For years, fans of the classic Christmas film Home Alone have been willing to forgive the colossal parenting blunder made by Kate and Peter McCallister. It's only halfway through a flight spanning over 4,000 miles from their home that they realise they've left their eight year old son behind for the festive season.

This leaves him with the task of purchasing his own toothbrush and fending off burglars armed with a blowtorch and a firearm. However, accidents do occur.

It's an easy mistake to make - after causing a family uproar over a cheese pizza, Kevin is instructed to sleep in the attic. The next morning, a neighbouring child with a similar hat preference is mistakenly counted in the headcount.

It's all just an innocent error, right?

Some sharp-eyed viewers believe it's not as straightforward as it appears. They accuse one family member of intentionally putting Kevin in danger, with a very dark motive, reports the Mirror.

Reddit users have proposed a theory that Kevin's father Peter orchestrated the entire situation after noticing he discarded Kevin's plane ticket, which would have otherwise highlighted his absence at the airport. During the clean-up following the cheese pizza incident, there's a fleeting moment where Peter tosses a stack of damp napkins into the bin.

Peeking out from behind them is an American Airlines ticket with 'Kevin' handwritten on the front.

Conspiracy theories about the classic holiday film "Home Alone" abound, with one individual suggesting a sinister twist: "Let's dispel with this fiction that Mr. McCallister doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."

A second posits a disturbing theory: "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)."

Debates continue to rage as a third points out possible family conflict as a motive: "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."

Speculation intensifies with comments such as "What if Peter hated Kevin just as much as Frank did, only he was better at hiding it?" The discussions are fueled by keen-eyed observations, with someone expressing amazement: "I've seen this twenty times and never noticed this. Good work! " This spurs on the question - did Kevin's father accidentally leave him behind or was there a more horrifying intention at play?