Herpetophobia: The Fear of Reptiles

Well I'll be!

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It didn't win (awwwshucks), but I'm happy for all the
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The funny lizard is from Grant Moore 3D.

That particular hair-raising moment happened sometime in the late '90s. I was in my mid-20s and have been working for a while in an advertising agency when I decided to leave my job and pursue further art studies in the US. I decided on a design school in New York and was blessed to have relatives in a nearby borough who welcomed me graciously into their home. I haven't seen them in a while so I didn't know until my arrival that my then-12-year-old cousin was, at that point in time, currently obsessed with reptiles and in fact had a terrarium of "harmless" (but icky nonetheless) garter snakes in their foyer.

I learned to ignore the snakes during the next few months of my stay and had adapted quite easily to the new environment and way of life. My aunt and uncle had work the whole day and my cousin would be in school so most afternoons I would go home to an empty house from my classes in the city.

George?
One random day in November, I was again alone and padding my way up the carpeted stairs to my room when suddenly, right there on the landing was the biggest monitor lizard I had ever seen. I froze on the spot. It was looking back at me with some trepidation, as if waiting for me to make the first move. When I finally came to my senses, I ran down to the basement and remained there until I heard my cousin arrive home a few hours later.

I told him about what I saw. His reaction? "Oh, you found George! I thought he escaped!"

"Er..."

I learned that this "George" was his pet and that he had escaped from one of his terrariums last summer. I didn't want to go upstairs alone for fear of seeing the scaly monster again so I asked my cousin to accompany me upstairs to my room. George was not on the landing anymore. My cousin searched for it, calling out its name all over the house but it never showed itself again -- even after I had left for home when my design courses were done.

My aunt told me a month later over e-mail that they eventually found George in a dark corner of the closet I was using when I was still living with them (!) but that he had already died. Technically, I was the last one to see him alive.

Photo credits: green monitor lizard / comic