Everytime I rode with my parents in their car as a kid, I'd always hate stopping at traffic lights; I used to believe that traffic lights were actually operated by little traffic gnomes who decided when the lights would change to red, green, or yellow based on whether the driver was good or bad, or whether or not they were in a particularly good mood. Waiting at a red light for a long while made me hate those gnomes quite a bit.
A childhood belief about traffic lights

you weren't the only one
254 of you believed this
- I thought traffic lights were controlled by little men who lived inside them. Anon
- "Traffic lights are operated by monkies inside of them" or so a very reliable source informed me.— guuy
- when i was about 5-8 i used to believe that oompa loompas lived in traffic lights and controlled the lights!!— ~wierd ~
- i used to beleive that elves controlled traffic lights.— Jessica
- I thought that little tiny people changed the color of the stop lights.Anon
- When I was little, I was thought that little elves controlled the traffic lights..— Rosie