30 Funny Stories People’s Families Call ‘The Incident’

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30 Funny Stories People’s Families Call ‘The Incident’

Every family has an “incident.” Usually, the incident is an Earth-shattering revelation or epic argument that tears a hole in the familial fabric — something only to be recounted in hushed whispers. The spectacle of this type of incident even provided the basis of a twice-adapted novel about the fallout of a man slapping an unrelated child at a barbecue. 

But not all such incidents are as dramatic as a limited series. Some are comedic in nature. These are the ones that often get labeled with a funny moniker like “the fish pie incident” to give a sliver of insight to strangers. It’s never enough to tell the whole story but just enough to torment the subject of said incident. 

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Regardless of what form the incident takes, though, it’s something that lives in infamy. That’s certainly the case for these Redditors, who have taken to the platform to share the “incidents” that get brought up at every one of their family reunions...

lillielil 4y At every family gathering, my grandma made this cheesecake. It was the no-bake type with canned cherry topping and probably lots of cool whip and it was fucking delicious. That cheesecake was the highlight of every potluck and had its own special giant-size Tupperware container with a flat bottom and large domed lid. One thanksgiving, my brother, who was maybe 7 at the time, was tasked with carrying the cheesecake from the kitchen to the dining room at my grandparents house. A few people shouted after him carry it by the bottom! Then the rest of the family

ppffftt . 4y My then 4 year old sister almost killed me in a house fire when I was a few months old because she was angry at garfeild made the front page of our local newspaper. ... 6

BlackBike1 . 4y I have an uncle who likes to sue everybody, even family. There was a fender-bender in which my dad was driving, and my cousin, several months later, was reportedly born without a butt crack. My uncle threatened to sue my dad over it, and my dad is like, It's not my fault your daughter has no butt crack. True story. ... 7

MrAngryMoose 4y We were just finishing our meal at a restaurant and got up to leave. One of my siblings wanted to make a dash to be the first one to the car, so she ran ahead of us. This restaurant had a place to pay in the front, and there was a decent sized line formed there. The last person in line was a fairly large sized woman and her son. As my sister squeezed past her and the wall, the woman stepped backward and pinned her against the wall. My sister tried to squirm free as the son

4y ... The first time my mom spent Christmas with my dad's family (who are a bunch of loud and lovable nerds who drink a lot of strawberry daiquiris), she wanted to make a good first impression. So she started up what she thought would be a fun discussion - if you row to the middle of a lake with a bowling ball in your boat, and then you throw the bowling ball overboard, does the water level of the lake rise, fall, or stay the same? The family barely survived the fiasco that followed. It started out simple enough, with

ranipe 4y When my younger brother was 13 he was babysitting our sister who was 8. There was a rule that he was t supposed to have any guns out while he was home alone, but for some reason he decided to clean one of his in the living room. Gun wasn't as unloaded as he thought and he shot a huge hole in the ceiling next to the fridge. To make it worse, my family had only redone all of the ceilings the week before. Не panicked, but then my sister got an idea. Long story short they filled

luckeegurrrr5583 - 4y When my younger sister told our family that she met some friends at a coffee shop and was going to another state for a two week vacation. My sister was 19 and never left the house to go anywhere, yet she had some guy and his roommate, who was a chick, come get her and take her for a vacation. My sister left and two weeks later, sent an email to my parents to say she was going to stay at the friend's place for good. My family freaked out and didn't know what to do. We couldn't

Shoomaloo . 4y On New Years Eve a few years ago, while my family and I were counting down to the new year, an uncle of mine decided it would be a good idea to light an entire packet of Sparklers (or more, I can't really remember) in his hand, which he thought he could individually hand out to everyone. Long story short, he almost set the kitchen on fire and risked death to us all. Luckily, he only burnt his hand and scorched a table. It eventually comes up in conversation whenever we have a family gathering. ... 31

ThunderMuffin-Bundip . 4y We call it 'The spray tan incident of '09.' My older sis was getting married, so my younger sister wanted to get a spray tan from this lady she met at work (a bar.) So little sis invites me to get this new air brushed spray tan, mom decides to join us and I invited a friend along as well. Everyone looks good tan, right? We go to the lady's house, she runs the airbrush/ spray tan business in her garage. We assumed that since she did this often (so she said,) that she would have a nice

Nocturnalshadow 4y Dad blew up a bottle of ketchup all over himself trying to shake it at my great grandmas 90th bday family reunion event. I was only like 7 at the time but to this day it still is known as the ketchup incident and we never let him live it down lol ... 72

chylde . 4y The time my mother was angry at me and waiting for me to get off the laptop. She gave me till the count of 10, during which she started slowly, then sped up during the last 3 counts. When she got to 10, she pulled the laptop's cord out of the socket and was confused that it was still on. ... 447

madoneforever. . 4y My step-daughter got caught having sex in her high school's foot ball field...forever the incident ... 276

gregarious-loner . 4y On an annual family vacation my mom got drunk and started yelling at a house full of children. Like, screaming at them. We skipped a year and then returned with the caveat that she not drink. Last year, she stayed up late talking crap about me to my teenager. This year, she has to find her own house because she's never staying with me again. ... 157

shell1212 4y My little brother broke his collar bone when he was 3, I was 16. at the time early 80's, they used a strap looking thing that went around and under each arm pit and connected at the back. Sorry thats about the best description I can think of. His skin started getting raw under his arm pits from the strap, so my mom put those big bulky Kotex pads on the straps to try to help with the rubbing from the straps. It actually worked. So after he heals and is back to normal. mom finds him in

pnwjess 4y My mom was picking up me and my little brother from the YMCA after his basketball practice (I was helping coach). I get in the front seat and my little brother gets in the back. We drive for about five minutes before I get a call from an unknown number. I answer and it's my little brother telling me to look in the backseat. He's nowhere to be found. Apparently, my little brother opened the door, noticed there were items on the seat, closed it, and walked over to the other side of the car. My mom, who

XenusMom a 4y We actually have several. For a lighthearted one, the year that the Christmas morning cinnamon buns were left in the oven to rise overnight, but the oven hadn't fully cooled from dinner. They filled the entire oven like a terrifying dough monster which had to be cleaned out urgently so the Turkey could go in. Mom was super upset, her being upset was what made it an incident. We had a cousin come out as trans a year ago or so and although my family can be quite conservative, the cinnamon bun incident was a much bigger

Massivewreckedem 4y When we were children we had a pet rooster. Не just wandered into our yard one day, we fed him and he stuck around for three years. Не was a colorful addition to the family. One day, he was just gone. Absolutely no trace. We were heart broken. We had suspicions that our mother had done something to him... On thanksgiving, we were skeptical of the turkey. We all sat at the table and confronted our mother with our suspicions, she denied it. My brother-who is a particularly animated character- suggested we have a seance, summon the spirit

audionerd84 4y December 24th 2003 'The fish pie incident' My mum cooked a traditional meal of fish pie on christmas eve. Unfortunately 2 hours later at christmas eve mass, my younger brother vomited this meal all down the back of a nun and on the pew. My dad nipped home just around the corner to gather cleaning materials and quickly clean up during mass. Fortunately my dad was able to subtley clean the pew, unfortunately the nun hadnt yet noticed the vomit as she was sat in front of us. The vomiting had happened mid-christmas carol hymns which had nicely

helena_handbasketyyc . . 4y My cousin went in for a vasectomy, but chickened out. Didn't tell his wife, because he was embarrassed, so instead they had a third kid. Kid's cute, at least. ... 872

000-000-000yea . 4y I have an aunt with issues, pretty sure she is horribly bipolar but refuses to get help. My other aunt, who drinks a lot decided to get her a dildo for her birthday. This went over well, so she raided the house on thanksgiving and seized the turkey. ... 638

DangerousDunderhead . . 4y My cousin burned popcorn in a hotel and evacuated 18 floors ... 307

TrendyKiddy . 4y Me, my husband and stepdaughter were having lunch with a friend of ours and his daughter at a certain Wisconsin themed fast food chain. My husband thought he had to fart and just let it rip right there, like an animal and shit his pants. Edit: yes, it was Culver's. That was 3 months ago and we have not been back since. ... 2.1k

Allinallisallweare02 . 4y We go every year on a fishing trip to a remote lake village. My second uncle decided it would be a good idea to do a fireworks show, so he purchased a bunch of fireworks from the (only) store in town, and he set them out on the beach for the show. Only problem was they weren't stuck into the sand very well, and they tipped over during the show and fired at the audience. No one got hurt, but a lot of people were mad at him after that. ... 766

Chalupa34 4y My 2 older sisters got in a huge fight once while me, my dad, and stepmom were out. The fight climaxed when one of them threw a football sized decorative wooden turtle at the other. She either missed, or my other sister ducked, and the turtle flew into and broke a window. After that happened they decided they'd get in less trouble if they said they were playing turtle ball rather than fighting. Me and my parents actually bought it, and we didn't learn the truth until a few years later ... 1.2k

simell123 . . 4y I was young and I wanted to be like my cat so I got naked and put on a black cape and at fruit loops out of my cats food dish and I peed in the litter box. My whole family walked in on me doing so. ... 3.1k

auspiciousgirl 4y I was a couple weeks old and some extended family was meeting me for the first time. My cousin was sick, but my aunt and uncle brought her anyways. She was leaning over my crib when my mom asked her to back up, which then caused a small argument between my mom and aunt. While they were arguing my cousin proceeded to sneeze in my face. I got RSV shortly after and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. I was in the NICU and things weren't looking great, so the doctors told my parents to

rachelgraychel . 4y My cousin ran through a sliding glass door when it was closed. I just remember a loud crash and then he was screaming and there was blood and broken glass everywhere. It was pretty crazy. Не was ok after getting a shitload of stiches at the hospital. After that everyone thought it was pretty funny and it's been an ongoing family joke that they put a strip of masking tape on the glass door (so he can see it's closed) when he's visiting. ... 251

Motherfickle 4y When he was about 5 or 6, my cousin got a sled for Christmas. Не was all excited and wanted to use it right away, but my uncle told him he had to wait and use it outside later. My cousin didn't listen and immediately took the sled up to the top of this staircase that sat facing the front door of the house, then proceeded to try and sled down the stairs. Не ended up flying off the sled and smacking face first against the door. That was almost 30 years ago (years before I was even

Dulcius_ex 4y There are a few in my family but I'll share one that always makes me laugh. My brother was 4 years old in 1984, and was a big fan of He-Man, a character that had an animated series at the time. At church one Sunday, he was sitting quietly in the pew next to my mom and dad. An older man from the church got up to lead the congregation in a prayer. This particular old man was known for his lengthy purple prose when it came to praying, especially when he had a good sized audience. Не

egg-nog98 4y We used to have a wood stove in the middle of our living room to heat the whole house. The thing is, my little brother was obsessed with it. Whenever my dad would go to start the fire or put in more wood my brother would sprint out of his room to try to help which means he was tying to pull everything out when it was already on fire. One day my sister and I were fighting over something and I smacked her in the face with my Barbie Pegasus toy. She starts screaming bloody murder because
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