History Main / FearOfThunder

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'' revealed that both the villain and Scooby have lightning issues. Phibes apparently gets so upset that his prosthetic laser gun is fired off when he so much as hears the word "lightning". His plot of the episode revolves around creating a never-ending thunderstorm, thus leaving the ''severely'' astraphobic Scooby as a paranoid wreck. Since the lightning bolts are apparently violent and can strike anything, Scooby actually has justification for this. Shaggy drags him along to stop the storm anyway.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3snakeEater'': In a somewhat ironic twist, BigBad Colonel Volgin of game is afraid of storms. Although this is directly passed on via radio communication from one character to another, there are other subtle hints, such as how Volgin retreats to his quarters during storms and chants a Japanese charm against lighting strikes when forced to be outside while it's raining. This is ironic because Volgin himself has control over electricity, [[PsychoElectro uses it as his primary weapon]], and one of his nicknames is "Thunderbolt." Naturally, he is killed at the end of the game by [[spoiler:a direct hit from a lightning bolt when he decides not to say his little anti-lightning mantra for once. Standing knee-deep in exposed electrical cables on top of a giant tank probably didn't help.]]

* [[KickChick Chie Satonaka]] from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' is revealed to be this in the ''Golden'' UpdatedRerelease. A thunderstorm in early May sends her into a state of undiluted panic, which is not helped when the school blacks out - and [[CloudCuckoolander Yukiko]] decides ''now'' is the time to tell a ghost story to a ''[[GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies very]]'' unreceptive Chie. She gets [[TearsOfFear upset]]. [[InnocentlyInsensitive Yosuke]] ends up teasing Chie for it, and the Protagonist himself [[VideoGameCaringPotential can either comfort her]]... [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential or tap her back in sync with Yukiko's story, or tell her]] ''[[VideoGameCrueltyPotential another]]'' [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential ghost story on top of Yukiko's]]. Weirdly enough though, Chie [[GameplayAndStorySegregation doesn't show any particularly unique reactions to the thunder spells]] used by [[TheHeartless Shadows]] in the [[TrappedInTVLand TV World]], while Yosuke [[HypocriticalHumor of all people]] should be the one worried about lightning given his [[FightingSpirit Persona]] [[ElementalRockPaperScissors is weak to]] [[ShockAndAwe Electric spells]].

* The Natchez City Cemetery in Mississippi contains [[https://dalejyoung.com/the-strange-grave-of-florence-irene-ford/ this unusual grave]] of a 10 year old girl named Florence Irene Ford who was deathly afraid of thunderstorms in life. It was outfitted with a staircase so her mother could go inside the grave and comfort her daughter whenever a thunderstorm rolled in. Natchez locals have since taken to visiting Florence's grave during thunderstorms to comfort her as well.

Your otherwise capable or serious character has an inordinate fear of thunderstorms. This is a primal, almost childish fear that surprises other characters, although it's not always played for laughs. The actual name of this fear is "Brontophobia" or "Astraphobia". [[note]] The former suggests a fear of late-Jurassic Apatosaurine dinosaurs while the latter, a horror of affordable German family cars.[[/note]] It also happens to animals, especially dogs.

* ''LightNovel/DragonarAcademy'': [[UptownGirl Silvia Lautreamont]], First-year student at Ansarivan Dragon Riding Academy and Fourth Princess of Lautreamont.... [[CowardlyLion is shaken]] by the sound of thunder.

* Kou Shuurei in ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' goes into fits of screaming terror during thunderstorms, as memorably revealed during her brief stint of [[SweetPollyOliver posing as a boy]] to work for Ko Kijin.

* Aria from ''LightNovel/AriaTheScarletAmmo'' is quite afraid of thunder. This presents problems in missions where it's raining.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'': In a somewhat ironic twist, BigBad Colonel Volgin of game is afraid of storms. Although this is directly passed on via radio communication from one character to another, there are other subtle hints, such as how Volgin retreats to his quarters during storms and chants a Japanese charm against lighting strikes when forced to be outside while it's raining. This is ironic because Volgin himself has control over electricity, [[PsychoElectro uses it as his primary weapon]], and one of his nicknames is "Thunderbolt." Naturally, he is killed at the end of the game by [[spoiler:a direct hit from a lightning bolt when he decides not to say his little anti-lightning mantra for once. Standing knee-deep in exposed electrical cables on top of a giant tank probably didn't help.]]

* Tess Keene, mother of ''Webcomic/PreTeena'', manifests this fear. While her daughter and her friends would happily go out to play in a thunderstorm and will sit discussing the cool noise and light show, Tess hides under the kitchen table.

* Tess Keene, mother of ''Webcomic/PreTeena'', manifests this fear. While her daughter and her friends would happily go out to play in a thunderstorm and will sit discussing the cool noise and light show, Tess hides under the kitchen table.

[[caption-width-right:350:Tails' fear of lightning is well-justified... especially in high places like where Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} is standing at.]]

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': In the Detectives Koshien arc, a storm starts when the four teenaged detectives are gathered in an old mansion [[spoiler:and one of them has actually ''been killed'']]. Once thunder breaks in, Natsuki "Detective of the South" Koshimizu screams in utter horror and collapses to the floor. [[spoiler: She was actually ''faking'' it, to distract the others while she was searching for a piece of lost evidence that could potentially reveal her as the SympatheticMurderer of the arc - and the one who killed her fellow sleuth. Conan and Heiji weren't fooled by her act, though, and later use it to unmask her.]]

** At a critical point in the anime during the Tenrou Island arc, all of the Fairy Tail mages present on Tenrou were shown suffering varying degrees of astraphobia. [[spoiler: Little did they know that the storm raging that night foreshadowed the [[BigDamnHeroes timely intervention]] of a [[HeelFaceTurn once-misguided former guildmate]]: Laxus Dreyar, the [[ShockAndAwe Lightning Dragon Slayer]].]]

* In ''Film/{{Ted}}'': Ted and John have this. Not only that, but they also have a "thunder song" about it. It actually becomes a plot point by the end of the movie: [[spoiler: Ted claims he's the reason that John can't grow up, and uses this as an example ("He'll never be scared of thunder again!"). Sure enough, when Ted dies, there's a thunderstorm outside and John doesn't even flinch]]. Their Thunder Song:

* In the novelette "The Long Remembered Thunder" by Creator/KeithLaumer, it's noted that a character "fears the thunder". That's because he's really [[spoiler: an agent from a world of [[AnotherDimension "a different harmonic series"]] who has been fighting for decades to protect Earth from an interdimensional invasion by an alien race called [[LizardFolk the Niss]], [[MultiversalConqueror "evil beings who loot the continua"]]. The noise of the enemy's portal being opened sounds like thunder.]]
* In Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Lurking Fear", the Martense clan [[spoiler: and their Morlock-like degenerate descendants]] share the hereditary trait of being driven to frenzied, violent panic by thunderstorms.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', the Hill's dog Ladybird develops a fear of thunder and bites Hank, and the rest of the episode deals with the repercussions and discussions about medicating her (which fails) or having her put down before she attacks someone else, at the end of the episode Hank's ready to decide when he learns that [[spoiler: Ladybird's gone deaf.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "When It Rains" revolves around one of the Gems [[MistakenForApocalypse mistaking]] a thunderstorm for the apocalyptic event of [[spoiler: the Cluster emerging from the Earth's core]].