when I was a young girl a neighbor told my brother and I that if we picked our nose and ate the boogers, they would turn into worms in our stomach.

We were so scared we didn't do it again, and just picked our nose and got rid of the evidence any way we could. Well, our grandma could always tell if we'd been picking our noses, somehow, and would chastise us. We were probably just messy about it, but I was convinced she was psychic.

Anon

When I was little I believed that boogers were parts of my brain that got used up.

anon

I remember a sunday school teacher telling me, after I was caught picking my nose, that if I picked too hard I might pull out a nose hair attached to my brain, causing instant death. Hmm... I was pretty scared until I was in high school science.

Anon

I used to believe that for some strange reason, snot was part of your brain that used to be a memory or piece of knowledge that I forgot so it shriveled up and moved out my nose. I was terrified I kept forgetting so many things!

K-80

my brother used to pick his nose and smear it all over the wall. i thought i was way smarter then him because i would pick my nose and wipe it on the side of the bed so no one would know.

kate

My aunt caught me picking my nose one day when I was really young. She told me that late at night, when I was asleep, little spacemen flew their spaceship up peoples noses, got out and went poop. That was what boogers really were. I was so concerned that I stayed up all night that night with my hand covering my nose in an attempt to keep them out of my nose.

Catfish

when i was little, my mother told me that boogers were actually dead bugs so that i wouldn't pick my nose and possibly consume it.

i believed this, without a second thought until i was about 13 and thought "hey wait a minute".

i was a dumb kid.

annie.

when i was eight i would stay at my baby-sitter's house when my parents had to work. and one night i slept over at her house and she thought that i picked my nose and i told her that i didn't but she didn't believe me and she told me that when boogers leave your nose they turn into monsters and that the booger monster comes to get you. I was afraid to blow my nose after that.

Bad-babysitter's customer

When I was little my older sister would pick her nose and tell me that it was good to do because boogers contained Vitamin C. I still thought it was grose and chose not to get Vitamin C via my boogers. To this day I still joke with her about it.

Alicia

when I was a small girl, I had the bad habit of picking my nose. I simply detested having bogeys in my nose, so I'd always pick them out. My mother, quite horrified at this once snapped at me: if you keep picking your nose, your nostrils will stretch and become huge. look what you have done to them already! I instantly stopped, terrified. I have big nostrils, was it my own fault?

katie

When i was little i thought that picking my nose and placing it somewhere would mean that the little people living inmy house would have something to eat!

Poppy

I used to spend a heck of a lot of time wondering whether it was just in my country or all over the world that people get "boogers" in their noses.

Natasha

my brother (10) still believes that if you stick your finger to far up your nose you can touch your brain

Anon

When I was in Kindergarten I was told if I picked my nose my nose will go into eternal bleeding

Sam

My mum always told me not to pick my nose and eat it because spiders would grow in my tummy......

Ben

When I was young, every time my mom caught me picking my nose she would threaten to send me off to live on a pig farm. One time, after wiping a booger on the couch, she picked up the phone and faked a phone call to Farmer Brown. I was mortified for the next hour, as I awaited Farmer Brown to come and take me away. Thank God he never showed up :-)

Zeke

when i was little i picked my nose like any other normal child. my mom told me if i picked my nose i would have worms grow in my stomach. well. we went to montana to visit family and while i was picking my nose one day i turned to my aunt and loudly proclaimed "I have worms!"

Anon

I was told as a kid that if you picked your nose and ate it your skin would turn green.

I often wondered about the origins of the Incredible Hulk...

Chris Sykes, Volume Ltd, Wokingham

My mom told me if I kept picking my nose that my nostrils would stretch to the size of dinner plates. My older brother even drew a picture to back it up.

Steph

I asked my mother if picking my nose would make me sick. She replied, "Yes." Thinking I would be able to stay home from school, I picked my nose frequently.

lil dopey