Some of my friends and neighbours and I were on vacation in New Jersey, and as we were walking down the road to the beach, my friend ever so kindly pointed out that there were midgets who lived in the posts holding the lights up.
I, being the gullible "Pokemon Master", believed her. She then went on to explain how the midgets changed the colour of the lights when there were a lot of people waiting. However, if the midget saw someone they disliked, they would make them wait for a very, VERY long time. And the midgets didn't only live in the poles holding up traffic lights, but the streetlights lining the road as well.
....It's quite pathetic that I believed that, really.
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