Sam Everard explores the weird, wonderful and frankly terrifying world of unusual phobias for the University of Southampton’s Wessex Scene:

I recently discovered that I have a crippling fear of leeches. 70km from civilisation was hardly the best place to discover this, however, leaving me almost exclusively restricted to the room in the lodge we were staying in for 3 days. I knew I didn’t like leeches before we went – who does? They suck blood, they’re worm-like and slimy, and notorious for getting in any openings they can find in clothing. I certainly wasn’t expecting to react to seeing one clamped to our guide’s hand on the first day of trekking by almost having a panic attack and checking the floor more often than a teenage girl checks Facebook.

I had no idea my fear was so bad until it was there staring me in the face, man versus oligochaete. Before any bright spark decides to point this out in the comments, I am aware that being petrified of what is essentially a clingy earthworm with an attitude problem is laughable. But when you stop to think about it, most other phobias are too. There’s no logical reason why I should be afraid of them, but there’s no logic behind a lot of phobias. So next time you vertigo sufferers are standing on the edge of a structurally-unsound skyscraper, take a break from shitting your collective pants and spare a thought for the people who suffer from [these six crazy phobias]…

Full story here.