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36 People Reveal Home Visits That Left Them Wondering If They Were On A Hidden Camera Show
Your home can reveal a lot about you. The way you decorate it, the colors you choose, how neat or dirty it is, and the contents you keep hidden between the walls all tell a story...
That's why it can be so fascinating to set foot in another person's house. You're entering their private world. A place where they are their true and authentic selves, surrounded by the things they hold dear or just hoard. Often, you'll encounter the usual things. Photographs of family and friends, mementos from their travels, maybe some heirlooms, or art.
But sometimes you'll come across something so strange and unexpected, that stops you in your tracks and has you wondering, "What in the secret life of Satan is going on here?"
Someone once asked, "What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen at someone’s house that they thought was completely normal?" and the internet went wild. Thousands of responses came pouring in. From the funny, to the bizarre, to the downright creepy, people didn't hold back in spilling the tea about the private lives of others.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the best answers for you to scroll through before your next houseguest arrives. Some might prompt you to do a Swedish death clean or at the very least, a quick declutter.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Casually spitting directly into their carpeting.
Anon:
I went over to a college friend's house and watched him do that right in the middle of talking with his mother. I was completely shocked and decided right then and there that I wasn't going to sit down or touch anything until we left.
JabberJauw:
In a lot of countries this is normal. When I was in high school I was talking to a teacher after class and there was an exchange student with the teacher and I and he just spit on the ground like it was nothing. The teachers jaw just dropped and said are you gonna clean that up. The exchange student was oblivious to the fact that it wasn't normal in america to spit on the ground inside.
What do you see when you look around your own home? Anything that someone else might find creepy, weird, disgusting or unsettling? Or is your space neat, non-toxic and void of aura-threatening secrets?
Our homes speak volumes about us and can sometimes even reveal the state of our mental health. It pays to personalize your space so that it tells the truth about you...
One of the ways to do this is with color. Not only do colors set the mood inside your home, but they can also reveal to your visitors whether you're a fiery or laid-back kinda guy or girl. Among other things...
According to Fancy Pants Homes, "gold belongs to the luxurious one; red is associated with passion; green is mostly chosen by adventurous people who love nature; yellow shows positivity and optimism; blue is for the chilled one; black belongs to the deep thinker; pink is mostly chosen by joyful and loving people, purple by daring ones."
RELATED:
#2
My friend and her family have a doggy door, but no dog. What do they use it for? They allow raccoons to come in and they feed them frequently. They are all so nonchalant about it.
Thereal_me:
Raccoons have a parasite in their feces, this parasite settles in the human brain.
brassmonkeyyy:
My dog door has a cover that we put on at night so the cat doesn't use it. Well, I was on the computer a week or so ago which is adjacent to the dog door. It was about midnight and I hear a scratching coming from the door. I thought it was someone trying to break in so I grab a knife and go check outside. As I open the door a raccoon sprints away from the dog door and over the fence. Freaked me out, would've been disastrous if we didn't close it at night.
#3
Jars filled with giant bloated tics "swimming" in rubbing alcohol.
They picked them out of the ears of their dog and thought it was totally normal to display them on the kitchen counter!
SecChf_RocIngersol:
This is actually a very encouraged practice (minus the weird displaying) in my family. If your dog gets sick after a tick bite, it helps the vet if you have the tick preserved for them to look at. Any time we pull a tick off our dog we keep it at least a few days to make sure it didn't get him sick.
Krebs__cycle:
I wasn't sure what my nightmare was going to be about tonight. Thanks for clearing that up for me...
Is your home neat as a pin or does it look like it's just been hit by a tornado? If it's the latter, you might have a "valid excuse" next time someone comments on the chaos.
The folk over at Fancy Pants claim that messy people are more likely to be creative. "It appears that they can come up with better ideas in a messy environment. Obviously people can also assume you’re just lazy…. it depends on who’s judging," reads the property site.
#4
Chickens and roosters strutting around the house like they owned the place.
horseface312:
Ugh, the way my chickens s**t all over the yard, I would NOT want them in my house.
#5
I went over to a friend's house after school, and other than a door for the bathroom there wasn't a single door hung in the house. His mother told me that if you're behind a closed door you're doing something secret and there there were no secrets in her house.
She would also randomly search his room for 'secrets'. It wasn't uncommon for him to come home and find all his clothes turned inside out and thrown into the hallway, and all his stuff also searched, examined, and thrown into the hallway. When he got home from school he was expected to have it all put away in an hour. What wasn't put away when the timer went off was thrown away.
Anon:
My mom did somethign similar, only she thought I was stealing her things (which, really, she either never had or had simply misplaced). The last time, it was so bad that most of my furniture was broken and my bed was overturned. I ran away after that, ended up living with dad and grandma for a while until she left the house. When I moved back, it took me about 6 months to clean it all up and make it livable.
Of course, a few months later, she broke her agreement (to let us live in the house until I graduated highschool) and threw a fit, so we moved out and said f**k it, you can have it.
That was about four years ago. She's still stalking me. S**t's crazy.
#6
A friend of mine told me that when she was younger, she went to someone's house where there were no partitions or walls - just a huge open space. The toilet was sitting right in the middle of the room.
Anon:
Was your friend playing The Sims?
metallink11:
If I don't put in any walls, I only have to decorate one room.
People obsessed with cleanliness, empty counters and organizing everything around the house are (unsurprisingly) likely to be a Type A personality - outgoing, organized, with a penchant for aesthetic over function..
But what might surprise you is that some research has shown the most orderly people have the messiest sock drawers. "The explanation for this would be that they are more concerned with prioritizing and organizing more important parts of their lives," explains Fancy Pants.
#7
I saw someone thawing a Thanksgiving turkey in a sink full (I mean full) of dirty dishes and skanky water.
#8
In grade 6 (age 11 or 12) I went for a sleepover at my new friends house. He and his family had just immigrated to Western Canada from Manchester or Bolton England; they were what you might call 'working class'.
As soon as I get there his toothy mother comes into his room with a pen and a notepad and casually asks us what we will have from the liquor store.
We must have ordered about $50 worth of alcohol between us. That night we just got absolutely trashed on rum & cokes playing Super Nintendo in his basement like it was completely normal. I remember jumping on the trampoline at probably 2 or 3 in the morning while his father BBQ'd sausages for us to eat. His parents otherwise sat in their living room smoking and watching TV all night without a care in the world for the stumbling pre-teens downstairs. At regular intervals his mother would come down with snacks and treats.
skratakh:
Brit here, personally we were generally allowed alcohol in small amounts at family gatherings, BBQ's etc, maybe a few beers or an alcopop or glass of wine, nothing in great quantity. I personally don't drink very often though and the same for the rest of my family. I think once you demystify it you kinda lose the allure. I can't remember friends families being strict with alcohol either to be fair.
#9
People who keep their Christmas decorations (including the tree) up all year round, or much longer than the Christmas season (like starting in October and not taking them down until several weeks after the New Year).
We also had neighbors who replaced all their floors (even upstairs) with tile because their dogs peed everywhere and they were tired of replacing the carpeting every other year. Why they couldn't housetrain the dogs or get rid of them, I have no idea.
lordandrosss:
One year my cousins mom left the tree up till new years. And my cousin started to complain. So the mother left it up all year and just changed the ornaments for whatever holiday was next. Hearts for valentines, eggs for easter, etc.
Mtn Lungta 4 months ago
My back porch light is a 300 led light tree (almost typed christmas ...but no) with several mixed strings of lights 10 feet off the ground along the walkway to the back alley. Nice touch .... soft and just enough light and dark when off ....not the solar all nighters. ...try it.
Whether we realize it or not, we decorate or develop our living spaces to reflect our behaviours, values and choices over time. Psychologists call this ‘behavioural residue.’ Through each stage of our life, our homes help us explore and develop our identities. And tell the story of who we are.
"Our homes are an amalgam of our choices and behaviours that accumulate over time," explains psychologist and research scientist, Dr Linda Papadopoulos. "The fact that you have a special area for muddy wellies may attest to your family being an active one, and that old crochet blanket that covers the chair in your bedroom may be there because it reminds you of summers you used to spend at your grandma’s home."
#10
Exes family smoked cigarettes in their home, I smoke too, but never inside - but alright, their house, they can smoke in it if they want... But the weird part was they used their carpeted floor as a giant ashtray.
Hessalam:
Smoking inside is okay, my family does it. But holy s**t, a dirty floor like that would cause my feet to shrivel into my legs, my legs into my body, and so on until I cease to exist.
#11
I had an aunt who was so terrified of nudity she made her whole family change clothes alone in a locked bathroom, even uncle. She also made everyone sleep fully clothed in underpants, old fashion full coverage pajamas, and a house coat. She said no one in her family was going to have to be outside where people could see their night clothes if the house burned down. When she found out I was sleeping in my underwear I got a twenty minute lecture on acting like a w***e. This was in 1982.
#12
Watched my friends mother pour the babies potty into the kitchen sink over the dishes that were in there before asking me if I'd like a drink. 'No way!' Was my only possible response.
Our homes allow us to showcase our personalities, says Papadopoulos. And we'll showcase different things at different stages of life.
"If you think of a teen’s room for example, their space is often very much a declaration of identity, from the posters and music collections on display to the fact that there are clothes all over the place," the expert writes, adding that the tean's message is clear:
“This is my space, this is who I am and I have (or at least am trying to develop) a healthy sense of entitlement to be me.”
And if that means a jar of giant ticks on the counter, raccoons coming in through the doggie door, or a Thanksgiving turkey chilling in a sink full of dirty dishes, then so be it...
#13
Placenta from all the home births (7 kid family) in the freezer. In the spring, they plant it as fertilizer in their veggie garden.
tezoatlipoca:
Yes, f**ked up, but common. My wife kept our son's placenta (a home birth) in the freezer for a while. Also, my sister-in-law gave birth in our home as well (its complicated).... and kept the placenta in the freezer. Something about if they need it for stem cells or to research some future disease or something.
Guaranteed, once a month I'd be rummaging around in the freezer looking for something to put on the BBQ, I'd be unwrapping the plastic bag thinking "hrmm, whats this, its a nice sized steak or maybe a chicken bre-OMFWUGGHAD KAREN DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR GODDANMED PLACENTA!!"
#14
Couple of things:
At one house, a microwave on top of a toilet. You couldn't enter the kitchen due to the amount of hoarding, so if they were hungry they would plug the microwave in, place it on the toilet and microwave some food.
At another house - lots and lots of empty boxes. Stacked in every corner of the house, in case they ever had to return items. I can somewhat understand that mentality but when you've used that item for years, return policies don't apply anymore.
#15
A pet rabbit that just roamed around the backyard. It also would get in the pool with us and swim. Pretty bada*s.
#16
My grandmother reuses her floss. Flosses, rinses it off, hangs it up to dry, repeats for 2 weeks. Seeing her hanging floss scarred me as a child.
Anon:
I do that. Not for two weeks, but a few days.
Huddo's sister 4 months ago
I read a (satirical) passage in a newspaper once about a woman who tried to see how long she could reuse her floss for. Apparently more than two weeks is definitely bad, as it smells even though you rinse it.
#17
This was back in high school. My friend's older brother had slippers made from his beloved dead dog's hide with the fur still attached. I thought she was joking at first but she was perfectly serious and I realized that's exactly what they looked like - they were definitely not fake fur slippers.
Anon:
Native American style: let no part of the animal go to waste.
Mtn Lungta 4 months ago
May not be dog , dog hides are very thin. I think you both might have been punked and older bro getting a chuckle. We had the neighbor girls convinced we had growing rocks ... but then for real; all those bits of fur on those christmas soldiers ... yep ...cats
#18
At a friends house when I was younger, went to use the restroom. Four women in the house... All of them were in the habit of leaving their bloody lady products lying messy side up in the lidless garbage can.
Growing up with a mum and two sisters, we all got through shark week as discreetly and invisibly as possible. I had never considered that other women didn't worry as much about hiding bloody pads/ tampons from visitors.
cankerouswench:
The worst I've seen was when I was stopping by a friend's house and she had unwrapped used tampons and pads by the side of the toilet on the floor... The f**king floor where the trashcan usually was. I was astonished.
But honestly, sometimes she would go through phases of not giving a f**k about her apartment at all for about a week or so.
#19
Growing up, I was at my friend Cori's house all the time. Every Friday, her family would order pizza. They would leave the leftovers on the counter, in the box, all weekend and would just snack from the box. No refrigeration. Seemed strange then, and now.
rhozberry:
Doing that with pizza would be normal to me now, at least more normal than my boyfriend's roommate's habits. Last week I was at my boyfriend's new place and his roommate cooked a bunch of fish and left it out in the pot on the counter for at least three days. It was just sitting in the water it was boiled in (I think?), and admittedly, it did have a lid on it. BUT THREE DAYS? FISH? Even cooked, that freaked me the fuck out. Then she comes in and says, "Oh, I'm going to make something for all of you with that!"
When she left, I made my boyfriend promise me he wouldn't eat it. The next morning, the fish was gone, and a (sealed, but... still!) packet of raw chicken was on the counter in its place. I can't handle his house.
#20
Giant standing stuffed bear in the bathroom. Pretty funny, but the first time I saw it I screamed.
#21
I couple I knew moved into a place where a real pack rat (hoarder) had been living. They got the place cheap but they had to clean up on their own. They were pretty big stoners so they only cleaned up as much as was completely necessary. In the backyard there was a huge pallet of boxes marked "Wendy's Bacon." I was a little incredulous so I opened one of the boxes with a stick and it actually was full of these sweaty pouches of ancient grey bacon. There must have been two hundred pounds of rotten bacon. I'm still so curious about where the bacon came from, was it a bacon heist?
#22
This one old lady I took care of had all of her dead pets as taxidermy statues in her living room.
Also had all her late husbands teeth in a cup on her coffee table.
Anon:
This is actually very sad...
#23
I visited Family and they showed me arround, apparently my Niece does her makeup sitting on the floor with a mirror hanging low on the wall... she wipes the mascara brush clean on the carpet, there are black streaks everywhere on the carpet arround the area she sits when doing this. Blew my mind.
Dzessa Golden 4 months ago
What?! Who wipes their mascara wand on anything?? Let alone the (carpeted!) floor! And then puts it on their lashes and practically IN THEIR EYE?!?! I’m blown away.
#24
Several stuffed pillows shaped and colored like life-sized naked women in the family room. This was in a house I only visited when I was in 1st and 2nd grade, and the pillows were visible through windows to the street.
#25
At my friends house they all use the toilet with the door wide open, even while taking a shower. I always close & lock the door when I'm using their bathroom because I'm not at all used to that. and she has 3 brothers so I definitely don't want them seeing me on the toilet.
#26
I had a friend in middle/high school who lived in a country house that smelled like puppy s**t. One time I stopped over, and there was legit blood spatter on their kitchen walls. No one seemed concerned or eager to clean it up. When I asked about it my friend's mom just said "Nip (friend's dad) got shot."
Never went back.
IKinectWithUrGF:
I have a friend who invited me to his cabin one time. I get in there, start getting situated, and I notice some splatters on the old wooden floor. You could trace them from a bunch of blood around the floor of the sink to across the floor, to the steps, up each step (containing at least 2 drops of blood), and all the way to the top sleeping area with a bunch of dried blood pooled and soaked in at the top. I asked what the heck happened. My friend shrugged and said "Eh. Someone got stabbed a couple of years ago when we were renting it out."
Now to flip things around.
That's the story they tell to people who come over, and then act like it's normal (which it sort of is, but for different reasons). I ended up landing on an open knife in my bag when I visited there, stabbing through my hand and cutting a major artery (or something important I don't remember). I stood for a couple seconds with blood draining out my hand, sprinted down the steps, and ran to the kitchen where his mom acted like a medical ninja. I went to the ER a little bit later.
We laugh about it every time we think about it.
#27
Went over to this kid's house down the street from me when I was young. We ended up watching the cartoon, "The Proud Family" on Disney Channel.
His mom comes in and tells us she doesn't want us watching it because there were too many black people in it. He was just like, "Oh yeah I forgot." o_o.
ShiraCheshire:
My grandparents were like that. I went over there a lot because free babysitting, and I'm surprised I didn't turn out horribly racist from it.
PeepPeep the duck 4 months ago
Ohhhh noooooo, don’t wanna be influenced by the fabulous D’jonaise 😂
#28
My friend said he was going to go to the toilet to do a s**t.
The toilet is near the room we were in so I could see the door.
Dad walks in to his son having a s**t.
They proceed to have a chat.
Both of them walk out together.
Nederlands Geo 4 months ago
Well was he face to face conversing with the friend, There’s a bunch of things here that dictate if it’s weird or not.
#29
Just a pile of trash in the corner of the kitchen. It's like there was an imaginary trash can that everyone in their family pretended was there. I felt bad throwing anything away.
#30
They had found a pet kitten that they kept in a cage. It was a raccoon.
derajydac:
They kept their pet kitten in a raccoon. What a World.
#31
At one point, butter that was stored outside of the refrigerator.
I've since learned that this is perfectly OK, but growing up in a family that strictly kept the butter in the fridge had me believing there was no other way. Now I know.
Nederlands Geo 4 months ago (edited)
In Australia we don’t, as if you left it out in summer and ducked across the road for a bite at the carvery, it would be a liquid by the time you came back 20 minutes later
#32
They had a room that was off limits to touch. It was made up like a living room but you weren't allowed in there.
Damned_Cat 4 months ago
That was pretty common when I was a kid. Moms kept the formal living room pristine for when adult company comes over, but the kids and their friends were confined to the family room, kitchen or the kid's bedroom.
#33
Little baby angels. Everywhere. I knew that if I looked away I would be stuck in another dimension.
#34
I was spending the night a friend's house and we had soup for dinner, and me, being sane, took a spoon for eating soup, and he asked why I had a spoon for soup. He had a fork.
#35
Rats. Dozens of them. In and out of cages.
#36
I once dated a guy... until I found out he had a tattoo on his back of *his* face and his *dead cat*'s face morphing together. He got the artist to mix some of his late cat's ashes into the ink so they'd "always be together," and kept the left-over ashes in a trinket box on his night stand.
Damned_Cat 4 months ago
That doesn't sound all that weird to me. I've heard of people mixing their loved one's ashes in tattoo ink and I have a couple of boxes of pet ashes here at my house. Hopefully, the tattoo turned out well. The guy just loved his kitty friend.
What do you think ?
camomooey 4 months ago
I was friends with a girl in high school who had pretty bad acne. She would stand in front of the mirror, squeezing zits and wiping it on her jeans. I think she had a designated pair of jeans for that because I remember them being covered in zit juice. It was weird and disgusting.
Binny Tutera 4 months ago
I went to a friend’s house- we were in grade school- and there was a huge hole in the dining room floor. You could see into the basement. They had a couple of wood planks over it, but they didn’t completely cover it. Not even sure they were nailed down. Was like that a few years.
camomooey 4 months ago
I was friends with a girl in high school who had pretty bad acne. She would stand in front of the mirror, squeezing zits and wiping it on her jeans. I think she had a designated pair of jeans for that because I remember them being covered in zit juice. It was weird and disgusting.
Binny Tutera 4 months ago
I went to a friend’s house- we were in grade school- and there was a huge hole in the dining room floor. You could see into the basement. They had a couple of wood planks over it, but they didn’t completely cover it. Not even sure they were nailed down. Was like that a few years.
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