A childhood belief about fear of

I was DEATHLY afraid of public toilets. I wouldn't use one even if I was about to poop my pants. I kept imagining that, when I went to flush, the toilet would burst and send up a litteral column of water (and also....well, do I really want to go there?)straight up to the ceiling at typhoon speeds, and it would flood the bathroom and I'd drown. (I have a fear of water/drowning in the first place.) Never mind that the bathrooms aren't watertight, never mind that water pressure (strangely, I knew all about water pressure even though I was quite young at the time) in sewage lines would never grow that large, never mind that had never heard about that happening before, never mind that other people used them just fine, I was convinced that public toilets were death traps. If I absolutely had to use one, I would flush and then run like crazy out the bathroom door. Needless to say, I got some strange looks at that.

Looking back, I think it has something to do with the loud flushing, a Flying Rhino Junior High cartoon episode (Where, you guessed it, a toilet explodes exactly like that, minus the...well, stuff), and the ability to hear the rushing water throughout the walls in the piping. I'm 13 and still am very reluctant to use a public toilet.