A childhood belief about in the street

I used to believe that that drainage ditches (common in our neighborhood) on the sides of the roads, the 4 or 5 ft long kind and the slope that is next to them would cause you to fall into them if you got too close, and that alligators would eat you once you were in. In walking past them I would steer clear of getting too close. Even though the opening is no greater than 6 or 8inches I thought you could still fall through them, even sitting on them was a scary thing!