Silly Childhood Fears

[Queen Victoria]

CBC's post on a pencil mark under her skin reminded me that as children we would be afraid of lead poisoning from that.  What other silly, old-wives-tales fears or things were you told?

If you ate a watermelon seed it would grow in your stomach and grow big enough to strangle you from the inside.
If you sat on a hot surface (e.g. concrete steps/sidewalk) you would get piles (hemorrhoids)
Carrots helped your vision.

[Parts]

When you made a strange face and an adult told you your face was going to freeze like that.

['andersom']

When you made a strange face and an adult told you your face was going to freeze like that.

Yes, that would happen if the clock struck at the time you made that face.

[odeon]

When you made a strange face and an adult told you your face was going to freeze like that.

Yes, that would happen if the clock struck at the time you made that face.

That's a fairly strange belief.

[renaeden]

This isn't anything I was told but when I was 7 we moved to a really old house with old plumbing. I soon became scared silly of the toilet when it was flushed (I know, really mature for a 7 year old), so much that I developed IBS and a fear of all toilets. Took me until I was about 10 to get over it and we had long since moved to a new house with a new toilet. TMI? Well just an example of a silly childhood fear.

[Al Swearegen]

People. Kind of silly fear. They all seemed completely fake and dishonest and manipulative.

[Frolic_Fun]

- The classic boogeyman
- Swear and your tongue will go black and fall out
- Stop listening and you'll eventually go deaf

[renaeden]

Hmm. Pick your nose and your face will cave in.

[Calavera]

My mirror image.

[Parts]

There was a beach with with signs that said "Strong undertow"  I was terrified even to go close to the water feeling somehow it would come up on the beach and get me

[lutra]

I had a fear of sharks when I went swimming whilst being a young kiddo. For a couple of years I thought there could be a shark swimming under me and.. Um, had this even in an indoor swimming pool. 

[Icequeen]

When you made a strange face and an adult told you your face was going to freeze like that.

I was so disappointed when that never happened. 

I think that was why they stopped telling me stuff like that, it only encouraged me.

I was terrified of those self-flush toilets though. There was one rest area that had them we had to stop at every time we traveled from NY to Pa. The first time that toilet flushed on it's own I remember screaming my head off. 

[Al Swearegen]

I had a fear of sharks when I went swimming whilst being a young kiddo. For a couple of years I thought there could be a shark swimming under me and.. Um, had this even in an indoor swimming pool. 

I have had a shark swim underneath me. It was scary...you were right. 

[odeon]

I had a fear of sharks when I went swimming whilst being a young kiddo. For a couple of years I thought there could be a shark swimming under me and.. Um, had this even in an indoor swimming pool. 

I have had a shark swim underneath me. It was scary...you were right. 

In a swimming pool?

['andersom']

When you made a strange face and an adult told you your face was going to freeze like that.

I was so disappointed when that never happened.

I think that was why they stopped telling me stuff like that, it only encouraged me.

I was terrified of those self-flush toilets though. There was one rest area that had them we had to stop at every time we traveled from NY to Pa. The first time that toilet flushed on it's own I remember screaming my head off. 

Same, I kind of knew that the tale about coffee wasn't true, but, I so wished it was. Green legs and red hair would just have been awesome.