There is the theory that a substantive percentage of people have dangerous prenatal experiences with their umbilical chord, as the source of their fear of snakes, and that it can be resolved later in life with regressive therapy. See e.g. ”Womb Surround” by Ray Castellino.

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pavel_lishin 4 days ago | parent [-]

Wouldn't those people also be afraid of ropes, cables, etc?

	▲	47282847 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I think the idea is that an umbilical cord is experienced as “alive” whereas ropes are just “dead items”, something that in early years may trigger the original fear responses but gets integrated more easily.