All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
If that sounds familiar, then you remember what it felt like watching The Shining for the first time and seeing poor Wendy Torrance discover the pages of her mad husband's novel for the first time. It's an unsettling scene, one of the creepiest ever filmed.
If you've read the novel as well as watched the movie, then you know the hotel––and it's ghostly inhabitants––drove Jack Torrance insane. After Redditor theoriginaltommygirl asked the online community, "People of Reddit who work in 'haunted hotels,' what are your stories?" people from several different professions came forward with the tales that still send chills up their spines.
"The place was starting to show its age..."
My grandmother worked as a night time cleaning lady for an older historic hotel in her hometown for a while in the early 80's.
The place was starting to show its age, and it glory days (1890's-1920's) were certainly behind it. During prohibition there had been a speakeasy in the basement only the movers and shakers in town had been able to get into. No real scary stories in it's past, save for one suicide. It was just a large, old hotel.
Anyway, there was a man that she saw several times. A figure other people had seen as well. The earliest sightings started in at least in the 60's.
Each floor, the elevator was at the end of a long, straight hallway. On the third, there were times when people would come out of a room and see a man in a long coat and hat carrying a small dog under his arm either heading towards the elevator and disappearing, or they would catch a glimpse of him on the elevator as the door closed.
No one really knew who he was supposed to be. It wasn't the suicide. It wasn't the original owner, not one of the staff anyone could remember. No one was really scared of him. It was sort of a right of passage working there to finally see him.
"When he brought it up with his manager..."
My brother did housecleaning at an historic inn downtown. He would see shapes dart out of the corner of his eye when he looked in mirrors, and the beds would untuck themselves after he'd made crisp corners. Some days he heard footsteps up behind him on the narrow stairs, and his hair stood on end.
Add to that his vacuum being constantly unplugged when the cord was completely slack and toilets flushing themselves.
When he brought it up with his manager, she said, "Oh, don't mind that. It's happened since I can remember."
I worked in IT for a guy named Mike Milken and every year he puts on this huge conference that brings world leaders and billionaires together for, uhh, conferencing, called, Global Conference...
https://milkeninstitute.org/events/global-conference-2020
We would rent out pretty much all of the Beverly Hilton for a full 7 days. You can go to this if you like, it just costs thousands of dollars to do so.
I, like OP, also am interested in hotel staff and hauntings so I asked every staff member I could about any other worldly experiences. I heard a couple of people talk about Merv Griffin, the Game Show Creator/Host/Composer. He bought the place in the 80's and loved to hang out there after he retired. After he died, the staff said they would see him, not as a ghostly shape, but as actual Merv, walking down one of the hallways near the kitchens occasionally.
Ultimately though, the cleaning staff was terrified of the 8th floor. It's not a tall hotel, and the 8th floor was a party type room. It was a medium sized banquet type area with a low ceiling. It has a bathroom and a view of Beverly Hills with rounded red leather couches and maroon velour sided walls. There is a curved bar and glass tables with razor blade marks on them from the copious amounts of cocaine that had been chopped up for consumption. I know you see this room in your head skull right now.
The story goes that there was a lady that would go up there and clean the place by herself after the parties were over. One night she was almost done and finishing up in the bathrooms cleaning the sinks. She heard a girl behind her, then something brush across her shoulder. She turned quickly around and no one was there. She turned back to the sink and there was a piece of gum where there had previously been none.
She swore there was no gum in the sink prior as she was cleaning the sink when it happened so that was her focus. After that the cleaning staff would not go up there unless they had to at night, and then they would go in doubles. They also started to clean the floor in the morning, again with two people.
My buddy/co-worker and I had to go up and check this out. We were getting chills listening to the story and had to see for ourselves. So, at about 9pm we went up there as it was vacant for the night and we pretty much had run of the hotel.
Right before we went up though, we saw one of the cleaning staff, and told him we were going up. And he got this look like, "you're an idiot."
We head up, check the whole room out and take it in like I described above. We go over to the little bathroom where the gum incident happened, and we recreated the scene.
I stood at the sink, my buddy brushed my shoulder and I turned around. Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. We didn't feel coldness or freakiness, just plain old us on the top floor.
We were a bit disappointed and were saying things like, "What did we expect?" type conversation. We noticed the weird music on the speaker in the elevator that we hadn't noticed coming up. It was a girl kind of singing/laughing, very eclectic stuff.
When we got off we saw the cleaning dude from earlier and told him that we saw nothing. There was no ghost up there.
Then my buddy mentioned the interesting choice of music in the elevator. The cleaning guy said, "What music?" And we replied, "The music in the elevator..."
He then pointed out that there is no speaker in the elevator, never has been.........
We s*** our pants, went back into the elevator, cautiously, because we couldn't believe that what we were hearing was not coming from a speaker. Being "IT experts" we knew how to look for wires and speaker covers and such, and there were none. It was an old elevator that just wasn't wired for that.
We noped the hell outta that elevator and tried to avoid it the rest of the time we worked there.
"One time..."
I work in a haunted house during Halloween time. One time one of the actors had a heart attack and died and everybody thought the body was supposed to be there. We didn't find out what had happened until we were closing for the day.
"I worked in a hotel..."
I worked in a hotel and we used to joke about the 3rd floor being haunted. Then one day I was assigned rooms on the 3rd floor and while cleaning had the TV in one of the rooms turn on by itself.
"There's so many stories I could tell..."
I worked as a housekeeper at a 'haunted hotel' for about a year.
There's many stories I could tell but there was this one room that f*cked me up mentally for months, still have nightmares about it now.
So the hotel is a grade two listed building, a Manor House that was converted into a hotel. It's said that the family who built and lived there had their bedrooms where room 1,2 and 3 now are. The rooms are out of the way and down a dark corridor which gives them an eerie feeling but they're decent rooms. Number 2 is one of the biggest and luxurious rooms to stay in.
However, it's rumoured that when the house was being converted that the builders found a skeleton of a child in the fireplace, the fireplace that's still in that room. The room opens up to a long corridor, the bathroom on the left and a super king bed in a huge living area looking over the gardens.
I never felt right in there, but things got worse a few months in when I started having nightmares that I was being chased down the rooms corridor. I'd never see what was chasing me but I'd be filled with terror. The corridor would just keep going for what seemed like forever but when I'd reach the door, there'd be no handle. I had that dream every night for months, my teeth got damaged from all the grinding and so exhausted that I could barely do the job. In the end the place got me so depressed I was self harming again, something I'd been clean of since I was a teen.
Since quitting the job that dream and my mental health improving, the dream became much less frequent but I still get it from time to time when things are bad. The whole hotel is toxic but that one room still continues to haunt me.
"I noticed all the internals..."
Worked in a "haunted" hotel for about 3 months. I noticed all the internals were from the time the house was built, which is why there's occasionally issues with electrical equipment or a sense of unease, the building itself is generating a small electromagnetic force, but apparently explaining that to people is grounds for getting fired.
"The dog walked all the way down the corridor..."
My aunt lives on the Isle of Arran, a small island in Scotland. She used to work in Brodick castle and everyone who works or has worked there will tell you it's haunted, and you get told all the classics like hearing footsteps and seeing doors slam. One story always stuck out to me about a dog and its owner staying the night.
The owner wakes up realising the dog isn't in the room, so the owner runs out into the hallway to find the dog calming walking down the dark stretch of hallway of the castle, but the dog was looking up at nothing while strolling as if it was side by side with someone and looking up at them. The dog walked all the way down the corridor completely ignoring it's owner. Just seeing your dog walk into pitch black with this invisible entity gets me creeped.
I've been to that castle myself and it's hella spooky.
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- The 6 Most Haunted Places in Savannah That You Can Actually Visit ›
- 19 Spookiest Haunted Hotels in America Will Give You the Chills ›
- 30 Most Haunted Hotels in the World - Scary Real Haunted Hotels ›
- 15 Haunted Hotels in the U.S. - Spookiest Hotels ›
- 21 of the Spookiest Haunted Hotels in America | TravelPulse ›
People Share The Biggest Red Flags They Noticed In Their Partner
A Reddit user asked: 'What's your biggest red flag in a partner?'
When going on a first date, we are often on the lookout for "red flags", the key indicators that whoever is sitting across from us couldn't possibly be the love of our life.
More often than not, these red flags, be it something they said or did, are often a firm deal breaker in finding a partner.
Sometimes, however, there might be enough to make you overlook the glaring red flag you just had waved in your face.
And much to your surprise, you might find yourself falling head over heels in love with them, in spite of their one, obvious flaw.
"What's your biggest red flag in a partner?"
The Wisest Admit When They've Made A Mistake...
"Inability to recognize or admit when they've made a mistake."- UniversityEastern542
My Way Or The Highway...
"Using ultimatums to get their way instead of compromising."- Whed1956
And That Concerns Me, Why?...
"No respect for your interests or your time."- ElNakedo·
Bored Over It GIFGiphyIt's Can Be Easy To See Clearly Through The "Gaslight"...
"Manipulation on any level."- xfalinex
"Manipulating, gaslighting, 'winning'."- umbrex
Is It Really So Difficult To Say "I'm Sorry"?...
"Inability to apologize."- theregoesthevillage
Sorry Taylor Swift GIFGiphyHonesty is ALWAYS The Best Policy...
"My biggest red flag in a partner would be their inability to communicate effectively and be honest with me."
"Trust is key."- Proper_Ad5123
What You See Is What You Get
"Wanting to change my style and look."
"First girlfriend wanted me to wear button up shirts, colored my hair brown, and even wanted me to wear brown colored contact lenses."
"Coincidentally these were all features of her cousin who she later married."
"A good partner helps you grow and become the best version of you."
"They don't try to mould you into their own vision."- AdmiralClover
"Someone who wants to change you."- helloiamnat
Alicia Silverstone Makeover GIF by filmeditorGiphyWritten In The Stars
"Blames their sh*tty behaviour on their star sign."
"Yeah, I ain't buying the 'it's because I'm a Scorpio" bullsh*t."- A_Direwolf
...Or Maybe A Scratched Cornea?
"An eyepatch. It's a sign of dangerous living, possibly pirate or rustler but certainly an outlaw."- beathelas
Temper Temper...
"Can't control their anger and/or hits and breaks stuff when angry."- LilleSmurfine
There Is Nothing More Important In Life...
"Your significant other restricting you from hanging out with your friends."- AagamAaghnya
There Is So Much More To Life...
"If their political views are their whole personality."- V1p3rzach
brooklyn nine nine politics GIFGiphyIt's fair enough to have deal breakers when it comes to finding a partner.
Always remember though, first impressions can be misleading.
And love has a way of helping you overlook the imperfections of others.
Some people absolutely love spicy foods.
Spice is also closely related to culture. Some cuisines are well-known for their spiciness, with many of them from tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Bringing the heat to the heat?
Whereas other cuisines are known for a lack of spice—many being in Europe. Denmark was declared the country which uses the least spices, although a lot of Scandinavia gave them stiff competition.
And the UK?
Why so bland?
As the saying goes, Britain invaded and colonized over half the world for spices, but decided not to use any of them.
Imported spicy dishes are extremely popular in some of these regions—tikka masala and various other curries are takeout favorites in England.
But somehow the spices they enjoy from Asian foods, African foods or foods of the Western Hemisphere were never incorporated into their own traditional recipes.
This is interesting given chilies originated in the Western Hemisphere—along with other European staples like potatoes and tomatoes—then spread around the world and into multiple cuisines within only the last 500-600 years.
Maybe those regions have more people on average who can't tolerate spicy foods? Because for some people even a speck of chilies is excruciating.
Reddit user corgiman3000 asked:
"What's the lowest spice tolerance you've seen in someone?"
Was it at least whole wheat?
"My brother-in-law complained dinner was too spicy and, upon questioning, it was because he'd seen me dredge the chicken in flour before frying it."
"Flour."
"Flour was too spicy for him."
- purplhouse
Ketchup's the limit.
"Mom can’t eat anything spicier than ketchup. I grew up on very very bland food"
- -Firestar-
"Same, discovering spice changed it all"
- SculptedSoul
"I'm certainly making up for it. Indian, Thai, whatever I can get my hands on. Anything with super flavor. And heat. Husband taught me how to eat spicy food and now I'm a heat fiend and must make up for lost time before I get too old to enjoy true spicy."
- -Firestar-
Phantom Garlic
"My dad tastes garlic in everything, even if it doesn’t have garlic in it."
"An example: I offered some of my macaroni salad to him. He takes a bite. 'I can’t eat this, it’s too garlicky.' No garlic."
- Old_Army90
"I once cooked for a couple of hundred university students who were on a get-to-know-eachother trip. We made a curry with lots of garlic and a little bit of green Thai curry. A kid would have eaten it with no trouble, but one of the students - a grown man - rushed out into the kitchen with tears in his eyes, shouting at us that we were insane."
"He was the type of person who thinks that garlic and black pepper is way to spicy to add to food.
It was a blast"
- KosmonautMikeDexter
Then why go to Nando's?
"Lemon and herb chicken at nandos was too spicy for them, they had to have plain."
- ambigulous_rainbow
"One of my friends did this. I was so dissapointed in him after that. wHat a waste of money"
- cutdownthere
"When Nando’s came out with their new 'Plain-ish' flavour that’s below Lemon and Herb, I was wondering why anyone would order that. I guess I know now…"
-TjMoore
Literal Ranch Dressing
"When I worked at Tim Hortons a guy complained that out ranch dressing was 'too spicy' and it 'burnt his tongue'"
- FunkyKong147
"I wonder if he was just allergic to something in the ranch. I’m always wary of spicy foods bc biting into something that I’m allergic to often results in it tasting spicy. So if idk it’s supposed to be spicy, I get anxious."
"I once bit into a chocolate protein bar that tasted very spicy. It was not spicy, I was simply allergic"
- InsomniacAcademic
Bell Peppers
"I’ve seen someone argue that bell peppers are spicy. Not black pepper. Bell pepper. Which are a kind of sweet pepper with zero Scoville units. They aren’t even tart or acidic."
- TerribleAttitude
"My spouse and I have a bizarre ongoing argument over this. He is always trying to tell me to be careful when I collect seeds from the bell peppers. I'm like, uh, why? Because of the capsaicin, he says. I say, there is none in here."
"We have this conversation over and over. I could literally stick my finger in my eye, that's how zero spicy bell peppers are. Also I'm deathly allergic to capsaicin so I would know as soon as I ate the dang pepper. (We didn't know I was allergic when he started this weird argument.)"
"I don't know why he continues to think there's spicy anything in sweet peppers, and why he will never ever believe me! I guess it keeps marriage...spicy."
- KiloJools
Tartar Sauce
"I CAN ANSWER THIS."
"I was married to this guy for awhile. His parents were VERY spice-adverse. I had never seen anything like it. I only actually visited their home once, because they lived in a state far away from us, and they usually visited us instead."
"My ex-MIL was always going on about how many spices I had in my collection and how unnecessary it was. When I went to their house I found out she had a spice collection of: dehydrated onions, pepper, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. That was literally it. I didn't even see cinnamon."
"Iwent to pick up some fried fish once when we were there. Got the tartar sauce on the side."
"His mother tried the tartar sauce and then said, I sh*t you not, "Oh my, that has some kick to it".
"IT ABSOLUTELY DID NOT. IT WAS F**KING TARTAR SAUCE."
- DoomDamsel
"Hooo boy. If she thinks tartar sauce has a kick she is gonna lose her mind when she learns about mustard."
- Fimpish
Low spice tolerance shouldn't be your whole personality.
"My aunt thinks having a low spice tolerance counts as a personality trait. It's so integral that as a goof my spouse once started to describe a chicken soup they were all having at a diner as 'really peppery' and despite my aunt having already ate like half her bowl suddenly couldn't eat it anymore."
- Ralfarius
Plain avocado
"Had a kid immigrate from Poland to Colorado. We were making guacamole for a school class and he tasted it and immediately said it was too hot."
"It was only avocados at that point, we hadn't added anything else."
"He ended up LOVING spicy food, but we never stopped giving him sh*t for that.... good dude, hope he's doing well for himself."
- DETRITUS_TROLL
Even half is too much
"I bought one of those curry sauces that come in a jar for my father who 'loves a good curry'. Knowing my father, I bought the mild version and used half the sauce recommended, figuring I could pepper my own plate up."
"He tucks in, but sure enough, half way through 'It's nice but maybe we could only use half the jar next time?' I looked him in the eye and said 'I did. Do you want me to maybe just wave the jar over the pan?'"
- joalheagney
Doritos
"Probably me from a long while back. Let's put it this way.. even nacho flavored Doritos used to be hot for me."
"Not anymore at least! Not sure why I used to be so sensitive to spices.. oh well lol."
- WispyCiel
Creative Vengeance
"I grew up mostly in Asia, my mother used to take the British executives who came for meetings who were disrespectful or misogynistic to her to the local places she loved."
"As the only person who spoke Bahasa she’d order the spiciest dishes (which she loved) and watched them sweat and struggle through the meals because losing to her would have humiliated them. They often spent the next day locked in their hotel suites"
- RxDuchess
Raw Onion
"Onions, f**king onions. once went to get lunch with a manager I worked with and we went to quiznos and I ordered a sandwich and got jalapenos on it.
he was like 'whoa you can eat those?'
'...yeah you can't?'
'no, even raw onion is too spicy for me.'"
- BronchialChunk
Do you love, hate or have a mixed reaction to spicy foods?
Or is there another flavor profile you can't tolerate, like sweet or sour?
Let us know in the comments.
When we think of children's movies, we may think of harmless fun.
But that doesn't mean there isn't some seriously messed up content in those films.
Like ever notice at least one parent is almost always dead—or dies!—during every Disney animated film?
Don't even get us started on Old Yeller.
Anyway...
Redditor Inflatabledartboard4 was curious about others' childhood cinematic trauma and asked:
"What is the most f**ked up kids' movie?"
All Dogs Go to Heaven
"Our hero is released from prison, only to be MURDERED by his former boss via vehicular homicide. Then that dog eventually winds up being continuously tortured by demon dogs in Hell."
"The giant demon dog filling the town with blood red smoke at the end is some pretty terrifying imagery."
‐ Diwari
GiphyBrave Little Toaster
"Suicide and abandonment all around."
- SkuzzleJR
"The air conditioner haunted my nightmares."
- Longjumping_Fold_369
"For some reason the part when the vacuum tried to eat its cord really freaked me out as a kid."
- ThoriatedFlash
"There’s a lot of scary stuff in that movie but the flower might be the worst."
"I remember feeling like, despair for the first time as a child seeing that."
- purplefirefly6102
"The blender getting killed onscreen. I first saw Brave Little Toaster when I was around six, but I knew from the atmosphere of that scene what was really going on when you see the shadow of that wire getting cut."
"I was kind of horrified, and the the very next scene is another customer coming in asking for radio tubes and Radio is put on the chopping table but survives at the last second."
- EeSeeZee
GiphyMonster House
"The movie is literally about a man living in a house possessed by his dead wife and the house literally eats living creatures so I'd say that's what f**ked me up as a kid."
- Supa_saint
"Not just that, the dead wife was a circus freak and hated kids because they would always taunt her. So they move into this house and she dies."
"The husband who actually loves kids, now has to keep everyone away from the house or his wife will kill them."
"And then at the end the husband has to kill his wife aka the house."
"Too f**ked up for a kids' movie."
- whskid2005
Coraline
"Coraline scares me so much more as an adult than it ever did when I was a kid."
"I still love the movie and watch it several times a year, but somewhere between childhood and adulthood I got way more scared of dolls and puppets and sh*t, and I don’t actually know why."
"Like nothing happened to make them scarier."
- Writing_Nearby
"I loved Coraline as a kid. I still do!"
"And the books are actual nightmare fuel, but I highly recommend giving them a read because the lore is really interesting and the story is different."
- SimplyAurallz
GiphyPinocchio - Disney animated version
"I'm surprised I was never traumatisedby Disney's Pinocchio as a child, because watching it as an adult, there are moments that are straight up nightmare fuel."
- neohylanmay
"When the boy who is with Pinocchio turns into a donkey, he cries out for his mother. I can’t."
- MLAheading
"Ugh, watched it for the first time with my partner and two kids, during that scene all I could do is look at the two kids and wonder how they were not crying while I was on the brink of tears..."
- NurseJessisStressed
Peter Pan - Disney animated version
"The racism in Disney's animated Peter Pan is pretty f**ked up."
"Princess Tiger Lily and the song 'What Made the Red Man Red?' is just gross if you're an Indigenous kid watching it."
- LakotaGrl
GiphyThe Cat In The Hat
"The Cat in the Hat is something out of a back rooms nightmare in my opinion."
- hbombgomer12
"I literally just watched this, and I’m still questioning if I actually saw a movie, or just tripped out for 2 hours."
- LaMorak1701
The Last Unicorn
"Is The Last Unicorn even a kids movie? It's super scary."
"BTW I loved it as a kid and I still do. The whole Mommy Fortuna part was really dark, though."
- horschdhorschd
"I watched it in the last couple years. I never understood Molly Grue’s meltdown at realizing she was with a unicorn. That scene hit hard as an adult. Missing out on the things you wanted in your youth only for opportunities to come by too late. I cried."
- cats_and_vibrators
"Super scary and way more sexual than I remember from when I was a kid."
- lovemyneighbor
The Last Unicorn Skeleton GIF by MauditGiphyThe Fox And The Hound
"The Fox and the Hound. Still traumatized to this day."
- asayle88
"That move absolutely wrecked me as a child, and I refuse to watch it ever again."
- droopingcactus25
"My best friend and I wept in that movie."
- CraftyRole4567
E.T.
"E.T. The scene where Elliott watches E.T. die is all kinds of traumatizing. Never mind the Christlike resurrection afterward, the damage is still done."
- Brilliant_Tourist400
"The bit where the kids find him in the ditch looking like a piece of fine Italian deli meat.."
"Also the feds in biohazard suits crashing through the kid's house scared the f**k out of me at 7 years old"
- feeb75
"Having your home invaded is terrifying enough....seeing it through the eyes of the kids and the mother screaming 'This is my home!' Sends chills down my spine."
- LaCroixBoy89
Sci-Fi Movie GIF by MANGOTEETHGiphyWhere The Red Fern Grows
"Where the red fern grows. My grade 5 teacher made us read it then watch it. I remember thinking she was an absolute b*tch before the movie. As an adult I’m 100% sure she hated children."
- DesperateFunction179
"My 5th grade teacher made us read the book and watch the movie too. She cried during the end of both."
- BadBackNine
"I read and watched this in 5th grade also. Shudder sobbed through most of it. Added it to my list of things that made me an overly empathetic adult"
- maiden-of-might
Dumbo — Disney animated version
"Dumbo. The animal abuse, neglect, and let's not forget the 'Elephants on Parade' scene when Dumbo gets drunk. Have not been able to watch this movie as an adult."
- ArtisanalMagi
"I have a friend who made the mistake of showing it to a kid she was babysitting overnight. The moment the Baby Mine scene came up the kid was done. I think the night was unsalvageable."
- lowercase_underscore
"I was a really sheltered kid and never picked up on how awful it was. So then I have a kid and I’m like “oooo let’s watch Dumbo!” What in the actual f**k?!? I turned it off. I honestly don’t know if my kid ever watched the rest of it."
- littlescreechyowl
GIF by tomcjbrownGiphyBridge To Terabithia
"One of a few movies that have actually made me cry. I went in expecting some Narnia like thing and I was wrong. I still get mad thinking about that movie"
- KickittoHester
"My mom has still not forgiven me for asking to see it in theatre’s as a kid. We all bawled our eyes out. Same damn thing with Marley and me being shown on Christmas Eve, why did we go and why did they think that was an appropriate release to make people cry 😅"
- Troll101Catz
"I was having a terrible depression a few years ago, and decided to put on and watch a kids film to cheer me up. It couldn't have gone any worse tbf."
- BobbOShea
Watership Down
"This god forsaken movie was literally the source of ALL of my childhood nightmares. Deadass. Grandparents brought it over when I was 4. I was not ready."
"I don't blame them though, they didn't know lol"
- Flaminmallow255
"I've always been fascinated by this because I read the book quite young (I think I was seven or eight) and loved it instantly. I don't recall finding it upsetting at all, and it's remained my favourite novel into adulthood through many rereads (I've obviously come to appreciate the themes more as I've gotten older). The movie, alternatively, while pretty faithful to the book, I've always found pretty unsettling, even though I didn't watch it until I was an adult. I don't want to say it's not an appropriate story for kids, but there's just something about that movie..."
- VictoriaBells
"I saw it in the times before my memories form. Just uttering the title gives me chills."
- Sensitive_Ladder2235
GiphyWhile no one was hoping to traumatize kids with these films—we hope!—there were some really messed up moments described here.
So what's your most f*cked up kids' movie?
GiphyBack before we became self-conscious adults many of us sang our hearts out. But we weren't all singing the greatest hits of Barnie or Disney.
Probably more than a few of us belted out what we heard on the car radio, home stereo or streaming music services our parents or older siblings listened to.
Which led more than a few of us to expand our vocabulary beyond our years.
Reddit user Ok_Way_2341 asked:
"As a child, what’s a song you sang loud and proud, only to find as an adult it’s super inappropriate for a child to be singing?"
His Purple Majesty 👑
"'Gett Off' by Prince. My mother heard me sing '21 positions in a one night stand' and took the disc off me."
"It unfortunately belonged to my older sister."
"Got punished twice in one week."
"I still love that song."
- Cherrianje
Giphy"I was very very very old before I realized what 'Little Red Corvette' was about. Like mid-century old."
- Street_Roof_7915
"She had a pocket full of horses..."
- heatherbyism
"Trojan and some of them used…"
- Ferraenz
"I guess I should've closed my eyes, When you drove me to the place where your horses run free, 'Cause I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures, Of the jockeys that were there before me."
- heatherbyism
"That line was so confusing to me as a kid."
"Toy plastic horses, maybe?"
- absentbusiness
GiphyMaybe not on that car ride.
"In the car, riding shotgun with my dad driving… 'I’ll make love to you, like you want me tooooo' - Boyz II Men."
- ADrunkenBotanist
"That’s in that weird intersection of 90s R&B that was tender and not necessarily nasty, but still definitely about sex.
"And sometimes, the songs were nasty, but if they were smooth, you could get away with it. 'Freek’n You' by Jodeci and 'Too Close' by Next come to mind."
- bearded_dragon_34
Who was it?
"'It Wasn't Me' by Shaggy"
- AnimeTattooChick1836
"My classmate told me when she was younger she thought it went 'we were both butt-naked, banging on the bathroom door'."
"Seems a little strange that she didn't question the fact that they were naked, but yeah."
- No_Location854
"Oh no, I still thought it was floor."
"But for some reason my innocent little brain legit imagined just two naked people on their knees banging their fists on the actual floor."
"Ahhh simpler times."
- mikehawksux
GiphyMmmm... candy.
"The particular song that mentions 'I'll take you to the candy shop and let you lick my lollipop' left me completely unaware of its underlying meaning back then, as I blissfully enjoyed its melody."
- dimarikl
"That song is 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent."
- Zcoombs4
We blame Austin Powers.
"'I Touch Myself' by Divinyls"
“I don’t want anybody else. When I think about you I touch myself.”
- Sorry_Rhubarb_7068
"I still remember the day my early 20’s self figured it out, that holy crap! moment."
- MyOldGurpsNameKira
"I figured it out when I was 14."
"To be fair, that’s a major hobby of pretty well all 14-year-old kids."
- dagbrown
Giphy"I forget what year that song came out, but I think I was around 15 when it did. (so about 1990, I guess?) I remember getting what it was about, but thinking I had to be wrong because it'd be 'illegal' for someone to release a song like that, so it must be about something else and I'm just too dumb to understand what it's really about."
"I had this weird idea as a kid that I was only one of the people on the planet who knew what sex was, so I assumed almost everything sexual related was an accident (as in, they didn't mean to make it sound like it's about sex) and it was actually about something else and I was too dumb to understand the true meaning."
"I actually made up a number once of people who knew what sex was and that number was 7. I thought myself + 6 other people on the entire planet knew what sex was."
"I honest to God thought this, by the way. I never stopped and wondered where all these kids came from if only 7 people knew what sex was."
- temalyen
Mini Monster
"My 11 year-old, completely innocent niece: 'let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick' [from 'Love Game' by Lady Gaga]."
"Me: 'Let's play a different song'."
- 314159265358979326
"Skyrockets in flight" wasn't about NASA?
"Apparently 'Afternoon Delight' [by Starland Vocal Band] wasn’t about getting out of school."
"I did not know that."
- HuellMissMe
Giphy"My mum told me it meant having cake in the afternoon, which made perfect sense to me because that IS delightful."
- HelpfulName
"My aunt told us 'Afternoon Delight' was about going to get ice cream. 🙃"
- Truecrimeauthor
"I thought it was about a picnic!"
- MoonLoony
"I thought it was about a picnic too!"
"In 3rd grade we were each allowed to bring in our favorite record and play it for the class."
"That’s the one I brought."
- _ThisIsOurLifeNow_
GiphyIgnorance is bliss.
"My friend's daughter used to loudly sing Katy Perry 'Peacock'."
"Literally Everyone: 'Ummm...'."
"Friend: 'It's a song about a bird, and you will not say otherwise'."
- domestic_omnom
Got milk?
"'My Humps' - Black Eyed Peas"
"Apparently they were not just talking about milk and Cocoa Puffs."
- happygolucky226
"No, that's that 'Milkshake' song [by Kelis]."
"She makes really good milkshakes, right?"
- CatOfGrey
Giphy"My cousin (4 at the time) loved singing the 'Milkshake' song."
"Then she and her sister were gently told not to sing it so they moved onto 'My Humps'!"
"I couldn’t bear hearing about lovely lady lumps, so I tried to find another song more appropriate."
"They settled on another Peas one 'Shut Up!'."
"Slightly more tolerable I guess, but there was no telling the girls to shut up because they’d just start repeating it back in song at you."
- 3rdslip
GiphyBut Uncle Luke was so subtle...
"'Me So Horny' by 2 Live Crew."
"My Dad once said 'It’s your mom’s favorite song'."
"Thanks Dad."
- Geriatric_Sloth
"When I was a kid, my little brother came into the room singing [from 'We Want Some P***y' by 2 Live Crew] 'Just nibble on my d*ck like a rat does cheese'."
"My mom in outrage said, 'what did you say!'"
"He calmly looked at her and spoke confidently, 'All I said was just nibble on my d*ck like a rat does cheese'."
"He was like 4 or 5 years old, that tape [Is What We Are by 2 Live Crew] was confiscated immediately."
- Tweedbreak
Uncle Luke of 2 Live Crew
GiphyAnd now for something completely different...
"In about 3rd or 4th grade I came home from playing at a friends house…said friend had been singing some weird song that got stuck in my head."
"So I stroll in and take my seat at the dinner table and start singing as loud as I can: 'Sit on my face and tell me that you love me! I’ll sit on your face and tell you that I love you too!!'…my parents damn near choked."
"They couldn’t stop laughing and then told me never ever to sing that again. Luckily they were huge Monty Python fans…nothing I knew about at the time."
- roygbiv_87
*WARNING: NSFW*
Ah, to be young and innocent again.
Did you learn anything new about what a song really means?
Or did you sing something as a child that didn't make the list?
Share your story in the comments.