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Probably, each of us has strange things, similar to a suitcase without a handle - they're hard to carry, but it is absolutely a pity to leave them behind. Things that once mattered to us or someone close to us, but today gather dust somewhere in the attic or sometimes 'float to the surface' during a thorough cleaning of the house.

The most interesting thing about these items is that almost every one of them has its own story, thrilling or amusing, and sometimes it sounds so incredible that it looks more like an excerpt from some adventure movie than a story from real life. Perhaps it is precisely because of the memories that these things give us that we continue to selflessly store them at home, brushing off the dust and wiping an occasional tear from our eyes.

Once a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, which instantly went viral with almost 40K upvotes and around 23.3K different comments. The author of the original post asked "What is the most controversial thing you own?" and if you're a writer experiencing a genre crisis, there's just an endless sea of fresh ideas here for you. However, the selection made by Bored Panda based on the original thread will be interesting for literally anyone, so please feel free to scroll it to the very end and tell your own stories in case you own some strange items as well.

More info: Reddit

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#1

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A Bengal tiger pelt.

My wife is half Indian. A friend of her family died, and they found a tiger pelt in his belongings. He was early 80’s and was born and raised in India before moving to my country (Canada). The estate was split in 3 so most everything had to be liquidated. Well you can’t sell tiger pelts here, and no museum or anything seemed to want it. So somehow I wound up with it.

My wife’s a vegetarian for ethical reasons. So naturally I was floored to bring it home. Id never hunt an endangered species, and I’m firmly against hunting for sport. But I wasn’t going to let it get thrown in the trash.

skinrust , Thomas B. Report

Final score:
279points
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Strings
Strings
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Would seem to me that throwing it away would be disrespectful to the animal

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#2

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online My great grandpa was a medic in ww2 and we own a little chest with his personal belongings, including his diary, some old bandages

And 3 vials of 1940s morphine

i_wanted_memes , Jess Loiterton Report

Final score:
260points
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#3

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Apparently, a full vaccination card. (A genuine one.) And a mask.

TinyKeebe , Markus Winkler Report

Final score:
244points
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#4

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A packaged stick from Afghanistan that claims to cure all known illnesses, including cancer, if you rub it on you.

I traded an energy drink for it.

I think it’s pretty controversial since I now own the cure for all ailments.

isnoe , Ali Yasser Arwand Report

Final score:
228points
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#5

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online As a joke I told my mom I wanted my dogs testicles in a jar after we had him neutered…. She took it seriously and now I have had my dogs balls in a jar for almost a decade

GhostBoy301 , John Loo Report

Final score:
204points
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#6

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Allister Crowley's Key of Solomon. It's a book about summoning demons. It's just a curiosity piece.

MadMath477 , Steven Miller Report

Final score:
201points
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#7

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online My Scottish family crest is a hand holding a severed head on a sword. The owner of the head is a Moor who allegedly was wanted by the king. The reward was land. My ancestor caught this guy, cut off his head and brought it to the king. Pretty controversial when you know what a Moor was.

lady_jaynes_secret , Mike Mozart Report

Final score:
183points
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Salty.Hag
Salty.Hag
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why hide it? It's part of history and it's in the past. Plus if my memory serves me right the moors were the raiders and enslavers back then.......for 700 plus years if not 800.

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#8

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online When my sister was in high school she wrote letters to Charles Manson. He wrote her back. My dad intercepted the letters in the mail. He never opened them, but still has them. My sister never knew he wrote back.

**Edit to answer some questions**

I can’t believe I woke up this morning to this explosion…

My sister is 7 years older. Mental health was left generally undiagnosed and untreated in the 80s. She was a rough kid to parent, and even as a sibling there’s a lot of trauma stemming from her I’ve had to work through. I haven’t spoken to her since I was in my 20s. She’s estranged from my dad, my other sister, and I. She has worked her way back into my mom’s life as she’s gotten older, more than likely to benefit from her death.

I do remember her being obsessed with Manson when I was a kid. She was a f*****g menace, constantly getting into some sort of trouble, running away, police calls, etc. As soon as she turned 18 she was kicked out. She turned 50 last month, and according to my mom “she finally has her life together, she bought her first house”.

My dad told me about the letters approximately a year ago. This happened 30 years ago, I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be any federal charges brought against him (haha), and he has no reason to make this up or lie about it. I told him I want them left to me in his will.

To the people messaging me to buy the letters…big fat f*****g NO. If and when I get them in my possession, I’ll evaluate what I want to do with them at this time. I agree they’re worth more sealed than opened.

sloth_the_syd , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:
165points
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#9

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Probably a small bone I lifted from a catacomb In Peru when I was younger. Technically I’m a grave robber and definitely getting haunted.

igotdeletedonce , Deann DaSilva Report

Final score:
147points
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#10

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online 5 grams of uranium metal, stored under oil in a glass vial.

ScienceAndNonsense , Larry Nutt Report

Final score:
142points
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#11

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Not me, my parents growing up..

they had an actual elephant foot turned into a table.

Like an actual foot cut from an elephant and taxidermied made into an end table. Had a glass table top. You could feel the thin hairs on it. F****n haunted my dreams man.

bobsux1234 , Melqui Report

Final score:
142points
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zak_1 avatar
zak
zak
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have an elephant foot in my family, too; it was made into a stool/ottoman, and has the skin/hair/toenails still intact. I posted in another thread a while ago about the leg bone that I have. My grandfather was a professional archer with a long bow (he's actually in the hall of fame). For the record, I don't condone killing elephants.

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#12

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online My family owns a petrified walrus [wang], my grandmother took it to get it identified at the Smithsonian several decades ago. Apparently her grandfather or maybe it was her great-grandfather brought it home after he spent several years on some type of expedition up around northern Alaska and points north. It has been loaned out to several museums at different times. The family has talked about selling it but everyone has to agree and so far there is no agreement about selling it. So I own 1/67th of a petrified walrus [wing-dang-doodle].

Robyn_withaY , Jonathan Cooper Report

Final score:
129points
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Robert T
Robert T
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is just getting silly, BP. So w**g is acceptable, but penis, w***y, d**k and k**b are not. Edit apparently w**g isn't, but penis actually is. So instead of childish language, why can the post not just say penis, like a grown up?

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#13

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Umm mortuary toe tags from an asylum in New York ....like twenty or so of them ... I think they could be the only things left showing that these people actually lived

ironviking13 , Amy the Nurse Report

Final score:
128points
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M Whee
M Whee
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should scan these so there is a record, a university library would be a good place to see if they want them for their archives. If I had an ancestor that was committed, I'd want a photo of the tag. Especially as it might be the only record of their death date.

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#14

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online An ornate, Boer tobacco jar from the 1800s. My great grandfather looted it off a dead militiaman during the Second Boer war.

deathtotheminutemen , Joe Haupt Report

Final score:
116points
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#15

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online I have a glass vial/small bottle of pure histamine. If anyone would be exposed to this they would get a deadly allergic reaction. I have it double sealed.

TheRealMonreal , RF._.studio Report

Final score:
113points
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LoneTomato
LoneTomato
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not being shady.... but I'm highly curious as to how people acquire some of these things

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#16

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A first print edition of Batman Damned #1, the one featuring Batman's "little batman". (From DC Black Label featuring more adult content. Violence and swearing are totally fine, but a shadowy [phallic] profile made people flip out enough they removed it from subsequent print runs).

1nd1anaCroft , Fiona Henderson Report

Final score:
112points
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#17

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A small horse figurine made of ivory. I have a small collection of horse figurines, and it was a gift from my grandmother from when I was little. Nothing I can really do about it, but I still feel a little icky for having it.

ThotTamales , Sean Report

Final score:
107points
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Paul Pienkowski
Paul Pienkowski
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My girlfriend showed me her grandma's eagle hat. Or headdress, she called it. She's only allowed to own it because it she is half Native. Apparently you can't own eagle feathers otherwise.

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#18

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online An original Asteroids arcade machine.

But my brother and I removed the original (burned-in) oscilloscope screen and replaced it with an LCD panel, replaced the controls with six-button arcade fighter sticks, and hooked the whole thing up to a hacked Xbox with thousands of dumped ROMs on it. The original board was gone before we got the cab, donated to another machine that did have a working monitor.

Controversial because some arcade historians would prefer to see these cabs preserved rather than hacked. But with a burned screen and no board, this cab was pretty useless.

Adventurer_By_Trade , Wolfgang Stief Report

Final score:
100points
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moconnell avatar
M O'Connell
M O'Connell
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As long as the sticks were installed in the original button cutouts and nothing was done to damage the rest of the original cabinet then what you've done is fine. Mods are totally ok as long as they are done in a way that is reversible.

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#19

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online An original copy of Mao’s Red Book from when they were distributed in China back in the 60s

Also a copy of Mein Kampf but I’m not sure about this copy’s backstory

Themasterofcomedy209 , shankar s. Report

Final score:
97points
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Paul Pienkowski
Paul Pienkowski
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mein Kampf is terrible. But it is a great insight into the mind of a complete nutball.

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#20

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Troll dolls we're very big in the early 90's. I have a confederate soldier troll doll in full uniform with flag in hand. Thanks Dad!

JohnSterlingSanchez , Hoboh Official Report

Final score:
96points
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Dani M
Dani M
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Weird, but even as a child i absolutely hated these trolls!! the were the hottest s**t with the other children but they are super gross to me

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#21

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook

Ihadacow , Kirrus Report

Final score:
92points
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Alias-the-shade
Alias-the-shade
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For a second I thought it said Antichrist cookbook but know I’m disappointed 😭

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#22

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online I have a few Ivory jewellery pieces from the early 70s my parents bought back from Botswana, and a poison arrow kit. Mum has the 3-metre long python skin she just put in her luggage from back then too.

Icy_Hippo , Steve Parker Report

Final score:
88points
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#23

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online I bought a used Bill Cosby comedy album on vinyl and the next week everything started coming out about the horrible things he had done ☹️

alpal05144 , Ted Eytan Report

Final score:
75points
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R.A. Haley
R.A. Haley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have several of his albums from back when he was funny. They're still funny, but you kind of laugh out the side of your mouth now.

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#24

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A piece of a radiation bore drill encased in resin. It has a cloud floating above it in the resin where the focal point is. It's safe now, bizarre to think about, and probably illegal as f**k for a civilian to aquire today.

Adept_Cranberry_4550 , Kim Stiver Report

Final score:
75points
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M O'Connell
M O'Connell
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These devices are used in resource-extraction drilling. The way the radiation reflects back to the source allows measurement of material density. Less dense material is desirable because it is more likely to produce oil or gas.

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#25

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online A switch knife. Technically one with a blade as long as mine is illegal in my area. I don't know I would rather have it and risk the misdemeanor than not have it with me.

Not_Adobe , George Redgrave Report

Final score:
72points
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Dee Martin-Magninie
Dee Martin-Magninie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband has brass knuckles that apparently belonged to his great grandmother 😂

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#26

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online An uncut DVD of Caligula.

I am not sure if it is still banned or not.

EnigmaCA , Mati Mango Report

Final score:
67points
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Carlos
Carlos
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not sure why people buy anything other than uncut DVD's, if the CD is cut, it wont play.

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#27

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online Kony 2012 Kit. It’s a whole thing and I don’t want to talk about it.

XDXkenlee , Ryohei Noda Report

Final score:
53points
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#28

28 Things People Keep At Home But Avoid Talking About Because They Are So Controversial, As Shared Online My 26.5” scale 8 string guitar is apparently super controversial to every guitarist I’ve ever shown it to.

yokaishinigami , Eric Golub Report

Final score:
48points
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Chucky Cheezburger
Chucky Cheezburger
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a picture of a 4 string acoustic bass in the foreground. Cant tell if the controversial instrument is the one in the background. Kinda sounds like they have an 8 string bass.

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