Perhaps the strangest phobia in the world is the fear of ducks. This phobia, known as anatidaephobia, is essentially the fear a person has of there being a duck nearby that is watching them.
That is why such people hate ducks, especially if there's more than one around. The symptoms of this phobia are expressed in nausea, dizziness and panic attacks.
The fear of cats, called ailurophobia, usually affects women. It often has to do with a real incident that the person experienced at a very young, tender age.
People suffering from apiphobia - the fear of bees - are mostly those who know they are allergic to insect stings. They always carry with them a vial of antidote.
Cynophobia is the fear of dogs, expressed in the onset of real panic whenever a person sees a dog, no matter its size or breed. Often this occurs as the result of a dog bite in one's childhood.
Among the phobias are normal human fears but at a higher degree, which end up being a problem for the person. Examples are the fear of heights - acrophobia and the fear of storms and lightning, known as astrapophobia.
A person suffering from astrophobia would never agree to go camping because they have a debilitating fear of the night sky and stars. Persons with aquaphobia - the fear of water and heliophobia - fear of the sun - dare not even think about going to the beach.
Sufferers of nyctophobia, a torturous anticipation of insomnia, appear as real heroes as soon night falls. They need to deal with the fear that they won't be able to fall asleep.
Distantophobia is the fear of long distances - individuals suffering from it cannot leave their birth place. Acrybophobia is also up there with the strangest phobias - the fear of not understanding what you're reading at the moment.
Even stranger is phobophobia - the fear of phobias themselves. Perhaps the strangest sounding phobia is the name given to the fear of pronouncing long words - hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.
