# What was the weirdest belief you ever personally held? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398 "2026-04-19T15:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/41 "2026-04-19T23:50:17Z")
Another one from when I was very young was about gas stations/filling stations. I always marveled at how those gasoline pumps with the rotating digits can have so much fuel available to dispense to vehicles despite being only 4 or 5 feet high and maybe 2 feet thick by 2 feet wide. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/42 "2026-04-20T00:24:44Z")
When I was 6 or 7, I really believed that when you dropped a letter in a mailbox it entered a tube that somehow transported it directly to the recipient. Something like the pneumatic system that some department stores had for internal communications. But I would not have known about them. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/43 "2026-04-20T01:00:49Z")
When I was 3 or 4, I thought wind was created by trees shaking. And that skyscrapers were planes that left contrails (JFK, maybe 20 miles away). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/44 "2026-04-20T01:08:16Z")
After seeing an illustration in a kid’s science book I got the idea that gravity failing was a natural disaster like earthquakes. I was pretty freaked out for a couple of weeks and whenever I went outside I kept an eye out for things I could hold on to so I wouldn’t fly off into space. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/45 "2026-04-20T01:09:26Z")
I once got lost driving in northern Vermont and thought I was in the U.S. when actually in Canada. This probably was in the 1980’s. Now there are barriers set up so even I would know. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/46 "2026-04-20T12:39:25Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > It’s “Smokey Bear”, not “Smokey the Bear”. OK, that’s _your_ weird belief. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/47 "2026-04-20T12:41:20Z")
> [@Mortimus](#): > > Walter Cronkite talked nightly about “gorilla warfare”. I thought there were apes roaming the jungles with guns. Made sense to me, you find gorillas in jungles and they could carry guns. I was about 8 years old. David Brin had some fun with this in the third book of his first Uplift trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/48 "2026-04-20T13:25:21Z")
I thought that people who spoke a foreign language had to translate mentally what had just been said into English in order to understand conversations. My mom assured me that this wasn’t the case. They understood those weird strings of sound immediately, without translating. Blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/49 "2026-04-20T14:07:27Z")
I thought there was a person inside the pole of a traffic light that changed the lights. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/50 "2026-04-20T14:13:11Z")
You mean that doesn’t work? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/51 "2026-04-20T14:17:46Z")
I was one of those kids who thought I would get sucked down the drain if I didn’t get out of the tub before the plug was pulled. Weird, but from what I gather, not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/52 "2026-04-20T14:19:58Z")
When I was a kid, we called dragonflies sewing needles. I believed my dad when he told me that when someone lies, sewing needles will sew their mouth shut. I pictured the shrunken heads with the thick black thread. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/53 "2026-04-20T14:36:39Z")
Until I was about 7 years old I thought the poop inside you was stored in your butt cheeks. 😅 Ha ha ha ha! This is a fun thread! ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/54 "2026-04-20T14:55:26Z")
When I was about 5 and was learning to read, I misread the highway signs at the end of No Passing zones as ‘PASS WITH CAR’, rather than ‘PASS WITH CARE’. I understood that to mean that only cars could pass on the highway, but no trucks or pickups. And, indeed, the few times when I rode with Dad in his old farm pickup on the highway, he never passed anybody, which validated my belief. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/55 "2026-04-20T15:06:27Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Let me dispel another belief; It’s “Smokey Bear”, not “Smokey the Bear”. 😀 Actually, The is his middle name, short for Theodore, in honor of Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/56 "2026-04-20T22:20:52Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’d like to hear how that happened. @Moriarty The Kennedy thing? He was killed in 1963. I was born in 1978. The timelines worked out. ---
**Author:** ![MeepersC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meepersc/32/12088_2.png) [@MeepersC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeepersC)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/57 "2026-04-20T22:35:18Z")
I grew up as an evangelical fundamental Baptist in the 1990s - the peak era of “What Would Jesus Do” and the Tribulation and “Left Behind” book series. I devoured the Left Behind books, and was ready to identify the start of the Rapture and Tribulation (even though this isn’t even specifically laid out in Revelation). I have since deconstructed, and consider myself barely spiritual/agnostic. However, parts of me believe Donald Trump is the Antichrist predicted by the Tribulation fanatics. The Antichrist was predicted to be loved by Christians despite not being a godly person, to survive a alleged head wound, and to deceive other countries into giving him elaborate gifts (Air Force One was specifically mentioned in the Left Behind series). Yes, I know this is a crazy conspiracy theory - but I almost can’t help but wonder if it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/58 "2026-04-20T22:47:19Z")
> [@MeepersC](#): > > Yes, I know this is a crazy conspiracy theory - but I almost can’t help but wonder if it’s true. If it helps a bit, the most common interpretation is that the Antichrist in Revelation was modeled after Emperor Nero. He has been dead since the year 68, so don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/59 "2026-04-20T23:20:52Z")
> [@MeepersC](#): > > However, parts of me believe Donald Trump is the Antichrist predicted by the Tribulation fanatics. Plus, Nostradamus predicted the Antichrist would be _Mabus_ Clearly, the Ma is for MAGA. And Bus is because Trump is a **bus** iness man. it all adds up! ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398/60 "2026-04-20T23:28:04Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > > [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > > > I still currently believe I can hex free-throwers and field goal-kickers by yelling “MISS IT” and sending hex rays through my fingers. > > And I as well. Because it works. Sometimes. Same here. When they hit it anyway, I figure I didn’t get the timing right. You have to shout it at the _exact_ microsecond when they’re releasing the ball or just as their foot is making contact, so you can startle them. No, don’t ask me how that works when you’re watching it on TV. **IT JUST DOES**. Sometimes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-weirdest-belief-you-ever-personally-held/1029398.md?page=4)