animals: creepy crawlies

I used to believe that earwigs were ears that would crawl around and they wore a wig, I always ran away when my dad said there was an earwig because I didn't want to see it.

When I was little my grandmother told me that if a thousand legged worm saw my teeth that they would all fall out. After I heard that every time I would see a thousand legged worm I would press my lips together and even talk with them curled over my teeth! Finally, they told me that it wasn't true but to this day (out of habit) I still cover my teeth when I see a thousand legged worm.

When I was four or five, my brother told me that worms would crawl up my nose. So every time it rained and the worms would come out on the sidewalk, I would stand perfectly still, petrified with fear, and scream bloody murder until my mom came to "rescue" me.

my grandpa used to tell me that "eye eating spiders" existed, so for a long time growing up I used to sleep with a pillow or a blanket over my eyes so they couldn't eat my eyes while I was a sleep.

When I was little, I thought the buzzing noise that june bugs make was a natural noise that happened when it was hot out. We moved to the coast when I was around 6 and there weren't june bugs, so I figured that's why it was always cold and windy

When I was eight I became convinced butterflies stalked you because whenever I was outside one always seemed to be coming near me, and in the butterfly zone at the Bronx zoo on a class trip I was screaming (was afraid of ALL insects back then) because they all seemed to be following me and wouldn't go away.

When I was eleven it was DRAGONFLIES that I thought would stalk you.

Now I'm slooowwly getting over my fear of both those bugs (completely done with the fear of butterflies) and I still think they stalk you but I dun really care anymore.

Oh, and BEES stalk you too

I thought that gnats were baby flies, then one day I found out about maggots. yuck

I used to think that black widow spiders lived under my covers, but ONLY at night when i was under them, and I would be scared they were going to crawl up my legs at night when i wasnt looking.

I used to believe that if i splashed water on the wall during a bath, the water would turn into spiders

I was always scared to kill any bug because I thought that when you died you'd have to live the life of everything you ever had killed. I always imagined how much it would suck having to be squised, and that was motivation enough.

my sister when she was little thorght head lice tried to borrow into her head to get to her brain

I once thought that snakes had legs like a centipede.

My cousin was terrified of cobwebs because she thought they came from spiders. Which of course they do. But to calm her fears her mother told her that they are made by "The Cob Fairies" who are invisible and come at night to decorate houses... she still hates spiders, but has no problem with cobwebs now, even though she knows better!

I used to think that bees and wasps only stung people on the ears.

When I was a little girl my Daddy and I watched lot's of scary movies together. One of them was a Twilight Zone that showed a man lose his mind after earwigs crawled into his ear and damaged his brain.

I still get the creeps when I find an earwig near me, maybe if they were heavier walkers and I knew they were coming........

I used to believe butterflies made butter.