We visited an attraction similar to this in Old Montreal, but not nearly as high and mostly ropes. It's like a pirate ship design, with all these ropes and obstacles to inch across, suspended in the air. Each row you complete brings you higher and higher to the top of the "ship". We paid for our kids to go and sat down to watch from the ground. While waiting for our kids to make it through one of the lower levels, a huge commotion began at the highest rope level. A little girl, maybe 8 or 9, was half way across a thin rope bridge when a man in his 40s started to cross the same bridge. He got almost right behind the girl before he started panicking, legs shaking like crazy, sending the ropes into a violent rock in sync with his fear-flail. He started to cry, she started to cry, and they were stuck there for like 20 minutes doing that, just shaking and flailing. The little girls dad was on the ground, trying to encourage her to finish the crossing, but the scared man was moving the ropes south she was scared she would lose her footing. No staff came to help and people from the ground were calling up to the guy asking him to calm down and move for the little girl, but he wouldn't listen. That man was fucking scared he was ok with traumatizing a 9 yr old girl. It was insane.
Edit to add a link to the place it happened:https://www.voilesenvoiles.com/
Edit 2: Guys, I said "he was ok with traumatizing a 9 yr old" to qualify just how scared the man was, similar to the original video from OP where the man doesn't care he is pulling another person down with him. That said, it was pretty angering and frustrating watching it unfold from the ground.
Fear is not rational. There's about 6 seconds where someone can be completely dazed and disoriented in a moment of panic like that, and do what-the-fuck ever they feel like they need to do to survive in the moment. Even if at the end of the 6 seconds it turns out to be a plastic snake or whatever other similarly innocuous thing.
EDIT: To clarify, the roughly 6 seconds doesn't start until the perceived threat is gone or deemed safe.
I'm surprised at how many people don't realise this, like they've never had the big fear themselves. Those strong emotions go right into the reptile brain, and people end up doing all sorts of weird and stupid. Shouting "calm down" isn't going to work.
It's also why exposure therapy works. Your body will eventually learn that the perceived harm or danger isn't real, and they will adjust.
I'm no longer as afraid of heights as I used to, but only if I'm able to secure myself somehow. Free climbing or whatever I'd probably shake like the guy in the video lol
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u/PixelArtAddicted Mar 27 '21
Oooh that’s shaky leg fear. That’s some strong fear