My cousins told me that if you eat the white part of the watermelon rind it will poison you... for years I left a respectful inch of the good stuff above the rind... though I was eventually disabused of the notion.
A childhood belief about watermelons

others believed things like this
- My grandpa told me that edible part of the watermelon was blue until you cut them open. Anon
- as a kid, i was told by my older cousins that i wasnt human until i turned 7 years old.— twk
- If you eat watermelon seeds a watermelon will grow in your tummy and vines will come out your earsAnon
- when you eat the seeds from a watermelon a watermelon will start to grow inside your stomache.Anon
- I used to believe that if you ate a watermelon seed you would grow a watermelon tree in your stomach!!!— Eskimo
- I use to believe (thanks to my Mom) that if I swallowed a watermelon seed a watermelon would grow in my belly.Anon