What funny/strange things did you believe as a child?

[SpiritTalker]

I was having one of those silly "I remember when I was a kid I..." conversations and thought it could be fun to hear other folk's rememberings.

When I was a kid, I totally believed I could fly. Now I know it was out-of-body travel in my sleep, but back then I couldn't figure out why I could fly some times and not others. I thought I just needed more speed for lift off, so took a running jump off the top flight of our stairs...crashed into wall and slid the whole way to the bottom. Got up, and did it again and again. My older sister asked what the heck I was doing, and I explained. Big sister eye-roll. She grounded me with a flat declaration that people didn't fly. I felt so sad.

Fireflies were fairies. Everybody knows that.

Department store manakins came alive at midnight. Fact. I saw it on TV on Twilight Zone.

I believed people on the TV could see me just like I saw them. Edit: years before Samsung

I did not believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

I didn't like fairy tales at all.

Hmm. That says it all.

[Shireside]

I saw the same Twilight Zone episode, and it had me believing that too for a few years until I actually was in a department store at midnight. I was pretty disappointed.

Conversely, I didn't believe in Santa as a child, but I began to into adulthood. Not so much in the literal tangible sense that movies portray, but as an aspect of Odin.

[moonraingirl]

We had wooden floor and one of the planks was lose and I thought there must be a hidden treasure. Note that we lived in an ordinary block of flats on 10th floor.

I did believe in Easter bunny and baby Jesus. Yes, in my country we get presents straight from him! We're special When I looked out of the window there was a track you could see on the mountain and I believed he descends from the heaven on that mountain and then walks that track to houses and brings presents.

I had an imaginary friend with the same name as my uncle who died as a young boy... Creepy

[SnowCat]

We didn't have a chimney for Santa Claus. My brother told me he came in through the wall outlets. My brother also told me, one night when he got chalk dust in his eyes, that he would die from it unless I promised never to slap him again.

Snow

[nightshroud]

I used to believe that the Luna phantom from the first Scooby doo live action movie hid in the dark and was after me.
my great grandmother put that idea into my head

[Shinkko]

I used to believe kingdom hearts the video game was real in a way.

It didn't help that I had a lot of paranormal stuff happen at that time and shadows following me.
I remember one night a very scary looking shadow...I think it was something evil. Chased me home, it stopped outside the border to our yard.

Years later I learn that my grandmother blessed the house and it couldn't get in.

....but yes.
I truly believed in my heart kingdom hearts was real.

Now I'm 25 and still waiting
*Chuckles*
I was about 15 when I realized it ain't ever happening.

[nightshroud]

when I was really young I used to believe that cars and trucks were actual transformers robots in disguise

[YanaKhan]

Oh, I don't know how I missed this thread.
I did not believe in Santa Claus, but in Grandpa Cold (Dyado Mraz in Bulgarian) who came on New Year's eve and brought presents. That was until my brother showed me the present I was going to get and I really did get it, so I payed more attention to Grandpa Cold when he came and actually recognized the neighbour

Later, I believed that if you stepped on a shaft, you get bad luck for the day. (well, I don't believe this anymore, but I still avoid stepping on shafts if I can)

In school, we were not to pass under a birch, or we would get examined It wasn't easy to avoid, because just next to the entrance of my school there was a giant birch, so I had to walk around the school to enter through the back, which was one of the main reasons I was always late for class.

As a very small child I believed I wasn't supposed to show my teeth to gypsies, because they would kidnap me. I have no idea where I heard that, but I think I actually was putting my hand in front of my mouth when talking to gypsy people (I know, this is absolutely horrible and racist, trust me, I am no racist and I do realize this is as stupid as hell).

I'm done for now, but I'm absolutely positive there are more stupid things I believed as a child, I just can't remember them

[Firebird]

@ YanaKhan...I'm not familiar with the term 'schaft' like wheat?

We had the saying... step on a crack, break your mothers back. Boy, did I spend much time trying to avoid those cracks in the sidewalk walking home from elementary school. Then a few times i realized I had steped on a crack, and mom was still ok. Wonder where that saying came from.

I belived in Santa untill about age 6 or 7 when I realized the writing on the presents that said "from Santa" was the same as my parents. I spent many years trying to convince my little brother Santa was real because I didn't want the magic to end for him. My father and grandfather alway put on an elaborate farse on X-mas eve, if we were in the house we had to pretend we had gone to bed, grandma, mom, brother and I would hide in a bedroom soon we could hear stomping and ho ho ho-ing. When it stopped we came out to this mystery delivery and opened presents! Another way they would do it is to pile everyone into the car to go look at X-mas lights. Dad would always forget "something" and have to run back into the house, well...he was pulling out presents. When we were done looking at the lights he would pick out some distant airplane and declare it to be Santa, and "he must have just left our house!!!" Course to our surprise Santa had indeed been there! I used that one with my daughter.

My brother and I had bedrooms that sat side by side. We were convinced there was a secret room between our rooms that could be accessed through the closets which were back to back. I still wonder about that.

OOHhh, this was the WORST. I had to take a running leap to get into bed, because the monster under the bed would pull me under if my feet got too close to that dark space. Shizer, that went on for a long time and even when I could power through and stand at the edge of the bed, I wondered if it could see me standing there. Then I guess there was a movie? Or maybe it was a Twilight Zone episode and I internalized it? Mom generally didn't let me watch scary things (not even Star Trek if you can belive it!) so not sure where I got that fear.

Stuffed animals have feelings! When arranging them on the bed, I had to frequently rotate who would be in front, I didn't want to hurt their feelings! I actually still believe this...an arm into animism early on!

That's all for now for me too. Blessings!

[YanaKhan]

@ YanaKhan...I'm not familiar with the term 'schaft' like wheat?

Oh, I looked it up in google translate, because I didn't know the word for it - I know the word schacht, but I think it's in German ... It's like a pit next to the sidewalk for water to flow in it ... I hate it when I can't explain properly.
Edit: I misspelled it, of course - the word is "shaft" and I really hope this time I got it right

[Firebird]

Ahhh, like the gutter?
I had a dog one that was a bit freaked out by those especially if it was near a drain, maybe he had the same sort of monster-in-the-place-you-cannot-see phobia. Hummm.

[SnowCat]

We had an irrigation ditch across the street, and I would have to walk past it on the way to school. Sometimes the water would have foam on it, where it turned the corner. I worried that a monster was living in the ditch and causing the foam. A real life close call happened when I was about five. I was looking for our cat, Fluff, and found him next to the carport getting ready to fight with a snake. I ran screaming, for my dad. He killed the snake with a shovel, just as it was getting ready to strike. It was a water mocassin that had come up out of the ditch.

[Tylluan]

HAhah I still believe in Santa and I'm 43 hahah. Well I believe in the concept of him anyway.

A lot of the beliefs I had I still have. I still have a thing about mirrors being portals to the spirit world and I cannot stay in a room if there is an uncovered mirror. I have to put something over it.

I believed that my toys were real and I took really good care of them. Otherwise I was an outdoor kid and spent all day and night if I could outside in the garden. We had a large garden and I spent my childhood out in it. I think it's where my love of plants and gardening comes from.

[YanaKhan]

I believed that my toys were real and I took really good care of them.

Oh, yes, I did too. I didn't have many toys growing up, but I did believe my dolls were real. Once I decided to give my favourite doll a haircut and I remember she was extremely scared, so I gave myself a haircut too. I cut my bangs about 1 cm long But the important thing was, my doll saw it wasn't scary and let me do it to her. Can't say it was an improvement though I was three (I have many very early childhood memories).

[bluehearts]

I thought that gonnorhea was medicine for diarrhea until I had sex ed in school.

I also believed in Santa as a kid, but after seeing The Nutcracker when I was fourteen, I started believing (and still believe) that Drosselmeyer is the one to bring presents.

And cringey as this is, I believed that African-American women's breasts made chocolate milk. No idea why.