Every family has its own traditions, whether major or minor. The behavior that surrounds you every day might seem completely natural to you. It’s only when you visit someone else or have a pal come over to your place that you start to realize that some of the things your relatives do might be a tad strange.
However, sometimes, things get downright bizarre. Members of the r/AskReddit online community recently revealed some of the weirdest things they’d seen at their friends’ homes, though everyone living there seemed to think it was all normal. Scroll down for a big dose of oddness.
Some differences in behavior are a natural thing. Imagine how utterly bizarre it would be if you’re invited to someone’s place for dinner, but they act just like you, have the same furniture as you, and eat exactly what you eat. It sounds very uncanny, like something you’d see in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone.’
But at the complete other end of the spectrum are people whose actions make you wonder whether you’re secretly being pranked or if your friend’s family are all aliens from outer space. It’s at that point that you start wondering whether you’re dealing with people who are simply eccentric or whether there might be some more serious underlying issues they’re dealing with. Or, potentially, whether you yourself might be the odd one out there.
Family traditions and rituals are something that we all create consciously, as well as subconsciously. Some traditions arise completely by accident when you do something meaningful or fun a few times in a row and just carry on doing that. Others take some planning and preparation.
The traditions themselves can range from religious and cultural practices to things that are completely unique to your family. All of these can be as meaningful as you make them, and they all provide a sense of identity and stability.
Celebrating a holiday can be a way for you and your relatives to connect to your local community. Meanwhile, having a sit-down dinner with no phones every evening can bring your entire family together and strengthen the bonds between everyone.
So long as these activities aren’t hurting anyone, you should be proud of these traditions. Though it might hurt someone to say that they think you’re a bit odd, some people are simply shocked when they see something new. However, there’s a commonsense line that shouldn’t be crossed, like in many of the examples featured in the r/AskReddit thread.
Constant screaming, hoarding, excessive dirt—these are all behaviors that might be red flags, indicating a toxic household. They require greater self-awareness and potentially the help of a therapist to sort out.
I had a neighbour who kept large koi fish in buckets in her TV room. It was so weird and I knew they weren’t happy being in such confined swimming dimensions so I reported her to our local animal welfare society (I was one of many people who visited her so doubt she suspected me) and from my window, saw the fish being removed fairly soon after. When I emailed again to ask if the fish were okay, I was assured that they were living the dream in their new large garden pond.I was in 6th grade and had to stay for a week at a friend’s house while my parents were out of town.
The entire house smelled like p**s and I found out that his younger brothers would just p**s on the carpet in the corner of their room, because their Mom would beat them if they were up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
I grabbed my backpack and walked the few miles to my house so I could break in and live like a normal person until my parents got back.A friend up the street had a picture of a guy on his living room wall that was framed. Normal looking guy with a beard sitting in a chair. I asked him once who the man was? An uncle? No, he says, that’s God. I was too young at the time to really think anything more about it. It was not until years later I found out his family had been involved in a cult and the picture of that man was their leader.I'm gonna out myself here. Growing up, from about the age of 6 all the way up to age 19 when I left home, we had pet chickens that would live in the house with us. On average we had 3 chickens at a time, but at one time we had 5. They used to sleep in the laundry at night, in their own repurposed waxed banana boxes for each hen, paper towels and newspaper lining the bottom of the boxes and a tightly rolled up towel in the middle for them to perch on. During the day the chickens had free range of the back yard and our lounge room. Their food and water bowls were laid out neatly just inside the front door, where they would happily come and go. It wasn't unusual to find the hens sleeping either underneath our dining table or perched on the designated roosting chair during the hottest parts of the day. And yes, they did poop inside the house all the time and they would drop feathers and dander when they moulted. We had a poo bucket that was kept in the lounge room where we put all the cleaned up poop from off the floors/furniture and when that got full, the contents were flushed down the toilet, which of course caused quite a few blockages. The chickens were very friendly and would often come up to you and perch on your leg for pats and cuddles. As a kid, I used to sit on the floor every afternoon and evening watching TV with at least one hen perched on my leg enjoying some cuddle time. Looking back now, I know that this is hella weird, but they were treated equally just like a family cat or dog would be. And the eggs we got from them were some of the best I've ever had in my life, and I never once got sick with salmonella. But yeah, I wouldn't recommend having house chickens, unless you are prepared to clean up a lot of poop. My great aunt lived through the Great Depression, so she kept a lot of stuff. Not really hoarding, though, because she used everything up eventually. The one exception was styrofoam takeout cartons from the only restaurant she liked. When she died and we started cleaning out her house, we found decades' worth of these cartons in her cellar. They were all closed, stacked very neatly, floor to ceiling, in dozens of columns, forming a white styrofoam wall that effectively halved the cellar. She had cleaned them all carefully, as there were no traces of food in them, though some had been stained by whatever food had once been in them.
I was given the job of opening each one to make sure nothing of value had been left in them. After several hours, I confirmed that she had stored almost 2,000 styrofoam boxes and that not a single one had anything in it.Actually not a friend, but a party we attended of a friend of a friend, stools that were made from real elephant legs, made me sick to my stomachTheir mom had an eating disorder or some psychological issue and kept only her preferred soda, milk, and cereal in the house. The kids had to keep their food in their room or eat at school or their friends house. If they invited friends over they were expected to bring their own food unless they were ok with eating cereal.
It wasn't poverty, she had a very high paying job, her ex husbands were all also in the same high paying field and paying child support. As a family they had the absolute best of everything else and she didn't mind if you ate her food and would offer it freely. They just weren't allowed to have any other food in her kitchen.Their Dad always took naps on the living room couch and laid his head on the same pillow each time. The first time I slept over I thought I got lucky because I got the couch, until I laid my head down onto the greasiest/smelliest pillow to ever exist. They laughed so hard and said “haha you got Dad’s pillow!” Like, I would have hid that pillow before a friend slept there haha.
Also same family, one day the Mom was boiling a huge pot of white rice. I asked what it was for and my friend told me they give it to their mentally disabled Uncle who lives locked up in the garage. I was like ok sure lol. Found out years later that wasn’t a lie.My best friend when I was in my late teens was Sicilian. His parents were right from there. First time i went to his house, they were hollering and screaming at each other. I was like s**t do want me to leave, and he said no, this is just how we talk. Every time I went to his house, someone was holleringIn high school, I stayed the night at a friend's house. We were making sandwiches. She brought mayo out, and I noticed the color was off. It was greenish. I checked the date: it had expired TWO YEARS before. I flipped out and told her she can't use it, but she just looked at me like I was a puzzle. She said she'd eaten some recently and it was fine.
She thought it was weird that I refused to eat anything but bread and a Kraft slice of cheese on my sandwich after that. No way was I eating the leftover ham or condiments.Locks on the kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator. Three meals a day, no snacking, the family all sat down and ate together. Friends were sent home at meal timeMy friends, two brothers, would play this game where they throw a knife into the floor trying to get as close to each other’s feet as possible without hitting them. One time the knife went right into dude’s shoe, sticking out upright, followed by a pool of blood oozing out. They both just laughed hysterically.We had two German foreign exchange students in my class in high school and we asked them this question. We heard the usual, portion and car sizes. Then they said it’s weird that we have carpet in the bathroom. We were all confused by what she meant but we learned the host family they we’re staying with had carpet in their bathrooms. I’m not talking a shower mat. Fully carpeted bathrooms. I can only imagine the smell and musk. It was fun explaining to them that that’s just weird in general, not just a weird American quirk.Through grades 8 and 9, I was friends with an upper-middle class girl from a family that did those yearly portraits where everyone wore a matching turtleneck and blue jeans.
The first thing I saw when I walked into the house was a very large framed photo of her mother, completely nude. The photo was from a boudoir shoot she had bought to mark her 40-something birthday. She had other, much less nude, photos from the same shoot that were scattered around the house, but they were so small and out of the way that you barely noticed them. This one took up an entire wall and was one of the first things you would see upon opening the door. It was the centerpiece of the foyer.
Since my friend was fairly popular and had a big house, she hosted a lot so most of our classmates had seen it at one point or another. Whenever someone asked, she would say something about how her mom just loved having family pictures around to look at.My friend told me not to use the towels in the bathroom to dry my hands because sometimes her brother wiped his a*s with them when they ran out of toilet paper.6 or 7 year old gingerbread house in the hallway. It stands there all year(s) around. The kids were not allowed to touch it, but yeah, with three kids, traces of nibbles visible.Not something I saw but what i didnt hear when I stayed over at a friend's house for the first time when I was 7 years old: nothing. At night it was distutbingly quiet. No creaks, beeps, appliances, ac, running water, pipe noises, etc., They were far enough away from other houses and streets where you wouldn't hear other cars or neighbors. What was weirdest though was the lack of any ambiant nature sounds outside. SILENCE NEVER FELT SO LOUDPlastic over all the living room furniture, all the time.Bird nest in the couch. Family has a giant poorly trained cockatiel who free flies around the home and has made a foot wide and 8 inch deep nest inside the foam cushion on their couch. Filled with debris like cardboard and bottle caps. They use the couch as if it wasn't there, even sitting on the sliver of cushion that the nest is on. Bonkers!!!!!!As a child of about 4, in a medium sized city. my mother once asked a friend of hers around the block to watch me for an afternoon. She was about in her 60s, so to me she seemed ancient. On the way there my mom said "Now, this lady has a cat, but you have to promise not to touch it. It's in a cage. It's not for petting or playing with". She went over it twice and I'm thinking "Geez, fine, won't pet the cat".
When we went in to the lady's house, the first thing she said was "Did you tell her about the cat?" and I started getting anxiety because what the heck was with the cat? Well, it wasn't just a cat. I don't know what it was exactly, but it was an exotic pet, with a cage long enough for it to pace back and forth. It was in her dining room. She was just a normal old lady, knitting grandma type. Only went there the once, but my mom was friends with the lady and she would stop by our place and chat. I was no genius kid, but I knew that was really abnormal for someone to have around in the house. It's one of my earliest memories. By the time I started school, most people knew about the lady with the giant cat. Some thought it was a rumor, or that it was exaggerated. I would just sort of shudder and say I'd seen it myself. Had nightmares about it for years.A rabbit which they trained to use a litter box. White fluffy bunny just hopping around the living room.
As a fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I was a tad concerned.Their kid....cr**ping in the yard. Don't wanna go in the house to poo? No problem! Just go in the yard.Their utensil drawer was full of teeth. Not even arranged by size and type, not in their little dividers. Just teeth everywhere. It was like they just took a bucket of surplus teeth, and just poured it into the drawer. I’m fine with teeth drawers, don’t get me started on drawers for teeth. My problem is that they kept the utensil divider in there, despite not having utensils in the house. I don’t know. I would just like to see a bit better organization, re: how we store hundreds of assorted teeth. My friend had a room in their basement that was full of all sorts of containers filled with water. Like bottles, jugs, jars, buckets, etc. I asked why they had all that and she shrugged and said “in case we ever need them”. Never questioned it again.Hair brushes in the dishwasher. With the dishes.A friend store her strawberry jam in the bathroom cabinet, alongside other toiletries. When I asked why, she just shrugged. Can't judge her, she's having a s****y year.Dried chicken legs down to the feet hanging on the wall. I took off my contacts and wasn’t wearing my glasses so when I got up close to it at sniffing distance I saw the feet and screamed.I used to work for a cable TV company. One house we went into was known as the cat house. If you were downwind from the house, you could smell the ammonia from the cat p**s.
We had to go inside to install their internet. Dozens upon dozens of cats everywhere. The smell was vomit inducing. The air inside the house was heavy and moist and reeked. There was a giant hole in the side of the couch, and the cats went inside the couch. I can only imagine it was lovely inside the couch.
They just dumped cat food onto the kitchen table, and the cats would just climb the table and eat. The rest of the house was horrid.
We had to make excuses to go out to get things from our trucks so we could breathe. We went into the house in shifts.
There were two adult couples living in the house looking to be in their 30s. They just sat on the couch (the same one with the hole) and acted like they didn't notice the smell and acted like everything was completely normal.
There was a different house I remember where the basement floor was completely covered in dog c**p. You were unable to walk in the basement without stepping in it. They apparently never removed it as there were piles several feet high of dog c**p in various parts like they shoveled it there. We refused to go down there and left.Dirty diapers stuffed behind the baby's dresser.When I was quite young I went to a friends house who proudly showed off his older brothers snot wall. His brother picked his nose and smeared it on the wall. The wall was covered.
The older brother was in high school at the time.
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