Hello dear readers,
Do you have a moment to talk about how Disney owes hyenas a huge apology?
Shenzi, Bonsai, and Ed may have been hilarious and iconic characters, but they also convinced people that hyenas were unintelligent, sneaky, and evil.
I'd like to have a word about that.
Hyenas are incredibly intelligent, both as individuals and when working together as a group. The hyena regularly out performs chimps in intelligence and teamwork tests.
Uh huh. Take that, Bubbles and Curious George. (He's a chimp, not a monkey, deal with it. Don't @ me.)
Hyenas are demonstrably smarter; but we think of chimps as furry little brainiacs. Make it make sense!
You want girl power? Forget Nala.
Always Sunny Reaction GIF
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You want hyenas for that. Their society is led by the girls, female hyenas are bigger and stronger than the boys, and the ladies aren't afraid to get scrappy.
They're also thought to be among the best mothers in the animal kingdom. Hyenas invest more energy per cub than any other terrestrial carnivore...
Far more than lioness, DISNEY. Y'all out here making Sarabi look like the distraught mother the whole movie and it turns out she probably didn't even notice Simba was gone...
While I appreciate Jasiri as your "good hyena Lion King character to make up for the movies" and acknowledge that Sisi Ni Sawa is a bop... I remain salty.
Lots of readers literally had no idea what that last paragraph meant, which is exactly my point!
It wasn't enough. Hyenas deserved better!
Reddit user sqnyq asked:
"Which animal do you think deserves more love and recognition than it gets?"
So yeah ... I don't really have a passionate and long-held opinion on this completely asinine matter at all.
Backyard Buddies
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"The opossum!"
"Eats ticks and pests, rabies resistant, carries cute babies on its back, has a bunch of teeth, marsupial!"
- impregnatEcOpWives
"Omg yes!! Every time I’ve ever seen a opossum they’ve been the chillest wild animal I’ve ever met."
- xchakrumx
"Yus! They eat ticks, which helps combat lime disease."
- Triborg501
"And they have little fingers 😍"
- ipakookapi
Diseased Flesh Eaters
"Turkey vultures."
"Hear me out: they look ugly AF, but they're gentle creatures who just clean up the environment naturally."
"If they get too scared, they will vomit themselves. They can eat diseased flesh without taking on any illness. They live in a flock, and are tied to their mates until death."
"They're also endangered in some areas."
- boomblebeez
"They were my favorite animal as a little kid and my family could never understand why lol"
"But they are just freaking rad. Also turkey vultures are so HUGE up close it’s amazing."
- xchakrumx
Keep Count
"Backyard birds."
"Set up a bird feeder and see how much enjoyment you can get just by watching and counting the different kinds of birds that show up."
"From my old deck I was able to identify 28 different species of birds."
- Feels2old
"I love the birds in the green space outside my flat!"
"I get robins, sparrows, great tits, big dumb wood pigeons, woodpeckers, Eurasian jays, and the occasional pheasant. They’re all adorable, my cats and I have lots of fun watching them."
- burgeremoji
Criminal Masterminds
Finding Dory Octopus GIF by Disney/Pixar's Finding Dory
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"Octopus are very intelligent creatures and fascinating to watch."
- bagpipesfart
"I love that story about a big aquarium having fish going missing from a lot of it's tanks, so they put up some cameras and their octopus turned out to be the culprit."
"It climbed out of its tank, walked over to the other tanks, jumped in, munched down some fish, climbed out, walked back, and put its lid back on."
- ipakookapi
"Not only that, the octopus actually memorized the guards walk around pattern to time its escape so that it didn't get caught!! Crafty little bugger"
- RazvanDubrinsky
"My favorite is the one that was being 'annoyed' by a light above its tank, so it figured out that it could shoot water at the light to cause it to short circuit and turn off."
"This also caused a bunch of the aquarium’s other electric systems to short out, causing a bit of a commotion."
"Several people question his motives; believing that it wasn’t about the light bothering him, but because he enjoyed the resulting commotion."
"Considering that some of the other stories about him show he was a sassy little thing, either one wouldn’t surprise me."
- GrimmSheeper
Bad Press
"Sharks, they do get recognition but most of it is negative. Sharks are 👌👌"
- --Dominion--
"Sharks are my fav animal."
"A couple years back we went on vacation to Florida and I went snorkeling with sharks with no cage just open ocean."
"It was easily the best, most relaxing, experience I've ever had. I think there was about 4 different kinds of sharks (I only remember lemon and bull sharks) and they were beautiful."
- manbamtan
"My favourite shark fun fact. They are older than the rings of Saturn."
- lenny_ray
Irritating Humans
"Spiders."
"Most are harmless to humans and they get rid of irritating bugs."
"They are also perfect for keeping away irritating humans."
- falkordragon233
"Nice choice."
"As long as they're not venomous, it's literally just a little guy living in your house and eating flies and mosquitos."
- ipakookapi
"Thank you!"
"I adore spiders. I got into macro photography for a while and spiders are my favorite to photograph - they're often so much more beautiful than we realize."
"And those little jumping spiders are the cutest darn things ever."
- BlacksmithAlert1313
Interesting Death
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"I like porcupines and find them interesting, but they smell like stale death."
"Any I've been near smell horrible and carry a cloud around them. It's entirely possible my experience is an outlier; I've only encountered them a few times, so I could be misled by a narrow sample."
"But the smell was assaulting. Still like them!"
- Dangercakes13
"Used to work at a zoo in my teens. Porcupines are super stinky to ward off predators."
"We used to rock paper scissors for who was going to pull weeds by their enclosure."
- SuparToastar
"I love them. They're cute and make cute noises. Also, have some of the best defense mechanisms."
- frostmasterx
How Many More Bugs
"Bats are one of the most beneficial animals on the planet."
"A single bat can eat over 1,000 insects in one night of feasting. Take into account the largest bat colony is in Texas and is about 20-40 million bats (depending on time of year)."
"Think about how many more bugs there would be without those bats."
- Winter-Life8196
"They are cute and fascinating and we should all be proud of them, they're the only mammals who have managed actual flight."
- siani_lane
"Upvote for skypuppies! Pollinators, bug eaters, they’re so biologically important."
- trocarkarin
Incredible
"Donkeys. Grumpy horse with bunny ears 😍"
- ipakookapi
"Yes!"
"They're stronger than horses, which is probably why they're carrying around all our stuff. They have great memory and bond for life."
"The reputation for stubbornness comes from the fact that they refuse to move if they feel they're in danger rather than run away."
"Horses flee. Donkeys stand their ground."
- dustnrose
"I love horses, been around them most of my life. But donkeys scare me, precisely because they don't have that same fleeing instinct as horses."
- imlumpy
"They're so close to horses but are suddenly so heartful and loving and they show affection in a very visible way."
"They can also cry if they miss someone and they usually come to greet people like dogs do."
"I'm your average dude, but they have a soft spot on me 😅"
- Yukazaka
"Fun fact, some farmers keep donkeys to protect their horses from coyotes and wolves. Donkeys will stomp the sh*t out of coyotes and that is incredible."
- JauneStrife
Pocket Puppies
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"Rats."
"They are incredibly smart, sweet, and social animals."
"One reason why they are often used for experiments (lab rats) is because they are so socially similiar to us humans. That gets more and more heartbreaking the longer you think about what that means."
"Rat Park is a great read about an experiment on how our life conditions affect likelyhood of drug addiction."
- [Reddit]
"100% I was scrolling to see if anyone had said this."
"I am a huge dog person but it wouldn't have been fair to have one in college. Rats are amazing and as rewarding as dogs."
"They are just as smart and loving. They learn tricks, love to cuddle and play."
"Sammy and Oliver got me through some of the lonely times of college."
- Dance-Various
"Totally agree, my ladies are so smart. They are way better trained them my cat."
"My favorite nickname for then is pocket puppies."
- supercalisto
Yucky Heroes
"Carrion feeders of every stripe."
"They are the heroes of the animal kingdom, providing important steps in decomposition and reclamation of matter, and people think they’re yucky."
"If you hit an animal with your car, and are able to stop, please stop and move the animal to the side of the road, it helps prevent carrion feeders from getting hit by cars later."
- kharmatika
Genes Are Jerks
"Okay so I know a lot of people hate pandas for them eating bamboo even though they’re designed to eat meat, but it’s not because they’re stupid. They lost their taste for meat."
"A gene they had which 'motivated' them to hunt and eat meat somehow disappeared. It’s not like they can control that."
"And people also say they don’t mate on their own. Well god made female pandas go into heat for only three flippin days out of an entire flippin year! That’s it!"
"Since their population numbers are so low and they don't exactly live in herds, what are the chances a male and a female are going to see each other in that time frame?"
"Exactly. Haters."
- Horror-Award-1144
Snake Spotting
"Crows. They are so intelligent!"
"When i was 14 working at a farm, some crow opened our chickens door. It didn't go in, it just opened it."
"The door was there to keep specific chickens separated from others, so I was annoyed like why the f*ck would a crow just open that door?"
"Anyways I closed it. A few minutes after I stepped away, the same crow opened the door again."
"This time when I went, I took a look. I was shocked."
"There was a huge snake in that enclosure with the chickens and the crow was literally trying to help the chickens to get away from the snake!"
"People just look at them as some useless bird or whatever but they are not."
- SolubleSlug
Little Tie Fighters
"The termite."
"They are fascinating and they know when it's going to rain!"
"The termites have a caste system. The soldiers will boot out the aeletes only when it will rain within 24 hours."
"Aeletes are winged reproductives; they will fly out of the nest and try to start a new one. They look like the tie fighters in Star Wars: four fixed wings like a biplane."
"They are harmless; you will see them in the evening with low wind, about 70% humidity and 30 degrees C. [World's American, I know. I wasn't brought up with Fahrenheit] "
"That's also a survival tip. If you see the winged reproductives flying then it's going to rain soon. Go to higher ground, prepare to collect rain etc."
"There are many different kinds of termites. Many have not yet been discovered."
"Some are similar to cockroaches in the way they lay eggs; the Giant Northern Australian termite. Others use parthenogenesis to reproduce. For instance, the French Guianan termite."
- Dense-Independent-66
Beaver Baddies
"Beavers."
"Did anyone say that yet? If they did, please know they are an awesome person. Please learn why! Links included because don’t take my word on anything."
"Beavers are incredibly hard workers, capable of the same level of decision making and precision that goes into our construction of dams or homes or chopping down trees. There ears can sense the slight trickle of water indicating a leak."
"In a story linked below the arrival of settlers in the 1800’s wiped out beavers in one area effectively destroying the ecosystems that the beaver dams had created and wildlife depended on. The loss of beavers was still so profound that HUMANS started to make their own beaver dams!!"
"Then like the born workers they are, a few beavers must have heard through the grapevine and took over what humans were doing with far more than their teeth and bare hands."
"They work so hard. Their work ethic is better than any humans. They are always on call. No nights off."
"Now, I truly admire the team work and socialist structure of most any colonies, but beavers can build dams that transform its environment and create their own mini ecosystem. They are incredibly important and considered a keystone species."
"The largest beaver dam is half a mile long and started in the 70’s and is located in Canada. That’s generations of beavers dedicated to the 'family business' of continuing this huge dam."
"They of course continue to MAINTAIN a dam a half mile long. Made of just sticks and trees and mud and whatever other tricks they have. I have the utmost respect for their abilities and contributions to their environments!"
"Seeing videos blowing up their incredibly hard work makes me sad. I get it, someone’s poor garden is flooded and we can’t stand for that. Or someone’s property is filling with water and they have the right to not want it to."
"But, it just seems so horrible to destroy something so incredibly built and with such hard work and dedication and brain power that we need to blow it up to take it down."
"For the record, I get that beavers can cost millions in damages to property and some support trapping when their numbers get high or they become a problem."
"But, I just truly hope animals have the capacity to just laugh at a species who’s numbers are growing faster than the environment can handle or support, whom quickly destroy and invade their homes before they take over and are everywhere, who cost thousands and thousands of years of growth and strength and survival in trees every year with their destruction, that species having the NERVE to point to others as needing help being controlled."
"Calling others destructive or a nuisance."
"The best part is saying with a straight face how another species population is growing too fast and too large and needs to be culled and controlled!"
"I know, I’m human. But even if it’s just us, it still feels hypocritical to say."
"BEAVERS ARE AMAZING (Just don’t think about the rodent thing)"
"Sources:"
"https://www.science.org/content/article/beaver-dam..."
"https://phys.org/news/2010-05-world-biggest-beaver..."
"https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67662/sound-ru..."
"https://www.bu.edu/articles/2015/beavers-vs-humans/"
"https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/why-do-beavers..."
- Rgsnap
You've heard Reddit get all Steve Irwin and champion for animals that don't get enough love.
Now it's your turn, wildlife warriors!
What creatures don't get the love they deserve?
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
Scared The Launch GIF by CTV
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
