a berserker rage would come in really handy:
hahah this is funny! I can relate thought because when I see certain scary movies, I then become fearful of something similar happening in real life. Also please check out and follow my blog at dailyadvice101.wordpress.com! Thank you very much
I too have this phobia – it’s real! The local tabloid rags had a field day with a genuine incident about 30 years ago and it’s imprinted on my pre-pubescent mind forever!!!
Yeah that’s freaky, right? Just when you think you’re being irrationally fearful, you find out that you have every reason to be.
Oh my! glad to know I’m not alone on this one! I have that fear too…and I’d rather be stuck in the elevator than be smashed by the sliding doors. Haha.
I share the same abnormal horror. Haha.