People Revealed Disturbing Family Secrets They Discovered As Adults, And It's A Doozy
Recently Reddit user rentinghappiness asked the community, "What's the most disturbing family secret you learned of when you got older?"
Well, their responses were pretty wild and disturbing, and left me completely speechless.
So, here are some of the most baffling family secrets that were hidden for a long, long time:
Note: This post contains topics of child abuse and violence. Please proceed with caution.
1."My mom told me my father died in the Vietnam War. Imagine my surprise when he showed up at my high school graduation because he'd seen my name in the local paper (I graduated valedictorian, and I was a junior). It turned out my mom had kidnapped me when I was a baby to keep my father from trying to get custody when they split up. He lived about an hour away from me the whole time I was growing up, and neither of us knew it."
2."I knew my biological father had a sister who died when she was six years old. It wasn’t until I was grown that I heard the full story. My dad was 10 and my aunt was six. He was supposed to be looking out for her while they were outside playing. They walked to a neighbor's house, and she wanted to go home. Dad wanted to stay and told her to walk back home by herself. She was hit by a car and died. My grandparents blamed my dad, and he carried that guilt with him his entire life."
3."My great-aunt was a nurse at a psychiatric hospital and fell in love with a guy being evaluated to stand trial for murder. She helped him escape, and they ran off to Florida. But the police tracked them down, and her lover was sentenced to the electric chair. She got off easy, though."
4."I discovered that my siblings and I grew up in foster care because none of my family members were willing to help my aunt and uncle get custody of us. We were living in Missouri while they lived in Michigan. They fought the courts with what means they had but couldn’t afford the legal battle. The system thought our mother (who had a mental illness) was the best choice even though we would only be home with her for a few months before going back into the system. Rinse repeat until my sister and I were without a home at 15 and 16 years old. Luckily, we had an older brother who was adopted by a great family and found us. He sent some bus tickets to Detroit to come to stay with him and showed us kids what unconditional love was."
5."My grandma had a younger sister who she was told had died in infancy. But, she was actually sent away to other family members because she had a mental illness, and the family was 'embarrassed' to have an 'abnormal' child around. We found her living with some of grandma's cousins in her mid-fifties. She was regularly doused with boiling water when she 'misbehaved.' She eventually got out and ended up in a nursing home where she was fortunately treated better, but the damage was apparent. She'd scream whenever the caregivers filled up a hot bath or made coffee or had anything to do with hot water."
6."The one vacation I went on with my dad (which I cherished as one of the few father-son bonding experiences of my childhood) was actually my mom telling him to 'take your son and GTFO for a few weeks while you decide if you want to be married or not.' Apparently, there was a 'work wife' situation brewing, and my mom was not having it."
7."I learned my family was actually well-off financially. But growing up, I wore ratty clothes, never got any toys, and would frequently go hungry simply because my mom just didn't give a shit about me. I was 18 when my mom told me that she started to panic when she had less than $50,000 in savings (this was in the early 2000s). The bright side is it taught me not to buy stupid shit, but the dark side is I have nostalgia for games, toys, movies, and trips that never happened."
8."I was an only child my whole life. Then, when my dad died in my thirties, I learned my cousin was my brother. I also had a half-sister who lived across the country, had a sister down the street, and another half-sister who was in her late fifties."
9."My eldest great-aunt lost her only daughter to drowning in a well. She grieved a lot and had a hard time recovering. She really wanted another daughter to dote on, and to just be a better mother. She had even taken a little girl in who was lost back to her house and spoiled her for around three days until the actual parents came knocking on the door. In the end, she got another daughter after her younger brother had a daughter and couldn't afford to raise another child (especially since she was born sickly). My great-aunt begged to take her instead of giving her up for adoption."
10."The first crush I ever had was the lifeguard at our summer vacation pool. He was 19, and I was seven. I just thought he was super cute, and I had an innocent crush. I learned in my twenties that after my parents' divorce, my mom actually slept with the lifeguard during that time when she was in her mid-thirties. Like mother like daughter, I guess..."
11."My father's arrest at a rodeo in his teens was not just a little dustup. He beat another person so badly the victim almost died. He was 15 years old. This led to his mom kicking him out, complete estrangement from his mom and siblings, and his eventual adoption by his best friend's family."
12."I didn't find out until 15 years after the fact that when my uncle divorced his wife and got with another woman, it was because they were swingers. The husbands decided to just 'swap wives.' Now they're hardcore Bible thumpers."
13."My grandpa died when I was seven years old and my grandma (his wife) died about four years ago. We found out my grandpa got someone pregnant 40+ years ago, and the kid came looking for my grandpa when he was an adult. My grandma and grandpa paid this guy $40,000 to basically never contact them again and 'not exist' to the rest of my family. We found all this out after my grandma died due to going through all her paperwork when sorting her house. Wild stuff."
14."There was a dictator in power for thirty years in my country of origin. Both my great-grandfather and grandfather did horrible things to innocent people and carried out mass killings. I wanted to write my grandfather’s memoir, but he refused, saying that the survivors might come for our family if the truth of his crimes ever came to light. He never had remorse for his actions and was even buried in his uniform."
15."My grandparents killed my mother's baby brother through neglect. He had a bad cold, and they went away and left him in a house without any heat. He died from pneumonia."
16."My best friend growing up was actually my half-brother who my dad conceived with a family friend."
17."My father was on his deathbed, and I ran to the train station and hopped on a five-hour train to see him in the hospital. When I walked into the room, there were two women (older than me by 20 years) holding him and calling him dad. A huge WTF moment — who were these people?!!!! I went through my head and realized he had another family my entire life. He passed away the next day. I still am shocked."
18.And finally, "My narcissistic mom set our trailer house on fire in 2003, used me as an alibi, and set my nonverbal autistic brother up as the 'fall guy.' We were both in the third grade. She got insurance money and lots of charity donations from the incident. She also got hella sympathy from the community we lived in and the one we moved to right after."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
