You could be friends with someone for years and feel like you’ve seen every side of them. But do you really know them if you’ve never stepped inside their home? Because behind closed doors, anything can be going on.
In one Reddit thread, people shared the strange things they stumbled across at friends’ houses that made them realize their families were, well, a little different—and by a little different, we mean seriously weird. From questionable food choices to décor that definitely shouldn’t be in front of kids, scroll down to read their stories. And if you’ve got one of your own, drop it in the comments.
#1
They clapped when the microwave finished like it just gave a TED Talk.
© Photo: Redhead_RileyX
#2
When I was a kid, bike helmets went from being recommended to legally mandatory.
I already had one because my parents felt that it was a good safety measure. My friend did not.
Their parents decided since they had to have a helmet, that would be their birthday present. My friend showed me the helmet sitting in their parent's bedroom cupboard. The law had come in to effect, my friend knew they were getting a helmet for their birthday, it was already bought and they were allowed to look at it, but they weren't allowed to WEAR it until their actual birthday, several months later. In the meantime, they had to ride their bike around, helmetless.
There were several little things going on in that household that made me realize they were weird, but this was the biggest "your parents are nuts" moment for me.
© Photo: Frozen_Feet
#3
It was me that was weird. My father never spoke to me, not once. unless I was about to get beat. I was like 15-16 at my friend's house and they were watching tv, and talking to each other. Then he asked if we wanted some ice-cream, and I just had this what moment. Like it just hit me, hard, that my dad was just a horrible person.
#4
They had a pet bird they’d let fly around. That’s cool and everything, but it pooped all over the house and they wouldn’t do anything about it. I had a difficult time finding a clean place to sit. That’s just gross and weird.
© Photo: bzsbal
#5
We were that "weird" house lol.
When I was 14, I almost-ish, had my first boyfriend. He told me that his mother had previously told him he couldn't see a girl anymore because her parents drank too much alcohol. Me, desperate to be seen as normal for once, didn't say "oh yea mine too."
Signs were there tho, we ate dinner between 8 pm and 12 am. People thought I was joking when I told them I had to go offline to have dinner at 11 pm.
Anyway, had this first "date". Went over to his house, my mother and stepfather insisted to take me and drove there, already had a couple of drinks. His mother invited them in and asked what they would like to drink. "Beer please."
"I don't have any alcohol in the house, I do have tea, coffee or cocacola, juice.. (etc)"
"No problem, we brought our own. Would you like one?"
"No thank you."
I bet they had an awkward conversation for about an hour in which my mother and stepfather had more and more of their own drinks.
Eventually, after an hour or so, they left and the woman said she would bring me home because they had been drinking.
When she brought me home, to my horror, they were invited in by my mother and stepfather. They joked about kicking his butt if he'd ever hurt me, all while being very affectionate. My mother demanded me to let him see my room, which was one big mess, so she made me clean my room while they talked some more.
When half an hour later I returned, my mother had slurred speech, they left and my mother gave my never-to-be "boyfriend" a big hug, when he gently pulled away after a couple of seconds, she lost her balance and fell on the floor.
Yea.. he said his mother forbid him to contact me ever again.
© Photo: ChaoticMornings
#6
In order to get into the backyard pool you had to go through the master bedroom. The mom had boudoir photos of herself all over the walls.
Another friend had an ice cream at her house and they asked if I wanted ranch on mine. The whole family would put ranch on top of vanilla ice cream.
© Photo: beetreddwigt
#7
The mom's boyfriend living above the garage at the annoyance of the dad.
© Photo: teagemini
#8
At my neighbors house when we were playing outside we weren’t allowed to use the bathroom inside, boys and girls. We were expected to find a bush or something. When we asked we would get laughed at and they would close and lock the door on us. When me and my sister just went to our house to use the bathroom the neighbor’s parents would scold us. When we invited the neighbor to use our bathroom he got yelled at across the block
We weren’t allowed to play outside with him without our parent’s specific supervision.
Also, when he played outside he wasn’t allowed to drink water. Only cream soda. They would offer me and my sister water but not him and when they did give us water they said he wasn’t allowed to have any
Strange people.
© Photo: madkandy12
#9
How about the moment when you realized your house WAS a weird household ... Happened to me pretty young. I remember going to a friend's house and nothing the house didn't smell like smoke. Her parents seemed engaged and loving towards her whereas mine were mostly absent either at work or at bars or hiding in bedroom. No smell of alcohol. She had a nice room, nice house, bright and safe feeling, not dark and ominous like mine. Had furniture that actually matched whereas I definitely did not. Her life looked like something out of home and gardens. They had all the good snacks. My mom didn't keep snacks like that and kept things like pop in her room. My snack was usually cheese on bread or peanut butter on saltine crackers. I had to clean the house everyday after school, chores! While it was clear that my friend's mom stayed at home and did all those things. Also Realizing that even my clothes were dingier and had a fire smoke smell to them that other kids did not because their clothes smelled like laundry detergent. (My parents washed our clothes but they were also smokers... So everything in our house had that smell.)
Yeah... And then the defining moment of knowing my family was different and not normal.... Was when a friend in class had a birthday sleepover. My mom drove me over. Dropped me off. Birthday commences and we come to part where it's time for birthday girl to open presents. Parents made everyone sit in a circle with their gifts and one by one had them to her to unwrap. I panicked! My mom hadn't dropped me off with a gift to give her. All I had were my two favorite stuffies that is brought to help comfort me when going to bed. So I rushed back to my bookbag and grabbed em. I had to give her something,.I couldn't stand to be the only kid who hasn't gotten her a gift. I've never been more embarrassed than to hand over my favorite worn in stuffies. But I was happy to be able to give her something. I was so mad at my mom for dropping me off without a gift.
Cue the next day at school ... And my embarrassment turned to actual shame when that same birthday girl came up to me to return my stuffies. (As an adult I can imagine that her mom probably had a talk with her about how I didn't have a gift and gave my favorite personal stuffies to her and maybe to focus on the thoughtfulness of it.... But as a kid... I was so angry at her mom because I felt like her mom told her daughter to return them because they weren't good enough present and talked down about me and my parents the whole time. I was so so embarrassed and ashamed. Felt like I made it through the hot seat at gift unwrapping, and had given my friend a gift and her mom had to go and still put me on blast that I showed up to party with no gifts for her. I didn't have to give her my stuffy. But I did it cause I wanted her to have a gift from me.
Anyway.... It's a core memory moment. No doubt a huge contributor to my social anxiety. Not just for the moment in the party, but for what followed the next day.
I was in first grade.
And yeah... That's when I realized my family was the weird one and my upbringing was not normal.
#10
Visited the family of a friend of my father’s. Sat down to a meal, took a sip of my milk, suddenly dead silence. The father looked at me with a military stare (my father and he served in the US Navy together) and said, “In this house, we do not drink our beverage until we have finished our meal and cleaned our plate.” My father told me to apologize to “Warrant Officer Beaver.” (Might have been some other rank).
Later, when his son committed some transgression, Warrant Officer Beaver made him run two laps around their house in his underwear in the dead of winter.
It was the first time, even coming from my hyper-discipline home, I felt sorry for another kid. I can distinctly “re-feel,” the dread of hearing my mom say, “We’re going to the Beaver’s this weekend, be on your best behavior.”.
#11
As a child, I would play with the girl next door. We usually played in her yard, but one day I was invited in. She was an only child and was super-mega-spoiled with tons of nice toys, but her room was unusually tidy and organized at all times. I wasn't allowed to touch any of her toys EVER, and she had to ask permission before touching or playing with them, every single time.
But that's not the weird part.
She went to the bathroom, then, while she was in there, she started calling for her mom over and over again. But her mom didn't respond, so she called for me and asked me to enter the bathroom.
I did, and was shocked to see her bent over with her poopy butt pointed at me and her pants and undies down. She wanted me to wipe her! I ran out and got her mom.
She was 7 and she had never learned how to wipe herself because her mom always did it for her. I was a year older than her and this struck me as very, very weird.
© Photo: Electronic-Muffin934
#12
Went to a friend's house to learn the only furniture in the whole house was some dirty mattresses lying directly on the floor. The only toy was a single [bare] Barbie doll. We had to scrounge the whole house to find a single piece of paper and something to write with. The whole time her "step dad" (really the 30th dude her mom dumped her child on claiming she was his) was teasing, saying, "I bet you wish you were home right now. I see you watching every car going by hoping it's someone to pick you up."
I didn't go back.
© Photo: UndeliveredMale
#13
They didn’t have toilet paper in any of the washrooms 💀💀.
© Photo: Top_Finish3666
#14
Their dogs didn’t have a water bowl, they just kept the toilet lid up.
© Photo: MydogisCrazy
#15
It was a foster home I was in briefly. They had locks on all the kitchen cupboards as well as locks on all the doors (we were locked in our bedrooms at night). And they had a pet monkey with its own bedroom. That monkey was mean.
© Photo: Obvious-Piperpuffer
#16
Having breakfast the mom said we were having pancakes. She gave us a cup of UNCOOKED unflavoured pancake batter. I was horrified watching the children drink a cup of batter. They were a sailing family. Just strange..
© Photo: xanthia18
#17
My best friend in middle and high school. They lived in a normal suburb but nobody ever turned the lights on in the house. It was always very dim. I thought it was to save electricity but I was her best friend for ten years and I NEVER was able to see her parents' faces. They had dogs that they neglected and my friend and her little sister were the only ones who would take care of them. The toilet and showers were extremely precarious. Like, poorly maintained and you're scared you're gonna break them, you know? The parents would dump a bunch of snack foods on the dinner table every week and thats what they ate. If my friend and I wanted to cook a meal, we had to walk to the store and buy ingredients ourselves and the kitchen was almost unusable. It wasn't always that bad when I started visiting (my home situation wasn't great either and I was 12 so I wasn't really thinking "neglect") but it slowly got worse. My friend was always clean and polite and made good grades and stuff, so I thought that maybe her parents were just busy or something. Then over the years I saw the house degrade in real time and it got so bad that you'd walk in and the air was so thick it was hard to breathe. The only clean room was my friend's room.
One time her dad, who lived there but I had never seen before, called her out of the room. I heard noises and when she came back, she was crying and said that he'd held her by the neck and pushed her because he thought we were being too loud. All I can remember after that is we just held each other and cried.
I wish I could say she ended up alright. In some ways she did, but she's very troubled, understandably so, but there are some bad things she ended up doing that you can't really blame on anything, you know?
Anyway second place goes to my friend's parents who were mostly normal except they would go absolutely berserk any time anyone casually said "yeah." And I'm not talking "would get miffed if you said yeah instead of yes please." I mean if you used "yeah" casually in conversation they would start screaming at you. The mom also had one of those pastel frilly sitting rooms full of infinite statues and trinkets where you'll be skinned alive if you even think of sitting in there. They were always making their daughters take meds and pregnancy tests even though they weren't doing any of those things.
#18
Well, as a kid my friend’s mom chasing us out of the kitchen with a butcher knife was a solid clue. I was *pretty* sure she wouldn’t actually use it, but we didn’t take any chances.
#19
Once was having a sleepover at a friend'sand we decided to do some pedicures.
Start clipping my toenails when my friend suddenly jumps up and hurries off. Comes back a minute later with a rather large glass jar half full of nail clippings.
Friend proceeded to ask me to add my toenails clippings to the jar. It was a thing her family did. Kept all their finger and toenail clippings.
Later noticed another 3 jars full of nail clippings on display throughout the house.
#20
My boy friend's ex wife has a large canvas photo of her naked spread eagle in her entry way. Kids' friends aren't allowed to go over anymore, they have to have play dates at my boyfriend's house.
#21
They had assigned seating in the living room. Not like vibes based. Like laminated labels. I knew then.
#22
Left the doors open while using the toilet, even while I was there. Absolutely no privacy to be found. My family was plenty dysfunctional but at least I could poo behind a locked door.
#23
The entire family smacked their lips violently while eating.
#24
I grew up in a house with two twin girls my age living next door. Which was great, but their family was a little weird: they had lotion instead of hand soap next to the sinks to wash your hands, their dad kept food labeled in the pantry and fridge that was only to be eaten by him, also in the fridge were cold meat patties that looked like cookies and were frequently eaten as snacks (not bad, but upsetting if you were expecting a cookie), the dad had a woodworking workshop in the basement where he kept hundreds of baby food containers filled with different types of sawdust and we were forbidden to touch them, the dad also used to try to one-up us at any kind of 3rd grade backyard gymnastics we were doing, there was a “berm” in the backyard we weren’t allowed to touch, and the family not only didn’t use seatbelts but would tease me if I used one when riding with them. Their house also had a weird smell that I still think about sometimes.
© Photo: No_Kaleidoscope9901
#25
They had a “pet” bobcat that lived in their home with them. When I and other guests would visit, the bobcat would be put away in his “room” which was an enclosed space in the bathroom. The bobcat roamed freely otherwise and was shown in all the family photos around the home.
#26
Even as someone who grew up in a hunting family, I thought it was weird that my friend Lana's trailer was FILLED with taxidermy and pelts. There were coyote pelts covering the furniture and on the floor, made up as rugs. They had coyote pelt blankets on their beds. Her father was a big-time coyote hunter. They had full-size coyote mounts as well as raccoons and opossums. The raccoon furs were sewn together and turned into throws for the sofa.
The whole thing was kind of gross.
#27
The family dogs slept in the laundry room. They were three flea infested smelly bloodhounds and the laundry room was a doorless bedroom with a few feet of wall to wall unfolded laundry.
#28
The entire contents of their fridge was whipped cream. Over 49 cans of reddi wip.
#29
I'm the weird friend. I know I am because when I was a teen my friends would come over, and at one point my parents left me there with no utilities and an eviction. So they would hang out with me in a pitch black house with roaches crawling around, THEN when me ans my dad were homeless, they slept over with me in a house my dad was doing construction on, on a bare wood floor.
When my husband met my family he said they reminded him of shameless, except not everyone was scummy.
Poverty is a jerk.
#30
When I was a kid growing up in Mesa, Arizona, I had some friends who lived across the street and their house was always filthy. There were huge piles of dirty clothes in every room and they had a bad cockroach infestation. Not the little German cockroaches, either. Huge American cockroaches that could fly.
Their mom invited me over for dinner one evening and we were standing in the kitchen while she was making spaghetti. I watched as she dumped the pasta into the pot of boiling water and saw a huge, dead roach fall into the water. She plucked it out with her bare hand, threw it on the floor and continued cooking. I made some excuse about having to go home and never ate there again.
#31
Pineapple in spaghetti sauce.
Went to a friend’s house with a telescope to see Hailey’s Comet. The comet was cool. The pasta was not.
#32
Their dad was super healthy. He had super weird rules. Like they HAD to eat a fruit everyday by noon. It was bizarre. He was intense about so many random things. He was a very fun dad though and very involved.
#33
Similar to the top comment- i had a few different friends ask why my parents were so angry- or ask why my family was fighting when they came over.. eventually realized like most first gen middle eastern immigrants that our language in any volume sounds aggressive, angry, or mean to most kids- especially post 9/11.
#34
Way more tame than most answers here but I slept over at a friends house and the walls of her room were painted with big cartoon zoo animals. fine, cute, except that all their eyes were glow in the dark. just a ton of eyes staring at you from the void as you tried to sleep.
#35
Three locks on the basement stairs door and the smell of formaldehyde and air freshener.
#36
They only had bottled water in their fridge. No food, no condiments, no take out containers. Only water.
#37
Hundred of frame quotes on the wall.
#38
Everyone called their parents by first names. Not even mad just instantly knew we grew up very different.
#39
Extreme panic when the father came home from work. Everything had to be quiet and the children disappeared into their rooms.
#40
They didn’t use toilet paper. They had a basket of cut up tshirts and you were supposed to use that instead of tp. And then you would put the used tshirt rag into a little waste basket. It was the last and only time I went to that girls house.
#41
Went to a Christmas party at a co-workers house. They had put up the poles and ropes used at places like amusement parks or movie theatre to keep people out of their living room, which was all white. I commented to someone that it was probably a good idea to rent them for a party particularly with an all white room. They paused, sized me up a bit, and then shared that the dividers weren't there for the party. My coworker has them all the time. And moved them around weekly creating a path that her family was allowed to use so that they didn't create wear patterns in her rugs or on her floors.
#42
My best friend and her family believed their house was haunted. One time I knocked on the door to play with my friend and a priest was in the house sprinkling holy water everywhere.
Another time they had some people come with machines to get readings about paranormal activity; sadly, I didn’t get to witness that one.
#43
Went to hang out with a friend at about 13yo. They had a *massive* house, it was like a maze.
She did some callisthenics, and was pretty great at it - had some national titles and such, but she didnt talk about it a lot.
The entire house was like a shrine to her and her achievements. There was an insanely large photo of her in the foyer in a leotard (whatever you're imagining, it was larger). There were no family photos or anything. The magnets on the fridge were her photos. The hallways were her photos. Everything was just her and her callisthenics stuff.
She had siblings, and everyone appeared to be pretty normal. But it freaked me tf out.
#44
I think this is probably more tragic than weird. I visited an old high school friend, she lived with her brother. They just sat there and let little cockroaches crawl all over them. Like they gave up trying to get rid of them.
#45
I saw my friend’s mother chase her teenage daughter around the house with a straight pin to pop her pimples.
#46
A cigarette machine. About 5 people in the family and they all smoked. The machine was full of different blends. They had to pay the machine but it worked out cheaper.
#47
The parents both chain-smoked in the house. There was a wispy cloud of smoke perpetually hanging in every room.
#48
I was over at my best friend’s house, we were 7 or 8 years old and playing hide and seek. It was her turn to hide and I looked all over and couldn’t find her. I yelled a few times that she won and to please come out. Her dad came in and asked me what was going on, and I told him that we were playing hide and seek and I didn’t find her. He started yelling that she needed to come out now or she would get punished. She reluctantly emerged from another room. He immediately hauled her up onto his lap, demanded that she apologize to me, and then spanked her while she cried and apologized. I was sobbing. I was a kid of the 80s, I got spanked occasionally growing up, but this was just angry and mean in a way that didn’t make sense. I realized then that we had two very different families and I never slept over at her house again.
© Photo: alphabetfire
#49
Friend’s fam prayed before ordering pizza delivery. Respectfully I was shook.
#50
My best friend's house in high school... Her dad spoke to his teenage kids like they were adults and knew everything about all 3 of his kids. Her parents even put equal amounts of effort into supporting all 3 kids very different extra curricular activities. Weird as hell.
#51
They’re nice to each other and no one is isolated.
#52
Had a friend who’s mom always had a cigarette in her mouth it seems and was always in a bath robe. The Dad would do the grocery shopping, I don’t think she ever left the home. Only time I ever saw her dressed in something other than a robe was when they went to a family funeral one day. Also she always had soap operas on and if we were talking while she was watching we’d get yelled at to shut up.
#53
The bath was filled with cold scummy bath water, and toe nail clippings were left on top of the toilet. I played dumb and asked my friend if someone was about to have a bath, they told me that in the family they wouldn’t empty the bath after they’d finished, the next person to have a bath would empty it and then fill it for themselves. Whether they cleaned it before filling it again was up to the person having the bath. (I suspect no one cleaned it apart from maybe the mother).
#54
My then-boyfriends, now-husbands parent’s house- no photos on the wall, no clutter, no furniture really. Totally blank space. No personal items at all. Nothing. Asked if they just moved in? No, been there four years. Looked like a safety shelter with all the concrete. Totally impersonal. Just like my in-laws are!
#55
The house smelled like cigarette smoke and stale beer when I went for a sleep over. Later on we saw her dad stumbling around with a beer in his hand and he clearly wasn't able to walk properly. She rolled her eyes and said, "just ignore him" like it was an everyday thing. Probably did happen everyday for her, but growing up in a religious home, I'd never see either of my parents drink.
We also had had alcoholism on both sides of the extended family, so all family functions were strictly alcohol free - I think that was my first time seeing an adult consume alcohol. We were 8.
#56
I was friends with the girl whose house shared our back fence. During high school her parents went through a messy divorce and her dad got primary custody of the kids and kept the house. All seemed well and once it was final, even her parents started getting along better, as long as they didn’t have to share a roof.
Some time in our junior year of college, her dad got hastily remarried. The woman had 2 kids of her own and moved into his house. My mom reported that they seemed nice enough but a bit odd.
When our 10 year reunion came up, my friend and I agreed to go with each other. We settled it that we would meet at her dad’s before going to the party. When I got there she answered the door with an odd forces smile and she said under her breath “you gotta see this” and yanked me through the door.
The living room was painted a very dark teal and all the furniture was either painted black or was draped in black. There were blood red curtains over the windows and on the wall was a large framed portrait of her step-siblings at ages maybe 6 and 8 years old. The older boy was dressed as Dracula (white face, widows peak, cape, etc) and he was leaning in like he had just bitten his sister’s neck. The sister was dressed in a frothy white dress and was posed swooning with two bite marks on her neck. This picture was probably 24x36.
I had no words.
I said hi to her dad who was sitting kind of dejectedly in the dining room (which was the same awful color combination) but I didn’t see the step-mother or her kids (who were early 20s by then).
When we were on the road to the reunion I asked my friend “what was all that?” and she said she had no idea; she always stayed with her mom when she was in town since her old room at her dad’s had been ‘commandeered’, and she hadn’t been in his house in a few years.
#57
I had a new friend, he and his family had just moved to our tiny town in Northern Ontario, and they hung a portrait of his mom topless in their living room. It was tasteful looking back, like a Marilyn Monroe, but come on, it was weird! I never tried to stare but again, come on!
