“People are strange . . .” ―Jim Morrison.
We are all a little weird. That’s just the truth, whether you can admit it or not. However, there are some people that push their weirdness to extreme levels, often without even realizing just how much it could shake another person. They can even trick people into thinking they are normal.
Such is the case with those of us who have friends that we think are completely normal... until we visit their homes. This is one of the big tests of a friendship, and though it is often not a very special moment, sometimes we get a huge surprise and find out just how weird the person is.
Never been to a friends' home that had something super weird in it? Well, isn’t that lucky. In that case, sit back and enjoy a trauma-free look at these stories that other people have shared about the weirdest thing they’ve ever seen at a friend's house.
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47. Shoe Polish Wake up
I once had to stay over at my cousins', who we were never close with, and only ever saw them once every two years at family gatherings or special occasions. So I got woken up at 6 AM the next morning, which was a Sunday, and got called to the living room.
As I walked into the living room, eyes half closed, I see the whole family... sat on the floor, with all the pairs of black shoes lined up in front of them. Task? Polish the shoes. I was told to join them.
It was my first and last sleepover at their place.
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46. Cat Lover
Went to a party in college and the kid living there had BOXES of Cat Fancy magazine cataloged by month and year all over his room. When I asked about it, the dude just shrugged and said, "I'm into cats." I was too nervous to ask more.
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45. Don’t Say a Word
I went to a friends house and they had their halls lined with grandfather clocks. This was a little weird but nothing major.
The weird part came when his dad told me and my friend, "Don't you kids go around telling anybody about my clocks." Now I'll never forget about his precious clocks.
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44. Not Lying About the Pet Lion
My parents were in a bowling league and would bring me with them. I made friends with a girl who hung out at the bowling alley because she lived in a home on an acre next to it. She invited me to come to her house while my parents bowled. I asked my parents and they said I could.
We walk to her house, and when I walk in there is a lion cub chained to a coffee table in the front room. She asks me if I want to pet the lion, of course I do! I pet the lion, we hang out, and I go back to the bowling alley like nothing happened. I tell my parents and they are like “Sure, you pet a lion.”
Years later, I’m reading the paper, and the girl and her family have been arrested for illegally having exotic cats. I showed my parents and had the best "Told you so" moment of my life.
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43. Hoarder Central
I had a friend named David and he invited me to his house once. Little did I know that his family were horrific hoarders. You couldn't see the floor of his house, and I was literally stepping in bowls filled with cereal.
At one point, I saw a snake just slither through the refuse and immediately made up an excuse that I was sick so I could go home. What a nightmare.
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42. Wasting Water
I knew a girl who would get glasses of water and whenever she couldn't finish the whole thing, she would dump the rest on the carpet because "it just absorbs it."
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41. Model Home
I went to high school with a girl whose family would dress up their house like a model home being sold or something. For example, the dining room table was dressed with a plastic thanksgiving feast, with plastic food on nice plates and fake wine in fake glasses.
When you walked into her bedroom the bed was made with top corner open as if she just got out of bed and there was a tray with a fake bowl of cereal and a fake glass of orange juice. On the floor were coloring books and crayons as if a child lived in the room...
They kept the place spotless and every room had an odd theme of fake living. Her parent's bedroom had quite a few large African animal statues and fake rose petals leading to the bed.
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40. Alternative Birthday Cake
A cow tongue in place of a birthday cake. It wasn't like they couldn't afford a birthday cake either. They just had a cow tongue with a single candle in it.
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39. The Floorwich
Whole items of food left for days on the floor. Toddler not interested in that apple? That's fine, just leave it there on the floor where he threw it. It will work its way under a piece of furniture and out of sight if we give it some time.
Once, I went to these people's house and there was an entire sandwich sitting in the corner of the living room floor. I was so distracted by it I didn't really hear much of what was said during that visit. I just sat and stared at the floorwich.
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38. Hanging with the Grand Wizard
I was friends with my little league baseball coach's son. One day I was invited to their house for a "play date."
As I walked through the door, I saw a huge framed white cloth with some weird symbol; I didn't think much about it because at the time I didn't know what it was.
My coach noticed me looking at it as I entered the house and said "My granddad wore that, its been in the family for years." Naturally, I was like oh, ok, whatever, and thought nothing of it.
Now that I’m older, I realize what it was—a KKK robe. The worst part? I’m not white.
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37. Amateur Archaeology
When I was dating my first girlfriend in high school, I was invited over to her house for dinner and meet the parents, etc. At one point I was talking with her father in his study and noticed lots of old-looking phallic objects on the shelves in the room.
On closer inspection, they were mummified penises, dozens of them. Turns out he was a urologist and an amateur archaeologist.
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36. Giving Credit where Credit is Due
Bathroom machete. Because, you know, "Just in case, man."
It's literally nothing more than a real machete that hangs in their bathroom, so if someone breaks in while you're fighting dirt dragons, you aren't at a total disadvantage. Everyone there was surprised when I said I'd never heard of it.
I now keep a bathroom hammer handy, because goddarnit, it's a great idea.
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35. Pee House
Had a friend in high school. Went to his house for the first time and everything smelled like piss. Turns out he had a dog and his family never bothered to potty train or clean up after it. Everything in the house was covered in old dried-up urine and fresh puddles.
While I was there the dog peed on my friend's bed and he didn't even care. He literally sleeps in his dog's piss. Even I got pissed on.
Never went to his house again.
34. When the New is Old
We were getting something out of his dad's closet when I noticed there was a ton of expensive electrical equipment in the back of it, all still boxed up. I asked him about it.
Apparently, his dad keeps everything new he gets for a year before he unboxes it and actually uses it. He didn't know why, and it still boggles my mind.
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33. Underground Black Magic
While I live in a modern city-state, remnants of the past remain. Black magic is practiced here by a few, though largely underground.
Someone I knew used to keep several dead fetuses in a bottle as a sort of talisman. Known as “kumanthong,” people who keep it believe that it can bring luck and fortune to its owner. Similar to raising a child, it has to have regular meal times, treats and toys to keep it happy—so that it will abide by its owner’s wants and demands.
I won’t link a photo here. Google the term and you’ll find more info on it if you wish.
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32. Hanging With “Bud”
My partner and I were in Arizona during a road trip to verify locations we were using in a novel we wrote. We had been corresponding with a guy online and accepted his invitation to visit him, since we were in the area.
We arrived at his home in Tucson and he showed us into his living room. Suddenly we were face-to-muzzle with a bighorn sheep!
After our initial shock, we found that the whole sheep was actually taxidermied, stuffed, and mounted. “I call him Bud,” our host informed us. “I killed him about ten years ago on a hunting expedition. I thought of just having the horns preserved, but he was such a beautiful creature, I decided to keep him exactly as he was.”
Needless to say, my partner and I kept our mouths shut, but we got out of there as fast as we could, politely. It was creepy, disgusting and somehow just downright sick.
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31. An Author’s Secret
When I first got into advertising copywriting, I worked on a book account. I often got to meet the authors (such as Stephen King and Erica Jong) of the books, which was always a treat.
I was with the account exec and our producer at the home of a famous author (she writes horror novels), who was in a wheelchair. The AE wanted more ice for her drink and the author asked her if she would mind just getting it for herself. 30 seconds later, the AE called out for my help. Puzzled, I went into the kitchen. The AE, without saying a word, opened the freezer door. There to the right of the ice bin, next to some frozen food items, neatly stacked in plastic sandwich bags, were at least 50 dead, colorful little parakeets!
In shock, but not wanting to offend the author, we both got a few ice cubes for our drinks and, as casually as possible, rejoined our group. Neither one of us drank another drop of our drinks! I still get the willies just thinking about it. Fantastic author and great creepy books! The author still had about 10 live parakeets in cages in her home.
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30. Elvis Lives
One of the weirdest things I've seen at someone house a collection of Elvis paintings... the owner of them still thinks he's alive somewhere. So strange.
Thankfully not all in the same house but: A full knight in shining armor set, a giant cat castle that took up more than half of the living room, a collection of vases, and some paintings of "things that your underwear covers," male and female. A room that was completely carpeted with purple shaggy carpet—the floor, walls, doors, ceiling, even the door knob had a carpet cover on it. Again, thankfully not in the same house.
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29. Children Eat Standing
My mother tells this story that when she was a child, at a friend's house, the children were not given the privilege to eat at the table.
They ate standing at a kind of shelf mounted to the wall. Meanwhile, she was there and got to eat sitting at the table, with the adults, since she was a guest.
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28. Who Needs a Doggy Bag?
The family's dog literally ate at the table. He would bound up and place his hind legs on a chair and forepaws on the table and eats. They treated the dog like a KING at that house. And no one skipped a beat.
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27. Bringing Pasta to the Pizza Hut
This wasn't actually at this family's house, but something weird they did. 10-year-old me got invited to a friend's birthday party at Pizza Hut. It was great back in the early '90s.
I showed up and his mom had made a complete spaghetti dinner... and taken it to Pizza Hut. We sat and ate spaghetti, while the paying customers gave us weird looks. She brought in her own HUGE pot of spaghetti, her own oven mitts, and off-brand 2-liter bottles of cola. She did actually go to the counter and get paper plates, cups, and silverware. Super awkward.
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26. The Potato Drawer
My Russian friend had a potato drawer. Just a normal silverware drawer... but it was filled with nothing but potatoes.
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25. No Proper Family Dinner Time
When I was growing up, my parents placed a huge emphasis on eating dinner as a family at the table. Whenever I ate at a friend's house, they almost never ate together. It blew my mind learning that most families don't eat together.
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24. Hanging Moose
A college friend has a moose-head mounted on the wall above his fieldstone fireplace.
He has the moose's glass eyes wired to small pneumatic devices that open and close the eyelids at random—or when he pushes a signal button near his chair.
Company will be sitting there in his living room, and all of a sudden the moose will blink its eyes, or let out a recorded "moose mating call" when he pushes another button.
It's amazing to see the look on people's faces when they don't know he has it rigged for special effects.
23. Ketchup Snob
I can't speak for others, but my friend thinks it's darn weird that my family doesn't keep the ketchup in the fridge, but in the pantry. Excuse me for not liking cold ketchup.
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22. Keeping the Cake Cold
My mom has a friend who still lives with his parents. They have a freezer full of just cakes over a decade old—some of the bakers of said cakes have been dead for many years.
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21. Just in Case
Not a friend's house, but mine/my parents’ home.
Many years ago, when we bought the house, the weirdest thing was that the shower was in the kitchen. Literally. Not the bathroom, but just the shower. You had to walk through the kitchen to get to the shower booth.
It's still there, but it has been made into a small laundry room. Still, have no clue why it was built like that.
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20. Giving Your Cousin a Sugar High
My cousin lives a few hours away from me and one time, through begging and pleading, he got to stay the weekend with me. When he arrived I poured a glass of Pepsi and his eyes lit up like it was Christmas Day.
He said: “You're allowed Pepsi? I thought that was for adults only! Are you gonna get in trouble?” The dude had two liters of Pepsi in one night! He also wasn't supposed to play video games or ride bikes...
Sadly, I think I gave my cousin the best weekend of his life.
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19. Confused About a Lack of Stuff
That "weird house" was mine.
My mom is a hoarder. When I first visited a couple of friends' houses, I was seriously shocked at the fact that there was space for all of their stuff. Little bit of standard clutter, but there were no overflowing boxes of stuff.
They didn't have to spend ten minutes shifting boxes, clothes, and papers just to get to the washing machine. Their closets held all their clothes. We actually SAT at the dining table.
I swear I asked someone once, "Where's all your stuff?"
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18. Hey Mike
I dated a girl who had a life-size Michael Myers statue in her living room, year round. She really liked Michael Myers. Needless to say... I screamed like a girl the first few times I stayed there overnight, and had to get up for any reason.
17. Awkward Apartment
A friend of mine had converted her loft space into a spare room, which her ex-boyfriend moved into after they split up. They were not living together prior to the split.
I always found that a bit weird, because he had to go into her bedroom and pull down the loft ladder to access his own room.
It must have been awkward when they had new boyfriends or girlfriends staying over.
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16. Dinner Royalty
At my friend's house, it was considered normal for cats to walk ON the dining room table, during their meals.
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15. Fuzzy Bathrooms
Every one of my boyfriend’s family's households has carpeted bathrooms. We went and stayed at his grandparents’ place, out of state, and even that house had carpet in the bathrooms.
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14. Living in the Past
I went to an estate sale, where the homeowners were definitely into Medieval decor. It was a normal, small, two-story house in a decent neighborhood. That was decorated like a castle inside. There were even two “throne” chairs, that had the most detailed, fancy wood carvings on them that I've ever seen.
There were tapestries on the wall, swords hanging on the wall, very detailed chess sets, etc. Their house was so strange and not normal at all. I was in awe that someone would decorate their home like that.
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13. Prepared for a Burglar
I once went to a friend's house and as I entered his house, I saw knives on the wall. I mean, c'mon, a burglar can easily murder your family as soon as he comes through the door.
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12. Bad Grandpa
Had to deal with a crazy grandpa. My friend lived with her grandpa, who never thought about putting clothes on, from the moment I met him when I was about eight to his death 20+ years later. He cooked naked, helped us with our homework naked, heck—he even gardened naked.
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11. Vending Machine House
Went to my friend's dad's house last month to help pack her belongings, and spotted a Blue Bunny Ice Cream vending machine in her living room. One of the selections was Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pockets.
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10. Clean up, Clean up, Everybody Clean up!
I was visiting at a friend's house when their mom stopped the movie we were watching to make all the kids clean the house. I sat awkwardly on the couch until she suggested I'd get to hang out with my friend sooner if I helped.
I vacuumed the carpet and the mom picked up a tiny piece of popcorn and literally said: “You missed this.”
My friend and I were 19 at the time.
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9. Never Coming Back
I used to hang out with this girl at her house when I was 14 or 15 (I am also a girl). One day she came out of her parent's room with something in her mouth. At first I didn't realize what it was but once she sat back down on the couch, I saw that it was a… marital aid toy. In her mouth. And it was turned on.
I kind of flipped out and asked her what the heck she was doing. She said her gums hurt, so she was massaging them.
The bad/sad/disgusting/weird thing was that she didn't even know what it was. She found it in her parent's room one day and thought it was for your teeth/gums. On top of that, her parents knew she used it for that purpose because they walked in and talked to her while she had it in her mouth. I didn't go back.
8. Isolated Dad
My friend’s dad. When I was a kid I used to stay for dinner, as kids do. But the dad would not eat with us. The mom would make a plate of food, take it down the hall and slide it halfway under the door to the basement. A few seconds later the plate would slowly slide under the door. Nobody at the house seemed to think this was odd but I thought it was weird.
The other odd thing this family did was, every weeknight at 7:00 on the dot, the family would clear out of the living room so the dad could come and watch Star Trek. Once the show was over, he would go back into the basement and the family would move back into the living room. What?
The father was quiet but seemed to be normal other than those odd habits. The family thought none of that was weird and my friend thought it was "funny" that my dad ate with us at dinner.
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7. Too Old for Diapers
A five-year-old in diapers.
I was an adult literacy volunteer and I went to this couple's trailer. A kid walks in shirtless, wearing a diaper. At first, I thought it was a joke. Then, I thought maybe developmental issues. Then the mother says "About time ta change 'at diaper ain't it?"
And the boy said defiantly, "You ain't gonna change my diaper."
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6. Serious Anger
My friend's mom often threatened to murder the whole family when she was angry. This was very scary to me but my friend hardly thought anything of it. She just acts like that was normal mom stuff.
5. One Messed Up Home
My ex-friend.
His dog peed in the house so much that parts of the floor were warped.
He would stand on the first floor and pee down the basement stairs because going upstairs took too long.
He didn't want to grab a garbage can so he grabbed a hammer and knocked a hole in the wall. Proceeded to stuff chicken bones inside of it.
He lived with his dad. They have a giant painting of a spider on the wall. Creepy as hell.
All of the bush trimming in their yard was done with katanas. They rarely mowed out of fear of hitting a kunai or piece of broken blade.
They had three neighbors live next door to them within four years. I blame the turnover on the fact that when a machine stopped working, they took it in the backyard and beat on it with sledgehammers and pipes. Once at 3:00 AM, their microwave broke, and the cops were called after they beat on it for an hour.
They had an area rug in the middle of the living room. If there was flat pop in a can they poured it on the carpet and tossed the can in a bin for recycling. They didn't want to get the bin full of stale pop...
All of the furniture was from street corners, just because. He dragged a futon home three miles to put in his room. Nothing wrong with reusing things but this futon was barely functional and covered in garbage.
The son showered once every two weeks. He somehow had attractive and smart girlfriends all the time in high school. None of us could understand it, since they too would go back to his place.
He tossed sandwich parts he didn't want (tomatoes, onions, certain meats) behind his TV dresser. He would leave the window open and told me it was so animals could get the food. Thought he was joking till I saw a squirrel running out with some bread he tore off.
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4. Obsessive Father
One summer, when I was about 13, a friend of mine had a girl from her school who invited us over to go swimming in her pool. We go to her place and are shown to her room to change.
As I'm changing my friend suddenly whispers "What the heck?" I turn around and see a bunch of used sanitary pads lined up on this girls desk. She comes to join us in her room and my friend flat out asks her what the pads are all about.
She says, very plainly, "They're for my dad so he can check that I'm not pregnant."
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3. Taking the Chance to Pee in the Closet
When my brother and I were kids, we would often comment that our next-door-neighbor's house smelled like pee.
One day my brother was playing video games with the kid from next door at his house, and asked to use the restroom.
The kid said, "We just pee here," and started peeing in the closet. My brother peed in there too.
When in Rome...
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2. Birth Memento
When I moved cities in grade two or three I didn't know anyone. I met someone the first day and he invited me to his house that weekend to stay over.
Everything was great, we played GameCube and stayed up until 3 am—the latest I had been awake up to that point. He said we had to sleep in the basement so that we don't wake his parents when we went upstairs.
We go downstairs with our sleeping bags and immediately I knew something was wrong. The worst smell I've ever experienced filled my nostrils the further we descended. In the corner of the room was a bed covered in what looked like crusty blood and some pus-colored streaks.
Turns out his mother had a home birth the week before and kept the sheets as a memento. I never went back after that.
1. Momma Scrub-a-Dub
I spent the night at a friend's house in sixth grade. He lived with just his mom, his dad wasn't in the picture, and he was an only child, so they had a close relationship.
We were having a great time until his mom called him for bath time. With her. Like, together. They even left the door open like it was nothing.
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