Fear of mice avoid a mouse, showing there may be some basis for this belief. It is not known why elephants should react in this way, though there are several theories. Regardless, elephantine murophobia remains the basis of various jokes and metaphors. The classical board game Dou Shou Qi has the Rat kill an Elephant: as multiple editions of the rule book mentions that the Rat would crawl into the Elephant's ears to gnaw into its brain: but this is considered to be a folk tale. Gertrude of Nivelles is the patron saint of murophobia, and is also invoked against rats and mice
Fear Is the Key Fear Is the Key Fear Is the Key is a 1961 first-person narrative thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. In the prologue, set in May 1958, John Talbot, owner of Trans Carib Air Charter Co is at an airfield in British Honduras, awaiting radio contact with one of his aircraft en route to Tampa, Florida. Not long after establishing contact the aircraft is attacked by a P-51 Mustang, after which all contact is lost. Two years later, Talbot is on trial for robbing a bank. At a point where his guilt is in doubt, new information comes to light