What makes your blood go cold? Deep down, most people have at least one image buried in the twisted nether-regions of their psyche - an achilles heal, a chink in the armor, a mental shadow just waiting to rear its vicious head and make them yield to a cold, crippling fear.

While most of us have these issues - certain creatures we don't like, or scenarios we'd rather just avoid - a simple fear of the irrational can, for some, escalate into a mind-numbing paranoia. For example, if you find that your breath stops whenever something crawly scurries past you; or if you realize that the world starts to spin and your nerves begin to flutter when you look up at a tall building, or out on a crowded street; if being confined in a small space throws your heart into near convulsive vapor-lock, then you may suffer from a phobia.

According to the Mayo Medical Clinic in Rochester, Minn., a true phobia is "a persistent irrational fear of an object or situation that's generally considered harmless," which can, at times, cause "an inability to function at normal tasks in your job and in social settings." Like any place, Amador County has its share of people who fit this description.

One of the most well-known fear factors is arachnephobia, or extreme anxiety caused by spiders. Eighteen-year-old Chelsea Mancuso of Sutter Creek is no stranger to the condition. Mancuso has been deathly afraid of spiders since she was a child. "I've been terrified of them ever since I can first remember," Mancuso said. "When I was 12, I got up in the middle of the night and turned on the light in my bedroom and saw a gigantic spider coming at me. I went screaming upstairs to my parents. It was traumatic. After that, it was a while before I could bring myself to even sleep in my bedroom again."

Mancuso has lived in Amador County for years, a place with hills literally brimming with thousands of different species of leg-clicking arachnids. For her, frequently seeing spiders has done nothing to make the fear go away. "It's still pretty bad," she said of her phobia. "The thought of all those creepy legs they have, and even worse, all those creepy eyes they have - every time I see one, especially a big one, my instinct is to scream and run away."

Apparently spiders aren't the only things in the crawly category that strike boiling fear in people. Herpetophobia includes the strong fear of numerous life forms that scurry in weird ways. Jenny Byrd, 19, likely has herpetophobia. Byrd is morbidly troubled by the sight of sea crabs. In fact, the idea of them disturbs her so much that she generally avoids beaches and the ocean all together rather than chance running into one. "I hate the sight of them," Byrd said. "It freaks me out that they can walk sideways. When I see them, I panic because I feel like I can't kill them. One time I was at Cancun in Mexico and I accidentally got near one. It was horrible. I don't ever want to be that close to one again." When asked what would happen if someone ever put a sea crab in her car or backpack as a joke, Byrd responded, "I'd probably have an aneurysm. Seriously, I think I'd faint."

One of the strangest known phobias, though a well-studied one, is coulrophobia - the fear of clowns. Twenty-one-year-old Devon Baker of Jackson is a full-fledged sufferer of coulrophobia. "I have a big problem with looking at clowns," said Baker. "My family took me to the circus when I was a kid and a crazy-looking clown got in my face and terrified me. After that I had really bad night-terrors for most of my youth." Baker can't explain everything about clowns that causes her spine to tingle, but said much of it has to do with the unknown veils of red and white. "I don't know who they are," she explained, shuttering. "They have a painted face. It's horrifying because I can't see who it is. Now, even if I see one on television, I shield my eyes. It's a fear I've tried to face, but I still find myself having night-terrors after thinking about them."

The Mayo Clinic list several treatment options for phobias. For cases that are so bad the patient can't adequately function in their job or day to day life, medications are often prescribed, including beta blockers, antidepressants and sedatives. However, the main way to conquer a phobia is seeking behavior therapy, which often consists of gradual, repeated exposure to the root fear. The objective is to teach one's mind "alternative beliefs" about the cause of the phobia. The Mayo Clinic and other experts agree this tactic can produce results.

For her part, Baker has no interest in gradual exposure to clowns. The idea of hanging around them enough to get used to them is out of the question. "Clowns are seriously disgusting and I'll never want anything to do with them," Baker said. "When I see clowns, I get instant goose bumps, my adrenaline starts pumping and sometimes I break out into a cold sweat. Honestly, I can't even look at Ronald McDonald."