history

In second grade my mom and aunt were helping me study for a history test. they both told me that George Washington is called the father of our country not only because he lead the continental army and was our first president, but because while he traveled across America fighting battles, he would sleep with woman all across the country, so he had children all across the country.

I had told this to several friends and teachers over the years. I didn't find out until a college friend called me out on it a couple years ago, and when I talked to my mom about it, she said that she and my aunt were just joking.

icarusxfemme

I used to believe that when they said America 'broke away' from England during the American Revolution that we literally took shovels and pitchforks and hacked our continent off of England and then floated away.

Iris

I thought Martin Luther King Jr. could fly.

I had a superhero phase, and one day my mom showed me a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and told me that there were such things as real heroes in the world and that he was one of them.

I thought she meant he was a superhero, so I pictured him flying around, and Martin Luther King Day became the coolest holiday ever to me

Cole J

When I was in about 1st or 2nd grade, I saw a history book for the first time. As we would read them in class, I'd think to myself "Wow, someone actually had to sit there with a blank book, pen ready, all through out time and writting down anything interesting that happened!" That same year we learned about the Magna Carta...as we read that, I thought "That had to be really annoying to write down a chapter about some King signing papers...it must have been a boring year."
Then I remember comming home upset one day after learning about the Civil War because I had the idea that the book-writer kept dying and someone else would have to take his place in order to get it into history.
Later I was told that history books were written by people who studied the past...but then I thought to myself "I was right! Someone did have to sit there and write about importaint things when they happened in order to create the books now."

Teensa Faye

When i was little, I used to believe that queens and kings were different from other people. They only ate at feasts and banquets, and just otherwise sat on their thrones ALL DAY. They didnt pee or sleep and certainly didnt fart or anything like that.

lisa

One day I was babysitting this kid and he said "we learned about Abraham Lincoln today and he's a bad man." So I said "Why is he so bad?" and the kid replied "He wants everyone to be seagulls." I think he meant equal....

Turn the Page

I used to believe that the Gettysburg Address was the mailing address of the White House.

Anon

I used to think that the Stone of Scone in Scotland was actually a giant scone that had been baked wrong and come out like hard rock. I thought that the scottish clans used to deliberately bake their scones like this to throw at their enemies - and this was where the term "sconning someone" came from. I believed this up until a year ago. I'm 24 now.

Holly R

I used to believe that there were no dinosaur bones in America because I didn't think America existed until Columbus discovered it in 1492, and I knew dinosaurs died out millions of years ago. I didn't know how long ago that was, but I knew it was before 1492.

Athazagoraphobia

I used to believe that history was divided only in four periods: the dinosaur age which was very similar to the Flintstones, the middle age, when everyone was fighting dragons on an armor, the old west period (my personal favourite) when all humanity were indians and cowboys and the present days.

Bernardo Fernandez

When i was a kid I thought that the Great Depression was a time when the whole nation got really sad/depressed.

I feel like i believed this till I was almost 13.

Kim Petersen

Labor Day meant a long long time ago a whole bunch of women gave birth on that day. And that was the day all the baby boomers were born on.

Anon

I am a teacher at a primary school and was very surprised when one of my pupils asked me whether I used to be a monkey apparently he had seen Darwins picture of the evolution of man and presumed thats where men came from.

this kid also thought that I was 48 when i was 25 and that the world used to be black and white

bless

anon

I thought Marco Polo was a kind of shirt.

Anon

When I was little it was a common belief held by the kids in my neighbourhood that dinosaurs had lived a mere 100 years ago.

One Christmas, my Brownie troop went to a local rest home to sing carols for the residents. It turns out the day we went was also one of the residents' 100th birthday. One of the Brownie leaders introduced her to me this woman and told me that it was her 100th birthday. I was gob smacked! I immediately asked her what it was like to live with dinosaurs.

Sarah

When I was little, I went to a hospital, and I saw a omish couple. I yelled out and said. "Look dad, Pilgrims.!" I was told to be quiet as we ran out of the hostpital

Nathan Smith

In my history class, I was taught that the Native Americans smoked fish. My parents were both smokers, so I had a clear image in my head of people putting a fish tail in their mouth and lighting up the head.

abracadaver

When I was in primary school and about 8, I came to the conclusion that Beatrix Potter made the Bayeux Tapestry, because I thought they were spelt similarily and obviously I got confused.

Spacey

George Washington was the first president and on the $1 bill so naturally I assumed that since Lincoln was on the $5 bill, he was the fifth president

Anon

Im Irish and had never heard of Martin Luther. When I moved to the USA I assumed Martin Luther King was his son.

Im also 35 and only found out last weekend that the 3 musketeers werent real...... I was flabergasted.

I believed many a strange thing really. After last week end Im beginning to wonder if half the things I believe are fairy tales

Fiona