When I was a kid we used to live next to an airforce base in California during the 80's. The 80's being the cold war era, one of my biggest fears was nuclear war... especially with all the made for TV movies on the subject.
Well one night I was awoken by a loud BOOM and a flash of light so bright it seemed like someone turned the all the lights in the house on and off. The booms and flashes continued over and over. Immediately I began to pray in earnest and in a cold sweat.... until I realized it was a thunder storm.
In my defense I had never experienced a thunderstom in my life and it was the worst one on record for that small town.

Rey

When I was around 4 years old there was a tremendous lighting storm occuring over us one night.

As a typical scared child in this situation my mother comforted me by telling me that all the noise was my Father fighting the giant ladybugs under the ground.

That belief held for a while and caused me more concern than a lightning storm ever would.

John

My mother told us that God was rolling great barrels of water toward the devil! It wasn;t hard to imagine this happening during the thunderstorms in northern Australia. I imagined this happened just on top of the thick grey clouds and wondered why it took so long for God to finally aim right and hit the devil

Yvonne

I used to believe that if you looked directly at a lightning bolt you'd go blind. Not really sure why I thought that, but even now when I see a lightning bolt in the sky I automatically look away.

Kammie

My friend believed that when lightening flashed, you better smile because God was taking your picture!

Linda from Southern California

I was told as a small child that thunder was caused by the sound of bricks being tipped from my dads boss's lorry. This meant i was the only kid around who wasnt scared to death in a storm!

john winstanley

When I was 8, I was told that people farted after eating baked beans and curry. The first thunderstorm after that, I thought that God was farting.

Anon

When I was little I used to believe that if I saw lightening or heard thunder I would be struck and killed, espaecially if I moved. I used to stuff cotton wool in my ears and hide under the covers to prevent death. I still shut my eyes now.

Sarah

I think thunder is the clouds fighting and bashing eachother and lightning is fire balls from the sun.

Crazy Cowgirl MADI

i used to believe that whenever it would thunder then it would crack the earth and we would all die and get sucked underneath........ dont know why but i did, i used to lie in me bed praying not to thunder so many times cos then i thought our time would end.... talk about weird beliefs!!!!

Emma, South Yorks

when i was a child, i used to be terrified of thunder & lightening, so my mom would tell me that Mary was making homemade pasta & was dropping the rolling pin (thunder) & that jesus was taking pictures (lightening)... i would go right to slepp after that...

Maria

I used to believe that when it thundered, it meant the devil was beating his wife.

Carol

I used to believe that when I heard thunder, God was rearranging His furniture. I wasn't even a Christian then, nor was my mom, so I have no idea where it came from.

Jaime

I used to believe that when there was thunder and lightning ans a storm going on that there were Lions sitting outside my bedroom window roaring to make me scared

Damo

When i was small i used to believe that lighting is the flash of camera which god used to take our photograph. And thundering is the shoutng to god fro his mother for wasting the roll in the camera.

Suzi

i used to believe that god was having a wee when it rained and the thunder was the chain was being flushed also i thaught lightning was god throwing angles from the sky so fast they turned blue and you could not see them

liam hope

I always thought thunder was the sound of the crumbling buildings, after lightning had struck them.

Anon

My mom once told me that storms were actually Heaven's worst boy bands that thought they were good enough to play music.

Nai

My mother always complained about the rain ruinning the pavimented roads and making holes in them. The idea that the water could make the holes sounded ridiculous, so I believed that when the thunders fell to the road, they made the holes.

Also, thats why I was very afraid when I was caught outside in a thunderstorm, regardless if I was in a car or in a building, the only place that was safe was my house.

Anon

Every time it thundered and rained I used to believe that God was passing wind and "peeing"!

Anon