places

When i was little (like 3 or 4) i was convinced that florida and new jersey(where i live) were next to each other, and the only reason it took so long for us to get to disneyworld was because we stopped so much.

Anon

I used to think that people who live on the Tropic of Cancer were more likely to get the disease cancer. Because of this, I assumed that there was also a disease called "capricorn" because of the Tropic of Capricorn

Troy

When I found out that Alaska was part of the US, I was a little freaked out. I thought that it was part of the continental US, so like, there was this frozen ice area in the middle of warm climate of the rest of the states. I thought it was some sort of strange phenomenon.

Brr...

i used to think easter island was called that because a giant bunny ran around and layed eggs there.

Oliver

When I was younger, I would hear about the war and people being killed in different cities. I always remembered the city Baghdad, though, because I thought that people were saying "Bad Dad". I thought Bad Dad was a place in California (A very far away place at the time) where all of the mean Dads were sent. I always hoped that my dad wouldn't be sent there, even though he was nice.

Haha

I live in Brooklyn, NY. and there's an avenue in Brooklyn called Kings Highway. When I was a kid, I thought there was a king there, and if you go on that street, he would kill you.

Mike

When I was a child, I believed that Mount Rushmore was a natural phenomenon. Somehow God or Nature had carved the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln into the cliff in South Dakota at the beginning of time, and when our country was born, the prophesy began to be fulfilled. Not sure when I realized this was not the case, but I think I was probably a teenager.

Anon

I used to think Cleveland was a Scandinavian country like Finland and Iceland, and the capital of Georgia was Atlantis.

Anon

In the place I grew up (Quad Cities) there was and still is a park called Vanda Veer Park. I would argue with people untill I cried the park was called Panda Bear Park. I knew there was no such thing as a Vanda Veer and thought they were trying to get me to say the wrong thing to be mean. Then I learned to read and saw the sign.

Nicole

I used to believe that the ground in each state was the same color as it appeared on the map of the U.S.(pink, green, blue, etc..)

sauerkraut

In my younger days, I used to believe that the equator was a big, long, barren hole in the ground that circled the entire world. The water even would dip for the equator!

In order to get to the lower hemisphere of the world, I thought people had to jump down into this ditch and run through the equator. If they stayed there too long, they would overheat!

I got this idea from stufying globes too intensely

Caeci

Until a shamefully short time ago (I'm 22 now) I thought that Gibraltar was just a large rock in the sea (as per the Rock of Gibraltar) about 40feet high, with absolutely nothing on it apart from small monkeys, seagulls, guano and perhaps a red phone box.

Sarah

I used to believe the large metal structure in Paris, France, I thought it was the "Eye Full Tower"

Janet

When my older sister signed up for cross-country running I assumed she was going to be able to bring me back things from the other side of the country.

Soap

You know when your little most kids have this idea that you can dig to China. Well, not me! I was probably five or six when I learned about heaven and hell and I would get terrified when my little brother was in the back yard digging in the sand box or just anywhere really because I was convinced we were going to make the devil angry and he was going to take us away forever.

Anon

My dad put a thumbtack on one of the stairs to the basement and told us kids that it marked the center of the world - we believed him and all 7 of us thought we lived at the center of the world. My sister told about the thumbtack during show and tell one day and suddenly her world was shattered:(

Beanbo

As a kid, I had a dining place mat with a map of the United States on it that showed Alaska and Hawaii in insets at the bottom. Even when it was explained to me, I absolutely refused to believe they were not depicted in true location and scale to the rest of the country. I knew for a fact that Hawaii wasn't far from the California coast and that Alaska was in some sort of bay in Mexico. Seriously.

Darren

My dad told me (with a straight face) when I was nine that Mt. Rushmore was made in the same way as the Grand Canyon (i.e. millions of years of water carving through stone). For four years I believed him, speaking to no one about it and wondering why the world wasn't abuzz with excitement and awe that a constant rush of water could eventually carve out exact facial replicas of four of America's greatest historical figures. I thought maybe it had been discussed and accepted by people before I was born and no one therefore no one brought up the wonder of it anymore. When I was 13 I finally asked my mom didn't she find the whole thing amazing and she told me the (less than amazing) truth.

Mel H

When I was wee and I got bored and played Monopoly with my siblings on rainy days, I always wanted "The Angel, Islington" because I believed that was where all the Angels lived and they threw parties there. It wasn't until I moved to London that I realised that it was just a tube station..and a rather skanky one at that.

C

When I was about 8 we were watching TV and there was a picture of the Arch of
Triumph in Paris. My mother said, "Oh, that's in Paris, they make perfume there."
For longer than I'd like to admit I thought the arch was a perfume factory.

Dan