It’s more than 30 years since Home Alone was released, but fans are spotting a tiny detail for the first time – and they are convinced it exposes a very sinister plot by one of Kevin’s own family members

For decades Home Alone fans have been willing to overlook the monumental parenting fail of Kate and Peter McCallister on one fateful Christmas.

Only mid-way through a flight travelling more than 4,000 miles away from their home do the pair realise that they’ve left their eight-year-old son at home for the holidays, giving him the responsibility of buying his own toothbrush and fighting off home intruders armed with a blowtorch and a gun. But accidents happen.

And it’s an easy one to make – Kevin is told to sleep in the attic after causing a family riot over a cheese pizza, a neighbouring kid who has a similar taste in hats is mistakenly included in the head count the following morning, and it’s all an innocent mistake. Right?

But some eagle-eyed fans think it’s not as simple as it seems, and have accused one family member of deliberately ensuring Kevin is put in harm’s way, with a very sinister motive.

A fan theory believes Peter hates his son Kevin, and it’s all part of a sinister plan

Fans on Reddit have shared a theory that Kevin’s dad Peter planned the whole thing after spotting that he binned Kevin’s plane ticket that would have otherwise flagged his absence at the airport.

During the clean-up operation following cheese pizza-gate, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where Peter throws a pile soggy napkins into the bottom of the bin, and peering out from behind them is an American Airlines ticket with the name ‘Kevin’ handwritten on the front.

And it’s one to many unlucky coincidences for some, as one said: “Let’s dispel with this fiction that Mr. McCallister doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

Most fans would never have spotted the moment
A second said: “He hired those two robbers to rob his house without telling them Kevin would be there, with the plan being that they would panic and kill Kevin (which seems to be what they tried to do by the end).”

A third replied to say Peter did it as his brother Frank dislikes Kevin and he wanted the problem gone, arguing: “Peter didn’t want Frank to spoil the vacation so when he found the perfect opportunity to throw out Kevin’s ticket, he took it right here.