I used to believe that I could pray for any animal that I cared for that passed away to go to heaven. I thought if I did this, one day, when I went to heaven, I'd have all of my animal friends there to meet me, but if I couldn't pray for too many because for each one, that took part of my place in heaven and if I prayed for to many, I'd never make it to heaven at all because I'd have given them all of my place there.

sunray117

i use to belive that when people died they became animals. when animals died they became people. so when my grampa died i found a kittion. and i thought he was my grampa so i called him gran.

lizzy

i used to think when a human died it turned to a dog then squirl then lizard and every animal so every pet i had(ALOT) were all named frank or bob or lidia

brought up confused

When I was around three or four, our cat Critter died. When I wondered where she had gone, my older sister told me that Critter was in a hole in the ground because she got too old.
That left me with the image of my cat underground with a long grey beard.

Anon

When I was a little girl my Dad told me that if horses laid down they would die.
I was in my thirty's before I found out otherwise.

Pam

When I was little, I believed that animals died the way they did in the cartoons - they just flopped down on their backs and put their feet in the air.

I firmly believed that until one day. I saw a squirrel run across the street and get hit by a minivan doing over fifty (in the suburbs). Needless to say, it has remained one of my most vivid memories.

Jessica Tinch

When I was about 7, we had a goat by the name of Claude. He disappeared one day, and my parents told me he had gone to live on a farm, as he wasn't suitable for the rainforest where we lived. It was only when I was 25 that my mother told me he was eaten alive by dingoes (wild dogs native to Australia), and they were his horns sitting above our friend's fireplace in the house where I used to play often as a child.

Maria

My cousin used to have a pet named Pamster the Hamster- it was a vicious little beast that bit everyone's fingers. One day her mother heard her calling "Look, Mommy! Pamster's letting me pet her!" And it certainly was... lying very, very quietly...

Anon

When my sister was younger she believed that all animals had the right to be warm, this included chickens. However, chickens were outside animals, and could not be let inside the house.
One particular day when it was extra windy, my sister decided that it was the perfect time to "warm" up our poor chicken. So she stood on the outside wall of our laundry room and held the chicken up to the heat vent. Slowly but surely the chicken took in more carbon monoxide fumes than one could handle at any given time.
That's one chicken that didn't take off running after it lost its head...

S2Aries

I had a pet worm that I found outside. I didn't know that worms had to stay moist, so I played with it drying it out. Then it just broke in half, and I tried to tape it back together but it didn't work. All the brown stuff leaked out. So I put it in a piece of paper and buried it in my backyard. I thought that after I buried it, a bird dug the body up and ate the remainds. I felt so horrible. I cried for so long. I still think a bird ate it because the paper isn't there.

Gigi from NY

I used to believe that when my rat (Ms Peaches) died that she came back as a bird that flew into our house... I still believe it now

Gabrielle

When I was really little, my aunt's dog died. I didn't know what death was, I just knew the person went away and it was sad. And they couldn't ever be brought back. So when the dog died, I imagined Woody slipping through the floor until only his head was above the ground, and my aunt was crying, and then he went under. I don't know how I got that idea....

Laurel