around the house

When I was 3, our family lived in an apartment, and there was this part of the ceiling that wasn't even (looked like upside down stairs) . The air conditioner back then was really noisy, but I never paid it any attention until night time, because everything else was so quiet. I thought it was crocodiles in the uneven part of the ceiling that made the noise.

H.A.

I used to think that the toast would never pop out of the toaster if you watched it while you were waiting.

Anon

my mom told me once what sun beams were. but i thought she meant all the dust you can see when light shines on it, so i called dust that you could see "sun beans"

lauren

I used to believe that the devil lived in my heater because the coils inside would turn red when the heat was going. It scared me to death because it was right by my bed.

Kim

Until the age of 4, I would commonly ask my parents to put the "hands" on the vcr player to pause it. How are you suppposed to know the difference between "pause" and "paws" at that age?!

Angharad

My mother told me that there were monsters living in electrical sockets so if I stuck my hand in the wholes the monsters would bite my hand off...... I never did it, but everytime I would pass an electrical socket I would try and see the monsters.

Shelly

i grew up in a very country area & my mom has a little bit of an accent. it wasn't until probably jr high or high school that i realized that what i had been hearing as "chester drawers" was actually "chest of drawers". i thought that maybe the piece of furniture was invented by some guy named chester. it certainly makes more sense now. move over jessica simpson!

mariegael

This is something my husband shared with me...when he was rather young - 9 or 10, as he was leaving a friend's house, he saw a little "fire" in a tin box he didn't think should be there so he blew it out...needless to say, the next day his friend told him how unbelievably cold it was in the house that night - they even had frost on the windows! (it was winter time) my husband thought he was doing them a favor when he blew out the pilot light on the furnace!!!

Anon

when I was younger about 6 after seeing a movie about a man who lived in this families attic (I think it was A Man In The Attic or something like that)he was sort of evil he killed thier dog after the dog sniffed him out... I thought there was a man in our attic and late at night I would talk to him. I would let him know that I knew he was there and he could live there we didn't care...I would tell him this so he would not kill my family. as it turns out this belief was ill founded as we lived in an apartment in wisconsin and had no attic...I didn't really realize what an attic was I thought everyone had one. But I beleived for many years he was up there and would talk to him and let him know we were friendly and would never kick him out he could live there as long as he wanted and if we found him he was safe living in our attic.

kitty

From the time my poor abused brain could absorb knowledge, my mother told me that Pine Sol (mopping kitchen floor) would eat the skin off my feet if I walked on it. Yeah... I believed that till I was 18. Made sense, though, for something that smells like that.

thetruthaboutpinesol

When I was kid I had spinning chair and I knew when I spinned right, it got higher, and when spinned left it got lower. I used to believe if I was spinning right long enough, I would reach the ceiling!

Papcio

I used to, and kind of still do, that if I were to look at a dark window for too long, there was no way that a face wouldn't appear. I was so sure that if I kept on looking at that window that someones face would pop up... I still avoid dark windows.

Sam

I'm Native Canadian, and my tribe is called Haida. For years I thought that lots of people used sofas named after my tribe. It wasn't until later that I realized it was actually Hide-a-Bed.

Haida girl

I used to believe that when my parents said about a 'walk-in wardrobe' they were saying a 'walking' wardrobe! I was bloody terrified!

Unusual being

My parents had a decorative bottle that kind of looked like the one from "I dream of Jeannie." I believed that we had our own personal genie that lived inside and if I could ever get her to come out I could wish for lots of money and toys. I would always try to get the genie out but she never wanted to come out, so one day and I filled the bottle with water to see if she would float to the top. I never told my parents that I drowned our genie.

Danie

When I was little, I used to watch my mom put video tapes in the VCR. She would push the tape in to where her fingers would go past the VCR's faceplate. I had always thought that if I stuck my fingers in, the VCR would bite them off and that my mom had somehow magicly trained it not to bite her. I'm 14 now and I still prefer DVD players!

Apliscosisco

when i was younger, my mom used to run her finger under the water coming out of the faucet to see how hot/cold it was. since she was usually trying to get it hot, i thought that the water could only get hot if you ran your fingers under it. my mom and friend thought it was hilarious when i started running my fingers under the water one day when we were cooking, and i said something like, "im going to make it hotter for you, mom." they laughed, to say the least.

natalie

In first grade, my class discussed fire safety and what to do if a fire starts in your home. One kid asked, "What if you don't get out of your house when there is a fire?" The teacher replied, "The firefighters would turn your room upside down looking for you." Well, I interpreted this literally. I envisioned a scuba-tank-looking pump that firefighters would hook up outside of your room, fill the space around the room with air, push a button, and voila, your room would literally turn upside down. That way, all of the furniture would fall to the ground and the firefighter would find you.

Liz

When i used to go to my grandmothers house there used to be a turn in her stairs, and the step was in the shape of a coffin and i would think that if i stood on it a vampire would get me.

Ffiz

My sister thought that cars didn't actually move. Instead, the whole world moved around us and a car was some magic object that made it happen somehow. Even stranger, she didn't think that the objects just traveled, moreover that they got up and walked with legs like people do. To her, it was such an adventure, as if the whole world was marching parade style past the windows every time we drove somewhere. Can you imagine how fun the world must have been in her head?

A very amused sibling