Your home might be your castle, you might know all the ins and outs and nooks and crannies, but it takes a visitor with a fresh set of eyes to show you how peculiar your home and your lifestyle might be! What you think is completely fine and acceptable might turn out to be very odd indeed, when viewed from an outsider’s perspective. Don’t believe us? Hopefully, these stories will change your mind.
Today, we’re featuring two threads shared on the r/AskReddit subreddit, one started up by u/LiterallyEkam and one by u/User_Not_Found_78457, about the weirdest, most peculiar, and downright bizarre things people have seen while visiting people’s homes. Things that are so far from normal, it’s mindblowing they didn’t realize what they were doing was stranger than strange.
Hold on tight because we’re about to go down the rabbit hole, Pandas. These thrilling tales look like they belong in The Twilight Zone, so Bored Panda reached out to Ekam, aka u/LiterallyEkam, to have a chat about their viral thread. They were kind enough to answer a few of my questions. Scroll down to read what they had to say and why we shouldn’t be so quick to get rid of all of our quirks.
#1
Slept over at a friend’s when I was around 10. She was the only girl in her family, and had five brothers (whose ages ranged from like 4 to 15).Everything about my friend’s room/sleeping situation was normal. But her brothers’ room was bizarre. They shared one big room, with three bunk beds. Each mattress a fitted sheet, a pillow, and nothing else. No top sheets, no blankets, no comforters. Also, the boys didn’t have pajamas. They all just slept in the clothes they had worn that day - with their shirts tucked into their pants, and belts on, too. Their room didn’t have a door, and neither did their connected bathroom or their closets.
Turns out they were fundamentalist Christians, and the boys’ setup was meant to prevent m*sturbation.
Image credits: SSDGM24
#2
One of the first times I met my husband's family, I was over at their house and husband gestured for me to sit down and be comfortable. Their house was really very cluttered. Not quite hoarder cluttered, but close. They had a couple of couches facing each other and then some other chairs. Not knowing the 'rules,' I sat on one of the couches, which had a lot of stuffed teddy bears on it. OMG, you would think I had sat down on live bears. There were probably 20-30 small - medium stuffed bears on this couch. Husband's mother and twin brother both visibly reacted as if I had damaged the bears. (Not antique bears either). That was when I was told that the couch was for the bears, and only for the bears and that no one was allowed to sit on the bears' couch. Just the bears. The bears all had little beaded necklaces with their names on them to tell them apart because they were all the same brand and style.
Image credits: floridianreader
#3
I'm going to say Medium Rare chicken. Had dinner at my friends house when I was 10. They said the blood made it delicious, I tried to politely ask if I could microwave it a little longer, which offended them and resulted in a lecture of how they ate people during WWII in Romania and how lucky I was to have medium rare chicken...
Image credits: captainredbeered
Redditor u/LiterallyEkam revealed to Bored Panda the inspiration behind their question on r/AskReddit that netted them over 66.2k upvotes. They saw an incredibly bizarre situation while visiting a friend and this got them thinking about how we all see things very differently.
“The event that inspired me to post the question was when I saw something I would not consider normal at a friend's house. I saw my friend kiss his dog on the lips and when I asked him about it he thought it was something other people did normally,” they told me.
Obviously, the redditor found this behavior very weird (and odds are that many of you Pandas do, too). “I had seen others kiss their dog but not directly on the lips in the way I saw. I found this peculiar and I wanted to find out if others have had similar experiences.”
According to Ekam, they never expected their thread to get so popular. “I didn't think there would be many people who had such interesting stories,” they complimented their fellow Reddit users for being honest and sharing their experience with everyone else.
#4
They had a room where they would just let their dog crap on the floor. It didn't look like it was cleaned often.
Image credits: inline_asmurai
#5
So my friend's family has a shrine for her grandma, when I first saw I was like “oh, she probably passed and this is a way to commemorate her” (since we also have a little “shrine” for my grandma). I was on Facetime with her later on that night when I got home and asked about it, and turns out that her grandma is VERY much alive and healthy. She explained that she thinks her family is a cult with her grandma as the leader and idk every time I go to her house I freak out just a tiny bit
Image credits: evelxn
#6
Saw my friend spit in their house, straight onto the carpet. I didn't go back.
Image credits: kb1878
I was very curious to get Ekam’s take on why people don’t recognize peculiar behaviors for what they are and what we can do to take a more objective glance at our own daily habits.
In Ekam’s view, it’s all about building habits that we no longer think about. “I think that people grow up seeing and doing these behaviors which they perceive as normal because they are used to it,” they told me, adding that some folks might simply not have been taught that it’s something other people do.
Ekam said that expanding our social circle and experiencing different lifestyles can help us get a different perspective on our own lives. “The only way to be self-aware of our quirks is to spend more time around other people and learn their behaviors.”
Just because we’re different, however, doesn’t mean that we should automatically aim to readjust to what we see as ‘normal’ and usual. Doing so would mean that we’d give up what makes us unique. What makes us individuals. What makes us… well, ‘us.’
“I don't think people should aim to iron out their quirks. It's what makes us different, and unless it's damaging to others, we should accept each other for it,” Ekam said that the only habits we should consider changing are the ones that actually harm others.
#7
My friend had ANTS in her bed. They were crawling all over the headboard, pilows, sheets, blanket, just everywhere. she got offended when i started to kill some of them. remind you, we were having a sleepover. never again.
Image credits: brooklynboykins
#8
I am doing part time freelance nursing atm. One of the cases i attended was a rather large house in the middle of nowhere for an elderly man. When i was let in by his caretaker, i saw the old man lying in a box which was disguised as a bed. I was told it was because the family knew he was on his last legs and eventually he will pass on so the box was his pre-coffin for the undertaker to take to the parlour and its a norm for their family to do this. Creepy but that wasnt even the worst part, while i was waiting for the antibiotic drip to complete, i looked out the window and saw the backyard of the house, all the coffins of deceased family members were all above ground and you could open the window to see them in the coffins,preserved from the day they died. They were only lowered into the grave once the decomposition begun despite the preservatives. Apparently, it was part of their beliefs and family traditions.
Image credits: ScienceofFish
#9
They let the cat walk on the table during meals and eat off of people's plates.When I gently nudged the cat away from my plate the mom went off on me for "interfering with the free will of a sentient being". I was terrified. She was screaming and furious. I was maybe 10 at the time.
I ADORE my cats and do give them tiny tastes of safe people food. They are well cared for and have free run of most of our house. But they aren't allowed on the damn table. (Which means they only do it when we aren't looking, lol.)
Image credits: acorngirl
However, at the end of the day, we really should be putting our own comfort and happiness first, not that of our guests and acquaintances. At least according to relationship and dating expert Dan Bacon, from The Modern Man project. Recently, he told me that it’s impossible to please everyone with the way you have your home designed and organized, so instead of stressing about this, we should be unapologetically ourselves.
"A man’s home is part of what people initially use to judge his social status and character. However, how he behaves and acts with the people who come over to his place says so much more about him," Dan told Bored Panda that our homes and how we act greatly contribute to how people look at us.
"A man might have a perfectly tidy, well-designed, and stylish home, but be very nervous and try too hard to impress people who come over. So, rather than seeing him as a cool, confident, successful man they can admire and look up to, most people just perceive him as a nervous, insecure guy with a nice place. Alternatively, they may see him as a guy who tries hard to please others with material things because he's insecure about himself and doesn't feel good enough in their eyes,” Dan explained to Bored Panda.
#10
My friend and I all went to our rich friend’s house to play. Then they said they needed to do something and would be back in an hour. So we all just played in the room and waited. Turns out the entire family had lunch and just locked us up in the room so they wouldn’t have to feed us. Once we found out we all felt hurt and decided to never play at their house again.
Image credits: EeveeV4
#11
My friend had nine siblings, and whenever we ate at their house, he always told me to 'protect my food.' He literally covered his plate by surrounding it with his arms. His brothers kept stealing food from the younger ones, and their parents didn't do anything to stop them! It was just normal.
Image credits: Prudovski
#12
Using a friend’s bathroom, ran out of toilet paper. Looked for a new roll under the sink and was HORRIFIED to see that used tampons were put into a paper grocery bag and just...left there. Had to have been years worth. There are no words.
Image credits: twostepsfrombutter
Part of being a good host, however, means letting others speak. We shouldn’t be hogging all of the attention when we have guests over. "Remember that most people care more about themselves than other people. So, allow people to talk about themselves, rather than always trying to be the center of attention,” the expert said.
"Also remember to not try to oversell yourself or your place, to hopefully gain people’s approval. Be confident and secure in who you are as a person and let your surroundings provide additional clues about who you are and how you approach life."
The expert stressed the fact that we should always do whatever we want when it comes to our homes. We have to feel happy where we live, not focus on trying to impress everyone. So while some people might thrive only in tidy and perfectly clean environments, others can be confident in more of a messy home.
#13
More of an attitude. I remember waving the cigarette smoke away from my face and her dad saying not to because it was "rude". I was prob 8 or 9 at the time and I grew up in a smoke free home so someone blowing smoke in my direction wasn't at all normal to me. And worst, somehow I was the rude one.
Image credits: fuber
#14
When I was in high school, a friend asked me and two other friends to his house for dinner. His mom served homemade bean soup, which was very good. Toward the end of the main course, she brought out chocolate cake for dessert. She cut each of us a slice and plopped it into our bowls... in which we each still had about an inch of soup. Us guests exchanged puzzled glances, but the family dug right in, so apparently chocolate cake soaked in bean soup was an ordinary thing for them.
Image credits: President_Calhoun
#15
We looked at a house where the current owners had small stone statues of angels next to every door and window. You had to move the statue to get through the door.They said "we are Christian people".
We didn't ask.
Image credits: exec_director_doom
"If you enjoy placing a lot of importance on your home because it means a lot to you, then do that. If you only see it as a place to live and want to focus your attention on other things, you should do that. You can never impress or please everyone, no matter what you do. Just look at celebrities as an example. They have millions of people who love them and millions who hate them,” Dan said.
"The same applies to your home. You will never make it, furnish it or arrange it in a way where everyone loves you for it and wishes they had it. Some people will love it, others will like it and some will hate it. So, just enjoy doing what you want to do. That’s the only way you’ll truly be happy."
#16
They let the dogs and cats into the basement to go to the bathroom even though they had a fenced in back yard. The whole house smelled, even the kids when they went to school.
Image credits: anonymous
#17
Went to friends house as a kid. Sitting at the dinning table for lunch. House phone rings. Everyone falls to the floor around me including the mum and dad. I'm the only one left sitting there. The dad informs me that I now must answer the phone. "Hello... Johnson's house". I hold the phone out to the dad. "Ummm it's for you". Everyone laughs. I am so uncomfortable. The next time that phone rang. I was the fastest to the floor I can tell you that. Such a fun loving family. Loved going around there!#18
Friend’s amputee grandpa demanded to watch everyone in the bathroom when they went. He had a mirror so he could watch you. When I didn’t fall for that, they put shampoo in my hair so I’d have to take a shower. Noped the F out and called my mom. Friend didn’t think it was odd.#19
One of my Ex's collected her finger/toe nails in little glass bottles. She put them on display over her bed.
Image credits: photopiperUX
#20
Their living room had eight sofas in it. The room wasn’t that big and there was no other furniture. It was like a maze. Was told it was for the bible study they hosted at their home.
Image credits: 0nlyhalfjewish
#21
Went to a sleepover at this girls house and her mom was obsessively taking pictures of us all night. At one point, we were watching a movie and my friend passed out and her mom , I s**t you not, pulls out a huge newscast-type heavy duty camera and starts recording her daughter sleeping for a solid 5 minutes .I have trouble sleeping and so that night when us kids were in the bedroom to sleep, I was on the floor, just staring at the wall in the dark. I was facing away from the door, laying on my side. I hear the door creak...some footsteps and then the darkness of the room lit with a sudden flash. I got up just in time to see the door close. I know it was her mom taking pics of us. The weirdest part to me is that it was about 3am when that happened...meaning the girl's mom either had an alarm or just stayed up that late in wait....
#22
A friend in high school had all the normal pictures in the hallway. Family in various places/vacations etc. But there was one of his dad on a pier with a fishing pole. On closer inspection hanging at the end of the pole, like a large fish he had just caught, was HIS MOTHER! Fully nude and hanging upside down. Just like a fish. My friend refused to talk about the picture.
Image credits: Wrshpkraut_1
#23
Here's an "I was that family" story. My Godmother (who was practically an aunt) ran a fairly successful daycare out of her home in the 90s. She was a first generation immigrant to the US, whose parents came to the New England area from Ireland. My two younger brothers and I spent a lot of time at her home and I was generally the oldest child there.When I was about 8 years old, she started to have me make her her favorite drink. Gin and tonic. She drank these ALL DAY, while running her home daycare. At age 8 I knew...how to mix cocktails, that forks were better for stirring than spoons, and that large plastic bottles of gin were cheap and low quality.
This went on for years, on pretty much a daily basis, until my family moved out west. My Godmother kept her daycare running until she died (I'm sure of health problems relating to alcohol). I was 15 when she passed and I'm in my 30's now. I honestly went most of my life thinking NOTHING of it until I became a father a couple of years ago. At which point I was like... "How the f**k did anyone let her have a daycare?"
#24
I had a friend in HS. We're still friends today actually. His mom was a hoarder. There were little pathways throughout the house but it was filled, from floor to ceiling, with junk. In the hallway to the bedrooms, she had stacked every newspaper she ever got. They were tied up in bundles. When you walked in that hallway he would caution to not touch the papers because if a row fell, it would take a couple hours to dig yourself out.
Image credits: ferrariguy1970
#25
I had a friend in high school whose mother was from Jamaica. His family would colon cleanse together every year. I guess it was customary from his mom's culture. So literally they'd take medicine to make themselves s**t their brains out for a day or two every year. Notable mention- they only had one bathroom.
Image credits: _AVA_
#26
They walked around nude at home 24/7. He invited me over to play nintendo after school. When he had gotten in, he stripped down butt naked, and went to make a sandwich. Everyone else was already bare ass and loitering.
Image credits: Krmsyn
#27
15 years ago. Visit a friend house who live in san Francisco around 3rd street (bad neighborhood area) . Upon entering pass by the kitchen 4 gas stove flame was in full blast not cooking anything, no vent, you can literally see a big burn hole in the ceiling all the way thru the 2nd floor room. His mom was upstairs one of those rooms far away from the bottom floor kitchen, watching tv in full blast. Long story short. They are basically using their gas stove as a centralize heater for the whole house. Im a certified fire safety director at my work. This almost gives me a heart attack.#28
My brother (about 6 at the time) came home from a friend's house upset and confused and my mom figured out that the kids' parents had been watching p**n openly in front of the kids. Needless to say, he wasn't allowed back.
Image credits: OtherwiseCriticism
#29
Serve ice cream with their hands.
Image credits: sleeknub
#30
This happened when I was like, 6. I needed to use the bathroom at a friend’s house and he led me to his parent’s bathroom. The place was filled with crap of all sorts. Boxes, magazines, an inflatable pool, lots of other stuff. You could barely get in there. He pulled out a drawer from the installed cabinet by the entry way and said to pee in there. I thought he was joking until he went ahead and peed in there himself. I couldn’t argue with that, so I too peed right in there. Then he shut the drawer and we went and played more ninja turtles. I have no idea what became of that drawer/house/family.#31
My friend’s mom walked around the house in just her underwear. No shirt, no bra, just her underwear...#32
Had a friend who’s family lived on a huge property and kept cows for the property tax exemption, not odd.. he told me to come by and get some purple ringers he collected for me.. invited me in to meet his parents and I swear to god, there was a fullsize cow chilling on one of their couches in the livingroom. That sight was way more wild than any of the hallucinations later experienced. Really nice people though lol..
Image credits: Veg305
#33
My uncle is 50 years old, he is retired and a millionaire. He never had a girlfriend. He spends his time with video games and prostitutes. His house is filthy, the smell is unbearable. In that beautiful house of his he has over 700 devils. Plush devils plastic devils glass devils big devils small devils. You name it he has it. It's all over the place on tables shelves and on the floor. He loves them.#34
A roughly 4 feet long python roaming free around the room at a gathering with guests.Snek was chill as heck but still…
#35
A framed hole in the wall. My friend had a mental breakdown once and punched a hole in their living room wall. Their mother framed it.
Image credits: Mysterious_Creatures
#36
When I was about 13, I babysat for a family who had a stack of Hustler and Penthouse magazines in each bathroom, just laying open on the backs of the toilets. The kids said, 'Oh, those are Dad's magazines,' like it was no big thing. Then they said, 'Mom keeps the grownup toys in her room. They're funny — want to see?'#37
Everyone using the same bathwater. I was made to bathe in the same water the grandpa, sister brother, other sister had used. The parents went last.Before you ask no it wasn't on a property, this was in a house with electricity and a shower.
Image credits: Sproose_Moose
#38
Wasn’t when I went to their house, but when I rode in the car with them! Everyone in the car had to wear a bike helmet while we were driving. Not THAT weird, but I’ve never seen another family do that.#39
I grew up as a Jehovah's witness and my mom pushed me to be friends with people within the religion. One girl was only allowed to talk to people within the religion so she was homeschooled. She was was allowed to watch one movie or one tv show a day rated g-pg with approval. Three of us, aged 16, watched Lion King 2 then her parents made us go to bed at 730 in the summer. She also wasn't allowed to have any posters on her wall as that was viewed as idol worship. Her parents came in to "approve" our prayers for the night. I left feeling super bad for her.
Image credits: Lolztallestmidget
#40
I had a friend in middle school whose family was really into trophy hunting, something I didn’t know until I went to a sleepover at her house. Animal heads everywhere, but the weirdest part was she didn’t have sheets on her bed, just animal fur. She slept naked on the fur and had no idea it was weird. I faked a stomach ache and had my mom pick me up.#41
When I was a kid the neighbors tv was always at 75 percent volume or higher. They'd literally sit in the living room and scream at each other over the tv on blast.
Image credits: RustyShkleford
#42
I had dinner at a friend's house once, when I Was like 7/8 and they didn't allow any drinks at the dinner table. I had to stand in the kitchen and drink my water when I asked for it.
Image credits: royalsiblings
#43
One day many years ago my friends and went to several open houses in West Hollywood to see how people with a little money lived. The third place we walked into featured framed photos of the owner with Richard Simmons in every single room, including the bathroom. I guess the homeowner lost a lot of weight 30 years ago and was forever grateful. Richard’s eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went in the house.#44
I had a friend when I was 13-14 who’s family didn’t speak at all when they ate dinner. The first time I ate there I tried to make conversation and got a super weird glare and shake of the head from the mom. After dinner was done everyone would just go back to doing whatever. I remember thinking at the time while I ate in awkward silence “why would anyone want to eat like this everyday? I come from a family of 8 where dinners were chaos so maybe I was conditioned too far the other way.
Image credits: Butwhytwo
#45
A friends mother has a human skull sitting in her living room with a dollar bill stuffed between his teeth. Apparently she knew the guy.#46
My childhood best friend lived with his grandparents, his grandfather was a clock maker (he mostly restored them.) Their large 2 story houses walls were covered in old restored grandfather and cuckoo clocks. Each one had a small sticker with a number so he could keep track of them all, the highest number I saw was over 700. I would say 25% of them were wound so every hour you were treated to a symphony of clocks.I didn’t appreciate it when I was a kid but those clocks were fantastic pieces of workmanship.
#47
The skull of their beloved dead family cat was sitting on a bookshelf.“Oh, that’s our cat, Felix!”
#48
She had half a mannequin on her kitchen table that she dressed up. Just the head and torso no arms and legs. Said it was because she liked some movie and this woman in a box that had no arms and legs. The same girl had a man blowup doll that she dressed in clothes and buckled in her passenger seat in case someone wanted to car jack her. We called him Dan Dan the Rubber Man. She brought him in work so he wouldnt melt in the car. She was weird
Image credits: truisluv
#49
I shared a house with a bunch of people who regularly set their farts on fire. I don't know why. They just did. Even when they were not drunk. This appeared to be normal behavior for them.#50
An old school friend of mine invited me over to eat. They ate noodles with sugar. That's it. With a glass of water. He told me they are eating this pretty often.#51
At every meal, my ex's parents would set a plate on the table for the Dog. The dog would sit in a chair and eat at the table with the people.#52
My friend's house featured a life sized cutout of thei sister (who was away at college) that was moved into a different place every time I was over.
Image credits: I_Eat_Dryer_Lint
#53
I went with a few friends to one of their families' houses for a birthday party when I was like 15. After eating, we settled in to watch a horror movie, and I looked around me to find that everyone in that family was sitting in the exact same "crisscross applesauce" position, slowly rocking back and forth. Something about it was extremely creepy.#54
My grandparents have had a human-sized mouse on their stairs for as long as I can remember. It has a bonnet and an apron and wears a long floral dress and I’ve honestly got no idea where they got it from and why.
Image credits: whambamwigwam
#55
My great aunt has had these toddler sized old ladies dolls scattered around her house for as long as I can remeber. They are ultra detailed, with human hair wigs, outfits that get changed semi frequently. They're dolls her late sister had made, so they are sentimental I suppose... But she sets them up in chairs all around the house. One of them she calls by her sisters name and is always sat up in a rocking chair in the living room. The more horror movies I watch, the creepier they become.#56
When I was like 10 i had a friend that had a room that was just filled to the ceiling with trash and they just started playing in it.#57
When I was seven, I went over to play with a new friend and she asked if I wanted a snack. I said sure and we went into their playroom where there was a mini fridge just stacked with candy, full bars of everything, and she casually tossed me a pack of Rolos. Now, the house was a manufactured home— not a trailer perse, but definitely not like the usual house either. I know this doesn’t indicate how much money the family had, but this was not in an upscale neighborhood or house.I marveled at A.) the largest amount of candy I have still to this day ever seen and B.) the fact that she and her siblings all just had free access to it at such young ages.
She was surprised at my surprise and asked what did I keep in my snack fridge. I told her I didn’t have one of those, and then it was her turn to be absolutely gobsmacked at the idea that I didn’t have a mini fridge full of candy just at my disposal and whim.
#58
They had a huge outside trash can in their kitchen…#59
They kept their Christmas tree up all year with ornaments, but stored it in a walk in closet. It was their only Christmas decoration, so it only took a few minutes to decorate for Christmas.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3GimMM4
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