Things that both fascinate and horrify you?

[Blunderboy]

Sharks (but not whale sharks. How dare you insult that gentle creature!) terrify me.
.

But I used it as an example of an awesome sea thing.

 

[Blunderboy]

The concept of eternity / immortality, deep space, and spiders.

Or even worse, an immortal spider that drifts through the coldness of deep space.

 

[Brian Tams]

Sharks (but not whale sharks. How dare you insult that gentle creature!) terrify me.
.

But I used it as an example of an awesome sea thing.

Sorry, I was confused by your "NOPE"; I thought it was directed at the Whale Shark, not the guy jumping into eternal nothing.

Which also frightens me, by the way.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I'm fascinated yet horrified at the idea of drinking anything that isn't transparent. Particularly if it's got a garish color, like cyan or pink.

So no strawberry milk for you? :[]

You mean like yoghurt? I can drink that. I was thinking more like a fuchsia-colored daikiri. Generally I can drink transparent, black and white though.

No, I meant strawberry milk. :x Milk with strawberry syrup mixed in.

 

[TehCookie]

Sicknesses, from parasites to viruses to flesh wounds. I find it fascinating some organism live like that and how the affect their host and bypass the defenses but at the same time it's terrifying since a lot of it has devastating if not fatal effects.

Or how rabies pretty much is a real life zombie virus. It causes the afflicted to become violent, it's spread most commonly by biting, to test for it you have to cut off the head of the infected. Or there's also the most simple how a huge gash or broken bone can heal.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Gore and real life horror stories and scary pics.

I don't go looking for them purposely, but I saw some horror Twitter page that got RT'd onto my timeline and I was like "ooooooh" I looked through all the pics. I won't do it before bed lest I scare myself silly.

I like to read up on serial killers in a way, a sort of morbid curiosity I find it interesting to see what happened to their victims.
Whenever those sort of TV shows are on about serial killers I usually watch them.

Fun fact, my boyfriend shares his name with a serial killer and there was a show on about the killer just as we were about to go on a midnight walk

 

[Someone Depressing]

Blooooooooooooooooooob fiiiish!

Spoiler: What the fuck is this myeyes

This is why there is no God.

 

[lacktheknack]

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/36/50/9d3650656135ec4ae38d5305589d677e.jpg

Eyes are weird. They're all icky yet so useful and pleasant to look at.

 

[Rariow]

"Breaking the mind" type stories, a la the end of Nineteen Eighty-Four. There's something about them that makes me want to read ever single one that's every happened, and it's quite possibly the most nightmarish scenario I can envision, to the point where I feel awful after every single one. Psychology in general is damn interesting, but the really twisted stuff that I'm not quite sure even exists just entrances me.

Fear. Pretty obvious why it horrifies me, but the stuff my mind comes up with when I'm truly afraid is pretty amazing. (Un?)luckily I've only been in that kind of situation once or twice in my life.

 

[Yopaz]

Tough one, but I think I have to go with cancer.

I am fascinated with cancer cells because the way they divide without the same ageing strain that normal cells have because of enzymes called telomerases. Which means that they can divide over and over. They're also amazing when it comes to transporting toxins out into the extra cellular matrix which means that they can be really hard to kill.

For the same reasons these things are fascinating they are also really, really frightening.

Sicknesses, from parasites to viruses to flesh wounds. I find it fascinating some organism live like that and how the affect their host and bypass the defenses but at the same time it's terrifying since a lot of it has devastating if not fatal effects.

Or how rabies pretty much is a real life zombie virus. It causes the afflicted to become violent, it's spread most commonly by biting, to test for it you have to cut off the head of the infected. Or there's also the most simple how a huge gash or broken bone can heal.

Oh this too. Rabies does in fact work in several ways. Some dogs become affectionate shortly after getting it which means they will lick their owners and other dogs while also increasing saliva production to increase the chance of infecting a new host. It also makes the host more easy and likely to move form place to place to increase the area.

There's also a hypothesis that the itching sensation you get from some STDs is actually there because someone with it would want to have sex in order to make the itching go away and infect new hosts.

As for parasites you should read up a little on the Red Queen hypothesis. It's really quite cool.

 

[Belophen]

black holes, the mere idea of something like this existing is baffling. a testament of the universe power that surpasses time and the power of the human mind to comprehend.
but at the same time they are the "physical" embodiment of death in our reality.

 

[Hunter Hyena]

Just how far people with drug addictions will go for their next high, despite the risks involved.

Like 'krokodil tears', a cheap Russian alternative for heroin, being the most recent one with the risk of ROTTING YOUR LIMBS OFF IF YOU MISS THE VEIN!

 

[TBman]

anything involving ants, wasps, bees or other stinging insects. While I think they're really cool I'm subconsciously worried that a whole colony of army ants will fall on my head when I least expect it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lkjxjDZiI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P7Q1ncgcoY

I swear these are the nazis of the insect world.

 

[Tiger King]

Just how far people with drug addictions will go for their next high, despite the risks involved.

Like 'krokodil tears', a cheap Russian alternative for heroin, being the most recent one with the risk of ROTTING YOUR LIMBS OFF IF YOU MISS THE VEIN!

I heard it rots your skin away within a certain time period of use, something like a year?

My guilty fascination is (and I dunno if this is the correct term) 'sleep paralysis'
A person with this disorder is said to wake up unable to move whilst hallucinating scary stuff walking around their room and standing over them.
I find it fascinating yet would hate to experience it myself.

I have pretty vivid dreams which are weird enough as it is without putting up with something like that!

 

[Hunter Hyena]

Just how far people with drug addictions will go for their next high, despite the risks involved.

Like 'krokodil tears', a cheap Russian alternative for heroin, being the most recent one with the risk of ROTTING YOUR LIMBS OFF IF YOU MISS THE VEIN!

I heard it rots your skin away within a certain time period of use, something like a year?

My guilty fascination is (and I dunno if this is the correct term) 'sleep paralysis'
A person with this disorder is said to wake up unable to move whilst hallucinating scary stuff walking around their room and standing over them.
I find it fascinating yet would hate to experience it myself.

I have pretty vivid dreams which are weird enough as it is without putting up with something like that!

I believe it can be within a year or two, and pretty much starts instantly if you miss the vein. I will have to double check on it

 

[Nadia Castle]

I love exploring abandoned buildings, but I'm absolutely petrified every time I finish exploring them. Whilst I'm in there it's all 'wow, imagine the history of this place, think what wonderful things must have happened'.

Then as soon as I'm out it's 'Boy, if a photo negative Micky Mouse with blood pouring out of its eyes were to ever appear and kill me it would probably have been just then....' or 'Wow, that pitch black drop to god knows where I nearly stood in could well have been filled with spiky industrial machinery couldn't it?'.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Throw another vote in for spiders.
Seriously, they're really cool. Until they enter my house. Then they die.

 

[Butterfly]

Spiders (original, innit). The stuff they can do is cool as all hell and they look quite badass. Make for awesome tattoos, too.
Oh wait, I got arachnophobia and I scream if I see one near me. *sigh*
Except for those tiny jumping ones, because they are so cuddwy and cwute *.*

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

We all have things that we could watch for hours filled with a sense of wonder, and things that make our skin crawl and our spine shiver.
But do any of you have anything that does both?

I will answer your thread with another thread.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.841198-Next-Gen-Sonic-Title-Coming-in-2015

Sonic the Hedgehog.

An icon of my childhood, something that I remember with great fondness (particularly the Sat AM cartoon), that just keeps going wronger and wronger every time I look at it. I keep wanting to like it, and it keeps being so very horrible. I can't look away, but I never like what I see.

 

[Ratty]

I'd have to agree with the OP that I find the ocean both alluring and horrifying. Life is so different under the waves, beautiful but frequently violent and brutal. And to human ears, basically a silent world.

Part of the fascination is probably from having my mind blown just a bit as a kid by the anime "Blue Submarine No. 6" which you should totally check out if you haven't seen it OP. Probably the fear comes from almost drowning several times.