Noodle Incident

The Noodle Incident is a mysterious incident often alluded to in Calvin and Hobbes. It is mentioned several times in the course of the strip, but the reader has never been told what exactly the incident was. Much like Hobbes' reality, it is assumable that Bill Watterson wants the reader to make up his or her own perspective of what could have happened. Throughout the comic, the most that we learn is that it was presumably done by Calvin (though he may have been framed) and has caused him to worry about possibly not getting any presents from Santa Claus. Whenever a character, usually Hobbes, mentions it to Calvin, he immediately gets very defensive about it. It appears to have happened at school due to Calvin yelling out loud, "She told you about the noodles, didn't she?!" when his mom came home from a parent conference. When Hobbes commented on the Incident, Calvin claimed that "no one can prove I did THAT," and that it was rather an accident.

Possible explanations

• In one comic, Calvin complains about the downsides of his life and then states that today will be different because he will "go for the gusto." In the following strip Calvin tells Hobbes he got in big trouble at school. Hobbes asks Calvin what he did, and Calvin replies, "I don't want to talk about it." Hobbes then asks if it had anything to do with " all those sirens about noon" and Calvin says," I SAID I don't want to talk about it", implying that it was a dangerous incident.
• In another comic, Calvin brought noodles to school for his report on the brain saying that it looked like a brain. Many believe this to be the Noodle Incident.
• It may have involved worms and something belonging to Calvin's father. In a strip where Calvin was reminiscing on not getting punished very severely over backing his parents' car into a ditch, Hobbes remarked "But try keeping live worms in your dad's..."; at which point Calvin interrupted him and dismissed the issue very defensively, the same way he did when questioned about the Noodle Incident.
• In one strip, Hobbes mentions "The Salamander Incident." However, it is unknown if the Salamander Incident was related to the Noodle Incident, or perhaps another name for it. If the latter is true, then the Noodle Incident may have involved salamanders.
• In another strip, Calvin got manicotti for lunch one day, put it down his shirt, lifted the bottom up and yelled that his "intestines" had broken through his stomach wall, subsequently making Susie scream and faint.But this can't be it, as it involved noodles, not italian pasta. But it might've not involved noodles but any pasta

Facts

These are the only facts we know about the Noodle Incident:

• Calvin was the apparent perpetrator.
• It involved noodles or italian pasta.
• It happened at school. Miss Wormwood evidently knows about it, and may have even been a witness to the incident taking place. This is revealed in a strip where Calvin's mother goes to a parent-teacher conference with Miss Wormwood, causing Calvin to panic when she gets home, asking her "She told you about the noodles, didn't she?!" Calvin's mother replies with a suspicious "What noodles?", but does not press the issue.
• Calvin never told his parents about the incident. Apparently, Miss Wormwood & Principal Spittle never told Calvin's parents either.
• It happened a long time ago, (as revealed in a fantasy strip where Calvin is imagining Santa Claus and one of his elves reviewing his "case" to determine if Calvin has been good or bad that year) and therefore, must have been a very serious incident for it to still be remembered now. The fact that Hobbes repeatedly brings it up (as did Santa Claus in Calvin's imagination once), seems to imply the memory still haunts Calvin to this day.
• Although it happened a while ago, in a strip when Calvin was mailing a letter to Santa, he said that he had been extremely good this year, to which Hobbes replies "What about the Noodle Incident?" revealing that the incident may have happened that year. Though it should be noted that the characters don't age throughout the strip due to a repeating time loop (The whole cartoon takes place over a 10 year timeline, yet Calvin remains 6 years old and inexplicably returns to the 1st grade every fall). So the Noodle incident could have happened any year.
• One of Santa's elves also notes that they've had "trouble verifying the particulars; accounts seem to vary", which suggests that what exactly happened is in dispute. Alternately, this may just be Watterson's noting that different fans will have their own versions of the Noodle Incident.
• It is not exactly stated one way or the other, but it seems to be implied that Calvin was caught or framed, therefore his explanation was not believed (though this could simply be Calvin trying to avoid trouble). To try and prove innocence, Calvin apparently thought of a cover story, the creativity of which impressed Hobbes. Calvin, however, even now claims that it was the "unvarnished truth". Like the incident itself, we are never told exactly what Calvin's excuse was. In fact, for all we know, it may actually be the truth. According to Calvin, although apparently caught or framed, no one can prove he did it (which is also said by the elf mentioned above). However, considering Calvin may just be defensive about it makes such a statement questionable.
• Police Officers (or Firemen) may have been involved, because Hobbes once asked "Did it have anything to do with those sirens around noon?" But this is debatable because Calvin's parents never found out about the incident.
• Hobbes apparently knows of the incident. However, if police officers were involved, he was probably not at the school at the time, otherwise he wouldn't have asked about the "sirens around noon". If this is true, then it is likely that Calvin eventually told him.
• The incident might have taken place in the winter time.

Conclusion

Whatever happened, Calvin was apparently forced to confess to it, as indicated in one strip where Calvin is lamenting his inability to write a fictional narrative for school. Hobbes offers, "What about your explanation of the Noodle Incident?", which Calvin insists was not a fabrication.

See also

• Salamander Incident