make-believe

I used to believe…

As a child I used to believe that there were monsters lurking behind the bannisters at the top of the stairs and would never go up the stairs on my own after dark,even if the landing light was on. To my amazement, my first child confessed to an identical fear although I had by then forgotten about mine. Are fears inherited? The fact that my second child had it could be put down to being warned by her brother, but the first ?

I used to believe…

After I had a dream about a small white dog, I turned him into an imaginary friend. I went around telling the other kids that I had an invisable dog! i got very upset when my mom didnt believe me. Some of the kids seemed to kind of believe me though.

I used to believe it was possible for me to leave a bunch of dominos on a table in a random layout, name a shape, leave the room for 60 seconds, then come back in and the dominos would have magically rearranged themselves into whatever shape I'd said.

I later realised this had worked because my grandparents had been present in the room when I first put the dominos out, and they'd heard me declare what shape I wanted. When I left the room, they of course did the rearranging.

I used to believe…

My little brother used to reckon that if you stood in front of a mirror and said "Bloody Mary" (ie Mary Tudor) three times, she would appear in the mirror, come out and 'get you'.

I used to believe…

When I was small I had a very vivid imagination fostered by a love of reading anything I could get my hands on. Alot of it was science fiction and fantasy. So I was afraid of the dark in general, as my mind was often racing around the fiction it harbored. I believed the dark house was the hiding place of many a monster or alien. Under the beds, in my closets, just outside the bedroom window. You name it they were there. Well in order to thwart the monsters getting me when I woke at night thirsty or in need of the bathroom, I was convinced that if I called out to my parents and asked them if I could get up to do what I needed to. To me the voice/voices of my parents would clear my path to the bathroom because the monsters would know my parents were awake and that my father or mother would fight them for me and win. My parents and I laugh about that now. But they always answered.

I used to believe…

When I was younger my parents had big, fluffy recliner easy chairs and when I would climb on it at night I would be afraid to climb down because I thought the creature from the black lagoon would reach out and grab me. makes sense, don't it?

I used to believe…

As a kid I was fascinated and astounded by some of the feats and illusions I saw magicians perform on TV. I am still astounded by them to this day but now know, sadly that their is a "trick" to every bit of magic they perform.

I remeber wanting a Fisher-Price magic set for Christmas and when I got it I was ecstatic. I knew though, having read the books and saw the "tricks" behind the magic that this wasn't a "real" magic set and asked my parents for a real magic set to do real magic tricks with. A dream shattered when I learned the truth.

A part of me still believes in real magic though

I used to believe…

This is a very strange belief... I believed that if I was alone for too long that everybody in the world would somehow be turned into living skeletons. I would obviously be terrified of them, but they would also be disgusted and scared of me because I was all fleshy and muscley. So whenever I felt I was alone for too long I would get very nervous and run around trying to find someone. I guess that's why I'm such a social butterfly now! I have no idea where this came from, but it may have had something to do with the animated skeletons in The Clash of the Titans or The Seven Voyages of Sinbad or something.

I used to believe…

Once at preschool, during the holidays, our teachers read us a picture book about Hannukah. They told us that children got presents and chocolate coins, but the picture was of a boy playing with a dark-colored truck, so I thought children got chocolate TOYS.

I also thought that if I was bad, Santa would put, not coals, but CLOTHES in my stocking on Christmas Eve. Even today I dislike getting clothes for christmas.

I used to have an imaginary friend as a kid called Mick and I used to shout at my parents not to stand on him (cos they almost did all the time) cos he was only about a foot tall and he used to tell me to pick rubbish up in the street to keep him alive. I stopped doing it and he disaapeared over time :( goes to show its all psychological

I used to believe…

Did anyone ever see Bill and Teds bogus journey? Well, I was afraid of the easter bunny ever since I saw that film cos Ted goes to his personal hell kinda thing and it steals his egg and it just looked pretty evil and scary!

I used to believe…

One of the last "magical" figures I beleived in was the Tooth Fairy, but as I got older i eventually started having more logical questions about the mysterious lady i imagined. So i decided since i didnt have very many teeth left to loose i should go ahead and start a correspondence with her to find some answers. So with my tooth, i left a letter asking all sorts of things; where she lived, how she got in the house, how she could afford to leave $20 a tooth with so many children in the world loosing teeth, etc etc. i was so excited to find her reply the next morning that i barley fell asleep. when i awoke i found she had indeed replied. all my questions were answered,and i was so excited. (i mean this was some good stuff for show and tell) After i calmned down i realized there was one problem.... she had the same exact hand writing as my father!! LOL

I used to believe…

when about 6 i was terrified of having a fat bearded old man in my house in the middle of the night whatever he was doing! This fear used to stop me sleeping [rather than the actual excitment of christmas!] eventaully when i plucked up the courage to tell Mum she gave in and told me the truth which at that time was releaving!

I used to believe…

When I was young and would wake up at night I'd always want to go through to my parents room.
The problem was on the landing I was in the middle bedroom and my parents were the one closest the stairs. I always believes the one at the end of the landing (our spare room) was haunted by ghosts. There were white ghosts which just hassled you before the big black ghost would come out.
When I got myself too scared to stay in my own room I use to run to the top of the stair and crawl into a ball as they couldnt see me if I stayed still.
Then I'd call my mum to come get me as the ghosts were deaf and couldnt hear me! It even went as far as during the day when I was going down the stairs I'd call out to my mum saying I was coming down so if a ghost got me she'd wonder where I was !!

i used to have a n imaginary friend who would only appear when we were onl ong car journeys and would jump along outside the car as we went along. he wasn't aloud to touch the floor and he wasn't allowed to stop, but he could jump for miles! lol@me,

I had a friend who told me that her family had seen a dinosaur in our local lake when they were out fishing one day. She claimed they had taken pictures but "hadn't gotten them developed yet." When I asked about the pictures sometimes later she said that they hadn't turned out. I still believed her for a long time though, even without the proof.

I used to believe…

When I was little (but considered too old for an imaginary friend) I saw Harvey (an old classic movie) and saw that this 30 year old man had an imaginary friend and he was his BEST FRIEND! What a deal, I thought. So, I adopted Harvey. I don't know how, he just appeared to me. I was in 4th grade at the time and he was my best friend. We use to play dress up, but to everyone else I was just a crazy little girl in the supermarket dressed up like Cinderella (he was the beast). I'd even do my homework with Harvey. He was my best friend. He read me "The Catcher in the Rye." I'm still convinced he was real, because I myself have never read The Catcher in the Rye, but I know the WHOLE story.. Fishy!

I used to believe…

When I was 5 or 6 my grandparents came to stay with my family for Christmas. When asked about Santa I would say that I didn't believe in him at all. On Christmas I had to sleep on the couch across from the fire place because my grandparents had my room. That night I was certain I saw Santa. Not all of him though, I only saw his big black boots as he went back UP the chimney.