Mr Viral
We previously covered a Reddit thread by u/Cosplay6718 that asked people to share the things they saw in other people’s homes that made them never want to visit again. The post resonated with some BuzzFeed Community members, who shared their own house guest horror stories. Here’s what they revealed:
1.
“I visited an online friend a few years back. He and his wife lived in a nice apartment complex, and I was excited to meet them face-to-face. But when that door opened, I got a nose full of cat pee and saw a huge puddle near the door. Stepping in, I was then hit with the stench of cat poop. Apparently, they had two cats they never cleaned up after. Litter was embedded in the filthy carpet, the litter box was overflowing with dried poop, and piles of dried and fresh cat poop were in every corner of their apartment. The bathroom floor was coated with litter, fur, poop, and pee puddles, and the shower walls were moldy. I couldn’t leave fast enough and NEVER went back. Makes me so nauseous just thinking about it.”
—Anonymous
2.
“I married cross-culturally, so my wife was in Canada for a long time without meeting some of my relatives. At one point, I suggested we visit a cousin she had never met, so I arranged a date with him, and we drove over a hundred miles to get there. During our visit, my wife told me she needed to use the washroom, but knowing my cousin, I decided to check it out first. The whole inside of the toilet bowl, every square centimeter of china, was encrusted with excrement, and the seat wasn’t much cleaner. It would’ve been impossible for her to sit without coming into contact with his intestinal contents.”
“I went back to my wife and warned her that the room wasn’t fit for her use, but her need was urgent, so she ventured in anyway. She actually cleaned up the whole thing for him, used it, and then came back out. Needless to say, we left ASAP and never went back. I still have that original toilet image in my mind. I drove a hundred miles for THAT.”
—Anonymous
3.
“My brother-in-law and I were invited to a coworker’s home to watch a boxing match. The coworker fried pork chops while my BIL and I sat at the kitchen table. Suddenly, a huge, HUGE rat jumped up on the table, slowly walked across the top in front of the TV, and sat down. It wasn’t afraid or anything. Our host didn’t seem bothered at all. We left and never returned.”
—Anonymous
4.
“I was invited to a friend’s home for dinner, and in the middle of their living room was a giant glass cage for their boa. I wasn’t a snake fan, but I went over to look to be polite. No snake. I was concerned when they said they let it roam. We entered the kitchen, and the huge snake was on the counter. They laughed at my reaction, saying she was tame. I immediately left. We are still friends, but I’ve never returned to their home.”
—Anonymous
5.
“I used to have two friends who constantly asked me to come over for dinner. I’m weird about things like that and hesitated whenever they asked. Finally, I gave in once they moved into a beautiful new house. BIG mistake! They had lived there for two months, and I thought it would be okay. I was wrong. Every toilet had skid marks (horrendous!) and old dried urine on the seats; generally, the house was filthy! Dust, dog and cat hair, and pet urine smell (I have cats myself, and it is not hard to scoop their boxes and clean them up). The new kitchen was disgusting. The house had smells I’d never smelled before. Don’t have a dinner party when your home is trashed!! Never going back!”
—Anonymous
6.
“My sister-in-law was preparing a salad for the family meal. She cut her finger while chopping some cucumber, deep enough that blood was dripping. She simply yelled over her shoulder for her husband to bring a Bandaid and continued to chop her vegetables, dripping blood on everything and adding them to the salad bowl. I pointed out that she was putting her blood in the salad, and she was offended and said, ‘It’s not like I have AIDS or something.’ I avoid her salads now.”
—Anonymous
7.
“I was invited to visit my brother at his home, miles away. I was told to come at noon, so I assumed that meant to come for lunch. I got there, and no lunch was served, not even a glass of water. My brother was at work and wouldn’t come home until 6:00 p.m. My sister-in-law was busy doing the laundry and ignored me. At 3:00 p.m., she left me alone in the house to pick up my teenage nephews from school. She returned, and the boys didn’t even say hi to me. My brother finally came home, said hi, and then left to go out with the boys. What?! I left and never accepted another invitation again. I told him he needed to make an appointment at my office if he wanted to see me. From then on, he always showed up uninvited, with family in tow, and expected me to feed them lunch or dinner. Guess who doesn’t answer the door anymore?”
—Anonymous
8.
“My worst ex (who I dry heave from even thinking about) lived in a shared house situation, and I will never forget the smell, unfortunately. I would hold my breath from the front door until we were able to make it to their room. They kept their room tidy but only had a mattress on the floor and a closet (no furnishings), so it was hard to ‘hang out.’ I hated going there. There was a small dog who my ex was mean to, so it growled and tried to bite them. I refused to be guilty by association, so I was always kind to it but steered clear. That animal was a menace. It pooped and peed EVERYWHERE, especially the couch, which I refused to sit on while holding my breath while waiting to leave.”
“The kitchen was loaded with grime, dishes, leftover food, a smelly fridge, you name it. The bathroom was even worse. I didn’t know mold could be several colors! I didn’t last long in that situationship, but even that was WAY too long.”
—Anonymous
9.
“I once brought a friend back to her family’s house after she’d had a little too much to drink. Imagine my shock and surprise after opening the front door to see her half-dressed grandmother sitting on the kitchen floor, cutting up what looked like squid with a hatchet. Needless to say, I did not return. Too weirded out.”
—Anonymous
10.
“I went to visit my best friend after she’d moved to another state. She had 12 Yorkie dogs that peed and pooped in her brand-new house on her brand-new carpet. It was everywhere. She picked it up and thought nothing of it, but the brand-new house smelled terrible. My room was very nice, but again, pee and poop all over the carpet in there too. They pooped by my bed, and when I got up, I stepped right into it. When I got a towel from the linen closet, it smelled like a wet, dirty dog. Every towel smelled the same, and I found out why when I saw the state of her washing machine. It was empty but filthy with dog hair and smelled of dog urine.”
—Anonymous
11.
“For a time, I was an artist who sold scale one-inch to one-foot model art pieces at high-end miniature ‘doll house’ shows nationwide. A good customer of mine invited me to her home on the East Coast to dinner while attending a miniature show out there. She assured me other artist friends I knew would also be invited. She picked me up at the hotel where the art show was to take place and drove me to her home, 25 miles away from the hotel. Three cats greeted us as the front door opened. She said fellow artists would be arriving any time. They never came! She offered me a glass of wine, but I don’t drink. She sat down on her couch surrounded by her three cats and, after a time, passed out drunk. This was before cell phones. I didn’t know what to do!”
“Finally, she woke up, still drunk, and offered me dinner. I was starving! She opened the freezer and pulled out a dish with frozen lasagna in it. She put the frozen dish in the microwave and turned it on high. She shooed her cats off the tablecloth and shook it off right there in the room. Cat hair and dander flew up in the air in a cloud of floating fur and slowly settled back down on the table and surrounding floor. Gross!Â
Moments later, the lasagna dish exploded in the microwave! Instead of cleaning up the mess, she slurred, F this!’ grabbed a second bottle of wine, drank it, and passed out again on the couch! I desperately needed to return to the hotel, and it was getting late. I found her wall phone and started to call a taxi. I reached for my wallet and realized I left it in my other pants at the hotel. Now I knew I was screwed for sure! Just then, a car pulled up into the driveway. This drunk woman’s daughter got home from a date. I told her who I was and how I happened to be there. I told her if she could drive me back to my hotel, I would give her $50 for her trouble. Luckily, she agreed. I never accepted an invitation from a customer to go out to dinner with them again!”
—Anonymous
12.
“Our neighbors across the street invited my husband and me over for dinner one evening at 6:00 p.m. When we got to their house, they offered us some water or iced tea to drink, but I noticed that the kitchen was totally clean, the lights were off, and there was no food in sight. I thought maybe they had some cold cuts or something and would put them out for everyone to make sandwiches. But no, we just sat there drinking iced tea and talking. No dinner was served. We stayed for maybe an hour and a half and then made up an excuse to leave to get Chinese food. Such a weird experience. We never went back.”
—aubreyw3
13.
“I have this friend I’ve known for years, from grade school through college and beyond. They grew up upper-middle class and always had nice things (latest clothes, big pool, fun parties, extracurricular hobbies, etc.), so when they invited me to stay at their house on a road trip, I didn’t think twice. From the minute I walked in, it was bizarre. They had a huge home, but it was sparingly furnished, and they had random stuff haphazardly everywhere: dishes on every counter, layers of crumbs, dust, pet hair, grease spots, etc. Having young kids, I didn’t think too much about it and decided to help do the dishes. They weren’t fazed and acted like I was supposed to.”
“As I went upstairs to get ready for bed, the layers of pet hair on the stairs were unreal. It didn’t stop at the stairs. The bed was covered, and the bathroom as well. Needless to say, I did not expect to form a pet allergy from a stopover, but I did. I showered immediately at my hotel the next day.”
—Anonymous
14.
And: “I went to my former boss’s new home. I knew he, his wife, and their 10 kids loved Disneyland and immediately noticed that the two boxwoods were trimmed to resemble Mickey and Minnie. ‘Okay, cute,’ I thought. Then I entered the living room. The ENTIRE house was Disney: a dining room-size table with a lit Disney Christmas village (it was summer), life-size cardboard cutouts, a Disney-themed train running endlessly along the ceiling, artwork on the walls, all linens, sheets, towels, dishes, carpet, even furniture, kitchen appliances, ceramics, and lamps were Disney-themed. He and his wife had separate bathrooms: his and her Disney villains based on gender (the walls were painted black). In the backyard, at least six oversized Disney statues stood guard over a large swimming pool with the bottom tiled in mosaics as a giant Ariel.”
“He then showed me the house next door he bought for his eldest son and his family by having us walk through the TUNNEL he built between them. I quit my job the next day.”
—Anonymous
Have you ever gone to someone’s house and vowed never to return because of what you saw/smelled/heard, etc.? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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