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Spiders.
And ever since reading about the guy who got his head cut off by the elevator when it closed really fast I try to get on as quickly as possible, so the door doesn't get me.
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This seemed like a snopes candidate, but it is one of the few stories that get a "true". Apparently more than 1 person has been decapitated by an elevator, and more than 30 people die in elevator accidents each year in the US (As of 2003).
From the
Snopes Article:
"
We'd like to think beheadings happen only in campfire tales and low-budget thrillers, but they take place in real life too, as was the case in the death of Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh. On 16 August 2003, this 35-year-old surgical resident was decapitated in a freakish elevator accident at Christus St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The accident itself is hard now to imagine — the ill-fated physician was trapped between the doors of the cable-propelled elevator, then decapitated as the carriage ascended.
According to the Harris County Medical Examiner's office, Nikaidoh died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head and body. His corpse was retrieved from the bottom of the elevator shaft along with two pagers, a cell phone, and an electronic organizer police believed belonged to him. The upper portion of his head, which was severed just above the lower jaw, was found in the car of the elevator. His colleague, physician's assistant Karin Steinau, who was in the car at the time, witnessed the whole thing.
Ms. Steinau told police the elevator had been out of service for a few days prior to to the tragedy, but at the time of the accident the "Out of service" sign had been removed. She had rung for the elevator (with the intent of going to the sixth floor) and had already stepped into it and pushed the button for her floor when Nikaidoh tried to get into the car as the door was closing. As soon as she saw he was trapped by the doors, Steinau tried to hit the emergency stop button but was unable to do so before the rising elevator had partially decapitated Dr. Nikaidoh. The elevator continued upwards, finally stopping between the fourth and fifth floors. Steinau was trapped in the car along with Nikaidoh's cranial remains until she was rescued by firefighters. She was treated in the hospital's emergency room for shock. "
All derailing aside, the only irrational fear I can think of is the 'dropping things into the sewer grate' one. I give my keys a death-clutch when walking over/near those.