Stephen King Reveals What Scares Him Most

Author Stephen King is often considered a master of horror, striking fear in the hearts of many with his terrifying tales. Even though many people might blame him for inspiring all sorts of phobias, the man himself isn’t immune to having fears, with King recently revealing how horrified he is of air travel.

When Variety asked the author if anything scared him, he explained, “Oh God, yes. Air travel is a big one with me because I feel like I’m not in control. I’m close to 70 now, so I’m worried about basically having the cheese slide off my cracker — Alzheimer’s, dementia, stuff like that.”

The author’s stories don’t typically involve real-world horrors, instead choosing to stick to supernatural horrors. However, it sounds like some of his biggest fears are things most of us are afraid of.

“I don’t like bugs, I don’t like bats, I don’t like things that creep and crawl. With the exception of snakes, somehow they don’t really turn my dials,” King confessed.

Stories like Secret Window, Misery and Mr. Mercedes do explore the lengths that humans go to express their rage on their victims, which is something that also strikes fear into the heart of the author.

“But I’m also afraid of people like Brady Hartsfield, they’re out there. And it crosses my mind every time I do a public event. You think about somebody like Mark David Chapman, and you think maybe somebody’s got a knife out for you. But that’s part of life,” King continued.

Despite his fears about these public events, the author knows that allowing those fears to impact his way of life means those people have won.

When speaking about encounters with fans, King revealed, “Most of them are really positive, but it only takes one. When I got out in public, not to be corny, but I feel the love. There’s a sense you made a difference in people’s lives and they want to say thank you for that. Now and then you get a creepy letter. You can’t really control it, all you can hope is you can duck at the right time.”

An adaptation of one of Stephen King’s most beloved stories, It, will be hitting theaters September 8.