To ask what the weirdest thing you experienced or saw at someone else's house when you were a child?

I used to live going to my friend's house and staying over on a Friday as her mum was at work. The neighbour an elderly man called Franco would look after us. He was a Polish Jewish man who had survived Auschwitz and despite watching his mother,father and brother die he just loved the world. I remember he loved telling stories and looking back I realized that the stories were his own experiences with a few less gory additions for children.They always had a moral ending and he would play dominoes while he told them. Franco shaped my moral conscience. He died when I was 13 and I broke my heart crying needing a week off school. Hd had nobody in the world, my friend and her mum had no other family either and they found eachother. My goodness that is the first time in 20 years Ive mentioned him. God bless you Franco.

I once babysat for a family when I was around 13. There was 4 girls and the eldest was only a year or so younger than me so it was odd. They were very religious and had lots of religious paintings etc. Otherwise the house was very plain. They were also doomsday preppers and had a room in the basement filled with all sorts of dehydrated food, barrels, water, fuel. They also had a pool but none of the girls knew how to swim! It was all too weird. I only went a few times and then told them I couldn’t come anymore.

One of my friends had a mum who ran a bat sanctuary in their back garden. It was for wee injured bats. When I stayed over we fed them over our breakfast. Only wee injured bats eat - live maggots! So you had to get a maggot out of the enormous maggot dome and crunch its brains with tweezers before feeding it to the bat.

My favourite inmate was Zeebee. He only had one wing.

i grew up in a large house with 1 sibling. DM & DSD were medical professionals so worked long hours. my sibling is a lot older than me so did most of my childcare and school pickups, around their college/uni schedule.

i had a friend who lived in a 3 bed house with 2 parents and 5 siblings. her dad was a teacher and her mum didnt work. their house was full of random bowls and dishes and nothing matched. the christmas tree wasnt decorated "themed" all one colour and had dough decorations and things they had made all around the house. they were even encouraged to help put it up. their mum attended every school nativity and sports day and helped out at brownies. she home baked fresh bread pretty much daily. if you were at her house come 5pm an extra plate was set at the table for you. there was clutter everywhere but the house was clean. they were allowed the heating on whenever they liked and someone was always playing the old piano in the corner of the dining room. there was always noise from her siblings playing but i dont remember fighting or squabbling. they had 1 tv between them all so instead they all read or played board games or did crafts. going there was such a sanctuary from my empty, sterile, cold house. i used to be fascinated by them though, it was just so different to my life.

another friends dad used to have a bookshelf full of hitler books and would make trips, on his own, to hitlers house in austria.

another friends parents were alcoholics. after work they would go straight to the pub. when younger she would join them but, as a 10 year old, she was left alone. every evening, until around midnight. she would make her own dinner and get herself ready for school the next day and put herself to bed. they also never gave her a key, they would just leave the patio door open at the back of the house 24/7 . she would have to ring them every hour, on the hour to let them know she was ok. back then mobiles werent really an everyday thing (early 90s) so she would have to ring the pubs landline and the barmaid would shout over her mum. i remember once we were out playing and she lost track of time. her mum came thundering back from the pub and gave her an earful and demanded she get in the house...then went back to the pub. they spent the whole weekends in the pub as well but would demand she go up for her dinner so they could eat together.

hiphiphoorayback did we have the same friend

A friend’s dad always used to go on about how wearing knickers in bed was dirty

Never saw/heard anything else of note and the family seemed fine otherwise but always thought it was weird. Seems many times weirder now I type it.

Would have been about 7-11

Friends Dad cutting the unicorn birthday cake with a fag in his hand. Not judging just wierd.

Had a friend who's mum and dad kept the Christmas tree and decorations up year round. Similar to a previous poster also had a friends mum who wouldn't let them/me have anything at all to drink with food or for about an hour before serving!

When I was 7 my Aunty brought back a giant lollipop from Disneyland, big deal for me in the 80s. I saved it for a sunny afternoon and started to eat it in the garden.

Next thing I knew there was a girl watching me from next doors garden. A family that had just moved in. She went to get her mum, who beckoned me into their house (she didn’t speak English) so I had no idea why.

Once inside the kitchen she took my lollipop and her big meat cleaver. Then chopped my lollipop into two pieces on a big chopping board- on the floor- covered in a mountain of raw chicken 🤮

She gave me back half the lollipop and I crossed back over into my garden and put it straight in the bin. My mum worked in catering so I was aware of hygiene and how unsafe raw chicken was. I cried about that lollipop. Bitch!

The weirdest things I can remember were having a friend whose parents smoked that seemed horrifying to me.

And aged 6 a friend who wasn't allowed to see his real dad and his mum and step dad, whom he had to call dad hit him every time he complained.
I remember asking them if that was true. And they gave him such a thrashing neighbours intervened
We were living abroad on a company compound the stepfather was fired and they left soon after
These days I feel sick wondering what happened to him

@bintang
You need GHD’s
Off topic!!

The family cat of a friend of mine which had died, been stuffed by a taxidermist, and placed back on the hearth rug by the fire.
It was weirdly fascinating in a macabre way.

This was terrible.
I was invited to stay with a school friend, she had a younger sister. Her mother was a nice lady but not overly chatty, father a bit abrupt but seemed OK.

A while later I was invited again, mother had gone, the story was that she had gone off with another man, but am not sure if it was true. My friend became responsible for running the house and looking after her sister.

I went into the kitchen one day to see the father remove his belt and start swiping my friend, he stopped when he saw me.I don't know what she had supposedly done to cause his anger, we were about 12 at the time.

At some time during the stay I went upstairs and as I passed what had been the parents room I saw the younger sister in bed with the father. Just in bed, nothing else but assume there was more as my friend begged me not to tell anyone. At the time I had no idea there could have been anything else going on but when I grew older and realised what it meant it was too late.

One day our cleaner asked if she could bring her nephew with her as she had no where else to leave him. She showed up with a completely black and blue 7 year old boy who was nothing but skin and bones. He wandered through the house asking which room my family lived in. He couldn't grasp the whole house was ours. My son took him up to his room to play and he looked so confused and overwhelmed. The cleaner had rescued him from a horrible situation and DH helped her for months to get through court to get parental rights.

I've found this thread fascinating, heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measures.

Not much to add, but when I was 6/7, I went to a new school friend's house for tea for the first time. I asked for a drink, and was given milk in a baby bottle with a teat. I told her Mum that I drank out of a cup or a glass at home, but I was told that cups and glasses were for adults only and children had bottles.
I never went back there again. They were Armenian - no idea if their culture is different at all?

@aroundtheworldyet the nozzle would probably fall down the back of the chest of drawers or something! Then my hair would be frizzy

My best friends dad used to drink whiskey all weekend whilst watching porn in the living room. I spent most of my time there trying not to look at the television or hear the noises. Her mum never ever seemed to leave the kitchen .
At a sleepover I was offered a bath before bed then realised I was expected to use the same water the dad, mum, older brother and sister and my friend had already bathed in (not envy).
Another friends dad had a cannabis factory in the loft and used to invite us all up there regularly, we were 12 .

My best friends house was similar to a few others on here where when Dad got home from work the atmosphere changed. He would whack my friend right round her face openly even when she was an older teenager (I spent a lot of time at their house from 7-15). I didn't grow up with a Dad and just thought that was how it was. The mums personality would change completely.

I was a single parented house, council estate kid who went to a school with wealthier kids so it always fascinated me going to the big houses. Saw a bidet once and was fascinated! Also the houses with endless snacks and foods was amazing to me (no wonder I have food issues now I can afford any snack I like ).

Despite being rather poor my mum was ocd, we ate fairly well and the house was always clean. I went to a house where we were served our food on the floor of the kitchen which had no floor! I felt so dirty! Another families house smelt bad and I was served cold super noodles and honestly it was the closest I came to being sick just the coldness and the smell of the house...that girl's father was definitely abusive too! :(

Actually I was just thinking earlier today about a party I attended when I was about 9 or 10. They had these amazing balloons which were really gossamer thin and enormous. Very pale pink colour.

I am certain they were blown up condoms.

I think ours was the weird house. So many sad stories on here but I agree that until you started visiting other kids houses it all seemed very normal.

I too was convinced that close families that kissed goodnight, said they loved each other was utterly bizarre. Until I grew up. I tell my kids even my 16 year old I love them and we hug. I dont think my parents did that since I turned about four.

My only weird memory was my friends two inch deep shag pile carpet. I couldn't get over the extravagance / total impractical nature of a waist deep carpet ( to me about six, I could hardly get through the damn thing!)

I grew up in terrace with a alley. All the local kids played in there, men coming through giving us money and sweets ( totally innocent but bizarre as we knew it was wrong to accept it - but accepted it anyway!) Kicking balls over peoples fenses and throwing the youngest toddler over too to grab it then realising the toddler was also now stuck....

Friends little brother constantly pissing on her bed and carpet. Also his sister. All very normal back then!

I also had a friend who was a jehovah witness. Lovely family and I enjoyed being there. Her mum had about 11 kids and had 15 by time we left secondary. Felt like every 9 months she was called out of class to be told the sex and name of the new sibling. Lovely people.

@Instagrump sounds like our childhood in foster care.

The level of poverty in the 89s/90s revealed throughout this thread is just shocking.

I sincerely hope that the figures alluding to rising levels of childhood poverty aren't heralding a return to this.

I remember going for a sleepover with a neighbour the girl an I were 11 or 12. When we were in bed the dad came in and said make sure you take your knickers off in bed you need to get air down there. She then proceeded to remove them. I never visited again.

Kitchen roll and baby wipes? Not sure I'd have known what those even were!

I remember my mum ripping up old t shirts to use as sanitary towels! We were poor and lived miles from shops and no car though, so running out of stuff was just a way of life. I just experienced it a good few decades after it would have quite normal for many people I imagine. We are so fortunate these days and I never take that for granted.