Trees grew leaves as camouflage so birds would`nd nest in them. Don`t ask.

DaWind (from nature : plants)

for some strange reason, I used to believe that criminals always ate prawns. And when my grandad got his car stolen and it was dumped at tescos i thought the robbers had stoped to buy prawns

joe s (from the law : criminals)

The first time we took our cat to the veterinarian, I was shocked to find out that the veterinarian was a human. I'd always pictured a big, upright-walking dog in a white lab coat...sort of like McGruff the crime dog..... if he'd gone to medical school.

Patty (from grown-ups : work)

I have no earthly idea why I believed this but when I was a very small child and my parents first started taking me with them to mass, I didn't know the priest was a real person. I thought he was a robot.

Charles Maurer (Pennsylvania) (from religion : church)

When I was about 6, my mother told me I could be anything when I got older. I told her I wanted to be a dinosaur or the color orange. I am 21 now with a math degree and I still destine to be "orange!"

The Dirtie D (from grown-ups : getting older)

i was always fascinated by the receipts given by ATM machines. one day, my brother told me that if you could get the receipts out of the tiny containers people put them in, and took them to the bank, then the bank would give you the amount of money shown on the docket. i was excited for 15 mins, thinking i would make our family rich, until i jammed my fingers in the container.

Anon (from the world : money)

I was convinced by my older cousin that if I put moss in the letterbox then when you had enough the mailman paid you $10.00 We were 8 and 6 at the time.
Needless to say my mum always wanted to know why some idiot kept putting moss in the letterbox.

Jen (from nature : plants)

I used to believe that speedbumps were actually there for the blind to drive, and they read it like braille. Thanks to my older brother and sister of course.

Rocky (from transport : cars)

Raised a Baptist, I was taught to believe in Jesus' imminent return. Accordingly, I often would gaze at the sky in hope of seeing Him descend in glory from the clouds--an event I avidly awaited, as I was anxious not only to enter bliss eternal and to meet Jesus and Jehovah but to meet Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, who was my hero at the time.

s.smith (from religion : characters)

I used to believe that I could be anything I wanted when I grew up. That's why I wanted to be an airport. My best friend wanted to be a firetruck.

BP (from grown-ups : work)

I noticed that chewing gum came in packs of 5 sticks of gum, making it hard to share gum evenly with your friends. I concluded it was part of a conspiracy to force kids to learn how to do fractions and division! This conclusion was reinforced when I observed that the big gum packs came with 17 sticks of gum!

Kdees (from food : chewing gum)

When I was about 4, I believed that if you scrub a vinyl record hard enough, long enough, with enough soap, you could erase what was on it and record your own songs there instead. I was never quite able to do this successfully, (this was before recordable CD's, or any CD's actually), but I did render several vinyl records completely unplayable.

Dave J. (from science : technology)

We had a fridge with an unmarked switch inside. After I had flipped the switch a few times (turned off the defrost settings? Turned off the fridge? I dont know...) my sister told me that flipping the switch turns the neighbors house upside down. (!) I believed her until I was about 5, at which point I performed an experiment (flipped the switch and ran outside), and was very, very relieved to find the neighbor's house right-side-up.

Dave J. (from science : technology)

When I was very young a friend of my mother would come to visit. Her leg had been amputated and when she would drink coffee I waited with great anticipation thinking that the coffee would drip out any minute.

Alicia (from body parts : general)

I used to believe that everything big was something God owned. So if I saw a huge pair of sunglasses (those ridiculous plastic neon ones) or an enormous footprint-shaped stain on my mattress base, I would say "Look mummy! That's God's footprint" It's still a bit of an amusing game to play I guess.

Natalya (from religion : characters)

About the age of 4 I truly believed that my sleeping pattern controlled the sun. It would rise when I woke up and it would set when I went back to bed so, naturally, I controlled it. My whole world changed when one day I awoke around noon (must have had a late night with my older brother.) I started freaking out, telling everyone how sorry I was for not bringing the sun out. I guess my grandma didn't have the heart to tell me the truth, she just told me not to sleep in again because the world needs the sun.

Jackie (from body functions : special powers)

When I was little, I was taught about heaven and how when we went there we'd be able to fly. I was also taught that if we had enough faith, we'd be able to do anything. Thinking that the only thing keeping me from flying now was my "weak" faith, I would think about God while jumping off a chair. Of course, I always fell and so concluded that in heaven people simply lined up behind one of those man-cannons, for their turn to be shot into the sky. They just fell slower.

Rose (from religion : afterlife)

When I went to nursery school we got to drink milk or water at certain times of day. I used to think that if you mixed them together, and drank it, you would turn into a dinosaur. I have no idea why...

Matt (from food : milk)

When I was younger, there were protests against destruction of the rainforests for cattle ranching. So somebody told me that 'they cut down the rainforests to make McDonalds beefburgers'. For years I thought that burgers were made of wood.

Anon (from food : general)

For some reason, when I was a little kid I was convinced that if you hooked two nine volt batteries to each other, they'd explode violently and destroy anything within about 100 feet.

Jim Thomason... (from science : chemistry)