What stupid things did you believe when you were a child?

[Lace Neil Singer]

Come on, everyone has some daft things they took as truth when they were young and stupid. List them here!


* I thought that if you breathed when going past cemeteries, you'd die at midnight.

* I thought that if you swallowed chewing gum, it would stay in your body forever. Eventually, it would build up in your body and kill you.

* I thought that if you didn't jump over the top of the escalator, you'd be sucked inside and would never get out. My dad even told me a story about a kid who got trapped inside the escalator forever. You see, the ones at the mall made knocking noises sometimes, and when we asked why it did, that's when my dad told me and my brothers all about the child who got sucked under at the top of the escalator and was now trapped inside. The knocking sounds were him trying to escape.

* I believed that a red mark on the wall of the girl's loo at school was where three teachers were murdered and that they were buried in the wall.

* I thought that, like in old films, the world used to be in black and white.

* I believed that watching TV in the dark would make me go blind.

* I believed that if the wind did change while I made a funny face, my face would really be stuck like that forever.

* I thought that sherbert and pop rocks had drugs in them. But it didn't stop me eating them. XD

* I believed that if you sat in the bath til all the water drained away, you'd be sucked down the plughole. So I always got out the tub as soon as possible to stop that happening. XD

* I also thought that teachers lived at the school inside the staff room when I was at primary school. In secondary, I'd discarded this belief but I thought that the staff room was like a pub where the teachers went to booze and party, and that's why we weren't allowed to go in there. XD I was really disappointed the day I became a prefect and was able to go inside and look, and saw that this belief was wide of the mark, to say the least.

[HotelMinion]

I thought that taking Tylenol and other such painkillers made you into a druggie. Even if it was just one.
I thought people made babies thru kissing.
Because I had no boobs I thought my parents made a mistake and I was actually a boy.
I thought if you swallow a seed would grow into a tree into your stomach.
I thought if you were awake at midnight ghosts and monsters would curse you or worse.
I thought I was the only one who could see colors in the dark.

[April]

I believed that they cut off the wings of baby buffalo to make buffalo wings (I also convinced my sister of this when I was older)

I believed that if I didn't treat my toys in a fair manner, they would get mad at me

I also believed that, when playing solitaire, if I did not alternate where to being playing from (left or right of the board) that the cards would get mad and make me lose

I fully believed in Bloody Mary and would not try it and would have a fit if anyone said her name in my presence

I believed that some sort of beings lived in bathroom mirrors, and could only come out if it was dark in the bathroom and you looked in the mirror. I refused to enter a bathroom when the light was off

[Erinesque]

The things I believed were:

that some evil critter would come out of the toilet
that if my back got cold, it would hurt my kidneys
that if you unscrewed your belly button, your bottom would fall off
that if you put hair in water, it would turn into living worms

I also had some fear about the sound of a heartbeat - I don't know exactly why, but every time we went to the science museum in Boston, and I could hear that thing, I'd hide in my sister's stroller.

[wolfie]

I fully believed in Bloody Mary and would not try it and would have a fit if anyone said her name in my presence

Would have been fun if you'd become a bartender before growing out of that belief.

I believed that some sort of beings lived in bathroom mirrors, and could only come out if it was dark in the bathroom and you looked in the mirror. I refused to enter a bathroom when the light was off

Been a while since I played AD&D, but I believe what you're referring to is called a "mirror of opposition".

[prjkt]

Surprisingly, watching TV in the dark technically could make you blind if you sit close enough (gives me a headache) - I read a story last year that a guy that spent too long on his phone every night ended up with a detached retina for reasons that were related somehow.

I used to believe the work "body" was synonymous with the word "bottom," referring to one's behind, and hearing news reports about bodies being found would give me images of disembodied bums lying in the gutter

[cindybubbles]

• I believed that mirrors were portals to a Mirror World, so I put my hands on them to see if I could go in.
• For some reason, when I was little, I was afraid of the front door.
• I also believed that the TV was a portal to another world, so I also tried to enter it.

[Nunavut Pants]

Heh, just mentioned this in another thread:

When I was about 5, I had a mixed-race friend who was allergic to chocolate. I thought it was because his skin was the color of chocolate...

[Kogarashi]

My youngest uncle (only 2 years older than me) convinced my sisters and I that any clear worms we found outside were leeches and would suck our blood out, and that airplanes overhead were Nazis left over from WWII searching for people to bomb, so we'd better hide in the bushes when planes passed by. Thing is, I still have the impression that this uncle believed both himself, and may have been told it by his older cousins.

[wolfie]

hearing news reports about bodies being found would give me images of disembodied bums lying in the gutter

A serial killer preying on the indigent?

[MoonCat]

Some kids in our neighborhood told stories about two houses that they claimed witches lived in. They said the old ladies would get you if you went past their house. I had a friend who lived on the corner of our block and I was afraid to walk past the "witches' house" to get to my friend's house.

Funny part is that years later, one of the scary houses was torn down to make way for a convenience store, and what did they find in the backyard? Two very old tombstones.

[Kittish]

I believed that a monster lived under my bed, and would attack me if I looked under there. Then, for years I had a giant turtle stuffie that lived under my bed because it scared the monster away.

I believed that if I studied hard in school and got good grades and went to college that I'd automatically get a good job in a field I enjoyed. After all, that's what all the adults around me kept parroting.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Some kids in our neighborhood told stories about two houses that they claimed witches lived in. They said the old ladies would get you if you went past their house. I had a friend who lived on the corner of our block and I was afraid to walk past the "witches' house" to get to my friend's house.

Lol. There was a "witches' house" where I lived, too. In reality, an old lady lived there who was a bit eccentric and had about six cats. But she looked like a witch, and would always come outside and yell at kids if they walked on her lawn. So every kid avoided that place like the plague. XD

My dad also told me and my brothers not to scream when playing outside, cuz if we screamed as tho we were being murdered, one day we would actually BE murdered and no-one would come and help us. My best friend's parents told her something even worse; they told her that the gypsies who kidnapped children found children to kidnap by following the sound of the screams. None of us ever screamed when playing outside and if other kids did, we told them why they shouldn't, further spreading the cautionary tales.

[Kogarashi]

Lol. There was a "witches' house" where I lived, too. In reality, an old lady lived there who was a bit eccentric and had about six cats. But she looked like a witch, and would always come outside and yell at kids if they walked on her lawn. So every kid avoided that place like the plague. XD

Now I'm picturing that crazy cat lady from The Simpsons who comes out of her house and starts throwing cats at Lisa.

[Marmalady]

A few miles away from where I live, there is a large water tower. Big enough to be quite a landmark. Its shape makes it look rather like a large screw or bolt - a tall round column, with a wider hexagonal top.

Having been told it was used to store water, for years I believed that when water was needed, the top had to be unscrewed to get it out. Quite how this was done, I had no idea, but I just 'knew' that's what happened.