There’s no place like home. Whether it's a house, an apartment, a condo or a basement rental, your home is supposed to be your number one source of comfort. It's your respite from the outside world; your private sanctuary where you can go to relax after a long, stressful day. It's supposed to be a safe space, one that you fill with happy, cozy memories.
Unfortunately, there are few times in our lives when we come home to things that aren't so pleasant. It could be something frustrating or inconvenient, like a pet that chewed on furniture, or something much more life-changing event, like the death of a family member.
Just take it from the following internet users who recently shared some of the worst things they have ever come home to.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 Husband Gone
I came home to a bunch of cop cars by my house. It was a hot sunny day. I don’t remember who else was there except my ex-mother-in-law—I had just dropped off my three-year-old at my grandmother’s house, but my one-year-old twins were in their car seats in the back.
I opened the door and was told my husband had passed away inside the house. I took the twins out of their car seats and sat in the grass in the sun with them and I don’t really remember how long I sat there.
#2 Hollow Home And Heart
I came home from a business trip with almost all of the furniture in my house missing. My wife of 20 years had left me for her high school sweetheart and moved across the country to be with him. She took everything she wanted and left me with divorce papers. Hard to imagine a 5,000 square foot house with nothing in it. Depressing for sure.
#3 Squirreling Away
I got home after work and sat down on my couch. I caught a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye. I turned toward the loveseat and saw a squirrel sitting on top of it. Then, I looked behind the loveseat and saw that my air conditioner side paneling was torn to shreds.
I chased the squirrel out and made better side paneling, but the squirrels never stopped trying to get in. It was horrible hearing them scratching and gnawing. My landlord tried putting up some wire fencing around the window to prevent them from getting in.
Unfortunately, they would still manage to get in and then forget how to get out. They'd be trapped between the wiring and my A/C, panicking and gnawing and the window sill. I’d feel bad for them and despise them at the same time. This went on for a long time and I now hate squirrels and window A/C units.
My friends printed and framed a particularly good photo of one of the squirrels attempting to get in. They also bought me a squirrel throw pillow.
#4 Robbed Right From Under Him
I went to turn on the light and... nothing. The electricity was off. So I went to the electricity box outside, turned it on and went back inside. When I stepped through the door, I was shocked to find that my house been cleared out of all my valuable things. I heard a whirring sound and realized it was the old VCR video tape rewinder rewinding the videotape I had put it in that morning as I left home with my baby son.
And then it dawned on me: that tape only takes about three minutes to rewind... The burglars must have turned off the electricity seconds after I left home with my baby in the morning. They were watching me leave from the garden...
#5 Crashing After A Long Day
I had a really long day at work and when I got home, the parking spot I usually used was taken, so I had to park across the street. I walked inside and crashed down on the couch. Out of nowhere, I heard a loud smash outside.
I had a sinking feeling and just thought to myself, “Dang it, someone just hit my parked car.” I looked out the window and sure enough, someone had slammed into the back of my car, causing thousands of dollars of damage. The worst part is, he just drove off.
I had just gotten my car back from the shop after being hit two weeks before.
#6 Buzzworthy Situation
My dad came home to find a wasp in the house. And then another. And then another. He investigated. He heard a buzzing coming from the dining room. An entire nest of wasps had been living in the walls all this time. They had chewed through the sheetrock and were now pouring into the house through the hole.
The dining room was a formal room only used for holidays and dinner parties. Since it was summer, most of the entertaining my parents did was done outside. So no buzzing heard. Also, my dad was older, and hearing does get less sharp.
The exterminator cleared it out. My dad removed the sheetrock and replaced all the vent covers.
#7 Traumatic Treasure Hunt
My dog had had surgery on both paws. My husband decided after a few days that our dog didn't need the cone of shame anymore. I arrived home to find bits of white cotton scattered down the hall. I followed them to find the living room floor covered in blood and the dog in his bed with a paw swollen to twice its usual size. He had ripped out his stitches. Worst treasure hunt ever.
#8 Father's Frightening Scare
My dad sat at the foot of his bed, in tears, with a rope in his hand. I am so glad I got home when I did. I was out with friends and something was telling me I needed to get home ASAP, so I left early. I took the rope out of his hand and gave him a huge hug.
#9 Toilet Tank Waterfall
My family returned from dinner out and when we got back to the house, we noticed water leaking from the garage roof. Turns out, our top floor toilet tank had cracked and water had been continuously pouring. It was cascading down the stairs, through all three floors. A ridiculous amount of damage.
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Stories that matter — delivered straight to your inbox.
#10 Hurting Fur-Real
I came home to blood trails all over the house. My cat got hurt for some reason. It was a long cut on one of her hind legs. I brought her to the vet and got her stitched up, so she’s good now.
But I made sure to check for any and all sharp objects around the house.
#11 Ransacked And Robbed
My house had been broken into. I got home, and there were two police cars in the driveway. A neighbor reported it. The house was trashed. I have no idea why. I'm not material and don't keep much on hand. The guy got away, and I cleaned up. Not a good day.
#12 Stolen Pseudo-Loan
My clothes were thrown out and my games, systems, and CDs were broken or pawned for money just because I refused to let my stepdad take out a loan.. Luckily, he is out of my life now.
#13 Drunk Dramatics In The Dorm Room
My best friend and I came back from a night out found the door to our dorm room wide open, with a bloody blanket on the floor and an empty room.
It turned out that my roommate had drunkenly fallen off her lofted bed, cut her shin down to the bone on a piece of metal on the bed, and was so disoriented that she went into a different, unlocked dorm room and fell asleep on that person's bed.
My best friend puked in the water fountain after seeing the blood. We ended up eating our post-night-out Taco Bell cold in an ER waiting room while my roommate got stitches. A very memorable night!
#14 What The Fudge
An old dog of mine had gotten sick after getting ahold of a large batch of double fudge brownies at some point during the day. By the time I got home, I walked into a house with no less than 25 separate puddles of messiness. Poor fella had to eat bland boiled chicken and rice for a week.
#15 Ladies In The Living Room
Thousands of ladybugs that hatched were swarming around the white siding of the house. When I went inside, a couple hundred of them were hanging out in my living room on the ceiling.
#16 Fly On The Wall
I left home one morning and noticed a handful of fruit flies buzzing around the kitchen. I thought nothing of it at the time.
When I came home, there were hundreds of them, everywhere, all over the walls and ceilings in every room. I literally ran down the street to a Rite Aid and bought all the bug spray and traps they had.
#17 Surprise Party
I came home completely exhausted from the weekend and hoping to crash before my 8 a.m. class, only to find that there was a massive party going on in my house. Also, when I finally get to my room, there were a bunch of strangers hanging out there.
#18 Startled By Sister
I got home at midnight after hanging out with friends at a local restaurant. I walked in my house and saw my two-year-old sister standing in the complete darkness, with the only light coming from a red Christmas light. I screamed and wound up waking my mother. My very young sister might very well be a sleepwalker...
#19 Wrecking Ball
I came home to my casual boyfriend doing a full-demolition on my master bathroom. I had mentioned to him that I wanted to remodel it someday.
#20 Hole Mess
When I was in college, I went away for a weekend and came home to find that my roommate had attempted to hang a TV on the wall. I guess the first time didn't work because there was a massive hole in the wall, right next to the TV.
#21 A Fishy Situation
Something happened, and the bottom of my fish tank split while I was in class. When I got home, the entire floor was soaking wet and all of my fish were dead. It was so sad.
#22 Loss Of Power
After learning the oil and gas company was shutting down after four years of my employment, I got home at 10:30 a.m and saw my neighbor and the leasing office manager outside. The inquiries were immediate: "Hey, why are you home so early? What's in that box?"
Then, I learned that my generator was hit by birds and was out of service. I had no job or electricity. The power didn't turn on until the next morning. I knew this was a sign of twists and turns to come.
#23 All Backed Up
One of our bathrooms has a shower with a rim that's like, two inches above the drain. The sewer outside got clogged and backed up in that shower. It was flowing over the edge and was almost about to reach my carpet. I had to use all my towels and old clothes to absorb the mess until plumber arrived.
#24 Bird Box
I found blood on my mailbox with several feathers scattered near it. A opened the mailbox and found a half-eaten fast food burger inside. The mailman must have left it in there and the birds were trying to get in.
#25 Nightmare Guest
I went on an exchange study trip abroad. The university helped me to sublet my student accommodation to a Chinese exchange student while I was away. Before returning home, I called the department secretary for some study related stuff, and she quietly asked: "How much have you heard?"
It turned out that the Chinese student had trashed the apartment, then ran away to another country without a trace. The janitor had to get in there because of the smell. The rent had also not been paid. Thankfully, the department secretary put a lot of pressure on the company that had sponsored the student to pay my rent. I was able to keep my place, but I still had to spend a week cleaning.
#26 Coming Home And Coming Out
I came home to my dad confronting me about the gay adult videos he discovered on my phone, which I had mistakenly left at home.
#27 Rubbles and Ruins
Two and a half years ago, I came home to my house in flames. A dozen firemen were spraying it.
Essentially, I came home to rubble, I guess.
#28 Mousing Around
I came home to the screams of five mice stuck in glue traps.
My mom had a minor mouse infestation at her house. She decided to buy these glue traps to catch them and they were effective, however, unlike regular mouse traps that killed them instantly, these just trapped them and let them die from starvation.
When I got home that day, five of them had gotten caught in the traps and were screaming their lungs out in desperation. It was such a terrifying symphony of screams; I had absolutely no idea what was going on when I walked through the door. I worried that something had happened to my dog Snoopy.
#29 Dog Of An Ex
I came home from a Christmas Eve trip with the grandparents and there was a pack of pit bulls tied up right outside the door, barking and going crazy, completely blocking access.
I was never a fan of dogs because I was attacked by one when I was a toddler. Even as an adult, a barking dog just kind of makes me freeze and go blank. I have no recollection of what happened—where we went, who handled the dogs, etc.
It turns out that my mom had a stalker and he had tied the dogs up at the house in some kind of weird leap of stalker logic. Like, he thought she would call him for help or something? I don't know.
#30 A Window With No Wags
The first day after we had put our dog to sleep. Not seeing him in the front window or bouncing at the door really hit me. It's only been a couple months but I still look for him in the window.
#31 Never Forget
When my mom came to pick me up early from school, I walked into the house and saw a bunch of friends and family watching 9/11 unfold on the TV. My dad worked in the second tower.
#32 Bursting With Frustration
Several years back, I came home to my apartment building to find about ten firetrucks outside. I got into my building and found out that a pipe burst on the top floor. Water was pouring down the elevator shaft. It was 95 degrees that day and they had to shut off the electricity, meaning everyone’s A/C was out.
I had to hike up eight flights of stairs in the heat, and once I got up to my apartment I opened the door to find that my dog had made a mess. Not only did I have to clean it up while the stench had already settled in with the heat, but I had to spend all night going up and down the stairs with my dog for him to get out the rest of whatever stomach bug he had.
#33 Intercepted Exchange
When I was 12 years old, I was messaging a strange guy from another country that I had met online. He claimed to be 12. Little old me forgot about international fees. I came home to mom and dad waiting for me in the living room in their big armchairs, villain-style, with a stack of reports on my mom's lap. There was an $800 phone bill and a full transcript of our conversations. Needless to say, the guy was perverted and those conversations were more than embarrassing.
#34 Radio Head
There was blood in the driveway. I followed the trail up the driveway and across to the front door, which was partly open. I opened the door and poked my head in to look around. The trail continued from across the living room to the hallway. It forked off to the bathroom and continued down the hall. I looked into the bathroom and there was blood all over the floor, sink, and mirror. I continued down the hall and could see that the trail led into my parents' room. I went in, not knowing what to expect. I found more blood all over the bed and on my dad's pillow. His rather large radio, which was usually on the headboard, was lying in the middle of the bed.
Then, it made sense and, for the most part, I relaxed.
#35 Are You Kidding Me
Goats everywhere inside our house. We left the house for the day and someone didn't completely close the front door. We had a small tribe of goats at the time. They somehow managed to escape their enclosure, find the open door and make their way inside. Once inside, they proceeded to destroy the house as goats do. They ate everything paper-based, such as money, letters, bills, and mail. They went #1 and #2 on everything, including the beds and couches they took leisurely naps on. They destroyed what limited art we had and ate many of the kids' toys.
It took several days of cleaning to get the house to not look and smell like a barn.
#36 Solo Honeymoon
I came home to find a letter from the government telling me my visa expired and I would need to go back to my country. This was a few days after my husband and I got married. I'd never seen my husband cry before that night.
#37 Glass And Puppies
It was our first Christmas with a new puppy. We put glass balls on the tree a little too low. He thought they were balls to play with. I came home to probably 12 broken ornaments scattered through the house. He would grab one, try to run away, break it and go back for another. Some sort of benevolent dog god was looking after him and us that day because he didn't cut himself on any of the glass. I live a sheltered life.
#38 Icy Situation
My dad's house flooded during a hurricane. The first floor was completely ruined; he had to pull up all the floorboards, take down sodden drywall, and do a whole gut of the first floor. After a year, he got it all done, got all new furnishings in, and it felt nice and settled again. He decided to celebrate by taking a 10-day trip.
He came back to find his house covered in icicles. Water had streamed out from the second floor and froze. The whole house was dripping wet. A pipe burst while he was away, and for days, water and steam filled his house. He had to start renovations all over. I never saw my dad so shocked and disheartened.
#39 Paper Shredder
I came home to find papers shredded all over the place.
My dog got into my office and ate about 20 of my students' exam papers, plus a winning scratch ticket worth $200.
She had the most innocent "I don't know what you're talking about" look on her face. She's lucky she's so cute or I would've ended her.
#40 Sister's Screams
I was 15 and came home really tipsy one night. I tried to sneak into my house quietly, but the second I opened the door I heard my little sister sobbing on the phone. I ran up the stairs to her holding my mom and begging for an ambulance. It was just them, which was odd because usually my stepdad or at least one of my older brothers were home at that time of day. My mom was having a heart attack. I grabbed the phone and took over the situation.
My mom is okay now.
#41 Parked Accident
Last night, I came home from walking the dog and some kid slammed into my car. Not looking forward to the weeks of inconvenience.
#42 Game Over
I had a stressful day at work but the new video game I had ordered finally arrived. After a very long, hectic day, I was excited to go home at night and play the new video game. I picked up a pizza on the way and cheesecake for dessert. I got home, changed, and then jumped on the couch with the box of pizza. I started the new game but there was 15 GB worth of updates required to play, which takes six to eight hours to complete.
#43 Shadow Lurker
My ex-boyfriend was waiting for me in the shadows of my backyard. He was abusive toward me in the past. I had broken up with him and he was angry I wasn't answering the phone. It was 4 a.m. when I got home. I have no idea how long he had been waiting. I'm thankful he didn't hurt me.
#44 Terminal Cancer And Terminations
I had accepted a job across the country and put in my notice at my current job. The next day, when I came home from work, my wife met me in the driveway with tears running down her face. The cancer she had fought for two years and that had been in remission for three years had returned. Now, it was in her bones all over and she was terminal. Serious gut punch. I had to make some hard life decisions then. Thankfully, my current job, with excellent health insurance, rescinded my letter of termination like it never happened.
#45 Caught In A Web
I walked into my house and immediately felt little sticky strings all over my face and neck. I wiped my face, looked at my hands and saw hundreds of tiny spiders crawling all over me, I looked up and there were hundreds of little spiders hanging off my ceiling fan.
Needless to say, I fell back on my butt and ran out of the house screaming my head off. I cleaned myself off with my dog's patio water bowl and stripped most of my clothes off right then and there.
#46 Mantis Mansion
I came home to 8 billion praying mantis babies running loose in my house. Over the fall, my daughter went out into the woods and collected every praying mantis cocoon she could find. She put them in a shoebox in her bedroom. They all hatched in the early spring while we were visiting my parents for the day...
Straight Dope
#47 A Huge Wake-Up Call
A screaming argument between my folks.
It wasn't unusual for them to argue or scream, but I do remember thinking my mom's voice had rarely sounded so raw and full of pain. I thought I'm 17, I'm not going to deal with this, and went back to sleep.
A few hours later I woke up. It was quiet. My dad was gone. I went into her bedroom.
It was dark. She was just curled up in a corner, crying.
From that day on, I promised to do a better job taking care of my mom and protecting her from guys like my dad.
#48 Wet Car Problems
I came out from work on a heavy rain day in late autumn to find my new used car flooded. The sunroof didn't seal properly and leaked. A lot. At first, I didn't notice because I had parked facing downward on a hill. I started up the car, pulled out, and, upon hitting level ground, a four-inch wave of icy cold water sloshed over my feet from under the dash. I couldn't get my head around it; I just couldn't grasp what was happening. Stopping in the middle of traffic, I just sat there staring down at the wading pool on the floor of my new used car. After a few moments someone honked, so I drove home.
Yes, I knew I should have gone directly to the dealership, or a repair shop, or somewhere other than my own garage. But I didn't. I drove across town with water sloshing back and forth around my feet like in a sinking ship. I remember laughing out loud at one point, thinking, "Maybe I can dry it out with the leaf blower."
In the end, I sucked it out with the shop vac and manhandled a full-sized dehumidifier into the backseat. I rigged up extension cords and let the dehumidifier run all night. I went out every couple of hours to empty it, and the next day I parked it in the sun and left all the windows down.
After a few days it was dry, so I took it in to have the sunroof repaired. To this day I have no idea why I didn't want anyone to know what happened. It's not as if it were my fault or anything. Maybe just that the experience was so weirdly surreal that I couldn't break the spell.
Global Tyres
#49 Puppy Miracle
I came home after grueling college enrollment. My puppy (3 months that time) started having seizures and was barely breathing. With only two hours left before the vet office closed, I took the bus and prayed that we would make it on time. My puppy went through surgery. I was able to come five minutes before closing time. She is alive and kicking and at the age of 6 years.
#50 Worst Roommate Ever
I have a terrible roommate. I love her as a friend, but living with her is hell. I’ve never seen anyone so dirty or absolutely mindless about the amount of filth and noise they create.
I came home on Wednesday evening to:
The fridge left wide open,
Every cupboard door in the kitchen left open,
The stove left on,
Cooking items left out/overall huge mess in kitchen, and
House in general disarray/her stuff strewn everywhere.
I’m moving out in January.
