Our homes are probably the most familiar place to us. It offers us a sense of security, peace, and belongingness. Because of this, it’s easy to overlook that what we find normal in our homes may come across as weird to others. From gross to downright confusing, people on Reddit share the most outrageous things they’ve witnessed in other people’s houses!
#1 Mannequin
Went into a woman’s house that had a lifesize replica/mannequin of herself mutilated & murdered.
Turns out, she’s a semi-pro actress. She’s been an extra in a dozen or so motion pictures. One of which was a B-level hack film. The special effects crew made a latex replica of her for a couple of scenes in the movie & let her keep it afterward.
It was very real-looking. From a foot away, you’d think it was a real mutilated corpse. Creepy, but I can’t blame her for wanting to keep it. —Tgunner192
#2 Deadly Collection
I was at a house for a cable TV service call, the customer wasn’t home so I called him. He said, “I will be home in five minutes and don’t freak out, but I have a tiger on the truck”.
When he got there, he had a tiger in a cage on the back of his truck. I got to pet the thing, feed it a little, and then went on to see his venomous snake collection, his hand grenade collection, and his hot sauce collection.
The very next day, I was at another service call and asked the customer to get to the pole in the back yard, and he told me that he has a tiger in the backyard, so don’t freak out. I got to pet the thing, and feed it a little.
I had been working cable for 18 years to that point and had never encountered a tiger in all that time. I have been working cable for 7 years since, and have had no further encounters with tigers in that time. But, for two days consecutive, I visited homes with tigers. —loonidood
#3 “Storage” Bins
When I worked as a building inspector we saw a house that had not paid their water bills and had their service disconnected. So naturally, their solution was to get a bunch of big blue storage bins from Walmart, cut a hole in one end of the lid, and take a dump in those. They had 5 lined up in the living room. There were also 4 dead dogs in a closet. I puked for the rest of the day. We condemned the house. —8sonofthe7th
#4 Fleas
I shadowed a home health therapist once. We went to a house where we had to tuck our pants legs into our socks because of fleas. We drove down this dirt road, and I thought we were going past these abandoned single-wide trailers, but then we parked in front of one. This trailer didn’t have steps to enter, you had to boost yourself up. The floor was rotten through to the ground in places, and there was a grandmother with 6 young kids in there. Including the one we were seeing who had hydrocephalus, but the mother never got it treated, and neglected the child nearly to the point of death till grandma found them and took the “baby.” Grandma was really trying her best, but this place was the most unsafe place I had ever seen —Bangbangsmashsmash
#5 Six Foot Junk
My dad’s business partner bought a home on our street after the lady who lived there passed away— she didn’t have any living relatives. My dad was tasked with getting the place cleaned out and ready for contractors since we lived across the street. The woman who passed was always a nice lady and we’d often go hang out with her on her porch, where she taught my sister and me to knit. We were never invited inside and never really asked to be— at my age I didn’t really think anything of it. Anywho, my dad was REALLY excited to show us the place but kept a secret about what was so “crazy” about it. We walked in to find out she was a hoarder! The entire house was filled with 6 feet tall piles of junk, save for the walking paths thru each room which were actually quite neat, and the bathroom which only had a pile as tall as the toilet seat. What was strange is that it didn’t even smell much at all! I’d seen hoarding tv shows and they always noted the horrible stench. It definitely didn’t smell good but all the junk was basically brand new things still wrapped up in their packaging or their store bags. It seemed she just had a shopping addiction but was still a neat lady? —esco159
#6 Giant Pig
A friend of mine in middle school had a giant pig in their house! Apparently, a family member was allergic to dogs and cats so they got this little pot-bellied pig as a pet. They let it into the yard for the summer and the thing turned into what looked like a giant boar, tusks and bristly hair and all. They still loved it very much so in the cold winter months it got to live indoors. They had a grand piano and a swooping curved dark hardwood staircase and this giant pig in their home. —Total-Blueberry4900
#7 Doppelganger
I used to install Dish Network for a living.
I was installing for an elderly lady, who complained that her “sister’s” TV always showed the same thing hers did. I had a 2 tv installation order so I figured that would be OK.
I finished the installation and was demonstrating the system when she looked at the full-length mirror and complained that her sister’s tv was still showing the same thing.
Noped out of there as quick as I could, and left notes on the account in case she called in. —Stephenburnett98
#8 Flooded Basement
My husband’s experience relayed to me: he was renting a small two-bedroom apartment with his now ex-wife. Her sister came to stay with them for a while trying to get on her feet and get into school, work, etc. After a heavy storm, the landlord came to check on the apartment and went into the basement. It was completely flooded with several feet of water. He said there was no way the storm did that and found that there was a burst pipe as well coming from the bathroom. Turns out the sister was flushing those wet wipes down the toilet and it finally overloaded it. They found her closet full of wet wipes, used. Hundreds. She never showered apparently, just wiped down with wipes, piled them in the closet or tried to flush them. —Substantial-Duck3466
#9 A Mysterious String
I went to a house with a leak that seemed to be coming from a 2nd-floor bedroom. I was then warned by the homeowner that the bedroom belonged to their son who was currently locked up and that they had not gone into the room because their son threatened to kill them if they did. I opened the door just enough and took a peek inside only to see a string tied to the other side of the door and as my eyes follow the string I see that it leads to a shotgun. I disengaged the string from the door handle and went about doing my job. To this day I don’t know why I decided to proceed through that door cautiously but I am glad I did. —flippinoffsatellites
#10 The Queen
I do pest control and when I climbed an attic ladder and switched on my flashlight I saw a person up there waiting for me. Turns out they kept a mannequin in the attic to scare squirrels. Didn’t work, the squirrels were nesting two feet away. Scared the living daylights out of me. Also found Her Royal Majesty, The Queen of England, in life-sized cutout form in a basement closet. Also scared the hell out of me. —James42785
#11 Desk Decoration
When I was 12 a friend of mine invited me over to her friend’s house to swim in her pool. She shows us to her room to change and as I’m changing I hear my friend whisper “what the hell…”. I turn and look and there are about 8-10 used maxi pads lined up on this girl’s desk. The girl comes in shortly after and my friend flat out asks her what the pads were all about. Apparently, her parents made her do that so they could check she wasn’t pregnant and/or being sexually active. I found out later that the parents were super religious and this was their way of knowing that their daughter was still “pure”. —[deleted]
#12 A Questionable Snake
My childhood best friend grew up in an extremely messy house. He was one of about 8 children. We were digging around his house for a VHS (I was 12 in 2000) when I found a styrofoam takeout container. Something hard was rattling around in it. I feared that it would be old dried-up food but succumbed to my curiosity and proceeded to open the box. Inside was a small brown shriveled up snake-looking thing. I stared at it for a few moments trying to process what it was when I hear my friend’s mother call out “Oh that’s just *name’s* umbilical cord”. I was completely shocked. Especially because that particular child was already about 3.5 years old at the time. —somethingandthe
This reminds me of something that happened to me recently. I was over at a friend’s house — just him, his wife and their dog live there. We were doing nothing, in particular, just hanging out late at night. It gets to the time that I’m going to be heading out, as they’re getting ready to go to bed. His wife is brushing her teeth as I’m putting my coat on and I hear her walk into the kitchen while still brushing. She calls for her dog, leans down, and takes the toothbrush from her mouth, and begins brushing the dog’s teeth. After a good minute or two of thorough brushing, she proceeds to take the toothbrush out of the dog’s mouth and goes right back to brushing her teeth. Without rinsing it off. I just stood there mouth agape. —slowhandornohand
#14 A Massive Buddha
My friend from middle school had a massive fat Buddha statue in his living room. an otherwise completely normal American household, but with a freaking massive, gold-colored Buddha that almost touched the ceiling watching over this white Protestant family. I never asked why. —wtfisdisreal
#15 Bloody Bowl
I did residential HVAC for a few years I’ve seen a few hoarder houses. The worst was an older lady who had most rooms full of what seemed like garbage. At the end of the day, I was working on the thermostat placed my screwdriver on a random pile because I needed both my hands for a second. Went to pick up my screwdriver and finish up, right next to it was a bowl of used sanitary napkins. After when I was leaving the lady reminded me to vacuum. Wouldn’t have bothered me if I had actually made a mess but I know I did not. I know this because I put down a drop cloth to avoid placing my tools in cat vomit and anything else that was on her disgusting floor. —jds_deadliver
#16 Mayo Meal
The first time I went to my friend’s house for dinner his parents gave me a bowl of mayonnaise to eat. They all had one too. And out of sheer politeness, I ate it. Half an hour later my bro’s mom comes in with fried fish and veggies —ayarb
#17 Perfect Everything
Have you ever been into the home of someone with OCD?
The lady that used to live across the street from us was OCD. At 7:00 am she would emerge from the house in perfect hair and makeup and begin her routine.
Her lawn was immaculate. The grass was mowed with this ridiculously expensive lawnmower, which is something that would be used to mow the grass on a golf course. The curb was lined with brick, and she would go down the curb with a toothbrush and clean between the bricks every day. She would sweep her grass. Her son was not allowed to play in the grass. The shrubs and flowers were perfectly trimmed.
The first time I visited the inside of her house I was afraid to move. I remember looking at the rug in the entry foyer, which we were not allowed to step on. The tassels on the end of the rug had been perfectly straightened out, and it looked like they had been ironed. You would have never known that a child lived in that house. It had to be pretty miserable for him. —45MinutesOfRoadHead
#18 Picture Books
When I was 8 years old I was friends with a girl from my neighborhood. This was back when people thought nothing of allowing a group of 8-year-old girls to walk through the neighborhood alone to see friends within a few blocks distance. Usually, we never played inside, but hung around the small playground that was nearby.
One day we were at the playground when it began to drizzle, so this girl offered to let us come to her house to play. We were excited because she had an Atari, so we happily agreed. The whole family had this white-blond hair, albino-like; the girl, her brothers, her mother, and her father. Her mother was a chubby woman with red cheeks who seemed nice and gave us some cookies. We got to her house and played Atari in the living room for a while, then she took us up to her bedroom.
But before we got to her bedroom, we walked down a hallway with a tall bookcase in it. She stopped to show us the picture books that her dad shared with her. She said that they were for the games they played. Inside the books, which were just magazines, were glossy photos of naked men and women in unusual positions. The girl told us that her dad would show these to her and sometimes they would act out the scenes. She then asked if any of us did the same things with our families, or if our dads ever showed us his “thing.” She didn’t know if it was wrong or not, but she said it made her feel funny. She also told us that one day after they had been playing the games, she had noticed a brown stain in her underwear, but she didn’t know if it was poop or blood.
It was the late 70’s and I was 8 years old and I had no idea what that was all about. I had the sense that something was wrong, but you just didn’t go home and tell your parents this kind of things. Many years later when I recalled the scene, I was horrified, but by that time I was no longer in contact with her. I always wonder what happened to her. The memory haunts me to this day. —bantling
#19 Baby Bottle
This happened to my girlfriend when she was in Uni… She’s over at her friend’s house staying the night. This is her first time there and everything seems normal, parents seem nice. While they’re getting ready for bed, her Mom shouts up and asks if either of them would like a cup of tea. My girlfriend declines the offer but her friend shouts back, “yes, please… And will you put it in my bottle??” At first, my girlfriend thought maybe she misheard. But sure enough, her Mom comes upstairs with some tea in a BABY’S BOTTLE. My girlfriend and her friend were around 20 at the time and she said it was one of the strangest things she’s ever seen. —Woodesh
#20 Lint Jar
I had a friend in middle school whose family collected lint from their pockets and belly buttons and kept it in a big jar in the kitchen. He said it was for when someone was feeling sad, they could just put their hands in the lint and play with it to feel better. I have no effing idea why. —CuntyMcGiggles
#21 Snoopy
When we were dating, my wife had a roommate that “collected” Snoopy things. She would get boxes delivered with various Snoopy memorabilia that would go straight to her room. She was very protective of her room, I never saw inside and my wife only saw it from the hallway sometimes, apparently, there were stacked boxes up to the ceiling.
The only spot it spilled over was her “comic” collection. She’d save newspapers that had the Snoopy comic in it, but she wouldn’t save just the cut-out comic, she’d save the entire newspaper. There were piles of newspapers under the stairs that were making their way into the living room proper by the time my wife moved out. —NotJuniorBridgeman
#22 Raw Skin
I played with a chicken skin for an entire summer. My mom had taken it off the chicken she was going to bake and gave it to me, which I now presume to give to the cats. However, in my ignor-innocence, I thought she gave it to me to play with and she didn’t notice that I made off with it. I played for a few hours and left it on my bedroom floor. It had kind of hardened up so I ran water over it and got it all soft again. I hung it over the bathroom sink in the kid’s bathroom (mom rarely in there) and there it stayed when I wasn’t playing with it for about three months. When she discovered it she was so disgusted that she didn’t talk to me for a week. —igotalotadogs
#23 Time Capsule Food
Walked into my friend’s kitchen, he says I could grab anything I wanted out of his pantry. I see boxes and boxes of expired food. I’m not just talking about food that expired a month ago, or even a year ago; I’m talking about expiration dates from 1995! There were plenty of different snack foods with similar expiration dates.
He thought this was completely normal, and that the food “still has taste”. I was afraid of opening anything I found. —Lucid623
#24 Couch Snack
When I was 5, I went over to a friend’s house. She offered me a snack, and I accepted. The snack was cinnamon graham crackers that she dug out of the depths of the couch. And I don’t mean a package of graham crackers — she just fished out the bare crackers themselves, and we had a yummy snack.
At the time, I just thought that was very convenient. In retrospect, I can see where I might be mistaken. —xairei
#25 Money Stash
When a great-grandmother of mine died, they found stashes of money throughout the house, plus every social security check she ever got, cashed and the money placed back in the envelope and hidden. She was mean as hell, too. Very controlling and anti-social. She never threw any food out, either. She cooked it and ate it no matter how bad it had gone.
It sounds like she was crazy but she had fled Poland as a child during WWI, walking with her family through to England, immigrated dirt poor through Canada, then to the US where she survived the Depression and WWII supporting herself and two kids. All those experiences made her distrustful of governments, banks, and other people. She wanted to make sure she had cash if everything crashed and was afraid of ever going hungry again. All of those experiences made her into that person.
It always makes me wonder what are the backstories are to some of these people. —Red_Centauri
#26 Needles Everywhere
I worked for a moving company and we went into a lady’s house and kept finding needles everywhere. Behind the furniture, down in the couch and chair cushions. We stopped after a couple of minutes and refused to finish the job. Turns out her teenage daughter was diabetic, and would just toss the finger prick needles, and syringes everywhere. She honestly didn’t understand why we refused to touch the furniture after one of the guys carried some cushions and wound up with a needle stuck in his shirt. —Ihonestlycantsay
#27 Large Catfish
I saw a large catfish in the only bathtub of my Vietnamese friend’s house.
He told me they fatten them and purify them for a few days before eating them by feeding them a special diet.
Oh, and they showered with it. —thecaninfrance
#28 Garbage Troll
Working as a locksmith, get a call to rekey house. Talk to the client before I show up, she seems like a completely normal lady. I show up, we talk for a moment outside, completely normal house from all looks, she’s an RN, 0 warning signs. She goes to open the door and let me in and starts acting sheepish, she starts apologizing and says something like excuse the mess. The door can’t open all the way, there’s 3-4 FEET of trash everywhere. Not hoarding boxes or collecting weird stuff but just garbage, rotting stuff, piss, poop, piles of it. There’s a 9inch wide walkway through the garbage that’s 6inch deep of compressed garbage, to-go boxes, fast food bags, magazines, you name it. She goes in walks through to the living room sits down on a couch that can’t be seen, garbage everywhere, a cat appears out of nowhere, and sits on her lap lovingly. She seems for all practical purposes like a completely normal functioning adult. I looked it up it’s some weird form of hoarding condition but just rotting waste. She seemed so normal. I did the job and left, felt bad for her. still kinda freaks me out like there’s no way you’re guessing this nice nurse lady is actually a garbage troll. —Confident-Lack5153
#29 Double Lives
Just recently had a client who was fairly normal on the outside: clean-cut, steady factory job, a decent car, etc. Inside his house, the roof was rotted through, there were holes in the floor, dead rodents in the kitchen cupboards, etc. The weirdest thing was that he kept talking about his “wife”, but it was abundantly clear that no one lives there with him.
This guy has a completely normal life on the outside but is definitely off. —MadameBurner
#30 Literally Stuck on the Couch
Approx 70y/o woman fell in her trailer and injured her hip/femur but was able to drag herself to the couch and climb onto it. Unfortunately due to her injury she was unable to walk (plus the trailer was a disgusting hoarder situation with clutter everywhere so navigation was already difficult). She sat on the couch in the same spot for approx 10 days until a neighbor called 911. When we arrived she was naked and covered in 10 days worth of feces and urine, and was physically stuck to the couch. The worst parts were that the rats that also lived in her trailer had eaten two toes on the left foot down to the bone and approx half of her right foot. She had such bad neuropathy that she said she could feel the pressure of them chewing but no significant pain and was unable to kick them off. On top of that she had several sores on her inner upper thighs, along with a skin tear on her right forearm that had live maggots in them. We had to peel her off of the couch which caused a large portion of skin to slough off as it was dead/decaying after soaking in urine for a prolonged period of time. I’ve never smelled anything worse than when we broke that seal. The crazy part is that she had a phone near but didn’t want to call 911 because she didn’t want to “spend all day in the hospital”. The neighbor that called had been coming over and giving her food and water, but didn’t call us for 10 days since “she said she didn’t want us to and it didn’t seem that bad at the time”. I still have a hard time processing it all, but this is just one of many. —SmellyYeti8420