The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (57 page)

Katharine Hepburn suffered from a phobia of dirty hair. When she was shooting films for Twentieth Century Fox, she would sniff the heads of the cast and crew to make sure their hair was squeaky clean.

XENOGLOSSIA

Xenoglossia is the act of spontaneously speaking in a strange or foreign language without having learned it or having been exposed to it, but with the added implication of extreme revulsion or distaste to this linguistic act. The ability to speak in a foreign tongue may be an evidence for reincarnation and may occur when a person is reliving a past life. The linguistic act sometimes can be as simple as a few words or phrases, or in some instances, an entire fluent conversation being carried out in a language the person is not even aware exists. In some of the most credible and compelling cases of xenoglossia recorded, the subject not only spoke in a foreign language, but also used an archaic version of it
that had not been in regular usage for centuries, making it extremely unlikely that the ability was a fantasy or a hoax.

DELUSIONS, MANIAS, AND PHOBIAS

• Erotographomania is the overwhelming drive to write love letters.
  
• Echolalia is the senseless repetition of words or sounds.
  
• Liticaphobia is the fear of lawsuits.
  
• Thanatomania is a neurotic obsession with attending funerals and reading obituaries.
  
• Cachinnation is senseless laughter, as found in manicdepression and certain types of schizophrenia.
  
• Thanatophobia is a morbid fear of death. If you experience a morbid fear of darkness, you are nyctophobic.
  
• Nosophobia is fear of illness.
  
• Mysophobia is the irrational fear of dirt and germs. Mysophobics usually spend an inordinate amount of time washing their hands, and many have trouble leaving the house.
  
• If you have an unreasonable fear of experiencing pain, you are algophobic.
  
• Theomania is a morbid fear of religious cults.
  
• If you believe you have been transformed into a wolf, you are suffering from the delusion of lycanthropy.
  
• Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes and snakelike creatures.
  
• Ereuthophobia is the morbid fear of blushing.
  
• Alcoholomania is an irresistible craving for alcoholic drinks, while letheomania is a morbid craving for drugs.
  
• Eisoptrophobia is the excessive fear of mirrors.
  
• Taphephobia is a morbid fear of being buried alive.
  
• Anaphia is the loss of the sense of pressure.
  
• Cacophobia is the fear of ugliness. People with this phobia tend to avoid ugly people and asymmetrical objects.
  
• The impulse to disrobe in public is known as asecdysiasm.
  
• Aritmophobia is the fear of numbers. Sufferers of this condition often have trouble with their finances, reading simple traffic signs, and understanding pricing systems at stores.
  

PERSONAL PARALYSIS

Abasia is a loss of the power to walk when there are no structural or organic changes to account for the
inability to move. Abasiac individuals are utterly convinced that they are not capable of movement and that if they attempt to walk something terrible is going to happen to them or to someone around them.

BLESS ME, FATHER

A person suffering from agonia experiences extreme grief due to delusions of having committed the original sin.

FALL FROM GRACE

Basophobia is the fear of standing up or attempting to walk, stemming mainly from of a fear that one will then fall.