If you have ever seen those big capped off PVC pipes that stick up out of the ground ( I don't know what they are), well I used to think that those were pipes that lead to hell and that if you ever took the cap off that fire would come out, oh yeah, and rollie pollie bugs were from hell because they were always around one of those pipes that was at my daycare.

Keri

When I was younger I was taught about the rapture in Sunday School and how it could happen at any moment. Those who believed, disappeared instantly. For some reason, I believed that this included all animals. So when my dog would go missing and I was home alone, I would ball my head off thinking I was left behind. Needless to say, I kept that poor dog at my side as much as I could. He was my rapture indicator.

j.k.r.

I used to believe that when you died, you immediately became a ghost. good people went to live with God in heaven, + he gave them wings as a reward, so that's where angels came from. Devils were bad people who were given horns + pointy tails so they looked like Satan. if you weren't especially one way or the other, you would be allowed to choose whether to become a ghost, a zombie, or a vampire.
I did wonder why someone eeeeevil enough to want to go round sucking people's blood didn't go straight to Hell, but... well, God moves in mysterious ways.
I also thought that lava comming out of volcanoes was hot because Hell was down there...

Nin

When I was little my grandmother told me that heaven was what ever you wanted it to be. At that time I used to think it would be great if it was nothing but a big carnival where you didn't have to pay for any rides and could eat anything you wanted to eat (without getting sick of course). As I grew older my visions of what I thought it would be neat to have as heaven changed, I even thought about it after I learned about religion at times...kind of a "what if" thing.

Michael

When i was 8 or so, my friend told me that wonce you die your sprit can die, and then it became a mega sprit (so on). So i allways thot that wonse you get throu with all the stages you come back to life and you remember it all. so i went around asking people what it was like

Kelly

After reading a label on a small bottle of Holy Water, I thought it could bring my dead grandfather back to life. I didn't dare try it though, I guess I was too scared. I only realized it a few years later after reading the label again.

Justy

I used to think that God would carry a giant golden book around with everyone's name in it and put a little green check by the names of people who were going to heaven.

Anon

when there is a spot where the sun only shines between 2 clowds god was takeing dead people up to heaven.

manda

I used to believe that our soul looks kind of like a pencil, and is golden, and that it lies in the middle of our chest. And when we die, it would fly up to the sky and go to heaven. Later my mom explained to me that the soul is not actually an organ, and that we cannot see it. That really confused me for a while.

Verena

I used to believe that when my family went to Europe with an airplane that we went to heaven because we were going up wards, that we never went back down. I thought the plane would land on a cloud and the people waiting for their families were angels welcoming us to the afterlife.

Maria

I used to belive I could be Jesus's girlfriend when I died.

WTPOGAR

When I saw those sunbeams that sometimes come from clouds, I used to think that it was Jesus coming back to take all the Christians up to heaven.

Bethany

I surprised my Mam once when I was about 4 by explaining to her in all seriousness:

"When they die, very good people go to Heaven, and very bad people go to Hull."

This only makes sense if you live in the UK, though. ;o)

Rachel Nunson

When I was little, my parents told me that if I swore too much, God could hear me and He'd think I had a bad soul. So every time I swore, I pictured a black mark being put on my soul. I thought that when someone's soul turned completely black, they were sent to Hell.

Caitlin

When I was 5 I used to think that the clouds were where God and the Angels were. When we were flying to Europe when I was 6, I looked despritly around in the window hopeing to see an angel. When we got to Europe, I realized there were no Angels up in Clouds...

Karli KandyBar

I used to belive that when you died, before you could go wherever it was you were going to, you had to read a huge book listing all the wrong things you ever did.

Anon

I used to think that when you died, you spent a period of time in heaven, and then went to hell -- sort of a reverse purgatory. This came from the fact that this was what happened in that "Found a Peanut" song (where the guy eats a rotten peanut and dies) when my mom sung it.

Lydia

I used to think you could drive to heaven to visit your friends and relatives who had died before....

wombat

I was a very pious good Catholic little girl. So I thought the idea of dying and going to heaven would be very nice.

I envisioned lying in a bed with elaborately carved golden posts at each corner. Then when one died, four angels would appear--one at each post--and would fly the bed right into heaven. I think I got this mixed up with the doctrine of Mary's assumption into heaven, which the Church was proclaiming at the time.

naive Washingtonian

from when i was about 3 to 9, i always had this vision that when you died, everyone in heaven would be playing checkers; even elvis!

emily