Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for December 31, 2020

Eels, they’re like snakes that swim.

My mom tells me she saw The Creature From the Black Lagoon when she was six years old. Growing up in LA sure didn’t do much to convince her that the creature wasn’t going to get her.

if we’re going with cinematic zoological fears, I’ll go with Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

No way! Electric eels are cool!

shocking

I had fear of sharks… until I watched Jaws 3…D

♫When you swim in a creek

And an eel bites your cheek

That’s a moray…♫

I count myself lucky that all my paranoias are rational.

I read JAWS in high school as a freshman after being told about it. Checking out the book from the school library actually required a signed release note from a parent, no doubt due to the gore, sex and adult topic in the book.

Less than a year later I was blown away when they announced they were making a JAWS movie. Then I was a bit disappointed when they didn’t follow the book very well. For instance oceanographer Hooper died in the shark cage, but in the movie he survives. Also Hooper and officer Brody’s wife have a sexual fling mid-story but that was written out entirely.

Yeah, Phoebe. Electric eels are more current.

It’s been said that Janet Leigh never took showers again after making PSYCHO.

Phoebe, DO IT! It’s a bargain!

Something really scary here: Phoebe’s dad could have watched Jaws with HIS dad, who might have taken Grandma to see it during its original run.

Jaws came out after I got my diving certificate. Gray Lady Down was the first movie I saw after arriving on my submarine.

Electric eels have a greater shock value anyway.

I heard that there were people afraid to even get into a bathtub after seeing that movie. Eh. I saw it several years ago. My friend had the DVD. I didn’t even have any nightmares. And that blood explosion when they killed him. Soooooo cool! Ka-BLAMM!

Or Screaming Eels. Or even Rodents of Unusual Size…

During my early teen years, I read a book titled Man Is the Prey, 1969 by James Frederick Clarke, about all the different critters that have killed, and in some cases eaten, humans. Ye gods. If you’re looking for nightmare fuel….

And then, there are movies which are neither better nor worse than the book, just different, such that there’s no point in comparing them. “Frankenstein,” “Wizard of OZ,” to name a couple.

Kinda surprised a dad would little a single-digit daughter watch that movie.

I watched Jaws when I was a kid visiting my grandparents in Massachusetts. I’ll admit, I didn’t want to go into the ocean for the rest of that trip, not even wading out to my waist. But, we lived right by a lake in Minnesota and I wasn’t worried about swimming in there, so at least my irrational fears had enough common sense to know that a great white wasn’t going to be swimming in a fresh water lake over a thousand miles from the closest ocean.

…but kind of random.

Depending on where she lives, perhaps she could have a more realistic fear, like of a copperhead, cottonmouth, or water moccasin.

How about giant extinct Silurian sea scorpions? 10’ to 20ft long with pincers and swims.

Nothing quite as stimulating on a cold night like cuddling up to a 600 volt electric eel…

A bit shocking should it actually happen.

I heard that, after that movie came out, lots of people developed a fear of going to the beach.

And… YES, Phoebe! You DO need to be afraid of electric eels! Be VERY afraid… >:)