Look, when you let kids go off on their own to hide with the sole purpose of staying hidden, no matter what, things...happen.
Like these things.
Reddit user, u/reddwings, wanted to hear:
When did a game of hide and seek go horribly wrong?
Let's Start Big!
We had just recently moved into our neighborhood and my sister (5 at the time) was playing hide and seek with a neighbor kid. Long story short, kid couldn't find her, all the adults started going around the neighborhood shouting for her, it was getting dark, after awhile my parents called the police....
Someone eventually found her and she said she did hear everyone looking for her but she was playing hide and seek so duh she wasn't coming out until someone found her! Parents called the police back and told them not to come. That's how we met most of our neighbors.
This Is Why You Have The Buddy System At The Beach
That one time I played hide and seek with my elementary school class at the beach.
I thought they never found me because I hid so well, Turns out they actually left me where I was while they played other games without me for the rest of the day.
When I finally asked what happened it was time to leave and no parent believed me when I said they abandoned me.
This Is Why You Don't Watch Ice Age
I know I'm late to this, but still remembered this. Me and my parents went to a family friends house out in the country side. There were about 10 or 15 other kids there, and I was the youngest (maybe about 7).
We decided to play hide and seek. I was found the first 2 rounds, but then up in the games room in the attic I realized the cupboards weren't locked (low down, ground level). I was able to fit in one full of workout stuff (dumbbells, etc). I couldn't close the door fully, so I thought I was gonna be caught quick.
I'd say about... an hour passed? An hour and a half? I had heard ppl moving around the game room looking for hiders. Eventually I hadn't heard anything for a while. I crept out and went downstairs to the kitchen for a drink.
And I found everyone else. Watching Ice Age. They had straight up forgotten about me. If I hadn't gotten out for a drink, god knows when they would have realized I was still missing..
This Is Why You Don't Play In The Dark
It was summer time, and I would've been about 12 or 13. All of the neighborhood kids got together to play hide & seek/ tag in the dark, with one of the swing sets being the safe zone.
Now mind you, it was one of those big a-- wooden swing sets. I was hauling ass to the safe zone, and did not see the big wooden beam in front. I ran into it, full speed. Got my first nose bleed and a minor concussion that night.
10/10 recommend.
This Is Why You Don't Mess With The Babysitter
I was 5 or so and I hid in a laundry basket in a closet and put down towels on top of me. My babysitter couldn't find me and I went all-in and didn't say a thing. I was too embarrassed. He ended up calling my parents and they came home and panicked. I came out and everything was fine. I did notice how his voice increased in panic as I kept doing this
This Is Why You Probably...Should Have Just Left...
Well...wife isn't happy this happened.
Wife & I and a big group of friends were at a friends parents farm for a 4th of July barbecue.
We had been out on the lake water skiing, now it was getting dark, and drinking and music was happening. Someone suggested we play hide and seek like we were all kids at camp again...well...I ended up under a tree that my ex girlfriend was under...we laid down and held still...nothing major happened...except they never found us and gave up looking...we didn't know how the game was progressing, so we stayed hidden for almost an hour.
We SHOULD have just come back and not told anyone we were hidden in the same place...but we had no idea the problems. Her new boyfriend made a stink and my wife waited until we got in the car to let me know she wasn't pleased. She calmed down eventually, but ex girlfriend just ended their relationship...
Oh, did I mention ex girlfriend was still in short shorts and bikini top since the lake...so the group was ruthless...
This Is Why You Don't Call The Cops At Birthday Parties
At my 8th bday party I was playing hide and seek with my friends while the adults sat in the living room. We were running and shutting and opening doors whilst also screaming for some f-cking reason.
Well the neighbor's thought that all this door slamming and screaming of children meant child abuse so they called the cops. So my bday party was interrupted by the police who checked every room and interviewed every kid to make sure they were ok. Lmao the look on my moms face when she opened the door.
This Is Why You Never Hide In A Place You Yourself Can't Get Out Of
About 7 years ago my friend had a bed, you can lift the frame under the matress for storage but it locks down and can only be opened from outside.
You can already see what 8yo me was thinking. My dumbass figured that if they found me, they'd have to lift the matress up to catch me, ultimately freeing me when I was found. Well this didn't happen. I was feeling claustrophobic and wanted to get out. So there is me now crying bc I'm stuck in the best hiding place EVER. My friend's mum comes into the room to see what the fuss is about. I was leftvin there bc it was funny to them. Never played hide and seek since that day
This Is Why You Make Sure Everyone Knows It's Your Birthday
If you ask me, when they started a new round because "everyone had been found" (except me) at MY birthday party.
This Is Why You Think Through Potentially Good Ideas
I thought I would be clever and hide underneath an abandoned vehicle in somebody's yard
it was covered with hornets nests underneath...
I was the first one found......
got 63 stings,the f-ckers chased me for a block, just like in a cartoon....cloud of bees behind me
This Is Why You--Ouch. Ouch. OUCH.
Before I was born my brothers and sisters played a game at my aunt's house down by the river. My eldest brother decided to hang by his fingertips inside the water well. Meanwhile and unknowing of that fact my other brother thought about hiding up inside the little steeple cover of the well and to get to it needed to slam shut the well cover. LMAO.
SLAM... blood curdling scream... Splash... Cries for help...
Between fits of unadulterated anger interspersed with disbelief and worry my aunt, grandmother and mom managed to get him pulled up which wasn't easy because with all of those smashed fingers of his he couldn't hold tight to a rope.
This Is Why You Enjoy Your Onion Volcano When You Can
I was a waiter and some kids from a party I was serving played hide and seek and about five minutes later they had to come back because the chef came to cook (tepanyaki restaurant).
There were two guardians looking after the children and one of them realised that a child was missing and freaked out it was like a mini man hunt in the restaurant (this was all done by the guardians since they didn't tell anyone, I just overheard them and decided to watch what they would do) , after about 5-10 min of searching the girl comes out crying 'they forgot about me' she was in the bathroom the whole time and she was quiet when they called for her because she thought they were still playing.
This Is Why You Don't Pick On The Younger Sibling
When I was a kid my two older brothers would always make me be "it". One time the both hid in a trunk full of clothes. I was probably 6 or 7. So I decided to lock them in. Only I didn't have a key, they panicked like crazy and were having trouble breathing. The babysitter was going crazy. I think she broke the lock eventually. But it was some scary moments.
This Is Why You Don't Take Your Children To Lowe's
I managed to send an entire store on lockdown and freak out my entire family when I was maybe 5 years old.
My family was at Lowe's, and I decided to take my Kirby plushie with me and hide behind some shelves or boxes, and see if they could find me. Turns out they couldn't, and ran around outside because they thought someone kidnapped me. The entire store went on lockdown for a missing child, all the while I'm sitting, giggling and waiting for them to find me.
I eventually came out of hiding after my mom passed me, and got in huge trouble afterwards... I never hid in public again as a kid.
This Is Why You Stay Out Of The Forest
When I was about 8 years old my little brother who was 6 at the time and my little sister who was 3 years old, were playing some type of easy hide and seek in my grandparents' back yard. Well there are woods behind their house. Our sister being a defiant toddler ran into the woods and my brother just saw her run in and ran in after her. They were in the woods for hours because she ran in so deep and they both got turned around. Our brother found a hunting post, climbed up it into the tree, and found a way out.
They then knocked on doors, covered in dirt and scratched up, until someone answered. A woman gave them a ride back because our brother was able to point out landmarks to get back to our grandmother's house. They got back while my mother was on the phone with the cops. They were discussing a helicopter to find them. We were 'this' close to a search party. They walked a collective two to three miles. They could have gone miles deeper into rural woods if they didn't keep going one way and find the post.
So yeah watch your damn kids lol. Telling them "Don't go into the woods" does not guarantee they will listen.
This Is Why You Don't Go Near COFFINS
So when I was a wee kid and a scout, we played hide and seek in the dark. We usually played something like this every time the last 15 minutes.
It was a medium sized cabin, essentially. There was a lot of places to hide, lots of stuff just lying around. For some reason there was a coffin there and nobody, as far as I know, ever hid inside. Because it's a coffin, and that's just creepy.
But my smart-ss hid inside it. Unlucky for me, another guy also looking for a hiding spot saw me. He decided to lock the coffin I was inside of.
Yeah, I had clausrophobia for quite a while afterwards.
Ps. I have an intense hatred of the name Marcus since because that was the bastards name
This Is Why...Yeah. Got Nothing For This One.
In my family this is know as The Massacre at Aunt Amber's farm.
We were at a family reunion at my Aunt Amber's farm. There were 5 kids. 2 city kids, two military brats(me), and my Aunt's daughter Lisa. Being bored by the adults we decided to head out into the farm and play. We settled on hide and seek and Lisa was It first. City kid one hid between a hay bale and a cow pen, city kid 2 hid under a feeding trough in the pig pen that was just cleaned and leaned next to the barn to dry, I decided to hide with the goats in on of their little huts. But the best(worst) was my cousin Nick. He hid in and empty plastic barrel by the horses.
Before Lisa finished counting we all started yelling or screaming. Kid 1 tried to move the hay bale closer to the fence when it shifted and squished him against the fence and he got stuck trying to wiggle out, kid 2 had a large pig lay up against the trough trapping him, I was getting chased around by the goat I just pissed off trying to hide in his hut, and Nick was being dragged around by the horses in their barrel toy. Lisa panics and runs for her parents who then proceed to rescue us. Me and kids 1 and two just get laughed at.
But we were told Nick could have actually been killed if the horses had decided to kick the barrel around.
This Is Why You Learn About History
My grandma was Jewish and she was playing hide and seek with her brother as kids. She hid well and was very happy, the thrill of excitement from finding the perfect spot. Nobody would find her there. Then, out of nowhere, a group of Nazi soldiers break in the house. My grandma told me this story and at this point, she starts crying. She told me she couldn't see anything, but she could hear the screams of her own family as they were carried away. Her mother, her father, her brother and her sister were all taken that and she never saw them again. She was left alone in this world. It had truly traumatized her to this day and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. I was and still am horrified at this story.
She was lucky to be alive.
Hope you're at peace now grandma, rest in peace
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk him about it.
Everyone has their travel bucket list.
The list of places they absolutely must visit before they die.
There are those, however, who also have a rather different list of destinations.
The places that have no intention to visit.
Be it for safety concerns, language barriers, or simply that there's nothing at these places that calls to them, there are places some wouldn’t dream of spending the time and money to visit.
Redditor TrooperJohn was curious to hear which places were at the very bottom of the list of travel destinations for his fellow Redditors, leading them to ask:
"What is a popular tourist destination you have no interest in visiting?"
Oasis in the desert? No thank you.
"Dubai."
"Why and whats special about it?"
"Its a modern city in a desert."- Maximum_Calendar_791.
"Dubai."
"A fake city with fake people, no human rights, where the world's tallest buildings hide corruption and slavery in their shadows."
"It's like someone decided to take every problem of mankind and concentrate it in one spot."- PayNoNoticeOfMe.
"Dubai one i think it is ugly two I would die in two minutes of me being there I can't stand anything above 40 c°."- BookWormPerson.
One of the seven wonders is one too many for me.
"The pyramids. "
"Too many horror stories of Egypt."- Aemiom.
Landlocked.
"Not really a destination, but taking a cruise."- Shortbus_Playboy.
Mountains aren't really my thing.
"Everest."
"Just why."
"You use a bunch of money to get in there them come down."
"And trash your whole way there. It's literally a corner in the Earth insufferable for humans and we still made a way to go there to trash it."- ACLullaby.
It's in my own backyard... but still not interested.
"I have lived about 15km away from the Burj Khalifa ever since it was made."
"I could not care any less besides the occasional pointing out the 'shiny tall building' to my nieces.- legolosss.
The pictures are enough for me.
"Mount Rushmore."
"Friends who've made the journey to Mount Rushmore mostly say it was no big deal and not worth the effort or expense to travel there."- Back2Bach.
Hustle and Bustle? No thanks.
"Anything busy.'
"Whether it's cities, structures, I don't care."
"I'd rather go to a boring empty quiet place than a place full of people."- TheSmeep.
They're watching us.
"That creepy a** place in Japan with all the realistic dolls."
"No thank you."
Some dream of paying a visit to these places.
Others hope they never have to set foot there, and will choose to leave it to the other millions of tourists.
To each, their own.
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When it comes to electing a leader, the choice is an easy one if a potential candidate shares the same values as yours.
And while a candidate is fit to lead remains to be seen, we rely on our instinct to choose someone with whom we can relate.
But sometimes, our options are limited and we inevitably go with someone who is the lesser of two evils.
Curious to hear from strangers online about a hypothetical, Redditor Cashmeresquid2309 asked:
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for an openly Atheist presidential candidate? Why or why not?"

Redditors were quick to point out the answer was a no-brainer.
We Already Know The Answer
"Asking Reddit if they'd vote for an atheist..."
"I feel like the answer would be obvious."
– sarahmagoo
Sci-Fi Analogy
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for a Star Wars fan who heckin loves doggos?"
– WitnessChemical
For The Atheists In The Crowd
"Atheists of atheistville, would you vote for an open atheist?"
– nixcamic
Others weighed in with a range of opinions.
About 45
"What's funny is how many of them would probably say no, even though they voted for Trump and would do so again. Say whatever else you want about him, but I seriously can't understand how anyone could genuinely believe Trump is a Christian. He's so obviously faking it and is undoubtedly the most atheistic president we've ever had or are likely to have for a long time."
"This is a guy who's never even so much as read the Bible or attended church, who told a conservative radio host his favorite Bible verse was 'an eye for an eye', who told evangelical interviewers that he's never asked God for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong, and who routinely commits all 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) without remorse."
– empfindsamkeit
From A Different Perspective
"Not an american but interestingly according to this survey on 1006 people from 2007, being atheist was the worst thing you could be as a candidate (of the things asked) with only 45 % of people saying they'd vote for one."
– ilovecatfish
An atheist candidate isn't necessarily a big strike.
Double Negative
"I wouldn’t not vote for someone just because they were atheist."
– HabitualEnthusiast
Credibility First
"This is it. If they’re running on platforms I support with a history to back up those campaign promises, I don’t care if they belong to the church of the flying spaghetti monster. They could literally be a member of the satanic temple and I, an actual practicing Christian, would give less shi*s than a constipated sloth."
"Edit: yes, I realize the Satanic Temple does not actually worship satan. I used it for that purpose. The Church of Satan has some…problematic views and I probably would not vote for someone who literally holds a platform of eugenics."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Some view the role of religion in politics as important.
It Depends
"Religion can be relevant: I would have strong reservations about voting for a Scientologist, even if I agreed with the policies they proposed. I would have strong reservations voting for a member of an apocalyptic cult or, possibly worse, a follower of the (highly heretical) 'prosperity gospel,' which unfortunately includes more and more so-called 'evangelicals' — I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but it's not because he was an evangelical."
"It depends on the role: I'd probably be more flexible with a legislator than an executive (mayor, governor, president), as their character is IMO more important than for a legislator and their policy stances somewhat less important relative to a legislator."
"Satanic temple — well, that's just an organized group of atheists and humanists with an intentionally inflammatory choice of name. They're generally fine people."
– alyssasaccount
A Bad Rap
"The Satanic Temple is an excellent organization that every decent person should be able to respect. A Church of Satan member, not so much."
"There's a huge difference between them!"
– StarsEatArtBooks
And Redditor boganvegan said it best.
"Better an open atheist than a fake Christian."
It all boils down to trustworthiness. Without full transparency, how could anyone put their faith in a candidate who spews nothing but lies?
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Being home alone isn't always the most tranquil thing.
No one is there to help or protect you.
And things that go "bump" in the night... sometimes they do more than bump.
Redditor ag9910 wanted to hear about the times home felt like an unsafe place to be. They asked:
"What is the scariest, strangest, most unexplainable thing that has happened to you while home alone?"
I'm always freaked out when I'm home alone. Lights on. Yeah, my electric bill is high.
Dorothy?
"I dreamed the front door blew open at the exact time the house alarm went off... I hopped up and sure enough, the front door was open. No intruder."
fatowl
I See You
"Not home alone but only one in right side of the house. Went to my mom's bathroom to wash my hands and saw a pair of feet behind the half open door. Laughed and said 'very funny Ma, I see you.' then finished up and left. Bumped into my mother in the kitchen unpacking, nobody else was in the house. I'm glad whatever was behind the door didn't peek out."
SatanWithFur
“It’s Doug!”
"One night I had forgotten to lock my apartment door and woke up in the middle of the night. My bedroom door was about 2 feet from my front door, as you walked into the apartment. First a big dog ran by, then a person. Holy crap I was so scared and I screeched 'Who is it?!?!!'"
"A man said 'It’s Doug!' As I was thinking to myself, who the f**k is Doug, he said 'oh, crap.' He turned around to go back out the front door saying 'Sorry.' I asked 'Didn’t you have a dog with you?' He said 'Oh, yeah. Hey, c’mon!.' He left, his dog ran out after him and I locked my front door."
"Edit: glad you all thought this was funny, because I did too, once my heart quit trying to beat right out of my chest! The next day the girls at work thought I was crazy for not being upset, but eh, done is done. Peace!"
scarletohairy
Confused...
"My sister and I were home alone and we heard someone big running up the stairs. The stairs make lots of noise with slight pressure so when there’s someone big on them you can tell. I went out of my room to check but saw no one anywhere and my sister also came out of her room and she asked if that was me I said no and we both looked around to see if there was anyone but found no one in the whole house. We were confused and called our parents and just waited until they got back and that was that."
JtSudbury04
I See You
"I very clearly saw a guy walk into my room. But when I went after him there was nobody there. I checked in the closet, under my bed, everywhere one could hide in my room."
HighlyOffensive10
This is why home video surveillance is key.
"NO"
"My parents were on a road trip, just left, and I sat down at my desk. I thought 'Weekend alone by myself' and a voice yelled into my right ear 'NO' so loud it hurt."
Th4ab
Wild
"I managed to lock myself out of my house on my birthday during a tornado while trying to bring my cats to the basement for safety. I later found out that the tornado was approximately a couple miles or less from me at that exact time. The sky was green and it got weirdly calm and then I could hear what sounded like a train coming before I found an unlocked window to climb through. Wild times."
SilverGnarwhal
Saturday morning in the 80s...
"I wasn't home alone but I was awake by myself one Saturday morning in the 80s when I was around 7 or so. I believe my mom was the only one home because my dad went to the lake to go fishing that weekend, and I'm not sure where my older brothers were, maybe they went with him, idk."
"Anyways, my mom's sleeping in, and I'm in the living room by myself, watching Saturday morning cartoons and making a fort out of sheets and cushions. Something made me turn around and I saw my dad in his pajamas standing in the hallway entrance with his hands on his hips, looking the mess I was making and shaking his head."
"He then turned around and walked into my room, which was just off the hallway entrance. Dude. I didn't even look, I just booked it to my parents room and woke my mom up. I don't remember what happened after that, this was around 35 years ago. And yes, my dad was fine, nothing had happened to him."
smriversong
Get the Bat...
"I was at home by myself on a call with some friends when all of a sudden my dog begins to bark like crazy, which was odd since it was the middle of the night and he's usually sleep. I go downstairs to check on him and find him barking at our hall closet, terrified I grabbed my bat that I keep in my room just in case and open the door. There was nothing out of usual at first at then I look down and notice a familiar looking object at the bottom of the closet."
"It was my mom's necklace she had lost when I was 9, (i'm 15 now just to put in perspective how long it's been). I showed it to my mom at breakfast and she was just as shocked as I was. I still have no clue how it got there or how my dog knew it was in there, definitely one of the oddest occurrences of my life."
SomeRandomIdiot14
Meow
"Many years ago, I was 14 or so, my first night alone in the house when my parents were out. Lying on the living room floor reading, my cat sleeping next to me."
"Suddenly, cat wakes up, stares intently into the dark corner of the room behind me, hair on end, growls and then bolts out of the room and upstairs. I look behind me and see nothing, but follow cat upstairs and hide under the covers. Freaked me out."
LairdofWingHaven
Thank God for alarms. I hate being home alone.
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The human body is still such a mystery.
How much do we really know?
Not a lot apparently. We're learning more all the time.
And most of it is gross.
Redditor BathNo7713 wanted to discuss the ick factor of anatomy. So they asked:
"What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?"
The body freaks me out. But it's all I've got. So teach me some things.
Minutes...
"The fastest killing virus takes around 4 days to kill you. That would be Ebola. Your immune system can kill you in 15 minutes."
will477
'locked-in'
"If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get 'locked-in' syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids."
"You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage."
4oodler
Explosions
"Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up."
ToraMix19
"When I was younger I believe I experienced this a few times. Sounds I heard were: about a million people talking and laughing all at once, a train that irl would've been about a foot away from me based on the volume of the sound, and a door slamming loudly."
aliaisacreature
Pain
"Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long."
"Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian murse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine."
TelevisionOlympics
Functions
"If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead."
tonythebutcher13
Move things around? You mean that's not fake when it happens on "Grey's Anatomy?"
"The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body."
Black_Handkerchief
The Mouth
"Idk about the most disturbing but how bad human teeth are. We’d think it’s our sugary and processed diets these days that cause it, but even Otzi the iceman discovered in Italy was found to have terrible teeth, mouth diseases and cavities. It’s odd that even with the most basic of diets our teeth are so bad."
Dorianisconfused
In the bowels...
"I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves."
squatter_
"Apparently the doctor just throws your intestines back in there higgeldy-piggeldy because there isn't a correct way to pack them neatly."
LostDesigner9
A Quick Burst
"There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just... die."
Unsolicited_Spiders
The body is such a conundrum. Sexy and gross all at once.
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