Hi everyone! I’m an art student working on a project about keys, and l’d love to hear personal stories behind them🥺 Would anyone be willing to share a key that means something to them, along with the story behind it? ❗️Please avoid posting photo of your actual keys, just in case someone might misuse them.

  • It could be a house key connected to a special memory, something that happened in a particular place, or even a small part of your everyday life.

  • It doesn’t have to be a house key, either. Maybe it belongs to a drawer, or something else entirely. Perhaps there’s a reason you’ve kept it for years, or a memory attached to it that you’ve never really thought about sharing.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to anyone who feels like sharing☺️

  • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    9 days ago

    I bought a skeleton key from the hardware store for a house that was about a hundred years old, to test if the locks in my house worked. It did, and for the next couple of months, I’d prank people by locking the door to their room, or the bathroom. Never locking them in, just out, and then when they wandered off frustrated, I’d open it back up.

    I’ve always pranked people, but them not knowing there was a key to their own bedroom is always gonna be one of the better pranks I did.

    Dunno if that’ll quite fit your goal, but I still have that skeleton key, kept it even when a tooth broke off and it stopped working.

    • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 days ago

      This is genuinely hilarious, you became the true ruler of the house >:3 I kind of wish someone would prank me like that just so I could experience the frustration myself, especially when I need to use the toilet hahaha. But seriously, a skeleton key is so cool!? Does that mean I could use it to unlock everyone’s front door :3333

      And yes, I really love this adorable story. I hope that key stays by your side for a long, long time. If I were you, I’d be showing it off to all my close friends😼

      • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 days ago

        This is the key in question, before it lost a notch, and while it does work on most locks from the time, just looking at it tells you how well it’d work on a modern lock, and our front door had been modernized, unfortunately for my schemes.

        Had a ton of fun with it.

        • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          7 days ago

          Aww, even that scheme is no longer an option, I’m sure you have plenty of other ideas up your sleeve ;3 I’m the kind of person who afraid of causing anyone trouble, even the cute trouble🤧so I find your personality reallly interesting, you seem like such a different kind of person from me

          but after receiving a kind reminder I realized that posting photos of key can potentially pose a security risk, would you be happy to take the photo down if possible <3 P.S. I’m so glad I got to see it!(before it became a secret)The long, slender shape is exactly the kind I’d love to collect!!!

          • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            7 days ago

            It’s an issue for real keys, where someone can get a key cut to match a photo, but this is a skeleton key, it’s not keyed to anyone’s lock in particular and is freely available to purchase. Anyone with vintage locks that work with this key should just consider their door unlocked for security purposes, and either replace or supplement it with a modern lock.

            So yeah if you want one you can get them at most hardware stores, it was like 6$, and came in a pack of two. (I lost one like a day after I got it, so I only ever really had the one).

            • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              6 days ago

              Oh, I see! I finally understand skeleton keys now. You’ve turned the other key into a Dobby with a sock xD Maybe that’s a good thing. This reminds me of when my bf was renting a place in London and forgot his key, but somehow managed to open the door with a chopstick. Locks really are fascinating things.

  • Z72.53@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 days ago

    I actually have a collection of keys Ive found on the street while walking around. I have over 300 keys so far. They’re all on a bunch of varying sized key rings all connected together. It’s fascinating to see the different kinds and wonder why the person lost them. Some of them I can remember picking up a lot of them I don’t though.

    • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      7 days ago

      That’s so cool!! If I found a key, I’d be unable to stop wondering what happened to someone in that area that left their key lying there all alone🤧 Of the keys you remember finding, was there one that turned up somewhere particularly strange or unusual? Do you have any favourites :DDD I collect keys too, but I just buy old ones that I like the design or purpose of. Your way of collecting them sounds way more fun😸

      • Z72.53@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 days ago

        The vast majority I’ve found just lying by the curb, usually in downtown areas. I’ve also found few during a few different jobs.

        One that I can remember I found on top of a branch of a tree by the sidewalk. It was an unusually long key that I noticed when I stumbled into the tree on my way home drunk from a college party.

        I used to worry a lot about them and the people looking for them, but I’ve tried to report them in the past but the owner never turned up. People worry about losing keys, but the reality is theres way too many locks to ever know what it goes to.

        • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          6 days ago

          A key on the tree branch is so mysterious. It would make me wonder if I’d stumbled across some kind of SCP creature, or if I was just way more drunk than I thought I was🤧 Maybe Mr. Crow had found himself a shiny new piece of home decor so it was there :3 just like a star on the top of the Christmas treeee And yeah, that’s so true. When I was little, my family told me they’d lost a key, I’d get so anxious about some stranger suddenly breaking into our home. But then again, who really knows which lock a lost key belongs to :)

          • Z72.53@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 days ago

            My assumption was that some other drunk person found it on the ground and thought it would be easier for the owner to find if they came back because the branch was a bit below eye level. I definitely thought it was an odd place to find a key, but I wasn’t too worried. At that point I had found maybe 20 keys that year. Drunk college kids lose them a lot.

            • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              6 days ago

              That makes a lot of sense! Hanging it somewhere so visible is actually a pretty good idea. I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on my keys too, even though I don’t drink much. If I ever lose my keys, I’ll come ask you if you’ve found them ;3

    • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      Is it that meme about whether the key or the bread is more attractive in prison🤤I choose kid…(a combination of key and bread

  • ilovededyoupiggy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    9 days ago

    I still have the keys to my first car. Car is long gone, passed down to each of my siblings and eventually donated to some local charity I think, gotta be at least 20 years ago. Somehow I ended up with a set of the original keys and they’ve managed to follow me around ever since. At this point I fully intend to keep them till I die, because why the hell not?

    • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      That’s such a great choice! I’d definitely do the same if I had a car of my own. That car was truly an old friend of your family, or maybe even a family member :> It accompanied so many people in your family, leaving everyone with happy memories of it. After I died maybe I want to be buried with my keys, along with all the other things I truly love. I’m a pretty possessive person when it comes to things I’m attached to, and I just wouldn’t be able to bear letting them go🫳🫳🫳

  • kukui@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 days ago

    About a decade ago I had a roommate who worked at a movie theater. They called me one evening because they’d broken the key off in the lock trying to close up for the night. I went down to hang out with them while they found a 24hr emergency locksmith. I still have the bow of the broken key that says DO NOT DUPLICATE.

    • 0094@lemmy.zipOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      7 days ago

      Ohh a key head that says DO NOT DUPLICATE! That’s really a collector’s item😼It probably never imagined it would retire from the cinema so early in life and end up spending its golden years just lying around everydayyy ;3 I wish my life had more absurd, exciting, and entertaining little adventures like this! Also, I wish I had a friend who worked at a cinema(Although I have no idea if they’d get access to more free movie tickets :3