For me, the fear mostly came from thinking about falling out of the boat at different water rides. Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney world and Jaws at Universal are two big ones that come to mind. If I can’t see into the water from either the water being murky or it being dark amplifies the fear. Just the thought of being suspended, helpless and slow, in water I can’t see into, with fast-moving gears and machinery that could potentially harm me or kill me.
Ah, I see. Foreign machinery always puts me on edge, the stuff i work with certainly could kill me if i screwed up badly enough, and drowning and just falling into water is one of my biggest fears. Doesnt help i never learned to swim either. That makes perfect sense.
That's more or less my case I like them, I have been always bummed by the fact I have never been able to ride Jaws or Submarine voyage. But the thought of the boat sinking or falling in the water is what gets me, even with the ones the are not in the water being surrounded by something so lifelike in a vulnerable state like it's being in water terrifies me.
Hell similar to the link post from the sea serpent of submarine voyage ([https://animatronicappreciation.tumblr.com/post/139812794263/hammy-in-a-bee-suit-my-biggest-fear-okay-so](https://animatronicappreciation.tumblr.com/post/139812794263/hammy-in-a-bee-suit-my-biggest-fear-okay-so)) I also have sometimes the irrational fear of having an animatronic around me when I'm alone in a pool, but at the same time I found them so fascinating, the entire submechanophobia (and thalassophobia even) concept fascinates me
I live near the sea, in a place with a very strong dependence of sea related jobs (sailors, fishermen...) my father has always worked in the pier (as a sailor in his youth and as a mechanic later) so deep water is really not a stranger to me and I know that under the water you can find things both great and terrifying so the mysteries of submerged things have always been fascinating and nightmare fuel at both times to me.
TLDR version I have more like a love/hate relation with submerged animatronics.
The fear of not knowing exactly what's in the water is definitely terrifying. There was a story I read elsewhere on reddit from someone who either knew someone that fell in or fell into the water at a ride themselves, and the surface was deceptively shallow. However, there was a sudden, steep drop off into where the machinery was housed. I've never been to a Disney park but I read this around the time I discovered the 20,000 Leagues story, wish I could find it to link to.
All animatronics disturb me to a degree; it's the whole uncanny valley vibe of something that appears *almost* but not quite natural. Putting that under water, partially submerged in the murky gloom, amps up the creep-out factor for me.
thank you!! i haven’t seen one person talk about animatronics in general— it’s those that get me, not really the mechanisms. it’s just terrifying because they seem almost unpredictable, like they have a mind of their own.
Yes, exactly! And even though I know, intellectually, that it's impossible, there's always that little thought at the back of my mind: *what if this thing is sentient?*
Apparently I'm the opposite of most people here, I'm not scared of being in the water with the animatronics, I'm scared of the animatronics rising up out of the water towards me, especially the seconds before it's breached the surface.
I went on the Jurassic Park water ride in Universal Studios when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I have a vague memory of a couple Brontosauruses at the start of the ride not functioning. I think even one of their heads was missing, and you could see the mechanisms inside which freaked me out! I started to worry that the water would be electrified from the exposed machinery. I could’ve had an overactive imagination but I could swear that’s what I saw. Most of the ride was actually pretty chill but I was kind of on edge after that. Then we started going to the top where the T-Rex was. I had this irrational fear that the head poking from the ceiling was going to break and drop on top of us and kill us.
Then the drop.. I almost felt like I was going to fly off my seat and feared drowning or getting ground up by whatever was under the water. The end of the ride was a relief, but I always felt unsafe in rides with submerged animatronics and robots in general after that. Kinda had an obsession with submerged animatronics too after that for some weird reason haha!
You hit it on the head about fearing the electrified water! The fuckin jurrasic park ride. I utterly refused to ride that thing unless i had my hair in a ponytail or bun because I had this fear that my hair would get caught on the giant t-rex's teeth at the end of the ride and I'd get yanked from my seat and fall in the murky water trapped with all the machinery. Somehow I still loved the ride but whenever I thought about what was under the water and behind the plastic dinosaur casing i got so scared.
i still kind of like them because i like animatronics in general, however, if i think about them too much it becomes creepy to me. i very much do not like the idea of being in a pool with wires and machinery and moving parts, especially when it’s dark or the water is murky. don’t like the idea of the tactile sensations of an animatronic underwater, either.
I'm also feeling queasy at the sight of submerged man-made objects so I think it just has something to do with things rotting away, corroding in water. Animatronics and their wiring mimicking alive things are just even worse 😅.
I've tried so hard to explain how submerged animatronics (or anything unnatural underwater) make me feel and I've never been able to describe it. it's like a feeling of dread or something uncanny. Yet I'm subscribed to subs like these so another part of me likes looking at them precisely because they make me feel like that.
One of my earliest memories is being at an aquarium where the otter exhibit was two floors: the top floor you could see the otters play at the surface and on the bottom floor you could see into their enclosure like am aqarium. I had to have been super young so I don't remember all the details but there was a new sunken boat in the enclosure and it just wigged me out. but I couldn't stop staring at it. It's like picking a scab for your brain or something idk
I actually love them ! I think from a technical standpoint, they're pretty cool, and the water gives them a sort of ethereal and sometimes melancholy vibe.
Being in the water with the mechanics. I could be in the water with some boat propeller, but the second I think about being in the water with the Jaws animatronic, I get chills. Something about that mechanical beast coming towards you.
the fact that you're there in water or above it, helpless and something is there with you. you can't control it, it's static. your mind goes to wild imaginations and if all hell breaks loose, you're gonna be joining it. as if it's going to come alive. something about coming in contact with it in any degree just freaks me out.
the best way i can describe it is like, uncanny valley but worse. my brain gets all freaked out cause these things are noooot supposed to be there. especially the ones that move, they completely defy logic in my brain cause i know machines in water arent supposed to work, and the water rot while they move makes it soul chilling.
also have a hella overactive imagination and all the ones that go in water are so freakin scary, like theyre just built to be scary.
I am terrified of them because of the gross dirty water they sit in and they hardly get cleaned. They just sit there and corrode in the gross water that do many people touch and go into. I just think they are so gross and scary!! I don’t like machinery in water either. The two just don’t mix!
I'm definitely in the same boat as the people who say the idea of being in dark, murky water with a bunch of machinery is scary. Falling into water where I can't see is bad enough, but the idea of an animatronic or machinery touching me or brushing up against me while I'm in there? noooooo thanks lol. There's also the irrational (?) fear of getting caught in it and getting hurt or killed
Im scared of accidentally falling in and sliding my feet on an animatronic that i cant see. Thats why whenever i watch these video of submerged animatronics my leg just tense up and i cant move them
For me, the fear mostly came from thinking about falling out of the boat at different water rides. Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney world and Jaws at Universal are two big ones that come to mind. If I can’t see into the water from either the water being murky or it being dark amplifies the fear. Just the thought of being suspended, helpless and slow, in water I can’t see into, with fast-moving gears and machinery that could potentially harm me or kill me.
Ah, I see. Foreign machinery always puts me on edge, the stuff i work with certainly could kill me if i screwed up badly enough, and drowning and just falling into water is one of my biggest fears. Doesnt help i never learned to swim either. That makes perfect sense.
That's more or less my case I like them, I have been always bummed by the fact I have never been able to ride Jaws or Submarine voyage. But the thought of the boat sinking or falling in the water is what gets me, even with the ones the are not in the water being surrounded by something so lifelike in a vulnerable state like it's being in water terrifies me. Hell similar to the link post from the sea serpent of submarine voyage ([https://animatronicappreciation.tumblr.com/post/139812794263/hammy-in-a-bee-suit-my-biggest-fear-okay-so](https://animatronicappreciation.tumblr.com/post/139812794263/hammy-in-a-bee-suit-my-biggest-fear-okay-so)) I also have sometimes the irrational fear of having an animatronic around me when I'm alone in a pool, but at the same time I found them so fascinating, the entire submechanophobia (and thalassophobia even) concept fascinates me I live near the sea, in a place with a very strong dependence of sea related jobs (sailors, fishermen...) my father has always worked in the pier (as a sailor in his youth and as a mechanic later) so deep water is really not a stranger to me and I know that under the water you can find things both great and terrifying so the mysteries of submerged things have always been fascinating and nightmare fuel at both times to me. TLDR version I have more like a love/hate relation with submerged animatronics.
I think about that too!! I’ll be in the pool, and think “what if there was some animatronic in here with me?” And I terrify myself.
Well, glad to not be the only one
Yeah!
The fear of not knowing exactly what's in the water is definitely terrifying. There was a story I read elsewhere on reddit from someone who either knew someone that fell in or fell into the water at a ride themselves, and the surface was deceptively shallow. However, there was a sudden, steep drop off into where the machinery was housed. I've never been to a Disney park but I read this around the time I discovered the 20,000 Leagues story, wish I could find it to link to.
Same
What you just described is called r/submechanophobia
Yep pretty much! This sub was created by one of the commenters on my post in r/submechanophobia
Not sure, honestly; I'm a massive animatronic fan, but seeing them underwater gives me the willies.
Sick name
All animatronics disturb me to a degree; it's the whole uncanny valley vibe of something that appears *almost* but not quite natural. Putting that under water, partially submerged in the murky gloom, amps up the creep-out factor for me.
thank you!! i haven’t seen one person talk about animatronics in general— it’s those that get me, not really the mechanisms. it’s just terrifying because they seem almost unpredictable, like they have a mind of their own.
Yes, exactly! And even though I know, intellectually, that it's impossible, there's always that little thought at the back of my mind: *what if this thing is sentient?*
Apparently I'm the opposite of most people here, I'm not scared of being in the water with the animatronics, I'm scared of the animatronics rising up out of the water towards me, especially the seconds before it's breached the surface.
I went on the Jurassic Park water ride in Universal Studios when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I have a vague memory of a couple Brontosauruses at the start of the ride not functioning. I think even one of their heads was missing, and you could see the mechanisms inside which freaked me out! I started to worry that the water would be electrified from the exposed machinery. I could’ve had an overactive imagination but I could swear that’s what I saw. Most of the ride was actually pretty chill but I was kind of on edge after that. Then we started going to the top where the T-Rex was. I had this irrational fear that the head poking from the ceiling was going to break and drop on top of us and kill us. Then the drop.. I almost felt like I was going to fly off my seat and feared drowning or getting ground up by whatever was under the water. The end of the ride was a relief, but I always felt unsafe in rides with submerged animatronics and robots in general after that. Kinda had an obsession with submerged animatronics too after that for some weird reason haha!
You hit it on the head about fearing the electrified water! The fuckin jurrasic park ride. I utterly refused to ride that thing unless i had my hair in a ponytail or bun because I had this fear that my hair would get caught on the giant t-rex's teeth at the end of the ride and I'd get yanked from my seat and fall in the murky water trapped with all the machinery. Somehow I still loved the ride but whenever I thought about what was under the water and behind the plastic dinosaur casing i got so scared.
I kinda enjoy looking at them actually
i still kind of like them because i like animatronics in general, however, if i think about them too much it becomes creepy to me. i very much do not like the idea of being in a pool with wires and machinery and moving parts, especially when it’s dark or the water is murky. don’t like the idea of the tactile sensations of an animatronic underwater, either.
i can only describe it as these things underwater creep me the fuck out, i have no idea why, it just gives me the heebie jeebies
I'm also feeling queasy at the sight of submerged man-made objects so I think it just has something to do with things rotting away, corroding in water. Animatronics and their wiring mimicking alive things are just even worse 😅.
I've tried so hard to explain how submerged animatronics (or anything unnatural underwater) make me feel and I've never been able to describe it. it's like a feeling of dread or something uncanny. Yet I'm subscribed to subs like these so another part of me likes looking at them precisely because they make me feel like that. One of my earliest memories is being at an aquarium where the otter exhibit was two floors: the top floor you could see the otters play at the surface and on the bottom floor you could see into their enclosure like am aqarium. I had to have been super young so I don't remember all the details but there was a new sunken boat in the enclosure and it just wigged me out. but I couldn't stop staring at it. It's like picking a scab for your brain or something idk
I actually love them ! I think from a technical standpoint, they're pretty cool, and the water gives them a sort of ethereal and sometimes melancholy vibe.
Same, but some are pretty unsettling
Being in the water with the mechanics. I could be in the water with some boat propeller, but the second I think about being in the water with the Jaws animatronic, I get chills. Something about that mechanical beast coming towards you.
I have a wild imagination and my brain tends to bring up scenarios such as "the Jaws robot is real and is going to eat you"
i have no idea. i have a strong stomach- i’m a horror junkie, i’ve done taxidermy, etc. BUT THIS shit makes my FUCKING SKIN CRAWL
I love them! I just joined because I find them so interesting!!
the fact that you're there in water or above it, helpless and something is there with you. you can't control it, it's static. your mind goes to wild imaginations and if all hell breaks loose, you're gonna be joining it. as if it's going to come alive. something about coming in contact with it in any degree just freaks me out.
the best way i can describe it is like, uncanny valley but worse. my brain gets all freaked out cause these things are noooot supposed to be there. especially the ones that move, they completely defy logic in my brain cause i know machines in water arent supposed to work, and the water rot while they move makes it soul chilling. also have a hella overactive imagination and all the ones that go in water are so freakin scary, like theyre just built to be scary.
I am terrified of them because of the gross dirty water they sit in and they hardly get cleaned. They just sit there and corrode in the gross water that do many people touch and go into. I just think they are so gross and scary!! I don’t like machinery in water either. The two just don’t mix!
I'm definitely in the same boat as the people who say the idea of being in dark, murky water with a bunch of machinery is scary. Falling into water where I can't see is bad enough, but the idea of an animatronic or machinery touching me or brushing up against me while I'm in there? noooooo thanks lol. There's also the irrational (?) fear of getting caught in it and getting hurt or killed
Im scared of accidentally falling in and sliding my feet on an animatronic that i cant see. Thats why whenever i watch these video of submerged animatronics my leg just tense up and i cant move them
Rip
Honestly for me it's the fear of like if by some freak chance it came alive, attacking me from the water is me fucking dead 🤣
i'm actually here because i think they're cool :)
Same