death: people

I used to believe that the dark spots on sidewalks were the remains of people who had been struck by lightning. I tried very hard to avoid stepping on those spots when walking down the street.

On my first trip to Medieval Times (the one restaurant where you can watch a jousting show while eating old-style food) when I was nine, I thought the knights were really stabbing and killing eachother and therefore thought it must be quite a dangerous (not to mention suicidal o.o) job.

And then they all came back at the end and I was like "huh what"

When I was little, I had always believed that heaven was underground because dead people were buried. Then I learned about the underworld, which thoroughly confused me.

When I was little I misheard something about battery acid, and I thought that if you got some on your skin, you would explode.

I was about 7 and my bro and I were handling some cheap Chinese batteries and I got some acid on my hands. I started shaking and ran upstairs for dear life to the bathroom to wash it off before I exploded. I was expecting death at any second. Until my brother intervened to explain!

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

At the age of three my cousin and I believed that people automatically died when they reached the age of 20. I have a clear memory of panicking when he told me my Dad was at least 19.

When I was a child I believed that if I went into a room and couldn't remember what I was doing there, one of my family members would die.

When I was 5 I went to my great grandmother's wake with my mom. I understood what death was at 5, but my mom must not have realized this. When we were sitting down in the church, and everybody was going up to the casket, I asked my mom why there was a lid on the box (casket). She said that grandma was sick when she died and that the lid was in case she started coughing, they could close the box (casket) to keep all of us from getting sick. I was confused for a second, then asked her, "you can still cough after you die?" She said "yes." So, I believed that your body could cough for some time after you die. I believed this untill I was a teen-ager.

On a flight to America my dauther asked if she would see her Gran in the clouds as we passed through them. Her Gran had died the month before.

When I was four, my parents told me that my grand-grand mom had gone to heaven. So, whenever I went to her house, I always asked why she took so long to come home.

I believed that Rigor Mortis was the name of a lounge singer that my parents would go out and see sing sometimes.

When I was little, I overheard my mother and grandmother talking about my great grandmother who was dying of cancer and was jaundiced and I remember them talking about how yellow her skin was. From then on, I thought that if you colored your skin with a yellow highlighter or marker, you would get cancer and die. I still get a little freaked out if I get some on my hand. Kids associate the wierdest things.

Apparently from seeing EKG's on TV, my daughter believes people die when their heart stops "beeping."

When I was 3 I thought grown-ups were lying to us about going to heaven. I finally asked my pre-school teacher, "If we are supposed to go to heaven when we die, why do they put us in the ground with the devil?"

When I was young I thought that if you were to lie on your back, perfectly straight, with your arms folded in an "x" over your chest and went to sleep that way you would die.

When I was about 5 or 6 I used to think that the flower holders on the graves were breathing holes. I didn't realise that when you died, you didn't breathe anymore!