Phobia

Turpentine. I've always been afraid of it ever since childhood.

The reason is when I was in elementary school I read a story about two princesses. One princess was fair and kind, the other ugly and cruel. The lovely Princess was to wed the man the ugly princess had been pursuing. In retaliation the wicked princess poured turpentine into the good princess's drink, which killed her in a horrible gruesome manner. It's been a LONG time since I read this story and it may be that the evil girl was killed instead, but this is how I remember it. From then on I was terrified and thought (unknowingly) that even being near turpentine could be harmful. I told my mother of my phobia and she was quite shocked "I was ALSO afraid of turpentine when I was younger! My father was a house painter so he had cans of turpentine lying around. He told me they were dangerous and I never wanted to be anywhere near it" Needless to say I was amazed to learn my mother and I shared this unusual fear.
The reason I bring this up is because now that I'm an art student I'm suddenly surrounded by Turpentine!
If you're unfamiliar with it, turpentine is used as a method of removing paint. You put a drop of it in a bucket of water and use it to wash off your brushes. I have yet to use this method for cleaning my brushes (as I mostly work with acrylic) but I do see other students carrying around cans of it.
It's silly; but it feels like my childhood is creeping back into my life in unusual ways!

I have to ask, has anyone else ever heard of this bizarre fairytale?

What are some of your own childhood fears? Are you still afraid of these things or can you laugh at them now?