A childhood belief about classes

I grew up in a small town and our Elementary School was one floor (of classrooms) and then had about 15 steps down to a gymnasium. I remember every day that we had Gym class (right up until we left for High School in grade 7) EVERYBODY would skip the third stair from the bottom because it was grey and all the rest were red... the "big kids" told us when we were in kindergarten that if we stepped on the grey step, a monster would kill us the next time we were alone...I remember every time I had to go to the bathroom I would RUN to it, because the stairs to the Gym were right next to the bathroom...and I'd pray the whole time.

So a couple of years ago, I was laying on a boat with a friend of mine (I think I was in grade 11 or 12 and he had been graduated for 4 or 5 years) and we were talking about how much we missed being kids...and he brought up the grey stair! I thought it was funny that EVERYBODY that went to school there knew about it and were scared because it had been passed down for so long.

(I still skip the third stair when I visit the school)