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Are you scared of murky water with strange silhouettes of objects in it? Do underwater photos of propellers make you uneasy? Are you creeped out by barnacles and algae stuck to metal? Would you swim next to a giant ship or near a rusty ship-wreck? If the mention of any of the above gave you the creeps, you are very likely suffering from some form of submechanophobia.
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In other words, this is the fear of fully or partially submerged man-made objects in water, such as buoys, shipwrecks, the underwater part of a ship’s hull or even just a piece of old metal sitting at the bottom of the sea. While a number of fears associated with the sea and ships exist, such as the fear of drowning or the fear of dangerous animals lurking underneath the surface, most of these fears are rational and can be traced to understandable reasons. Submechanophobia however, is an irrational aversion and is often triggered by even the smallest, most harmless object in the water.
People suffering from submechanophobia report a remarkable variety of scenarios that cause them to break out in sweat, even when just thinking about them. These include swimming next to a big ship or even next to a boat, diving under a ship, seeing photos of the underside of a ship, seeing certain parts of the ship, getting sucked under by the ship’s propellers, old rusty shipwrecks partially sticking out of the water, etc. Some submechanophobia scenarios show impressive detail of the imagination – seeing a ship’s bow from the front as it emerges from a thick fog and hearing the ship’s horn, seeing the ship’s propellers underwater or partially out of water, imagining that the ship is out to get them, diving down to the propeller of a calm and quiet docked ship when, out of nowhere, the propeller starts to spin, a submarine emerging out of the water or diving under a person while they are out for a swim, distorted images of objects in gloomy and murky waters, swimming in the water and suddenly seeing that a giant ship is coming straight on.
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While the terrifying scenarios are endless, most people affected are particularly scared of the parts of the ship that lie below the waterline and also of the front part of the ship (the bow). Interestingly, for many, the ultimate submechanic horror object is the submarine. As in the case of many phobias, most people do not relate their phobia directly to any traumatic experience or memory from the past, and claim that it just came out of nowhere after years of sailing, jumping off boats and diving. It is curious to note that many of those dealing with submechonophobia are not afraid of the water itself, of swimming in the sea in general, nor do they fear marine life or being on the actual ship or boat.
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What exactly causes submechnophobia?
So, what is it exactly that causes this particular fear? Perhaps it is the fear of the unknown and the fact that you can’t really tell what is hiding under the water line. After all, it is only natural to wonder “What just touched my leg?” when you are swimming in waters with low visibility. Also, the movement of the waves often visually distorts objects, such as rope from a buoy, and makes it seem like they are alive and could harm us. Or perhaps it is the fact that we often tend to attribute animate characteristics to moving objects, such as ships and airplanes, as if they were truly alive and had their own will and character. This means that the fearful thought of “the ship is coming after me, it is coming to get me” could be triggered by the fact that a ship is a relatively large object moving through the water without noticing anyone in its way.
Why do man-made objects trigger submechanophobia?
But why does this phobia only concern man-made objects and not living creatures in the water? The only answer I can think of is that the human mind instinctively detects something wrong about an object that is out of place. When you see fish in the water, your brain is more accustomed to the fact that they belong there, whereas when you see a piece of metal on the ocean floor, your brain is caught unawares. It registers it as a potential hazard, which propels those fight-or-flight distress signals that bring out the familiar goosebumps and cold sweat.
Whatever the reason behind it, it is important to know that there is nothing wrong with you if you have this phobia, or any other phobia for that matter, and that there are hundreds of people who feel the same way.
Then again, there are also those of us, like me, who suffer from submechanophilia: the obsession with man-made objects submerged in water. If you are like me, keep scrolling for more photos!
The Shipyard
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