Halloween is a time of terrifying scares, and nothing sends a tingle down the spine like facing the biggest “irrational” fear.
“Phobias” can be as scary as a haunted house for some, although they are unlikely to interfere with the flow of daily life. Whether it’s heights or spiders, these extreme fears come in different formand levels of intensity.
However, there are some common phobias that keep more people up at night than others.
A recent survey, conducted by the online gaming site Casino.org, sought to find out what some of the biggest fears of Americans are and how they break down by state.
The survey found that Acrophobia, or the fear of heights, became the most prevalent fear across the US, with respondents in 21 states placing it at the top of their list. California is one of those states.
Social phobia reached No. 2 place while Arachnophobia, or the fear of spiders, is just behind, according to the survey.
Four phobias are tied for the fourth largest fear in the country including: Atychiphobia (the fear of failure), Thanatophobia (the fear of death), Trypanophobia (the fear of injections) and Ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes) .
Three other phobias tied for fifth place among the most popular phobias in the country: Agoraphobia (the fear of crowds), Glossophobia (the fear of public speaking) and Trypophobia (the fear of clusters of circles) .
Surprisingly, the well-known phobia Claustrophobia, which is the fear of closed spaces, appears to be at the top of the list for residents of one state, Mississippi.
A map of each state’s biggest fears can be found below.
According to Casino.org, 2,500 US residents were surveyed for the study about their biggest phobias. The average age of the respondents was 37.9 years. The representative sample consisted of 50.9% female respondents, 46.8% male, 1.7% non-binary, 0.4% transgender and 0.2% other, the website added.
