What Kind Of Crazy Things Did You Do As Kids

[indianafrank]

What crazy stuff did you all do when you were kids? Especially you older folks. Today’s generation of young don’t play outside anymore. They have their video games, cell phone texting, laptops, and Ipads. They have no idea what it’s like to go outdoors, and have a good time. Hell, they don’t even have school dances anymore.
When I was growing up in the late 50’s early 60’s, I was never inside. During the summer I would leave the house early in the morning, play outside, come home for lunch, leave again, come home for dinner, and then play outside till late evenings. We did all kinds of crazy things. One of the most dangerous things we did was hopping on boxcars and riding them to cities unknown. A few times I was gone for a few days. My father would take out the belt, redden my behind, and make me swear I would not do that again. Of course, I did.
Then there was the time when I was 10. My buddy and I got drunk on church wine. We sneaked into the church rectory and found two bottles, one for each of us. Got drunk as skunks and stumbled through the streets laughing and having a good time. When I got home my father got the belt again while my mother prayed for me.
Then we would play “brickem”. We’d have our friends drop bricks on our heads from a garage roof. Each of us would take turns dropping the bricks on each others heads. The one who took the most hits got a quarter from the losers. I used to go home with my head bleeding, but always had that extra quarters in my pocket.
How about all of you? What kind of crazy things did you do as kids.

 

[tinsel]

What kind of crazy things did you do as kids.

Bottle rocket wars.
Picking up beer bottles from the roadside and playing "chicken". We would stand 30-40 feet apart, throw the bottles at each other as hard as we could, and the winner was the one who didn't flinch when the bottle came whizzing by his ear. Luckily none of us ever took one on the nose or to the teeth! Did take several to the chest, shoulder, and once in the forehead though ...
Once I managed to catch myself a live raccoon. Was able to get a dog leash on it's neck and walk it home. Mom was NOT happy. Neither was the raccoon.
When I got to be a teenager it was all about racing cars, getting drunk and chasing girls.
Had a buddy who's dad had a 1972 Lotus in his garage that hadn't been driven in years. His parents went out of town one weekend and I went over there, got it running, and we got drunk and went joyriding in it ... without working brakes!!! It's a miracle we didn't crash that thing!
Of course, I did my "growing up" in the 90's and early 2000's. But it was in west Ky, and we run about 20 years behind the curve

 

[blackbeard]

In Kentucky as kids we just found better ways to entertain ourselves. Right now, my 4 year old niece is outside more than in, and I love it that way. Imagination is a terrible thing to waste, will not stand by and contribute to her being reliant on TV. To get into all the crazy stuff my brother and I did as kids....I would need more than this post could handle! Wouldn't know where to begin....could talk for days.

 

[jackswilling]

I think I may still have statute of limitation concerns as it has only been 40 years ago that the alleged acts occurred.

 

[blackbeard]

Yeah....have the same problem jackswilling....some things have to remain unspoken. Except not 40 years, oldest incidents about 15 years ago lol

 

[ssjones]

I'm an Army brat and lived on base in Germany, which during the 70's was quite a culture shock coming from a small, Western Maryland town.
All the action was off base. This was right at the end of the draft army so most of the recruits were not there voluntarily. Once we found a big bale of drying marijuana, we sold that back to a private who wasn't much older than us.
There was a gypsy junkyard off-base (reminds me of the travelers in the movie "Snatch"). We'd steal windshields and throw them off nearby cliffs(Landstuhl Army base was on the top of a mountain).
The most fun we had was stealing a large truck tire/wheel and getting it to the top of our mountain. We rolled it down the open power line, where it crashed into the roof of a clubhouse for the local soccer club. There's a video out of some boys in South America doing the same into a lake. The pure joy they had when it made the lake was hilarious. Fortunately, no person was hurt in our stunt, but the Military Police really pressed the neighborhood to catch the culprits.
My dad was the senior NCO and if we had been caught doing any of the above, it would have been bad for him. Looking back we were pretty selfish and never considered repercussions to his career.

 

[hakchuma]

Lived in an Apple orchard. We had Apple fights and they stung. They were those green sour baking kind of Apple's.
The pain of those things hitting you put the fear of death into ya lol.

 

[danielplainview]

My group of friends and I would go into the woods a play b.b. gun wars. This was before the days of paint ball guns. It's a miracle nobody lost an eye. Occassionly someone would have to go to the emergency room to have a pellet removed from an arm or leg if we couldn't do it ourselves.
As a young teenager, Matt Hoffman and Dave Mira were my heros. I thought I was Evil Knievel on a BMX bike and even made it into a few skateboard/bike videos sold in the skate shops in my area. I broke more than a few bones, jaw, had a few concussions and plenty of stitches during that era. You were considered a p*#sy if you wore pads and a helmet. Thank god I got a drivers license and started chasing girls before I killed myself.
Ahh, the good ole days.

 

[iamn8]

What I did or did not do during the afore mentioned childhood, referred to as "kids", depends upon statute of limitation laws in certain states and/or countries. I'll do some research and get back to you.

 

[agnosticpipe]

When I was about 7 yo, I ate an inch-worm on a dare, and I swear, it gave me the measles! I haven't eaten a worm since!

But I have done some other debatable things as well over the years...

 

[mayfair70]

There used to be lots of woods and fields north of our house, now there is walmart, meijer and an industrial park. My friends and I used to walk and play all day. Ate tons of mulberries in the summer, crabapples, mint. Saw a lot of nature which I appreciate now more than ever. Had orchards only a few miles away in southern Michigan, got to climb those giant trees picking apples in the fall. Yeah, Evil Knievel was big, so we made ramps in the cement alley to jump our bikes and got skinned up plenty. Had a Schwinn Stingray. Would ride like a madman through the river trails, no helmet, no pads, no handbrakes, just pedal brake. Wrecked all the time. Still don't wear any of that stuff on my mountain bike. Used to shoot bows and arrows, slingshots, BB guns, go fishing, swimming in a spring-fed freshwater lagoon with a rope swing tied high in an oak tree. Make pipe bombs out of firecrackers.....yeah shot bottlerockets at each other. Make whistles out of sticks with a pocket knife (try convincing a parent to give a kid one of those today). Used to throw lawn darts straight up in the air and try not to get hit in the head. Lead in gasoline, lead in paint, radioactive wristwatches with radium dials, riding in the backs of pick up trucks, frisbees, hula hoops. Wow, crazy world but great stuff. Dad had a Grand Torino and a dune buggy.

 

[davet]

Mayfair, if you hadn't mentioned Michigan I would have thought you grew up here in New Brunswick Canada.

 

[mayfair70]

Northern Indiana, few miles from state line. I dare say, we have basically the same animals and trees and stuff. Close to the Great Lakes. So, yeah, Canada.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I grew up as a kid in semi-rural Ohio and my friends and I spent a lot of time outdoors riding our bikes and playing in the woods behind our neighborhood. There was one house that we would ride by because the dog would always give chase so it was a competition to see if we could outrun the dog. We gave that hound a workout on a regular basis. We also had a creek where we'd play with action figures and catch crawfish and snakes.
I also grew up as the first generation of video game players so we had friend's house where we would play their assortment of consoles on their big screen TVs (their family owned a bunch of Dairy Queens so they always had a bit of money), watch cult/horror movies, read comics and listen to metal and rock albums.
As for mischief, there was always porn to try and pilfer from somebody's dad and tree climbing fights with Nerf guns and swords where luckily nobody got injured too badly. We did have a friend break his arm after flying off the trampoline but otherwise our mischief and recklessness was never too serious.
My kids still spend a fair amount of time outside and inside. Usually their inside time gets cut short because they get too loud or start to fight over who's turn was next. Outside they go to the local park, ride bikes and play in the creek. Being the closest house to those places we are the band-aid station and pit stop for water or snacks.

 

[warren]

Nothing really stands out other than playing in the nets without a mask. Oh, and staring smoking at age 12. I'm still paying for that mistake.
I was left to keep an eye on a bear, age 6, while the kid, age 13, I was with ran off to get his father with a rifle. Didn't seem that stupid at the time. Certainly does now though.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Throughout my entire life I've pretty much objected to every idea every kid ever had.

Now I only object to most of the ideas that adults have.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Best not to ask. Let's just say that I was an obstreperous child and all around shit disturber. I would be embarassed to tell all of the stories about the shit I pulled. One event I do recall concerned a junior high teacher who was a car nut and had an old vet. I disliked the guy and he dislliked me. I discovered this dude's home phone number and took photos of his car and placed an ad in the local autotrader, offering to sell the vet for some really low price. I also indicated in the ad that "I am on shift work, so it would be best to call me between midnight and 5am, if possible." The teacher was seriously pissed and tried everything to pin the prank on me. He never succeeded but I paid for my crimes in other ways.
I grew out of it though. My father got me a job one summer loading Canadian army transport planes heading to the arctic. It was heavy physical labour and that's when I said to myself: "enough of this shit, I better get my shit together and get an education so I don't have to do this the rest of my life". Kind of turned it around at that point.

 

[newfie]

Plenty, some that have been mentioned above.
Tobacco related:
We were about 10 or 12, '70 or '72 time frame, and I stole a plug of Stag tobacco from grand-dad's shop. We cut it into 4 pieces and each of us took a piece and started chewing like the men. We chewed and swallowed and even tried to blow bubbles with it.
You talk about 4 sick young fellas.
EDIT:
This story actually came to my mind this week while at work this week when I put a small piece of Best Brown #2 under my lip for a bit of a nicotine fix. (Note: I work construction, currently building an offshore oil rig)

 

[deathmetal]

Roman candle wars, borrowing black powder to make explosives, and shotgun shell bombs...
Then I found my first anarchy philes and it was all downhill from there!

 

[prndl]

We used to walk the dry creek beds in deep summer flipping flat stones with a stick and hunting the water mocassins underneath them. This, in itself, doesn't sound crazy but, the fact that it often required an unjudiciously fast reflex with a shotgun, does.
Then there was the time I snuck a short, blonde Maryland girl into the Rose Bowl stadium one Saturday night in April of 1974 and did the nasty right in the middle of the field on the 50. There may have been some alcohol involved in this one.