When someone buys an older home, they're also buying the history, character, and strange quirks that come with their new house, apartment building, or farm. With a lot of homes being upwards of 100 years old, they're bound to come with some crazy stories.
A Reddit thread recently asked homeowners and realtors to share their stories about the craziest houses they have bought and sold over the years, and what they had to share is beyond insane. The following stories have all been edited for clarity and readability.
This Is Sad And Horrifying
At first, all he found was just a ball of cloth. But as he pulled back the layers, he realized it was the skeleton of a baby. It was wrapped up with a teddy bear. He called the police but they never got any type of follow-up on it.
Another time, I was speaking with a realtor about going to a closing where the seller was late. An hour went by and he was still a no-show. The agent was calling and getting no answer. She knew the seller’s nephew who let her in once or something, so she called him. He drove over to check on his uncle. He opened the door and there was the uncle, dead on the floor. He was wearing his coat and had one shoe on. He died putting his shoes on before he left to go to the closing. The buyers still bought the house, but it took a few extra weeks to close.
Another one from my own experience was a house I was asked to sell. It was a fixer-upper, but it was on a nice plot of land. The sellers had some weird relationship going on. She was in her 20s and he was in his 50s, they were married, but she called him ‘daddy’ and she wore revealing clothing. They were not well-off by any means, so it’s not like she was with him for the money. I decided to Google their names to see what came up. They’d been busted for running a puppy mill in the garage and all the dogs were discovered frozen solid in the dead of winter and severely malnourished. After that, I just ignored them. I couldn’t even talk to them to tell them I wasn’t going to list their house.”
What Kind Of Abuses Went On In This House?
“My parents were realtors and also flipped houses.
When I was growing up, I used to help them a lot, usually by cleaning. When I was 12, I was helping with a house that was infested with roaches, and I noticed the closets were smeared with feces and children’s handprints. There were fingernail scratches on the insides of the doors as well.
I asked my parents why this was the case, and they told me the old tenants used to lock their toddlers in the closets for days.”
She Had An Unforgettable Hobby
“A lady wanted me to list her house. I went over and did the routine.
As I was going to the bedroom closet, she yelled, ‘Oh no! Don’t go in there! It’s a horrible mess! It’s a walk-in closet, but please don’t go in there. It’s such a mess and I’m embarrassed.’ She went on about it way too long for it to be ‘just a mess.’
I left it alone and that was that. The house got listed, and two weeks later, I offered to do an open house. The lady had started packing already because I already helped her find a new house. She left, I went to the open house, and a nice couple came in. They got to the master bedroom and there was a wall of boxes in front of the closet.
I explained that it was a walk-in closet and the last time I was there, the lady said it was just filled to the brim with stuff. The wife wanted to see the closet, and so the husband started moving boxes. I ask him not to and he kept going saying, ‘If I’m going to buy a house, I want to see the whole thing.’ Well, he kind of had me there because I know they loved everything else about the house and the wife seemed super stoked about the kitchen and the master bath.
The last box was moved and the door was opened. Inside was a 10×10 foot room jam-packed with adult toys. They were each standing up on very nice custom shelving units with glass doors on the front. The glass doors also had numbers made from a home label maker unit. On the inside of the door was a large sheet of paper. Each number had a corresponding name of some guy.
That’s when we noticed two large boxes in the corner. Each box contained 36 unopened ‘Clone-A-Willy’ kits. We stared in amazement for a while and then the husband just lost it. It took a good 20 minutes for him to stop laughing (or at least randomly bursting out in laughter). We put everything back the way it was and that was the end of me letting anyone check out the closet for the rest of the open house.
This couple actually ended up buying the house. There were 183 home-made adult toys in the closet (and a few store-bought ones too).”
The Noises Became More Unnerving As They Learned More About The House
“My extended family used to live in a really old house located just north of London. Previously, it used to be Queen Victoria’s stop when she was traveling in the area.
I’m told my uncle (mum’s sister’s husband) when younger never believed in ghosts or spirits and would be the first one to call it a load of rubbish. He was sleeping one night and was awoken by a man staring at him at the end of his bed, dressed in an old army uniform. My uncle froze for a few seconds, panicked and flicked the bedside lamp on and then the man vanished.
He refused to sleep in that room from that night onwards.
We later found out that the man was a previous owner who had returned from the war to find his wife having an affair. He was so furious that his wife reported having told her he would do the worst thing possible to get back at her.
He took his twin sons (toddlers at the time), went to the back of the garden where there was a forest, and shot them both dead before killing himself.
The funny thing is that since my family bought the property, my uncle had twin sons, my mum had twin sons and my uncle’s brother (who is also a part owner of the property) had twin sons.
The weirder part is that my brothers and my uncle/aunties kids were playing near the forest when they were in their early teens and kept on saying they heard boys laughing but couldn’t see anybody there (not knowing the house’s history).”
I Watch You When You Sleep…
“I went to visit my sister in California and once I flew in, I wanted to shower. Well, I took a long enough shower that the mirror was all steamy when I got out. Except for one tiny dot in the middle of the mirror. My immediate thought process was ‘oh weird. I guess if you draw on a mirror with expo it won’t steam around it.’ So I went to go investigate and upon looking right up to it I realized the most horrifying thing.