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

[BillHadersNewWife]

Inspired by a Reddit thread...there were some absolutely weird things that people experienced or saw at their mates' houses as children.

There was a man who said he hated eating at his friend's house because they weren't allowed to drink water with a meal.

There was someone who said their friend wasn't allowed in any other room but the kitchen and their bedroom.

That kind of thing! I'm thinking myself and can't really dredge much up. There was one friend who lived in a huge mansion...think National Trust style place...and it was empty!

Just room after room with less furniture in the place than in an average semi!

Normal-ish family...I think they were broke due to having 5 kids and privately educating them all!

We were having a sleepover at my friends house, when suddenly her older brother woke up the entire house, screaming in agony, as though he was being murdered! Then came the emerald green vomit and complete panic whilst waiting for an ambulance...

And that...

Was how I found out that if a boys testicles get twisted, (medical emergency), it renders them absolutely helpless!

I was a tomboy, and hadn't put much thought into the anatomical differences until that night...

Some terrible stories here

It occurred to me after reading this thread to ask DS1 if he'd ever found anything strange at a friend's house. He shook his head, then said "Well I suppose there's Anil's house with all the leeches"
I queried this several times but he's quite clear on the point! He's nearly 9 so could just be winding me up, admittedly....

Is this one of those threads where if you never went to a bizarre house then you probably were the bizarre house

This is a great thread and I nominate it for classics

We frequently did the cardboard tube loo roll thing. And newspaper. Didn't seem wierd at all, just annoying!

I always have spare packs in the cupboard, I don't think we have ever run out of toilet roll!

Leeches?

I went to a birthday party (8-9 year olds) where the activity was making pickled red cabbage, a jar of which we took home in lieu of a party bag.

I remember visiting a friends house as a teenager and her family were obsessed with spreading information about the dangers of dented cans. Every time I visited they showed me examples and had terrible stories of death through poisoning.

I'm completely horrified by the number of people who think this thread is great craic.

To me it feels mainly like a list of ways in which women and children have been abused.

Surely if you run short of loo roll you use kitchen roll/baby wipes, even facial wipes before resorting to cardboard tubing...WTF?

A stash of porn in the bottom of a wardrobe!!

@MorrisZapp I keep my hairdryer in its original cardboard box... so that the nozzle, and hairdrying-brush don't get separated from it. Is that weird? [shocked] Seems common sense to me. Also, because it's boxed, you don't get dust in the vents.
I've always done this- had a hairdryer from being 7 years old. (Ok- our house was the weird house- that hairdryer was a birthday present, for my 7th birthday That was par for the course for my parents )

My friend wasn't allowed to watch Grange Hill either! Although (bizarrely) they were allowed to watch Neighbours and Home and Away. The kids also weren't allowed to cross the road (we were 10!)

Was this my house? My parents used so much cotton wool they could’ve opened a branch of Boots.

@bintang
Yes I am sorry. That’s not normal. I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s just not what most people worry about. You can clean the vents very easily! Why would the nozzle get separated?

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.

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.

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.

@Instagrump sounds like our childhood in foster care.

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.

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.

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! :(

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 .

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

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?

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.

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.