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What's the weirdest thing you've seen in a house?

375 replies

myothercarisaskoda · 04/11/2026 17:19

  1. A penny farthing sitting on a landing of a mansion.

  2. Lots of tiny feathers on the stairs of someone's house who didn't own a bird and in the same house I think they had a secret lodger as every time I went to the loo I heard footsteps run from one room to the next upstairs. I never mentioned either!

OP posts:
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YankSplaining · 04/11/2026 23:46

A Victorian-era taxidermied zebra.

MabelAnderson · 04/11/2026 23:53

myothercarisaskoda · 04/11/2026 17:30

Weird, do you think it was a children's toy or what??

Or a wooden carrier for a coffin ? It sounds like one I have seen in an old church.

DuckDuckG00se · 04/11/2026 23:55

Whineandcheese · 04/11/2026 20:05

A bier would usually be stored in someone’s stable or barn when not in use.

So would a wagon, to be fair!

The weirdest thing I've found in a house was a pond. A fish pond. Built into the floor, which was crazily-paved, and had a footbridge. And fish, obviously.

Just an ordinary 20th century family home otherwise!

Agapornis · 05/11/2026 00:03

Crwysmam · 04/11/2026 19:13

I have a human scull in my bedroom. It’s s actually in a wooden box that was made for it. I bought it as a student for studying anatomy before the regulations were introduced re body parts and now can’t dispose of it without mega red tape. So it sits in its box on top of the wardrobe.
I’d actually forgotten about it until I saw your post.

It used to live under the bed until my DS, then a 2yr old, found it. We were having a lazy morning in bed waiting for the bin men ( his favourite day when he would watch them empty the bins and wave to them out of the window). He disappeared under the bed then appeared looking about a foot taller. He was chatting away and told me he was standing on the man’s head. It took me a little while to work out whose head he was standing on but quite impressed that at 2 he identified it as a man’s skeletal head.

It then got moved to the wardrobe, out of reach. I have considered making it a feature but I no longer have the receipt for it so could be tricky to explain where I acquired it.

Edited

You could donate it to a university - they normally already have a Human Tissue Authority licence, and will happily accept historical teaching specimens. You don't need a receipt, you have a custom box that will allow them to date it and presumably you have evidence you were a medical student.

Alternatively, if you live somewhere small and rural and know the local vicar, they might be willing to give it a corner of the churchyard.

MabelAnderson · 05/11/2026 00:04

GiveMeOodlesofPoodles · 04/11/2026 18:07

Was it a bier?

A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to its final disposition.[1]

Many villages have them, very old ones dating back centuries, and if there is no room to store it in the church then it isnusually someone's house!

Edited

This is the word I was searching my brain for !

LumberPainJackie · 05/11/2026 00:11

A friend's mum had naked photos of herself blown up on canvases all around the house; her on the beach, on a bed... She was about 40 at the time and they were taken maybe 5 years before. She thought it was hilarious and joked it turned on my friend's step-dad. Which was also TMI.

MabelAnderson · 05/11/2026 00:17

ahyeah · 04/11/2026 18:54

Possibly but it had sides, like it could have contained hay or goods.

The one I have seen does have sides, but it’s open at the back end I think.

WilliamTopazMcGonagallPoorPoetFromDundeeBeItTold · 05/11/2026 00:25

MabelAnderson · 05/11/2026 00:04

This is the word I was searching my brain for !

I keep reading it as the German word for beer - and getting this classic song intruding in my head!!

OneSparklyGoat · 05/11/2026 00:59

Notfeelinit · 04/11/2026 17:50

A very small wooden door, halfway up the wall, in a friend’s very old grade II listed cottage

Family had one of these. If you asked what it was “that’s where we keep the monkey.”

Now I have one!! (The little strange door, not the monkey)

OneSparklyGoat · 05/11/2026 01:02

A cage in the cellar and jacuzzi on the first floor. 😱

Friendlygingercat · 05/11/2026 01:03

"Christmas" decorations which originally comprised coloured bits of paper threaded on strings and hung from the ceiling. They were still there a year later and had been bleached white by the light from the window. Reminded me of something from a school play.

EvieBB · 05/11/2026 01:52

IsThePopeCatholic · 04/11/2026 17:50

fake grass in the garden
’live, love laugh’ framed on the wall
carpet in the bathroom
An absence of books

I have fake grass - it's a expensive one and looks totally real but just gorgeous all year round with no maintenance:)

EvieBB · 05/11/2026 01:53

OneSparklyGoat · 05/11/2026 01:02

A cage in the cellar and jacuzzi on the first floor. 😱

A cage in the cellar?!! 😯

Zapx · 05/11/2026 02:19

An eight foot tall bright blue model of a hare. I was almost speechless tbh 😂

OneSparklyGoat · 05/11/2026 02:37

EvieBB · 05/11/2026 01:53

A cage in the cellar?!! 😯

Yes.

I don’t think I would have even looked at that house.

OneSparklyGoat · 05/11/2026 02:38

EvieBB · 05/11/2026 01:52

I have fake grass - it's a expensive one and looks totally real but just gorgeous all year round with no maintenance:)

There is a hotel in Sweden with grass carpet in the halls. But only along the edges. ❤️

Stinkybooks · 05/11/2026 02:45

A toilet in the lounge. Plumbed in and available for use (previous occupant was elderly)

fost · 05/11/2026 03:03

I have a lock (just a small bolt) on the outside of the spare bedroom. Nothing nefarious, I just used to have a cat who was obsessed with going in there when the door was shut and would charge at the door repeatedly until it opened, then the door would close behind her and she'd get trapped, and often scratch and lift up the carpet by the door trying to get out.

After reading this thread I'm wondering if any visitors have noticed and wondered...

FantasyFoodhall · 05/11/2026 04:09

A small stack of Fray Bentos pies on a side table and one open on the stairs.
A kitchen in a bedroom fitted wardrobe with no windows or other ventilation, but complete with hob rings, kettle etc.

HazelBite · 05/11/2026 05:32

Either side of the lounge chimney breast wete sort of trough things made of brick and obviously lined with plastic filled with water and goldfish.

Sugargliderwombat · 05/11/2026 05:53

A very strange family had no sofa or soft furnishings but instead a big ornate wooden chair for the dad. A simple dining chair for the mum and a pink plastic chair for the child. It was like walking into a warped Goldilocks story.

The girl had no toys in the living space except for a child sized doll.

Catsandcwtches · 05/11/2026 06:18

mondaytosunday · 04/11/2026 22:03

A cheetah. Large house and my mother opened a door which turned out to be the downstairs loo (accessed from the hall one side the kitchen the other) and the cheetah was calmly sitting on the toilet. The owner had it as a pet and just put it there for the viewing. It was quite a surprise!

I’d have a heart attack! Surely you take your pet cheetah out for a walk during viewings 😂

FormerlySpeckledyHen · 05/11/2026 06:49

Literally hundreds and hundreds of stuffed toys 🧸 on every conceivable surface in a sitting room.
Perched everywhere, floor, shelves, furniture, mantelpiece. Almost impossible to sit on a chair.

NoHangoversToday · 05/11/2026 07:11

One of my friends has a husband who sails boats. The first time I went to her house for dinner she had to ask him to remove an anchor from the dishwasher. Apparently this is not that unusual though. I certainly thought it was!

Tiddlywinks63 · 05/11/2026 07:11

FormerlySpeckledyHen · 05/11/2026 06:49

Literally hundreds and hundreds of stuffed toys 🧸 on every conceivable surface in a sitting room.
Perched everywhere, floor, shelves, furniture, mantelpiece. Almost impossible to sit on a chair.

It sounds like the house my SIL’s friend lived in, it was completely stuffed with soft toys on every surface including the bed. There must have been hundreds.

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