creepy crawlies

My daughter was 4 and went with her grandparents to their camp. She saw a large spider and her grandmother told her it was a "Grand Daddy Long Legs".When we arrived at camp she excitely tried to tell me about the spider and called it a "Long Legged Mother". She is still teased today.

Linda

I used to believe that the bite of a maggot would kill you. I was scared to go near the garbage can because maggots sometimes hatched under it.

Kimberly

When I first arrived in Australia in 1973 and my parents and I made our first visit to Queensland's famous Gold Coast beaches, we were warned to "Watch out for the stinging bluebotles" as they can be fatal. - We spent the whole day anxiously looking upwards for huge flies with killer stings. It wasn't until later that we learned that the stinging bluebottles were actually a rather nasty kind of jellyfish!

Alan

I used to think that people were supposed to cover their mouths when they yawned to keep spiders from crawling in. This only applied at night for some reason... and I was always afraid that if I forgot to cover my mouth, a spider would hang down from the ceiling and drop into my mouth.

your cat

My older cousin told me that the average person swallowed 7 spiders per month from sleeping with their mouths open (so the spider would crawl in). It took years to realize that couldn't be true.

nrs

Whenever we would squish spiders in the house my brother and I would flush them down the toilet and he always said to be careful when I sat down to go to the bathroom cuz they might be coming back up to get me. Sometimes at night when I wake up and go I think about that and it still gives me the creeps.

Anon

As a child, I was told that if I were to kill a group of ants, it would start to rain. Still to this day I watch where I step if I don't want it to rain.

Gina

i used to believe that if a lizard's tail drops into your ears you'll become deaf

Anon

i used to think bugs could sting you through closed glass windows.

Anon

When I was little, I was playing outside and something got under my shirt and I ran in the house crying. My mom located the bug, which turned out to be a grasshopper......I didn't want to go outside again as I thought the same thing might happen.....in fact, I told my mom that I wouldn't even go out in the winter time. When she asked why, I told her that there would be "snowhoppers"!! Mom laughed, I didn't think it was so funny!

SK-Wisconsin

When I was about 5 years old, I found a worm in the backyard. Me being me, I wanted it for a pet. Of course, my mother didn't want a slimy invertebrate in the house so she decides to tell me that all worms grow up to be snakes. I actually believed in this until I was in fourth or fifth grade.

Shama

When I was little, my parents used to take us out to this local mexican restaurant quite often. Well, I was a bit of an obnoxious child, and to get me to behave, they used to tell me that the giant pot/urns in the corners of the room were filld with bugs and if I was bad the waiter would come over and put me in there and close the lid. Ever since then, I have had this unnatural fear of bugs. Not outdoors, but indoors. I can't sleep if I know there is a bug in the room. My parents laugh about it now, writing it off as first-time parent experimenting.

taliba

I have always loved nature and from a very early age was read books about animals from all over the world. When I was about five years old I rode my little 16" bicycle down the quarter mile long lane of our farm. In the middle of this quarter mile journey toward the end of the lane nearest the road and away from the house, I saw a snake crossing the road. It was about two or three feet long. When I reached the end of the lane I was terrified because I was certain this was a "baby" snake and that its mother, a 30'(at least) python was lurking in the ditch on the side of the lane. I sat there at the end of the lane for a long time. I thought at least I was lucky and had not run over the baby and made the "mom" python mad. I decided on a plan and screwed up my courage enough to get on my bike and race back down the lane as fast as I could pedal that little bike. I raced into the house and related my brush with death to my mother only to find out that pythons did not live in Iowa they live on another continent. I was both relieved and chagrined

Elizabeth