death

When I was about 3 years old, and my parents took me to the cemetery to visit the family graves, it gave me a queer feeling when I was told that our loved ones were underground. I pictured them being trapped down there, and I had a sense that they were aware of my walking around on the ground above them. I thought that if I stepped on their tombstone they would be mad at me and psychically shout, "Hey, don't step on my stone!" Also, when my mom or dad pulled out the water can for the flowers from its hole in the ground, I dared not to look into the hole, thinking that the dead relative would be looking back up at me. I also thought that if you stuck your hand in the hole they would grab your hand from below.

DeeDub

I used to believe that if you went over a dead end, you would die.

CoyoteBitch

When I was a child, I used to believe that when people died, they went to the moon, so I wanted to become an astronaut to see my dead relatives.

Dani

When I was 6, my grandma's dog passed. After he died she adopted another dog who was rescued from abusive owners, as her other dog was lonely, and the other dog seemed to know he was passing, so she was upset. But I didn't grasp the concept of death yet, so one day, when I was visiting my grandmother during spring break, I asked her where he went. My grandma replied that "Doug (I think that was his name, I don't remember) has gone swimming with your dad's dog you met when you were little, and we adopted Chile (the rescue dog's name), so Pepper (the name of the other dog) will still have someone to play with her and she won't be lonely." So when summer came and I visited my grandmother again, I wondered why Doug still hadn't came back from "going swimming" after 2-4 months, and I expected him to come back. It wasn't until 2012 when I was 9 and fully understood the concept of death, knowing that he wouldn't come back. A year later Pepper had gotten a stroke and was put down, and then I knew that she would "go swimming with Doug and Sally (my dad's dog's name)."

Hanjax 70

When I was young and folks or animals passed away at very old age my mother would say they "died of old age". I remember believing this was an actual cause of death, like there wasn't some disease or ailment caused by age that did it, but that an old thing literally just died with no traceable reason aside from the fact that they were old, as if there was no exact explanation and at a certain age all the organs just collectively shut down at once and the person just died. I believed this until I was 17 and can even remember the conversation that led to my realization that I was wrong.
"Great grandma passed on a month ago", I said.
"Oh no! What caused it?" The lady asked.
"Old age"
"Right but how did she die?"
"She died of old age"
My mother then pulled me aside to explain that just being old doesn't kill people, it's other real problems that come with it. I was so frustrated with my own cluelessness

A very confused person

You know how parents tell their kids that their pets went to live on a nice farm when they have to be put down? Well, when my family and I moved into an apartment complex when I was seven, we sent our dog Muffy to live on my uncle's farm. I never understood why everyone looked so sad when I told them this until recently

the dog's still alive

when I was child I used to belive that the deads appears in the nigth when the lights turn off. I grew up thinking that was real.

Anon