Humor

Generation X, those born from 1985 to 1980, are also referred to as the "Latchkey Generation." Known as 'latchkey kids,' many Gen Xers grew up returning from school to an empty house due to working parents, and let themselves in with latchkeys. All that time home alone was filled with mischief, games and exploration that have become great tales.

On a Reddit forum primarily populated with Gen Xers, member @FloresPodcastCo asked fellow readers, "Tell Me Your Most 'This Could’ve Gone Really Bad' Latchkey Kid Moment."

They went on to share, "I’d love to hear how you almost died, blew something up, nearly burned down the house, sliced something off, barely escaped a swarm of African killer bees... whatever else probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn’t been left home alone at 9 years old."

Gen X has plenty of stories to share. These are 16 of the funniest, scariest, and most shocking 'home alone' latchkey kid stories they had to tell.

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"I was about 11 (so this would’ve been around 1986), playing with my G.I. Joes and pretending that our entertainment console -- the one that held the TV and stereo -- was COBRA’s secret base. This console had those little silver tabs you could move around to adjust the height of the shelves. Well, one of those tabs was missing from the front of the shelf the TV sat on. Why it wasn’t missing from the back so the TV could rest against the wall, I’ll never know. You’d have to ask my mom. Anyway, I was kneeling in front of it, staging a full-on assault on COBRA, when -- either I bumped the shelf or something shifted (nearly 40 years later and I still don’t know what actually happened) -- the TV tipped forward and started to fall. I was strong enough to catch it, but not strong enough to set it down gently. So I fell straight back, landing on the floor with the TV balanced on my chest and stomach, arms wrapped around it in a death grip to keep it from crashing to the ground. And I just… stayed there. For probably an hour. Eventually, my mom came home from shopping with my little sister and found me like that. I was fully expecting to get the shit beat out of me (that's how punishments were doled out at our house), but she burst out laughing when she saw me laying there with the TV on my chest. That definitely saved me. We went to the hardware store later that week to pick up some replacement tabs for the shelf." —@FloresPodcastCo

"I’d forgotten my house keys and calling my parents was pretty much calling for a beating. So I climbed out on the ledge of the 11 story apartment building where we lived, shimmied to my room window and cracked the lock securing the grill, climbed in and went about my day. I was 12. F*cking stupid lucky f*ck." —@Exact-Estate7622

"I used to climb on anything; buildings, light poles, those huge electric transmission towers, rocks, mountains, etc. Also used to dig into dirt and sand banks and have small caves collapse on me. Jumped off the roof (once) with a sheet for a parachute (didn't work, broke shrub). Set house on fire (just the outside, put it out, sanded off charred bits). Set garage floor on fire, put it out, garage floor spalled and got all rough. Threw JARTs at my step-brother who threw them at me; JART scar on foot. Cut my own arms swinging around a sword I sharpened (was in my 20s). Broke open thermometers, played with mercury. Melted lead and poured into crude molds. Cut a power cord off of a lamp so I could plug it in and have power for experiments. Stuck needles and pins through my fingertips and under my finger nails (that really hurts). Practiced holding my palm over a candle to get used to the pain (like in Kung-Fu tv show)." —@Far_Winner5508

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"OMG, love this. We were at the Fontainebleau Miami beach and I was locked out of our room. There for a work convention so I figured if the neighbor (coworker of my parent) could let me in to their balcony I would simply hop down to our room and let myself back in to the room as we had left towels drying on the balcony. Should have been super easy to find our room, right????!! Nope, someone had pulled the towels in that we had drying. I walked in to the wrong room, interrupted er, adult activities and freaked a couple out. Lol, I don't even remember if I ever got to our room!" —@lisavfr

"Neighbor kids and my little brother were playing with gasoline and matches in the back yard. They started a small fire against the house and freaked out running home. I put the fire out with the hose and went back inside to play some Atari. 15 minutes later firemen knock on our door asking about the fire. 11 year old me looked them in the face, said 'I don't know what you're talking about' and closed the door. Our house was pretty shitty. We found out the hard way that touching our fridge and our stove at the same time sent electricity pulsing through you. So, for fun, we'd wait for someone to touch the fridge and grab them while holding the stove." —@mr_yuk

"My brother used to start fires with a magnifying glass. One day he was showing our younger cousin how it worked and the adults came home so he ran out to greet them and left little cuz to tend to the fire. Luckily yours truly could always spot when he was up to something so I quickly sussed it out and excitedly alerted the authorities. Did not work out how I was hoping as bro did not get into trouble but I sure got did, for snitching." —@mamapello

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"When we were 13-14 we used to go to this one kid’s house to do bong hits in the basement because his parents were never around. We quickly learned that if you were barefoot and touched the door handle of the old refrigerator you’d get lit up good. So naturally any new degenerate wanting to hang out with us had to grab the sodas. Of course only after being informed of the strict no shoes policy in the house. We really were assholes and it’s amazing how many of us survived." —@Smilneyes420

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"My sister was frying up some bacon for the first time. Caught fire. We remembered seeing that PSA with Hal Linden about putting a lid on the pan." —@ProStockJohnX

"Fell through the ice while exploring. I was walking on a frozen pond that a little creek ran into. Decided to check out the creek and wham! Fell through up to my chest. Was wearing heavy winter coat etc. I panicked a little bit but managed to climb my way out and onto ground. I walked back I don't know how far, shivering in frozen clothes. Made it home, stripped and curled up on top of the heat register. Shook me up." —@Practical-Bar8291

"Did so much hitchhiking.... so stupid."—@ CanadianBertRaccoon

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"On the 4th of July, on my (now) wife's street, the neighbors all shot off fireworks. I found a bunch of older ones in my closet, so I brought them along. One of the Jumping Jacks went up and totally took off down the street. We laughed and thought nothing of it. Until a car drove by, stopped, backed up a bit, then drove forward to us and said, "Did you guys know that house's driveway is on fire?" We ran over and looked. The JJ landed in their big plastic trash barrel and ignited it. Thankfully, not their house. We doused the fire and took off (there were no cars in their driveway, so they weren't home). I'm guessing they came home to their melted trash bin and were like 'F*CKING KIDS! WHY WOULD THEY LIGHT OUR BARREL ON FIRE?'" —@mbadolato

"My parents were out doing something and my brother and I were playing hockey or basketball or something in the driveway. One of us needed to go inside for something so we were about to punch in the garage door code. Before doing so, I told him to grab the door handle and go for a ride. He never let go. Due to angles and whatnot he managed to get his head and shoulders stuck between the garage door and the frame. He just dangled there for a while."—@ coolguymiles

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"I would get random rides with people at the park where I got dropped off after school. They would take me to the convenient store to get drinks and snacks. No way I would let my kids if they did that now, lol." —@WiseAce1

"That time 10 year old me wanted to grill hamburgers outside but there was a storm. My solution was to put a small propane grill on top of the stove and turn on the exhaust fan. I thought I was a genius. Yeah. It was an electric stove and didn't vent to the outside. The house filled with smoke and every alarm went off. And I'm sure high levels of carbon monoxide too. The grill flared up like crazy and I damn near started a kitchen fire. The burgers sucked. And we didn't have hamburger buns. Only square wonder bread."—@thisfriggingguy

"street golf. we found a set of clubs and balls and, yeah...." —@BridgestoneX