general

My sister used to tell me that if I cracked my knuckles, then I would have fat knuckles when I grew up. It never stopped me though, and ironically, my knuckles are skinnier than hers!

Ali

Every night my father would come upstairs to say goodnight, and when he would go he always ‘hit’ his head against the wall. I used to believe that he was just being stupid and never learn and I would laugh at him, but when I was about nine years old my father finally told me his trick; he hit his arm against the wall. I was a smart kid, yup.

Laura

My great aunt was born with a leg deformity and had to have her foot amputated as a child. When I was about 4 years old, we were all at a big family cookout and everyone was swimming in my aunt's pool. I had no idea that she didn't have a foot and wore a fake one. As I was about to get into the pool, I saw her in the water at the edge of the pool...and I saw no foot! Which made me think that something happened to it in the water (like it got eaten ) and I FREEEEAKED out and started screaming and crying. She had to come over and explain everything to me, because I wouldn't get in the pool!

J.A.F.

I have a birthmark right at the middle of the sole of my left foot. For some reason, I used to believe that everyone had one there.

When I was something like 10 years old I happened to see the sole of my friend's foot and was quite flabbergasted because she didn't have one.

Minna Pöntinen

My parents did a bad job explaining why fingernails, etc. grew back when you cut them...so I truly believed that if I cut off a finger it would grow back...don't worry I never tried....

Anne

I was born with carpenters thumbs which are thumbs that basically look a lot like toes. So when I was little and asked my mom why my thumbs looked like my toes she replied by telling me "You were born with 6 toes on each foot and no thumbs, so the doctors decided to removed the extra toes and attach them to your hands so your life could be more normal." It scared me, but now that I know it's not true I can con other people into believing it. And they do!! :P

Jillian

i use to coach a little girl who was convinced that she didn't have any blood ... she was about 4 ... one day she cut herself and started freaking out because "there is blood coming out of me"

mekare

As a child my mother told me that the only thing I could put in my ear was my elbow, which of course is physically impossible, but thinking that mumsy was serious I honestly thought there was a way to do it. After all, why would she tell me I could put my elbow in my ear if it was not something I could actually do. Of course, I was never able to, and when I grew up, I realized that she told me that on purpose knowing that it could not be done.

M.D.M.

My dad would wear one of his 20 year old college shirts to bed and I always thought the wholes in the armpits were from my dad sweating so much, because he was always stinky

Eliza

my mom used to scare us into washing our hands before we ate by telling us that the dirt under our nails were really little worms!

gretch

I used to believe that if someone smacked you in the back of the head while making a funny face your face would freeze like that.... All thanks to my father

Vickie

My cousin kevin used to tell me my head had fallen off, I would then go looking for it under the table.....

Amy Mulhern (age 27)

I used to believe, as it seems many people still do, that blood is blue when it's in your body and only turns red when it hits open air. I still hear people say "look at your veins...they're blue..your bloods blue.". many still don't get the truth

Anon

I once believed that heaven was located inside my heart and that when people died, they took up residence inside my chest (I imagined these people carving a city in my heart). I was a little worried about what would happen to them when it started to get too crowded--I thought that some of them might migrate to other body parts and I didn't want them to start building things in my stomach, too.

I don't really know where I got this idea from, but I was convinced that I had a bunch of miniature dead people wandering around in my ribcage for a while.

Emme

When I was 5 I used to lay my head down to my brother´s belly to listen to his bowels´ sounds / I now believe many if not every child does this/, but somehow these sounds made me picture the bowels looking like a big nice juicy slice of water melon. Today I am a doctor and sometimes when I am listening to peoples´ bowels sounds with a sthetoscope I recall the picture and have to smile and they don´t have a clue why.
P.S.1: This is another story - but you wouldn´t believe, what many grown people think of what human body looks like and functions inside - this could be a topic for another great site like this.
P.S.2: Excuse my English, I´m not a native speaker.

Anon

i used to believe that if you pulled a face and the wind blew you would be stuck like that forever

Lucy

My grandfather had me convinced that my aunts and mother were well-endowed in the chest area because they blew on their thumbs all the time.

I tried and tried and tried.

It never worked!!

Anon

I thought that when the doctor tapped your knee to check your reflexes, that your leg was not suposed to move. I would hold it as still as possible. They never said anything was wrong with me.

B

My mother told me that if I did not keep my ears clean, potatoes would grow in my ear canals. The thougt terrified me.

mark

i used to believe that there was some kind of food that would make your hair grow long and make your breasts bigger overnight...

Morgan