We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their wildest babysitting horror stories. From accidental fires, to poop in allll the wrong places, these stories did not disappoint. Here are the most shocking ones we received:
1. "My mother always 'volunteered' me to babysit. There was one family in the neighborhood that all the kids knew were particularly awful. And guess what? Yep, my mom told them I would watch their four monsters one night. It was hell from the start. The place was relatively clean when I got there. Within an hour, you couldn't see the living room floor. Their dinners were thrown on the kitchen floor, each other, and me. I finally lost it. I had an excellent yelling voice back then, and I let loose telling them to help me clean up their mess."
"Of course they didn't really do anything while I was cleaning. The oldest, an 11-year-old boy, (I was 13 at the time, by the way) kept whispering something to the other kids, but I ignored it because they were finally being quiet. Suddenly, he shouted, 'Now!' The other kids grabbed different parts of me while he got behind me and started wrapping a jump rope around my throat. Luckily, I was strong enough to shove the little ones off and rolled back over the kid with the rope. I left, walked home, and told my mom what had happened. She went to their place for the rest of the night and told the parents that the kids had a 'little fight,' but I wouldn't be watching them anymore. I've never forgiven her for that."
—Anonymous
2. "One time, I was babysitting a toddler. I put him down for a nap, and at the appropriate time, I snuck in to see if he was still asleep. When I opened the door, a horrible stench hit my nose and I discovered that he had pooped and proceeded to remove the poop from his diaper and spread it on the wall. It was a mess to clean up, and it was at MY house."
3. "I had parents fake a break-in to see how I'd react. For context, I was no older than 15 and had been watching their kids since I was 12. The kids were MONSTERS, but that's besides the point. They lived down the road from me, and the kids were 6 and 8 at the time. The parents told me they'd be home around 11 p.m., and the plan was to get the kids to bed around 9. As it was getting close to their bedtime, the kids and I were in the living room watching TV. It was completely dark outside. We had most of the lights off, and the kids were starting to doze. Then, I heard what sounded like a thud coming from the front of the house where the door was. I heard a little more shuffling, and I started to panic. The kids looked at me nervously, and I had them sit quietly behind the couch under a blanket. The living room and kitchen were connected, so I quietly grabbed my phone and a steak knife, and went around the corner to see what was making noise."
"As I rounded the corner wielding the knife, the parents jumped out and yelled, 'BOO!' then start laughing like idiots. My heart DROPPED, and I nearly stabbed someone. They went on to tell me how they were home early and just wanted to see how I'd react to an intruder. I was not pleased, but figured at the very least, I'd get to go home early. NOPE. They had a hot tub on their back deck and asked me to wait inside and put their kids to bed while they got into the hot tub. So, I stayed for another hour or so while the kids were asleep, and they were in the hot tub making out. God, I still can't stand those people."
—Anonymous
4. "I'm pretty sure I babysat at a haunted house. It was at the end of a street near a church. My mom had taught both the little boys in preschool, so their mom asked me to watch them a few times when their regular babysitter was busy. Over the course of one evening, four odd things happened. First, the boys were pulling out food for dinner, and they set a container of salsa on the counter. Minutes later, while prepping food, the container burst and sent salsa flying across the room — all over the walls, cabinets, and fridge. Odd, but I assumed it was just old and some gas had built up in the container. That was fun to clean. Well, while I was cleaning it and the boys were in the kitchen helping me, we heard a loud thud in the living room."
5. "I was babysitting a family friend's son who was 3 at the time. The parents potty trained him from the moment he was born. He never wore diapers and would normally go to the bathroom on his own. We were playing with Play-Doh together. He looked right at me, and, without a word, a turd dropped out of his pant leg. He then walked to the bathroom, leaving a small trail of poop behind him, all without saying a word."
—Anonymous
6. "My niece (12 years old) was standing on the toilet seat when her brother (7 years old) shoved her, causing her to slip and somehow get her lace-up, ankle-high boot wedged in the toilet bowl. I did everything I could to pull it out without hurting her. It wasn't possible to untie the laces because they were under the pipe curve. I used scissors to cut the laces and the front part of the boot, but she got scared that I might stab her foot. Fair enough. After an hour or so, I called the fire brigade. While waiting, I debated with myself on whether to call my brother and sister-in-law before or after the firefighters' arrival."
7. "I babysat these two terrors who did everything in their power to make my weekly visits absolute hell on earth. One fun afternoon, they decided it would be cute to lock themselves in their bedrooms and scream. At first, I genuinely thought something was wrong and panicked when I couldn't get to them. They thought this was hilarious, and refused to unlock their bedroom doors. I waited for a while, as I was kind of OK with some temporary peace. But it kept getting closer to the time their mom came home, and I didn't want them just locked in their rooms. I rummaged through their craft drawer downstairs and found a paperclip. I unbent it so it was a straight line, then used that to pop their doors unlocked from the outside. They were floored when I opened both their doors."
—Anonymous
8. "The kid I babysit for is a wild one. She's 4 and still in her 'run around the house naked' phase. The mother warned me more than once about this. One night, I was getting her ready for bed and making sure her teeth were brushed. As she was finishing up, I went into her room to pick out a book, then ran back downstairs to bring the dogs in. Suddenly, I heard giggling and screaming, and she bolted down the stairs, no pajamas on, just screaming and laughing her little head off in all her glory. I said, 'Go back upstairs and put on clothes, now!' She ripped a huge fart in my direction, then ran back upstairs, so proud of herself. That little butthead. I told her parents, and her mom just hung her head while her dad and I laughed our asses off."
9. "When I was 16, I babysat with a friend of mine one night and it went great. The two older kids (ages 5 and 3) had gone to bed, so we just had the infant to care for, and he was an absolute dream. The next weekend, the family asked if I’d watch their kids again, and I agreed. The older kids were not asleep this time, and they were horrible. They both got naked and decided to poop all over themselves and the walls! Like, they painted the walls with their poop! They wouldn't take baths or get dressed, and they trashed their rooms. They screamed, peed all over things, and ran around the house. This all happened in the first hour of me watching them. This was also long before cellphones were a thing. I used the landline and called my own mother, who came in to help. Even she, as tough and old-school as she was, couldn’t really contain these two kids. Eventually, we managed to get them to sleep."
"After she left, I cuddled the infant until the parents arrived home hours and hours later. I explained everything that had happened, and the parents laughed and said, 'Yup, sounds like our boys! They do this a lot,' and proceeded to laugh and joke about how silly their kids were. They called me a week later to babysit again, and I declined!"
10. "One time, I babysat these two hyper little boys. I went downstairs after putting them to bed, then heard what sounded like jumping on the bed. I went back upstairs to see what was going on, and the two boys were, in fact, bouncing on one of their beds and having a penis sword fight. Didn't see that one coming."
11. "I used to babysit my cousin while his parents worked. There was a day I was pretty sick; I had a fever and couldn't keep food down. I told his mom I didn't think I should come watch him in case I got him sick. She told me she would find someone else to come watch him, but needed me to stay with him until she found someone. I went, thinking I'd only be there for a couple of hours tops. Someone finally came to watch him 30 minutes before his mom got off work. The week after, I felt better and went back to babysitting, but his mom said she wouldn't pay me for the day I watched him while I was sick because I left early and I got him sick as well. Then, she told me if I couldn't be reliable, she would find someone else. So, I quit! Then, she called two weeks later asking me to come back. I was 16."
12. "I was a nanny for a rather wealthy family. They were unhappy with how their housekeepers cleaned, so they fired them. Naturally, I came into work the next day and there was a to-do list of house chores left for me. There was no discussion and no pay increase — just a new list of expectations. I quit shortly after."
13. "I babysat these two horribly-behaved children very frequently while in middle and high school, and I refused to so much as pee at their house because the kids could NOT be left unattended for even a minute. Well, one day I was there for hours on end, and of course, I had to pee. The kids were chilling in the living room, so I snuck to the downstairs bathroom. I couldn't have been gone for 30 seconds when I heard some banging. I finished and rushed out of the bathroom to find that the kids had climbed on the kitchen counter and one was boosting the other to the top of the fridge to retrieve their parents' stash of candy. They just froze when I ran into the kitchen, then knocked the entire bowl of candy off the top of the fridge and onto the floor. Gooood times."
—Anonymous
14. "I used to be a nanny and have all kinds of stories. My worst was a 5-year-old who punched me in the head (while I was sitting down) for sending him to his room. Then, he got me in the stomach when I stood up. For a little guy, he was STRONG! My ear was ringing for most of the day. His parents defended him because it was obviously my fault he shoved his sister off of the steps of the bus. I left them some resources for behavioral health, but I was done after that night."
15. "One time, I had a kid take a shit directly onto the floor. He was 3 and in the midst of potty training. I had to clean it up while holding the dog back. It was truly something else."
16. "I was 13 and this was my first time babysitting for someone other than my younger sibling. About an hour in, the 5-year-old boy went to watch SpongeBob SquarePants in his parents’ room. I almost immediately went to check on him, only to realize that he had locked the door from the inside! I tried to talk him through unlocking it, but he could not understand, so I couldn't get him out of this room! I called my mom in a panic, asking what I should do. I could hear the kid peacefully sitting on the bed watching SpongeBob, but I was freaking out. My mom came over to help, and neither of us could get the door open. My mom ended up pulling the kid out through the window! Thankfully, it was a first-story bedroom."
17. "I babysat for a former teacher of mine when I was in high school. Her daughter was easy, but her son was not. I didn’t know he was from her previous marriage. He clearly had a lot of issues to work through from his parents' split. Long story short, he stole my phone and car keys and tried to stab me with a screwdriver after I couldn’t find the Star Wars DVD his dad had given him. I learned later that it was at his dad's house. Never babysat again."
—Anonymous
18. "One time, a kid pulled a dead bat out of his pocket. I was not prepared for that!"
19. "I babysat overnight for a family member with three kids because they had to go out of town. The kids were great and caused no issues. It was a school night, but I said we could watch a movie after they had dinner and did their homework. I set everyone up to fall asleep in front of the TV in the basement. That was a great decision, because around 11 p.m., the house got hit by a tornado. It was the only house on the block with damage. The kids slept through it! I got a call very early in the morning asking if I could keep them all day; the school was closed because of storm damage. I awkwardly told the kids’ mom she probably needed to come home and deal with her missing roof."
—Anonymous
20. "I got locked out of the house with the baby inside! The little boy I was watching hadn’t woken up for the day yet. Thinking I’d be right back, I left my phone inside and ran out to my car to get my laptop. When I got back, the door had automatically locked, and I didn’t know the code! I had to run down the street to use a neighbor’s phone to call the mom. We are good family friends, and they just laughed it off! The baby was still sleeping when I got in about 15 minutes later!"
21. "One time, the little girl (probably around 7 years old) I was watching snatched some Halloween candy she wasn't supposed to be having and locked herself in the bathroom with it. I waited outside the door asking her to please come out, saying she could have some candy after dinner. She emerged from the bathroom, completely naked and laughing. I was pretty stunned, and asked her to please get dressed. She then spun around to reveal that she had stuck the forbidden Halloween candy in her buttcrack. Her older sister thought this was hysterical, but I really had no clue how to respond. I asked her to remove the candy, get dressed, throw the candy in the trash, and wash her hands. She went back into the bathroom, then came back out minutes later in her clothes."
"I asked her if she'd thrown out the candy and washed her hands. She said, 'No, I ate it!' At this point, her sister was on the floor crying from laughter. Pretty sure I just moved on and pretended like none of it happened because I was so confused."
—Anonymous
22. "One time I was watching my sisters (who were 6 and 8 at the time), and I stepped on a rake in the yard while hanging up the laundry. I got hit in the face like a Looney Tune, and I stood there spitting out an insane amount of blood while they laughed at me."
23. "I babysat for a family friend’s two children every day after school my senior year of high school. One of the kids was emotionally impaired with rage issues. No one told me this was going in. One day, I had to remove a knife from his hand after he flew into a fit of rage and went after his sister because she ate the last strawberry. It was one of those days where you drive home in complete silence."
—Anonymous
24. Finally: "I was babysitting twin boys and their little sister on the opening night of their parents' new brewery/restaurant. The boys had two GIANT reusable bags full of candy from Halloween on a shelf in the pantry. I had told them earlier that they could have some after I put their sister to sleep. I was upstairs putting her to sleep, and I heard the bag fall. I thought nothing of it, as I had told them they could grab some, and they had been pretty adamant about climbing up and grabbing it. They came up afterward, and I helped them brush their teeth and get tucked in. Well, when I went downstairs, there was smoke filling the kitchen and living room. So, I opened the back door and started freaking out trying to figure out where the smoke was coming from."
Have you ever had something go horribly wrong while you were babysitting? What happened? Tell us your story in the comments!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.