While many of us are impressed by objects, animals, or structures of gigantic proportions, people with Megalophobia, or fear of large objects, experience immense panic and anxiety just by looking at them. Think you suffer from this rare psychological condition? If you’re someone who's made uncomfortable by enormous objects of any kind, this fascinating collection of colossal things might make you somewhat uneasy. Don't say we didn't warn you!
This Giant Hand in the Woods
Imagine having a nice walk through the woods only to come face to face with your own fear. When the tallest tree in all of Wales was damaged by a storm, sadly, it was fated to be cut down. However, Natural Resource Wales didn’t want to see all that history and life go to waste. So they commissioned an artist to carve the tree into a sculpture. This is where artist Simon O’Rourke came in. He was inspired by the name of the woods, “The Giants of Vyrnwy.”
So, he decided to sculpt this titan of a tree into a gigantic, terrifying hand coming out of the earth to symbolize the tree giant and its final attempt to reach out to the sky. It’s impressive work, but it's making us feel uneasy!
A Cloud Formation That Looks Just Like A Turbulent Ocean
This photo was taken by a woman in Minnesota who was driving along when she saw the sky transform into what looked like roaring waves and sea foam. Clouds famously take on nearly any shape and have inspired the imagination of people for millennia. However, it's rare to see anything quite like this. Not only do the clouds look like a scary, turbulent ocean under a stormy sky, but it also seems like the waves are just about to break over the road.
Some say the world will end in fire. But this striking photograph makes us fear it might end in water! If that's not a scary thought, we don't know what is.
This Ginormous French Horse Visits Terminal Patients in the Hospital
You’ve probably heard about emotional support animals. Who doesn’t love a soft, fluffy, warm companion to cheer them up when they get bad news or feel ill? However, this 15-year-old horse is a particularly novel and ginormous example of this. The horse, named Peyo, is spending his retirement soothing terminal patients at the Techer hospital in Calais, France. His trainer gives him free rein to choose which rooms to enter.
Apparently, the horse has an impressive instinct for noticing when someone is suffering from cancer or tumors. While this might not be an effective treatment for people with Megalophobia, Peyo is said to have amazing effects on some patients!
Rare Jellyfish Red Sprite Lightning Looks Like an Alien Invasion
Pictured here is a rare and magnificent weather phenomenon for you! This rare jellyfish, red sprite lightning, was found about 30 to 90 km in the atmosphere. It really looks like something from a sci-fi film. Jellyfish sprites are very brief, bright, and intricate-looking electric discharges that can occur when potent lightning strikes occur. Interestingly, unlike regular lightning, the electrical charge is released into the atmosphere rather than the ground.
Experts believe these unique sprites occur as a result of a positive bolt of a lightning bolt striking beneath a thunderstorm. This particular snap was taken on the southern Oklahoma/Texas border back in October 2020.
Street Signs Might Be Much Larger Than You Think
Street signs are the kind of thing that catches our attention once and then loses it again forever. We're done thinking about them as soon we have rushed past one. We certainly don’t tend to take notice of their size. Elevated on masts and off on the side of roads, it’s hard to get a clear impression of the scale of a road sign until one's taken down and has a person placed next to it!
But as you can see, freeway signs are visible from far away for a good reason - they're huge! The average American road sign weighs 80kg and has massive proportions.
The Oldest Tree to The East of Mississippi Is Menacing
This famous and very ancient oak is located east of the Mississippi river and is believed to be around 400-500 years old. It’s hard to comprehend from this picture alone just how massive the tree is, but here are some numbers to give you an idea: The Angel Oak stands 65 feet tall and is 25 feet wide. Its leaves span a grand total of 17,000 square feet of shade!
Where did the tree get its name? Interestingly, the tree was named after Justus and Martha Angel, who, in the early 1700s, owned the land on which the tree stands.
The Pyramids Are Simply Enormous
Greatness is literally in its name: The Great Pyramid of Giza. We hardly have to state that these ancient structures tower high above the horizon as a testament to humankind and their relationship with mortality. The magnitude of these landmarks can’t be understated, even if their history is a dark one- marked by slave labor and cruelty. Given the awesomeness of these structures, we're not surprised that over 14 million people come to visit them each year. Obviously, none of them suffer from Megalophobia!
In this stunning photograph, you get a sense of the scale of this world wonder. We're definitely impressed!
Imagine Looking up to Find This Flying Over You
Many have been impressed by footage of this Ukrainian helicopter flying just a few meters above freeway traffic. The reason? To avoid Russian radar. Apparently, airborne radars track things above certain speeds, so when you fly close to freeway traffic, your signal mixes with the other traffic, making it much harder to trace. We’ve been in awe of Ukraine many times in recent months, but this giant of a helicopter hovering confidently above an unassuming truck might just take the cake.
However, we do not envy the truck driver in the picture. It's just going about its business with this looming behemoth above it! This would terrify the life out of us, even without Megalophobia!
And We Thought We Were Alone in the Universe
What could be more enormous, more gigantic, more mind-bogglingly endless and Megalophobia-inducing than the universe itself? In this photo, you can get a sense of its scale by reminding yourself that every dot in this picture is a galaxy. Not just a star - a galaxy. Each comes with its own solar system, stars, and planets. Under a night sky like that, a single person can feel small. For many, big things are scary.
However, in the case of far-away worlds, we prefer to think of them as a reminder of all the potential and possibilities that are still out there, ripe for the taking!
A Giant Bear in The Sky
Did you know that every year in October, the world celebrates fat bear week? For one week, contestants can vote on pictures of chubby bears to find the biggest of them all. The contest celebrates healthy bears that live primarily around Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska. It helps ensure that bears are examined (and admired) before they enter hibernation. Looking at this picture, we might have found the champion!
Clouds are often open to many interpretations, but in this case, everyone who takes a look is agreed. This formation looks just like a gigantic bear roaming around in the sky!
The Largest Horses In The World
“Big Jake” has undoubtedly earnt his name! With a weight of a mind-blowing 2,600 pounds, this fellow was the world’s most giant horse until June 2021. Horses are measured in hands, and Big Jake was 20 and 2-¾” tall, which is the equivalent of 6 feet and 10 inches! With a woman included for scale, this photograph successfully illustrates his gigantic size. Big Jake broke the Guinness World Record for the largest living horse in 2010, but the gentle giant sadly passed away recently.
Care to know the size of the largest horse to have ever been recorded so far? A Shire Gelding named Sampson, also called Mammoth, stood at 7 feet and 2.5 inches and weighed 3,360 pounds!
The Worst Snow in North Dakotan History
That’s right. That's a power mast you can see poking out of the top of a mountain of snow in this photograph. This was the worst snow event in the history of North Dakota. The snowfall occurred in March 1966, when the blizzard offloaded 20-30 inches of snow across the state. This, combined with 70-mile-per-hour winds, resulted in snow piling up to impressive heights in some locations. Some were as high as 40 feet tall!
The Gentleman in the picture is Bill Koch, an employee of the US Department of Transportation. We don’t envy his job on that day; we bet he had his work cut out for him!
This Is Just a Bunch of Phobias Combined
Here’s another interesting piece of trivia for you. A phobia of balloons is called Globophobia. So, if you suffer from this and have a fear of large things, this photo probably captures your personal hellscape. But, to be fair, even those that don't usually struggle with such phobias might be deeply haunted by these hot air balloons. As you can see, they're shaped and styled like the heads of villains from various franchises.
That being said, we should pay credit where it is due. In terms of craftsmanship and creativity, these freaky balloons are a 10/10. Whether you love or hate these balloons, one thing's for sure; this would certainly be enough to make you take a second glance at the sky!
Point Nemo, the Loneliest Place on the Planet
When lockdowns were mandatory in 2020, and we were forced to spend lots of time with those we lived with, perhaps you dreamed of getting as far away from another human being as possible? Well, this photo captures Point Nemo - the spot on Earth where you're the farthest away from any land. In fact, if you were to stay at this spot, you would be closer to astronauts aboard the International Space Station than any earthly humanity.
Just remember that the ISS is a whopping 420km above the ground, and then consider that Earth is huge enough to have a point closer to space than the rest of humankind. Mind-boggling, right?
This Isn't Even The Tallest Spiral Staircase In The World
The tallest spiral staircase in the world is the free-standing spiral staircase in the 21-story Coda Building on Georgia’s tech campus. However, the immensely tall, narrow structure depicted here deserves a spot on our list of massive things that will send Megalophobes running. But the scale of the staircase isn’t the only frightening element of the picture. We also have Helixphobia, the fear of spirals, and the all-too-common Acrophobia, the fear of heights.
We certainly don't envy the postperson that has to scale this staircase! Not only does it look terrifying, but it makes us exhausted just imagining having to climb all these stairs.
How Can This Thing Stay Afloat?
Nothing about this picture looks right, does it? The people aboard appear no larger than ants, and the scale of the harbor in the background makes this massive cruiseliner all the more gigantic in appearance. It doesn't look like it should be able to float upon the sea - but somehow, it does! If any of what we've just said strikes a cord, you might be relieved to hear that the Icon of the Seas isn't actually operational yet.
The cruise ship is under construction and set to enter service in 2024. With a gross tonnage of 250,800, it will be the largest cruise ship in the world. Wow!
This Giant Warriors Statue Stands Even Taller Than Initially Intended
Here’s a funny story about this gigantic monument to deified Chinese military general Guan Yu. In 2020, The Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development ordered the statue to be relocated from its place in Jinghzou, China. Why? When the project was initiated, the artists only had planning permissions for a figure up to 15 meters tall. They were actually only supposed to create the pedestal. Instead, the behemoth stands 58 meters tall and weighs over 1,197 tonnes.
It requires reinforced concrete and steel framing to hold up its mass. The statue is so large, in fact, that the land beneath it started to sink under its weight!
A Frozen Waterfall Towering in the Mountains
It’s hard to imagine that a pillar of such magnitude could come to be by purely natural means. However, this giant, ragged cylinder towering in the mountainside is indeed just a frozen waterfall. It’s humbling to think what kind of cold temperatures it must have taken to freeze this massive waterfall or how much time has passed since its construction. In any case, the pillar is a stunning phenomenon that reminds us of our insignificance in comparison to the forces of nature.
If you visit a frozen waterfall, make sure to be careful. They've been known to collapse and injure tourists. Nonetheless, we’d agree that any such sight is definitely worth the hike!
The Largest Known Flying Animal to Ever Have Lived
Perhaps the photo’s perspective has something to do with it. Still, it’s hard to imagine a creature with so gigantic a head and so heavy-looking a body ever taking flight. Scientists have continued investigating the Quetzalcoatlus, which is as tall as a giraffe! The pterosaur had a wingspan of 40 feet - that’s 12 meters - and to fly, it could launch itself 8 feet (2.43 meters ) into the air.
On top of this, its bones were hollow, making it much lighter than it looks! But lightweight or not, we wouldn’t want this creature and its giant beak flying anywhere near us.
This Is What It Looks Like When A Supercell Forms
For those that don’t know, a supercell is a thunderstorm known for its persistently rotating updraft. Tornadoes often form from a supercell and can get very dangerous! This photo captured an ominous-looking supercell forming above the fields in Wyoming, likely moments before a tornado would have started raging toward the camera! There are, on average, six tornados in Wyoming per year. So the shot is somewhat of a rare achievement.
We have to say that the photographer is much braver than us! After capturing this striking image, we hope the photographer immediately took swift shelter, as this gigantic phenomenon would certainly shake us in our boots!
The Easter Island Heads Are Bigger Than We All Thought
What initially looked like rock carvings of heads on Easter Island turned out to be statues of much larger figures. The Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui between 1250 and 1500. The sculptures are, on average, 13 feet high (almost 4 meters). But some are as tall as 30 feet (just over 9 meters). If the size doesn’t impress you, maybe the weight will. Each gigantic rock sculpture measures around 14 tons (14000 kg).
In this photograph, you can easily grasp the statues’ scale compared to visiting tourists. The open excavation site unearthed the base of the statue, of which initially only the tall, heavy head was visible!
Mammatus Clouds Looming Over a Plane
Have you ever seen a sky like this? Depicted here is a grey sky full of Mammatus clouds. These form in unstable weather conditions such as hail, heavy rain, or lightning. While Mammatus clouds aren’t rare, and many cloud formations have such round bumps, it’s certainly exceedingly rare to see them quite like this. They almost resemble cells in a liquid, floating vaguely overhead. The plane seems out of place and lost amongst the bubbles.
We don't know about you, but we wouldn't want to be the passengers on that flight; we think the sight of these clouds would be a tad unnerving - to say the least!
Giant Ship Emerging From the Fog
A thick blanket of fog sets the perfect atmosphere for a horror film or for unveiling mysterious structures approaching from afar. In this haunting image, the tall mast of a ship cuts clean through the mist, and we can see sailors huddled on the deck. Just imagine that despite the size of the vessel, thanks to the fog, you wouldn't have seen it coming until it is suddenly right in front of you - towering large!
While we can easily envision more eldritch and frightening titans emerging from a thick fog, something about the silent and stealthy approach of the large ship impresses its scale upon us.
A Giant Face In The Clouds
Just take a look at this rare and unusual cloud formation. If we were to meet with a face outlined in flaming red above us in the sky, our thoughts would probably turn to divinity quite quickly. Now just imagine if a booming voice was to come forth from those wispy red lips. Terrifying. It’s often easy to ignore clouds and forget their scale. However, when they form so tactile an image as this, we are starkly reminded of how huge those vapors in the sky really are.
There are a couple of ways people interpret this. Some say it looks like the face in the clouds is watching over the street. Others say it looks like it wants to engulf the road and everything on it. Thoughts?
A Giant Mosquito
Suppose you love stories of Kaijus like Mothra and Godzilla. In that case, you’ll love the effect produced by this photo, which happened to capture a mosquito flying across the lens. Without that reasonable explanation, the image believably looks like a giant mosquito stomping through the distant fog. The only thing that throws off the picture's reality is how unbothered the pedestrians in the foreground seem to be by such an apparition.
Had this photo been real, there would no doubt be people screaming right alongside anyone who has megalophobia! There are just some things everyone is entitled to be terrified of!
Earth Next to Jupiter
Here’s another healthy dose of perspective. Take your sense of scale, and blow it completely out of proportion. While this image is, of course, no photograph, it shows how our beloved Planet compares to the largest in our solar system. All our everyday problems start to look small when we consider our place in the universe as a whole. As we as individuals are dwarfed by the Earth, the Earth is eclipsed in size by Jupiter.
On a similar note, scientists also reckon there are even bigger fish than Jupiter out there in that universal pond! Some predict ten times the size! That's food for thought, right?
An Oil Rig On Its Way Out Into The Sea
Have you ever wondered how those ginormous oil rigs make it out into the ocean? They are not, in fact, built out there on the water. No, instead, a much, much smaller boat tows the whole thing out into the sea. This photo gives us a good idea of just how tall and large these structures are. Note not only the size of the ships in comparison but also the family house and the luxury hotel on the left!
While we're on a similar topic, did you know that larger motorized vessels out at sea must give way to ships without motor power? So we find some amusement in picturing this behemoth of a freight haul pausing for a little sailboat before them.
Iceberg Floating by a Small Town in Canada
This picture captures a nice, sunny day in Newfoundland, Canada, on which a 150 feet tall iceberg decided to casually float by. It’s been a while since we have seen so clear and stark a reminder of what might happen to coastal towns if all the icebergs were to melt. The iceberg cheerfully looms in the background amidst a sea of smaller lumps of ice, towering significantly over a family home.
While the photograph certainly makes for a lovely postcard, it’s also a little worrying to look at. Most of us are probably glad not to live quite so close to a colossal lump of ice!
Looking Out Over The Sea At Night And Being Met With Void
Have you ever been in a completely, truly dark room without a single ray of light? If you have, you know that just closing your eyes doesn’t produce such total darkness and that such complete blackness, as pictured in this photo, has reached a whole other level. Snapped here is a picture taken from atop a ferry at 3 am. Once you’re out at sea, there is nothing all around.
In this image, it feels as though the nothingness has become solid. Almost like you're looking at a sheet of black from which anything could emerge. When darkness is given a body like this, it feels as massive as anything on this list!
So Much Cheese
When we pick up a bit of cheese in the supermarket, we rarely remember the process that goes into making it or how massive a cheese wheel can be. Usually, most of the products we take home are merely smaller slices or lumps of the total volume. However, in this image, you can see just how much space cheese takes up when it’s aging. Of course, how big and heavy a cheese wheel gets will depend on the type of cheese.
For example, a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano can weigh a whopping 82 pounds! Cheese is so heavy, in fact, that in a Dutch theme park, you can test your strength by trying to lift different quantities of cheese wheels on a rope.
The Biggest Statue in the World
Impressive, isn’t it? The Statue of Unity in India is currently the tallest statue in the world (and has been since 2018)! This imposing iron statue stands at 182 meters (over 597 feet!) and is located near Kevadia. The man forever immortalized is Vallabdbhai Patel. He was the first home minister of independent India. He united all 562 princely states to form the Republic of India. How awesome is that?
While Megalophobes won’t be hurrying to see it, The Statue of Unity has an impressive number of fans. In fact, in November 2019, the daily average tourist footfall surpassed the Statue of Liberty!
The Dreamy yet Menacing Mont Saint Michel
Something about this town and cathedral is reminiscent of the Disney logo or any other fairytale castle. Standing tall amidst a completely flat horizon, mount Saint Michel is a tidal island and mainland commune located in France. It’s situated about a kilometer off the mainland (just over half a mile). We think its isolation only accentuates its size; the nothingness surrounding makes the place look gigantic!
However, in truth, Mont Saint Michel only has a population of 33 people and covers an area of just under four square kilometers (just over 1.5 miles). Which, by our planet’s proportions, isn't that big!
The Biggest Bug To Ever Have Lived
This collage of the Arthropleura Millipede includes a helpful scale drawing to indicate just how large this millipede was compared to a human. We think it's safe to say that it wouldn't just be just people with Megalophobia that would run screaming at the sight of such a creature. This creepy crawly even predated the dinosaurs and grew up to a weight of 100 pounds (over 45 kilos). Just looking at this snap makes us grimace!
Let’s consider ourselves lucky that the creature has been extinct for millennia and won’t be making a comeback anytime soon. We’d take a guess that bug spray wouldn’t quite cut it!
Andy’s Room - From The Perspective of The Toys
If you’re a fan of the Toy Story franchise, you might love a chance to visit this model of Andy’s room. It's scaled to give you the same perspective that a toy from the Movie would share. Of course, this enormous model isn’t part of the Toy Story studio. It's actually an elaborate waiting line at Disney World. While charming for some, those with Megalophobia would surely feel as though they had shrunk for real.
But, to us, it looks like the visitors are having a great time. We think this is a unique and charming idea for a theme park waiting line. So, if you ever wondered what it was like to be just a few inches tall, this place might give you a vague idea!
Aluminium Sea Serpent of Saint Brevin
Relax - what’s depicted here is thankfully not a real skeleton of a massive sea serpent. It is merely the sculpture of a structure of a gigantic sea serpent! Constructed from aluminum, this 150-meter (over 492 feet) sculpture rests along the shores of Saint Brevin near Nantes. You can see in the photograph that even its head is larger than a person, giving the convincing impression that it might gobble you up.
If you don’t like the scale of this thing, you might be relieved to hear that even blue whale skeletons are usually only up to 25 meters in length. So, there's a good chance there isn't anything similar roaming the oceans...we hope!
A Fishermen’s Net Spreading Out in The Vast Expanse of The Ocean
Usually, when we get a look at a fisherman’s net, it's bundled up and entangled so that we only see a lump of threads and fabric. So, it’s hard to envision how big they span once they are in the water and completely unfurled. But this is where this striking picture helps give us a sense of the scale and reach of industrial fishing nets. Some say it almost looks like a skirt!
You can see curtains of net span out almost like the tentacles of an enormous underwater creature! If the image is awe-inspiring to us, just imagine how grand and imposing such a net must look to the tiny fish.
Ponte City Apartments in South Africa
This photo of the Pontes City Apartments in Johannesburg, South Africa, might be one of the most terrifying on this list. The apartment building is the tallest residential building in the African continent, and the courtyard surrounded by sky-tall walls appears claustrophobic. This tower block stands at an imposing 73 meters (567.6 feet). The floors spiral down into darkness, giving the impression of a long tube with no end in sight.
Apartment blocks like these are a visual reminder of the scale of humanity itself, even when Ponte City Apartments make up only a fraction of the over 8 billion people on Earth.
Urban Sprawl in Hong Kong
Another mind-blowing perspective on humanity is this photo of a street in Hong Kong, shot from street level. The apartment building is so tall that, from this perspective, it blocks out the sky entirely. To get a sense of just how tall these buildings are, see how it towers high above the doubledecker bus in the picture. The windows are ornamented with washing, signs, houseplants, etc., reminding us that life is happening behind these walls.
It’s sad to think that the street must rarely get touched by the sun. Still, with its population of 7.4 million, Hong Kong has perhaps unsurprisingly had to take such measures to accommodate its people.
Floating Above An Underwater Void
This photo captures two tiny specks of white on a vast expanse of ocean. The white dots are boats floating high above a steep and immensely deep drop in the sea. There is nothing but cold and darkness below, and with the clarity of the water, one can too easily imagine falling into it! If you’ve ever snorkeled in deep water and glanced below you, you might know what it feels like to float above such endless emptiness.
It makes you wonder what’s down there, doesn’t it? Just remember that we’ve only managed to map about five percent of the global oceans at this point! The sea keeps its mysteries closely guarded.
A Bird’s Eye View of the Burning Man Festival
This photograph captures the burning man festival held in the Black Rock Desert each year. What gives the festival its grandeur is the presence of thousands upon thousands of tents, vehicles, and people, all arranged in geometric precision around a central point. The image looks like something out of a sci-fi landscape, and if we did not know what it was, we might have mistaken it for an alien presence (just kidding...).
The event first happened on June 22 in 1986. The Burning Man festival sets up a temporary city with about 70,000 paid participants and celebrates creativity, self-expression, knowledge, and cultural differences. Pretty cool, right?