10 Unusual Phobias You Didn't Know Existed

Some phobias are fairly common and are quite well known, such as arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) or claustrophobia (the fear of enclosed spaces).

There are, however, many other more weird and bizarre phobias out there that are not that well known and which only a small number of people suffer with.

Here are ten of the more peculiar phobias out there:

1. Pognophobia

Pognophobia is the rather peculiar fear of beards. Yes, it's true that some people suffer with an irrational fear of beards.

As you can imagine, men who suffer with this phobia tend to shave every day. They also tend to stay well away from people like the guys from ZZ Top, Jesus and Santa.

Alternatively, pognology is the academic study of beards.

2. Consecotaleophobia

Consecotaleophobia is the unusual fear of chopsticks.

As you can probably appreciate, eating out at Chinese and Japanese restaurants can be difficult for consecotalephobes, who would probably be better off taking their own spoon and hiding in the corner... or staying at home... or maybe not going to a Chinese/Japanese restaurant!

3. Pentheraphobia

Extremely common amongst married men, although they try hard to disguise it, pentheraphobia is the fear of your mother-in-law.

It takes no genius to work out that this irrational fear is much more common in men than it is in women. In fact, it's quite difficult to find a married man who doesn't suffer with pentheraphobia!

4. Lachanophobia

Lachanophobia is the irrational fear of vegetables. Lachanophobia shouldn't be confused with those who simply do not like or who refuse to eat vegetables. They are not lachanophobes. Real lanachophobes have a very real persistent fear of vegetables.

Lachanophobes always tend to avoid the fruit and veg section whenever they go shopping, although standing at the counter next to other customer's vegetables can be quite frightening.

5. Nomophobia

Becoming more common in recent times for obvious reasons, nomophobia is the irrational fear of not having a signal on your mobile phone.

According to some sources, as many as 50% of the people in the UK were found to suffer with this phobia. So, next time you see someone breaking down in the street, phone in hand, and curling up frozen with fear in the corner of a shop doorway, remember to offer to let them use your phone.

6. Aibohphobia

Aibohphobia was coined by computer geeks in the 1980's and is the phobia of palindromes. A palindrome is, of course, a word that is spelled the same backwards as it is forwards.

Whereas words like pop and did are fine examples, another word is racecar and of course, the word aidbophobia is a palindrome itself.

7. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

Rather ironically, Hhippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the irrational fear of long words. Of course, because this phobia's name is so long, just learning that you have it can be a traumatic experience.

People who suffer with this phobia tend to stay away from places like Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch which, of course, is a well known place in North Wales in the UK.

8. Oikophobia

Oikophobia is the fear of ordinary everyday household appliances. This could be irons, washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves, television sets and telephones.

Obviously, oikophobes tend to get very little washing done, they prefer to order food, although they don't speak on the phone and many of them have homes which are pretty much empty... or they live outside where they know they are safe.

9. Heliophobia

Heliophobia is the irrational fear of the sun, or sunlight. Heliphobia is actually probably a little more common that you would expect, although it does seem to be a lot more common amongst vampires and zombies.

On a more serious note, those who suffer with heliophobia can end up suffering with vitamin D deficiency due to a lack of sunlight.

10. Chrometophobia

Chrometophobia is the irrational fear of money and, of course, we all know that money is the root of all evil and therefore it makes sense that some people would suffer with this phobia.

Chrometophobes are popular amongst employers because the employers know that the chrometophobes would rather not get paid anyway.

Chrometophobes tend to stay away from banks, building societies, supermarkets and even local stores where there is likely to be a lot of money and they never do the lottery!