When I was a kid, I was told that earwigs can only crawl forwards, not backwards. If they got inside your ear they could end up eating through your brain, because they can only go forwards. To this day I still believe it.
A childhood belief about creepy crawlies

you weren't the only one
36 of you believed this
- I used to believe that ear wigs would climb in your ears while you slept and make you go mad— troy
- for the longest time, i believed that earwigs would crawl into my ears and eat my brain— Sarah
- I used to believe that "Earwigs lived in your ears", scared
me to death for years.— Will Chapman - i believed for awhile that earwigs would burrow into your ear canal and eat away at your brain. — Renae
- Earwigs crawl into your ears when your not looking and make nests in your brain.Anon