and it’s not a fear of open man-holes
or caves. Rather, it is the revulsion some
experience when they look at asymmetric
clusters of small holes, or dark spots on
anything from skin to wood or a plant.
If that doesn’t sound horrifying, try
Googling trypophobia. You’ll see real or
Photoshopped images of people with
clusters of pockmarks dotted on their
face or hands. Some are simply dark
holes, others might be eggs or larvae.
Severe trypophobes are also revolted
by much more innocuous things like the
bubbles in a Nestlé Aero.
The term trypophobia was only coined
in 2005 and the reasons for it are still
poorly understood. One theory is that
it might be a behaviour that evolved
to make us avoid people with skin
parasites. Another study at the University
of Essex published last year found that
the clustered patterns that tend to trigger
trypophobic reactions are also found on
some very dangerous animals, such as
the spots on a blue-ringed octopus.
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