general

When I was about 4 yrs. old we lived in an upstairs apartment that had a porch. Every night in the summer I would sit on my Grandmother's lap and as the street lights came on she would tell me that the squirrles turned them on. Most times I would see squirrles running along the phone lines so I believed her for quite a few years.

Joanne

I really loved horses when I was little and was convinced that deers were special types of horses that lived in the forest. I called them "forest horses" until I was about 10 years old.

Marisa

My Aunt once told me that the sheep wool we found in fields was in fact bits of cloud that had fallen from the sky.I believed her for years and years and developed quite a collection.

Nina

When I was three years old my parents said we were going to the zoo, a place where lions and bears and other animals lived. I was terrified, I naturally assumed the animals were running around loose and would eat me. My parents eventually caught on and assured me the animals were all in cages and couldn't get me. I felt better until just after we arrived, when an ill-tempered goose (several inches taller than me) walked right up and bit my finger. At that terrible moment I lost all trust in both grown-ups and waterfowl.

Courtney

As I was the oldest, it was my job to warn my siblings of possible dangers around them. One day, mom took us all to the zoo, and we were excited that we were nearing the monkey house. On the way, I explained that the red-assed baboons could breath fire. Mom couldn't understand why the other kids suddenly wanted to leave and got hysterical when we got to the baboon cage. It helped that one of the baboons was throwing a tantrum and screaming. Which made my siblings start screaming, too. Classic.

Amber

I asked my dad what was in a manhole once when I was 5. My dad has a Northern accent, so when he said SEWER LINES, I thought he said SORE LIONS. I was scared to walk over one because I thought I could see lions licking themselves through the cracks and I thought they would pull me in and get me.

Erin H.

I grew up near the ocean, and when we'd go to the beach I'd catch sand crabs and let them go. My dad told me that if one pinched me with it's claw it wouldn't let go until it thundered. I believed this for years.

Chris

When I was a toddler my father told me all the bouys at the beach connected into a gate that kept sharks out. This belief lasted until my 2nd year of high school,and I haven't gone in the water since.

Anon

When I was in kindergarten I was afraid of going to the zoo because I thought that elephants could suck me into their heads with their trunks...

Sandy

When i was 7 years old, i liked animals a lot and especially gazelles. This one time when i was watching a nature documentary, I decided to be like a gazelle and imitate its jumping and running.

So I did. I tried to jump like an awesome gazelle but i ended up falling on my knees and hit my mouth on the computer desk. It hurt real bad and I spent the rest of the day screaming and crying in pain! I never watched another animal documentary again! At least I learned my lesson to never imitate what you see on animal documentaries ever again!

Gazelle girl (not)

When my cousin was about 5 years old, and I was 17, I had a green leather coat. Driving past a field of cows one day, she asked me how we got green leather, so I told her that cows came in all colours of the rainbow, but the colourful ones lived in underground bunkers so the normal cows didn't get jealous. She went home and old her mum this, and when she laughed and told her I was winding her up, she went in a huge huff at her mum for lying to her and wouldn't talk to her until I confessed!

Marie

I used to believe that armadillos only lived in Amarillo.

Laura

When I was about 4 my parents took me to the circus and whilst the elephants were performing everyone started to laugh. I asked my parents what they were laughing at and they said an elephant had “had a poo”, by the time I had looked over to the offending elephant, they had thrown straw over the pile, so for years I was convinced elephants poo’d straw!

Suzanne

i used to beleive that mice turned into elephants. i don't know where i got this beleif, as i was well aware that there were baby elephants. i remember once when we had mice in our house and i was so worried that they would turn into elephants and break through the ceiling, or stomp on us.

Kate!

When I was little, I thought that Amsterdam was the world capital of hamsters!

CountryWay

I had always wanted to have a koala as a pet. At around age 6-7 I thought I was ready to have one. My parents told me that they only ate eucalyptus leaves and it was not possible to have on as a pet. Well, my bedroom was over the dining room which was over the basement. I thought that we could grow a tree starting in the basement, up through the dining room and into my room. That way, the koala would be able to live in the tree and eat his or her special leaves! Needless to say, my Mom was less than thrilled with the idea of having a tree growing through her dining room! I also thought that I could have a dolphin living in my bathtub! My parents were not so happy with my pet choices as we already had 2 cats and a dog!

Danielle

I used to believe that an oilskin actually came from an animal called an Oil.....

Sally

When i was little my friend told me that the rocks in her backyard were hermit crab eggs. So i took a couple rocks, and went home with my mom and then sat on the rocks for a long time, keeping them warm like a chicken.

B

My grandma told me she used to think pigs came out of tree stumps.

Anon

I used to belive my Dad when he told me that all the sea creatures come onto land to go to sleep at night. When on holiday I used to sit staring at the shore at dusk waiting for the animals to start pouring out...

Julia