I thought ghosts were (just another mythical creature like unicorns) rather than a direct consequence of death. I believed it until I was eight.
A childhood belief about ghosts

others believed things like this
- i used to believe that swans were mythical creatures like unicorns or a phoenix.
— amber - When I was little I thought rhinoceroses were mythical creatures.Anon
- I believed that the inside of a tomato was a small, living creature and I flatly refused to eat that bit.Anon
- I had never seen a dove in real life before so I figured they were just mythical beings from the bibleAnon
- I used to believe that unicorns were real creatures. I thought they were just another type of horse.Anon
- my sister used to tell me that manhole covers were direct portals to hell.— autumn