If an iframe is focused when it is removed from the current document, keyboard focus becomes lost and key events go nowhere. Note that document.activeElement indicates that focus is somewhere other than where it actually is. Calling .blur() and .focus() in any combination on any elements does not appear to fix this - the user has to click onto the document to move focus manually. http://www.playescapegoat.com/'s level browser has focus issues due to this. How to reproduce with the URL: Press some keys and observe the textarea filling up. Click 'create iframe'. Click into the iframe to focus it. Press some keys, observe no events being captured by parent document. Click 'destroy me' in the iframe. Observe how the activeElement is the body but if you press keys, the input events go nowhere. This works correctly in Chrome.