That's Scary

Today as millions of people celebrate Halloween, get loads of candy, dress in costumes and indulge in other tricks and treats, a lot of attention is focused on being scared.

It got me to thinking, do people really want to be scared or are they scared of being scared? Many people live with fear, yet we love being scared. That’s why horror films do so well at the box office.

We like the thrill of the kill, the whack of the ax, the ting of the scream. In fact, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that scream.

When we are startled, we get a pounding sensation in our chests. When we are afraid, our body changes, our heart beats faster and our senses are heightened.

Emotions such as fear, anger, frustration, and anxiety cause the body to produce an automatic "flight or flight" response.

This involves nerve and chemical signals that fire instant messages from the amygdala, (a peanut-sized structure deep within the brain), to the heart, lungs, and other organs of the body.

Additional nerve groups, called the sympathetic system, originate within the brain stem's medulla region and use adrenaline-like chemicals to stimulate the heart and accelerate its rhythm.

Neighboring nerve fibers of the parasymphathetic system provide inhibitory signals to the heart and other organs to calm things down again, so we don't stay in a constant state of heightened alert.

The balance between these two systems provides the right mix of up and down responses that keeps us aware of pending danger or stress and calm after the stressful situation subsides.

Life is about living, not fearing. It’s about facing each fear courageously and releasing them from our body, mind and spirit.

What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done? Whatever it is, it probably started out as scary and once you did it, it no longer held any fear.

Following is a list of scary facts to make you cringe, get your heart pumping and your imagination active.

• Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher who died in 1832, left his entire estate to the London Hospital provided that his body be allowed to preside over its board meetings. His skeleton was clothed and fitted with a wax mask of his face. It was present at the meeting for 92 years.
• Every Halloween millions of bags of chocolate are devoured. Cacao, the main ingredient of chocolate is the most pest-ridden tree in the jungle.
• Hair and nails do not continue to grow after death. The skin recedes, making it appear to grow.
• Fishermen in Australia caught a five-and-a-half foot long cod and found a human head in its gut.
• In 1970, a group of people were arrested at Highgate cemetery for intent to harm a vampire, who is rumored to still be around today.
• In 1982, a Chicago women burst into flames for no apparent reason as she walked down the street.
• Mourners at the funeral of a young Belgian girl were shocked to hear screams from the coffin. She had woken from a coma and was nearly buried alive.
• In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
• 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.
• The Australian bird-eating Spider is over 6cm wide and 16cm long- almost the size of a human hand.
• People fear spiders more than they do death.
• One million Americans, about 3,000 each day, take up smoking each year. Most of them are children.
• Forty-one percent of English women have punched or kicked their partners, according to a study.
• The total combined weight of the worlds ant population is heavier than the weight of the human population.
• The average American consumes enough caffeine in one year to kill a horse.
• In 1221 the daughter of Genghis Khan ordered the killing of the entire population of the city of Nishapur (about 60,000) in one hour. The order came after her husband killing. (Moguls claim that 1.7 million were killed)
• Coca-Cola was originally green.
• The main library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
• The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep.
• It is possible to drown and not die. Technically the term, “drowning” refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused by that process.
• More than 2500 left handed people are killed every year from using right handed products.
• The average person will spend two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.
• The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
• The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
• Tokyo has 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting.
• Samhainophobia refers to an abnormal and persistent fear of Halloween.