I grew up in the Midwest, so every summer we wound up sitting under the basement stairs at least once due to a tornado watch or warning. I didn't have the slightest clue what a tornado was--I had heard the word and seen news footage of the wreckage they left behind, but I had never actually seen footage of a tornado. My five-year-old reasoning went something like this: "'tornado' sounds like 'tomato,' so it's probably something red and roundish... but it must also be big, and capable of destroying buildings." So, what's large, red, round, and has a tendency to smash through walls? The Kool-Aid mascot, of course! Every time I sat under those basement steps, I imagined a more massive version of the Kool-Aid mascot, stomping through town and booming, "Ohhh, yeeeah!" as he decimated trailer parks.

Despite the havoc he wreaked, I had no qualms about drinking his product.

Carrie

When i heard the word "tornado" i thought that people were saying "tomatoe" and when i saw houses flattened by "tomatoes" i thought that big pieces of tomatoes dropped down on peoples houses.

Abbey

When the Northridge earthquake happened in '94 in California, afterwards when I was in my parents bed for the rest of the morning (cause I was really scared of the aftershocks and was tramatized lol), the aftershocks would happen and my mom would cough cause she had a cold at the time. Whenever my mom would cough after the aftershocks would happened, I was afraid that if she coughed again that would set off the aftershocks again.

Moe

I was always afraid of trailer parks because I though that is where tornados came from.

Evan

In elementary school we were told that a tornado approaching sounded similar to the sound of a train. I took this as meaning the toot of a train- not the chug noise....I let my family in on my knowledge to warn them... but from that point on, every time my cousin and I were playing outside and a train in the distance tooted it's horn, she would run inside and lock me out, yelling that it was too late!! She couldn't open the door because of the tornado.. I cried and cried and held on to the railing waiting for the gust of wind to come and take me away...

Anon

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and my little sister and I were children when the big earthquake occured. A part of our school curriculum always involved natural disasters in the area so we both grew up learning about fault lines and plates. Several years after the earthquake my family was on holiday and we were driving through the small town of San Andreas, California. My sister saw the "Welcome to San Andreas" sign and promptly asked, "So is this where they keep and make all the earthquakes?" in reference to the San Andreas fault that we had learned so much about.

Liz

I used to beleive that earthquakes were monsters like spiders who lived under the ground and the hills were the bends in their legs

Wendy

I used to think that tornadoes were tomatoes. and when we were in a tornado warning I thoiught we were in a tomato warning and I was very scared. I thought the tomatoes were going to smash up our whole house like a tornado would.

Jennifer

When I was little there was a small tornado by where I lived. I remember thinking of a big robot with a tornado picture on it. And when everyone said the mountains would stop it from coming, I pictured it exploding right before it hit the mountains.

Mariah

After I first saw those gruesomely fascinating pictures of ancient people (but who looked like us) caught in the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii, I thought that lava was a magical substance that could immediately turn you to stone just by touching your toe.

Boethe

I used to think that every tornado had a cow standing up-right flying around with it, so if there was a tornado warning, I looked for the cow.

Kellie Anne

When I was in PreSchool we got the "Stop, Drop & Roll" lesson. I wasn't paying attention and for the longest time I thought this meant that if there was a fire at all I had to "Srop, Drop & Roll." I coudln't figure out why we shouldn't try to get away or to get help. I thought I had to roll on it to put it out.

L

when i was little theres was a tornado in our town.... it was zig-zaging all over my mom said "wow that tornado has a mind of its own....so i always thought there was like alittle brain the the center controling its every turn and decided wic houses to take out

Anon

When I was quite young, I'm guessing about 6, there was a tornado warning in our county so we were in the basement until it passed. However since I was so young, I made a connection between tornato and potato. So I started wondering why a potato swirling around on the ground was so dangerous. I was picturing a large potato bumping into things on the ground!

Kristen

I thought tornados were monsters,and that they called out the national guard to destroy it.

Ben J.Grimm

I used to think the Earth was going to explode eventually. I was certain because if I put my ear to the floor, I heard a deep low rumbling. It was a serious sound to my inexperienced ears.

a former child

When I was in kindergarten, a boy in my class told me that the rubber button-looking thing on the wall in the bathroom was an earthquake button. He said that if there was an earthquake, you push it in and it would keep the walls from falling down. It never occurred to me to question that, until many years later (I'm embarrassed to admit how old I was) when someone said something to me about the rubber doorstop. Before I could stop the words from coming out, I said, "Oh, that's what that is? I thought it was an earthquake button." Needless to say, I earned myself quite a lot of teasing for that one!

Amy

I used to believe that inside each volcano there was a guy who'd press a button to make it erupt.

Jim, UK

When I was little, I used to think that during an earthquake, the reason the bed would shake was because my sister was messing with me. I would yell to my parents to come and get my sister out from under my bed.

Garry

When I first learned about the hole in the ozone layer, I thought it was a big hole in the earth. I thought people were throwing thier trash in it and when they did a big earthquake would cause it to grow bigger.

Anon