neighbourhood

I was afraid of bridges - particularly those over water. I was afraid they would fall down. I always used to hold my breath when we drove over a bridge because I thought that would make the car lighter.

My brother told me when I was seven that at the bottom of our swimming pool, where the filter cap was, that an invisible laser beam came out of it, aiming straight up. If you broke the beam, the bottom of the pool would open up and a shark would swim out. Whenever I went off the diving board I always jumped to the side to avoid the beam. I still do it to this day, without thinking about it.

i usedto beleive that if u went down one of those tubular slides at McDonalds you would keep on going and the slide would never end. I beleived that at the ages 6-8. I still don't go on those slides.

I didn't know where else to put this one, but it was in my grandparents swimming pool I always thought there was some sort of bubble monster that would come get me if I was alone in the pool. I was a very good swimmer and loved to swim, but I could never stay in alone.

At the end of my childhood neighborhood, there was a house where an old lady lived. For some reason, a bunch of us kids got the idea that she was a witch! Maybe because she lived alone with her cats, or something, who knows? There was also a slab of sidewalk where someone had put their shoe prints before the cement dried, and one kid said that the witch had caused another boy to disappear, leaving only his footprints behind.

My mom used to tell me that the ice cream man wold kidnap me if i went neer him, I didnt believ her so she got one of her rich friends to rent the actual icecream mans truck and get him to fake kidnap me.
I didn't go near him for 5 years 'till my friend told me it was a hoax.

I used to believe that beyond the floating markers in a swimming pool or a lake, that lined off deeper ends of the water, that there were sharks there and i was terrified to go past them for years.

When I was little, my mum convinced me that the ice cream man was a bad man who would steal me away if i went near him. Whenever i heard the truck I'd run and hide under my bed! My uncle was visiting once, and decided to do something nice for me so when he heard the truck coming around he picked me up, screaming and flailing, and took me to the window to buy me a sundae.

My mother never forgave him lol...

When I was little there were a signs inside the trams saying “No smoking or spitting allowed”. I understood about noisy spitting but I could never understand how someone could smoke out loud…

When I was a young child I thought that the huge statues in the museum came to life at night when the museum closed and they wanted to trap me in the museum with them. I had such a strong belief in that notion that I dreamed about it for many years. The last time I had that dream was when I was in my late teens. I am 51 yrs old now and I can still remember that dream. Silly I know but than again, childhood ain't easy.

I used to belive my Dad when he told me that if the ice-cream van was playing a tune, it meant that it was empty. When I asked about why people were queueing up, he would reply "well, they're going to be very disappointed". I didn't get an ice-cream for years.

One my mom and I walked in front of this toy store and I wanted to go in and check out the toys. She told me no one that wasn't buying a toy could enter. I believed her. Then, several years after, we were looking for a present for my cousin. She entered the store and I told her that we couldn't go insede unless we were buying something. She laughed at me. Who wouldn't? I was 17!

(this was actually my friend, not me). there was a store called Caldor, and my friends cousin told her it got that name because there was a stampede of cows and one got stuck in the door. she believed that until she told me and i told her it wasnt true.

When I was little, the cashiers at the store would i guess "pretend" and tell me that when i got candy, i got it for free cuz i was so cute. So, I thought cand was free for me. Anyway, one day, I just took it without telling my mom and I got in trouble! She had this black manager guy come over and give me a "talk" about not being a little theif. It's their fault! they're the ones who told me it was free! I don't know why, but that story al ways made me REALLY mad. argh...

When I was younger, I lived pretty close to a water tower, so I thought frequently about how the water got into the water tower. I finally came to the conclusion that the top came off to let the rain water in.
There was a door at the bottom of the water tower, and I thought that when you opened the door, water would come rushing out but if you did get in, you would float to the top and get stuck untill they opened the top during a rainstorm!

I lived in a seaside town and ofen walked with my grandparents along the cliff top and looked down at the beach and the road next to it.
My grandfather told me that the tiny cars I could see were models that were wound up at each end of the road and sent back again. I beleived this until I was about 9 or 10. I'm stupid

Once when i went to a pub called the Forge Inn, I saw a trainee run down the corridor screaming because he'd cut his finger off (not the highlight of my night either), and i thought that they were trying to cook little kids in the kitchen and that one had fought back by biting off his finger and ever since i was affraid of going there... still get the jibblies when i go there now!


And i'm 12!

I used to believe that if I went on the escalators I would get sucked into the vents at the bottom. So I had to be carried on them or would find a way to avoid them all together and walk down the stairs.