sleeping

When I was 5, my father casually told me as I was getting into bed about someone who had worn their socks to bed: Their feet had gotten so hot, they unknowingly bit their toes off in the middle of the night. Rest assured, that story stuck with me, and thereafter I never forgot to take my socks off before going to bed.

Mike

As a kid, I always thought there was a little projectionist in my head while I slept and showed me my own private movies.

Tim333

i was a really little kid when i was in elementary school, and got made fun of for being so short. so because my mom told me that people grow during their sleep, every night i would lay in bed fully stretched out in the hopes that i would grow. unfortunetly it didn't work.

Anon

I used to believe that during the night while we slept, we were on the part of the world that was "upside down." Of course our nighttime was China's daytime, so that's when they were upright. Sometimes I would get a floating sensation as I drifted off to sleep, and I assumed that I was feeling the world rotating into an upside down state for me.

Anon

When I was about four, I used to believe that when you fell asleep you actually died. Any dreams you had were the afterlife you experienced that night until you would come back to life the next morning. It wasn't that I missunderstood what death was at that age. I literally thought you died.

Nikko

before i went to sleep i would come up with a battle plan for my numerous stuffed animals. I would talk to them each individualy and put them by my head or back or wherever. They fought the bad guys trying to kill me from the evil side of the bed all night. So in the morning i would thank them and tell them to get some rest.

plush commander

When I was little, I thought that if you slept with your arms up at all (like under your head) that little tickle-y men would come tickle you under your arms.

Anon

When I was about 5 or so, I used to think that when people went to sleep they stopped breathing. So whenever I would pretend to be asleep I would hold my breath for as long as I could.

Val

When I was elementary school aged I was afraid to fall to sleep. I thought that going to sleep was actually a painful process, but that you didn't remember it when you woke up in the morning (kind of like the way you don't always remember dreams). Even now I sometimes wonder how I would ever know if I was right or not...

ORoses

My father also used to tell me that there was a flying monster making people blind if they didn't sleep. When I went to bed I keept my eyes shut until I sleept (if I had to open them I did it under my quilt).

Kim

when i was little i went to dominican republic for the first time and i was scared of everything...... i spent the night at my uncles house , but i had trouble sleeping , so to make me feel better my uncle told me that everything was fine , but to sleep with my mouth closed because roaches would crawl into peoples mouths often there. needless to say , i was up all night long , and i still beleived it at 12 years old :)

zettegirl

my uncle used to tell me that when you went to sleep at night, all snuggled in your safe bed, that the rats would come out and drink from the corners of your eyes.

Anon

I used to believe that when I Went to sleep, my heart would stop beating. I mean, hearts need rest too, you know!

endaphia

I used to believe that the little bit of gunk in the corner of your eyes (or as my mom used to call it, sleep) would glow in the dark, I guess because it kind of looks the same color as the glow in the dark stuff. So I tried collecting it for a couple of days. I didn't work.

Zoe

I used to hear, on TV soaps and stuff, all this fuss being made about people 'sleeping together', and I never understood why a woman or ma would get reall angry and upset and make such a big deal when their partner 'slept with' someone else, as I would tell everyone else ' What's the big deal? I sleep with my brother, my sister, and my friends all the time!'

Anon

When I was little I had a theory that while you were sleeping, you were a blade of grass awake on the other side of the world. During the day, you were awake and your blade of grass was asleep.

DarkElf Mairead

The first time I noticed that I could hear my pulse in my ear when my head was on the pillow was when I was sick. My mom came in and felt my forehead and said "Oh good, your fever's going down." So for a long time I thought that the pulse I was hearing was the sound of a fever going down. Boy, I had a lot of fevers, and most of them went unnoticed by grownups, but I could hear them going down when I got in bed at night!

K.

When I was very young I believed there was a little man with a Mercurochrome( if any of you even know what this is) stick would tickle me under my arms if I fell asleep with my arms above my head. So I never slept with my arms up!

Anon

I couldn't remember ever falling asleep, so I just assumed I stayed awake in bed and stared at the ceiling the entire time. It definitely felt like hours to me lol

Emmily

My parents had some carved wooden figures that my brother bought them in Korea - they were an old Korean man and woman, both with bizarrely carved faces and carrying big walking sticks. My sister convinced me that when I went to sleep at night, they came alive and beat me over the head with their little sticks.

Peg