Somebody asked about objects in people homes that make you say ‘Hang on, why do they have THAT?’ – 21 mind-boggling belongings

Thanks to mass production and mass consumption, you generally know what you’re going to see when you go round someone’s house for the first time: IKEA furniture, fitted kitchen, flat screen TV, generic books, and so on. So when you’re invited in and they have something utterly weird in pride of place, it will definitely stick in your mind.

User Rich_Specific6903 has experienced this, and posted the following on the Ask UK subreddit:

Ever been in someone’s house and noticed one object that made you go……Hang on… why do they have THAT? I visited a mate’s house years ago and in the middle of his living room was an old wheelchair with a mannequin sat in it. No explanation given. We just carried on like it was normal.

Which prompted lots of answers from people who have been completely freaked out when they thought they were just going round for a nice cup of tea.

1.

‘Met the in-laws. They had five rocking horses in their lounge. Two were big enough for adults.

Uncle had a business making and selling them, but 90% of sales were in the run-up to Christmas each year. So by October, he ran out of storage space and persuaded everyone he knew to host a few…’
–DameKumquat

2.

‘I was in a customers house and he had an elephant’s foot as a doorstop. I mentioned that maybe it wasn’t very proper to have such a thing and he simply replied, ‘Oh it died a very long time ago’.’
–elvisonaZ1

3.

‘Went back to a friend’s house to continue drinking after a night out. As the suns starting to rise he goes ‘Wait there a minute’, goes in the next room and comes back wearing a full-length chainmail hauberk with an axe resting on his shoulder asking if anyone wants to walk to the shop with him.’
–inide

4.

‘Flensing knife. Basically, a huge blade on the end of a long pole for cutting up whales.’
–apeliott

5.

‘Was helping a friend move and asked why they had a reel of climbing rope… it was really silky rope. My wife explained afterwards.’
–BenGeneric

6.

‘Friend of mine at uni was always weird about having people round. I thought it was because she lived in a super nice townhouse in London but turns out it was the people-sized minstrel statue in her kitchen. I’m black so I can see why she was very hesitant.’
–dankydiamonds

7.

‘A beautiful chair sat in pride of place in the living room of my friend’s clearly wealthy parents in Anglesey. Even 20-year-old uncultured me could see it was something special. She explained it was used for the coronation of Charles as Prince of Wales, i.e. he sat on it, not one of the attendees at the ceremony. Twenty years later I’m still not sure if she was bullshitting me or not. She was always down to earth and not the wind up type.’
–Fwoggie2

8.

‘Friend’s mum had a coffin for a coffee table. No other gothic furnishings, normal 90’s decor but with a real coffin smack bang in the middle of the room you put your cuppa on.’
–jengaduk

9.

‘Crystal grand piano. Not kidding.’
–SergeantBLAMmo

10.

‘A mate of mine who’s no longer with us invited us over for some dinner one evening and his table centrepiece was a huge silver platter filled with various dildos, no one mentioned it because it was exactly the kind of thing he would do.’
–ProperComposer7949

11.

‘Working in a customer’s house and I noticed they had a framed picture of Hitler over a fireplace. It was along with some other historic weapons so I hoped they were just a weird history buff. But still very strange.’
–b1uep1eb