i used to believe that land was floating like surfboards from this i concluded that with a good push we could collide with other countries. after my brother saw the film Jaws and explained it to me in great detail i then believed that sharks could burst up through drains and cracks in the pavement and needless to say, have avoided all cracks and drains since.

just an observer

When I was 4 or 5, I loved gems. I always wanted to see them, and then I would look at them. Well, you know how gems are mined out of caves and stuff, and then they are all cut into brilliants and stuff? I used to believe that gems were found, ALREADY cut.

M

I used to believe the world was just some big guy's head and he was always sleeping. An earthquake would happen because he was moving in his sleep, and volcanoes would erupt because he had to sneeze. I always thought though that when and if he woke up, the world would be gone so I would always try to be quiet and good so I wouldn't destroy the world.

Carl

When traveling, I used to believe the hills and mountains were graves for giants.

seattle

I used to believe that each state in the continental US had a big red line painted around its border, like on a map of the US. When on vacation with my family, I eagerly looked for these lines when we crossed state boundaries, and was very disappointed to not see them!

Anon

When we used to drive past farmlands with those giant circular haybales that look like Shredded Wheat cereals, I thought that the farmers had grown them, like lettuce. I wondered how it was done, because the times I tried planting Shredding Wheats in the ground nothing came up..

J.S.

When I was young, about 5, my mom told me that a bog was a place where when you go in and come out you turn into a mummy. The visualization I got from this was a hole 3x3 feet big, with green fog coming out of it, and mummys coming out of it.

John

I used to believe when I was young that little rocks grew into bigger rocks. Now I know its actually the other way around.

Anon

that the mountains that i could see in the distance from my house were the barrier of everything. every other state or country had to be somewhere between the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.

Anon

That the earth was inside a gigantic envelope, and the stars were pinholes in the envelope.

Kara

A girl in my class brought in a little tiki statue that she said was made from lava. I thought if it broke open there would be fiery hot lava inside. I also believed certain seed pods had bees inside them.

Kristen

i could never get my mind around the world being round and used to believe that the clouds in the sky were the whales in the see of the country opposite us on teh globe.

ursula

I remember thinking, for some strange reason, that a "sun set" was a day glo set of folding chairs and a card table. Unfortunately my internal monologue is no less confusing at 29...

Peg

I used to believe that when someone "bought a piece of land" they actually had to cut it out of the ground with a knife...!

K

I used to believe that all land floated on water. After all, when you drill down into the ground, you get water (oil never crossed my mind), hence that belief.

Loney B.

My mom believed, when she was little, that we lived on the inside of the world. This belief stemmed from the fact that the sky is blue, and pictures of the Earth are mostly blue. So basically, she believed we were staring up at the Earth's shell.

Anon

When I was young, I remember seeing a Sesame Street episode where a mountain was shaped like Mr. Snuffleupagus. I spent years looking at every mountain we drove by to see if I could find that mountain. Even now I catch myself looking at mountains and remembering what I used to believe!

Darin

I used to believe that very large rocks and boulders were actually petrified dinosauer poop.

Maureen

My 14 year old daughter believes that the North/South Poles are so named because there are actual wooden poles at both locations.........

Frank

When I was 7 or 8 I noticed those orange balls on some wires going across open fields and asked my aunt what they were, and because of what she told me I believed until I was 17 years old that they were basketballs kids had got stuck up there on the wire.

Jake