When I was really young my brother told me to quickly run inside if I ever saw a vulture because it would swoop down and feed me to its young if it saw me.

Anjelique

When I was aged around 4 or 5 I had a dog that was completely insane. Well, one day he dissapeared. My Mom and Dad told me and my sister that they had taken him to a farm somewhere. I remeber asking my parents if they knew how Bruce (Crazy dog) was doing. They usually said they didn't know. Not until a few weeks ago did I find out that my Dad took him and shot him. I wasn't really devastaded, mainly because Bruce was toatlly crazy. Sad thing is, my parents decided to wait until I was 15 to tell me this...

Robyn Dunbar (Canada)

When I was young, we had a dog named Charlie. Charlie was old and my mom told me we were sending him to "the farm" to play with other dogs. I believed this until I was about 18! I guess it just sounded really nice.

Jill

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

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

we had lots of animals around the house and still do. one time, my gran's old dog died naturally.of course, i was sad as Tikka wasn't there anymore...untill my father told me she had gone to Cyprus. thing is, he travelled alot and one time,he had to go to Cyprus! i was petrified that he would never come back!

sad childhood

When I was wee I went to horse rining. Once when we were coming back from Donegal, we stopped in a resteraunt. That was when my mum made a big mistake, she said "I could eat a horse". I was horrified and told the waiter that my mum was a 'horse murderer' and made sure my dad took me to horse riding.

This went on for a couple of month untill it stopped becoming a joke for my parents.

Srange Kid

I used to believe that if you squeezed your fist very,very tightly you could not be stung by bees. Worked! Didn't work for wasps and hornets.

Ron

I was given a hush puppy in a restaurant when I was very young and didn't understand what it was. I thought it was a puppy someone had killed and 'hushed' so I didn't want it.. I exclaimed loudly in the restaurant, "him dead!". I'm told they all laughed at me... for good reason I guess!

blonnie

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

I used to believe that if you put salt on a dead fly it would make the fly come back to life.

Cody

You know how when a kid's pet dies and the parents replace him without the kid's knowing and say he came back to life? Well, for me it was the opposite! I accidentally injured my pet gerbil Timothy and there was blood and everything and we thought he was dead, but he revived somehow! But for years I thought my parents had replaced him behind my back. I believe them now, but I still have no idea how that happened. Wierd.

The Wicked Witch of the Northeast

once when i was little, i stepped on a lady bug i saw crawlling on the sidewalk. i buried it in my mom's flower garden and marked it with a stick. Like 5 minutes later i came back and i was expecting to see it's skeleton laying there were i had buried it!

keara

My parents told me when I was about 5 that roadkill animals weren't dead, they were actually sleeping. I believed this until I was about 10.

Anon

After seeing "All Dogs Go to Heaven", I was convinced that when dogs died, that's really where they went. As if they had their own special Doggy Heaven or something. I didn't stop believing that till I was about eleven. I'm fifteen now.

Anon

One day my pet goldfish had died and I had to flush him down the tiolet into the sewers. An idea sprung up ni my head. If a lot of pet fish die each day and are flushed, what would happen at the sewage treatment factory? I would think that the waste would be on a conveyer belt and somebody would be categorizing waste. They would be like "Log.. Log.. Oh! Another goldfish! This is my lucky day!"
I still kind of wonder about that today.

Wendell

when i was little i had a cat and when it died my mam told me she saw it turn into a cheeter and it ran away to find some other cheeters to ply with but it went so fast that it neva got the chance to say good bye i belived this until my 12th birthday when i found out what really happened!!!!

ellie

When I was 10 my Mother's dog passed away. My Mom told me that she had just died at home in her sleep and that my Dad and Grampy brought her to the vet to be buried. (She didnt want to tell me that they had to make the hard decision to put her to sleep--they didnt want me blaming them for her death). When I was 20 years old my Mom was talking to my friend about her old dog and made the statement, "When we had Tammy put to sleep" I was mortified! I wouldnt have been upset that she was put to sleep because death was death to me, but the fact that for 10 years I believed she died underneith the dining room table and had to be brought to the doctors" My Mom had no idea I still believed that years later.

Nikki

when i was about 6 i found a little snail in the garden.for some reason i called it pingu and brought it inside and put him in a jam jar.he lived for about a week.when i came downstairs my mum told me he had migrated for the winter!every summer my mum used to find a snail that looked just like pingu,and say he had come home! i really believed this until i was 11!

Emily

My friend's mom told my friend's little sister thatI when a dog died, it went to a retirement home.

ellen