Everybody has secrets. We all have those skeletons in our closets that we wish would just stay hidden in there. Most secrets are small and just embarrassing, but some people carry with them secrets that, if revealed, could ruin their entire lives. The people in the following stories share how they learned the big, terrible secrets someone close to them was keeping.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
A Secret With Consequences
“I never knew my father growing up. As an adult, I found him living in another country. I got to know him over the years and was able to travel and meet him a few times. He was an interesting guy but had no intention of moving back to the U.S.
At the same time that he left the U.S, his brother moved out of state and gave up drinking for good. Here it is, decades later, and his brother is still dry, and my father still won’t return to the U.S.
One night when visiting my father, we got inebriated together, and he told me about him and his brother in a bar in the states. They were inebriated, and a fight started. A man was killed. My father left the country, and his brother fled the state and gave up drinking.
The next morning, my father acted as if nothing was said. I don’t think he even remembered the conversation. I didn’t say a word. There’s no statute of limitations on murder, but it wasn’t exactly a confession. I know the city, state, and the year in which a man in the U.S. died in a bar fight, but I never tried to find out more.
Growing up my entire life without a father, I can’t bring myself to find out more and turn him in now for something that happened in the ’60s. However, I do wonder who else might have grown up without a father because of mine.”
An Act Of Mercy
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“My uncle killed his father. He was 95 years old and in a lot of pain. The doctors let him come home instead of hospice because it was just a matter of time. My uncle (a surgeon) was called after a particularly rough night. He came over with some painkillers and gave them to my grandfather, who relaxed and didn’t say anything. My uncle then prayed with my grandmother and a few other people for a few minutes. When my uncle was done praying, my grandfather stopped breathing and died peacefully.
My family is religious and believed God took him to heaven at the perfect moment. I am not religious and understand that he ingested a lethal dose of painkillers. My uncle likely knew how long it would take and was watching for the signs to finish the prayer at the right moment.
My grandfather had been a family practice doctor, so it is likely that he knew what was happening. I have not shared my opinions with anyone. If anyone else in my family suspects anything, they have not said a word.”
Some Things Can’t Be Changed With A Prayer
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“My teenage crush took it badly when I stopped being interested in him and spent a while trying to sabotage everything I did, including talking to teachers to try to shut down multiple student organizations. It’s been a long time, but we’re still not each other’s fans.
I’m not going to say anything, but I’m pretty sure his Christian fiancee who is waiting for marriage to ‘consummate the relationship’ wouldn’t be too thrilled to know about the time when he spent a year hooking up with gay men who he met by posting adult photos online.”
Secrets To Destroy The Whole Town
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“I used to work at a computer repair shop, and I found out some bizarre stuff about people throughout the town.
The school counselor at the local Christian academy is REALLY into hardcore BDSM. Like incredibly hardcore BDSM, ageplay, diaper play, crushing, sounding, etc.
He was one of those older guys that stooped over and looked like a basset hound. This was in the DEEP south. Think Alabama/Louisiana/Georgia area. It’s not that he didn’t clear his browser history (he didn’t) they were BOOKMARKED at the top of the browser, so I was going to download hitman pro or something, and BAM hardcore BDSM. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking any of that stuff, but I could ruin his life.
Honestly, the creepiest part about it was when he dropped it off he told us, ‘Watch out, there’s some strange stuff on there.’
I think the weirdest thing I found though, was some guy who had about 20 gigs of epubs/pdf’s that were just stories of adult men doing it with little girls. No actual pictures, drawn or otherwise, just like 20-page short stories.
There was also a guy who had one of those slideshow backgrounds on his computer, and he had all pictures selected so there’d be pictures of his family/kids, nature, then girl touching their toes in very creative ways.”
Finding Out About More Than Just Where The Christmas Present Are
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“The dad who raised my cousin isn’t his dad. My aunt slept with one of my dad’s brothers. The first clue was, well, we look like brothers, not cousins. Our fathers are brothers; mothers are sisters.
Secondly, when my uncle killed himself, he wrote a letter, and only my grandmother was allowed to read it. That’s where he spilled the beans.
My grandmother told my mother because she thought it was only right. My mom is GREAT at keeping secrets; unfortunately, she’s also got a habit of keeping a diary.
I, unfortunately, had a habit of reading said diary around Christmas/birthdays to find out what she bought for me. “
Plot Twist
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“An old acquaintance intentionally screwed with his wife’s birth control to get her pregnant. He figured the kid would keep her busy while he was sleeping around. He genuinely loves being a dad and said the kid is the best thing that has ever happened to him.
His wife was sleeping around when he did it, and there’s a good chance the kid isn’t his.”
Someone’s Living A Lie
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“My aunt was 30 and married a guy who was 70. She wanted another baby, but he had had a vasectomy years earlier. She ended up banging a 50-year-old repair man and getting knocked up. She told her husband it was a miracle and he bought it. A few years later, her husband committed suicide, and in his obituary, it listed his adult kids and said he was the proud father of a ‘miracle baby.’ I can’t believe she would stoop that low. His kids had to have known. She ended up living with the repairman for years, but the kid didn’t know that was his real dad, even though they have the SAME NAME. Yes. My aunt even named the kid after the repairman. She thinks I don’t know, but I do. She told my mom, and my mom told me. I’m pretty sure my cousin would be destroyed if he found out. He’s an adult now, so his whole life is a lie.”
I Know All Your Secrets
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“I was paid to read co-workers’ emails (including HR) and report anything out of the ordinary to my manager on a weekly basis. This was during the height of a big poaching campaign from another company. They were actively recruiting our staff and offering loads of money to those who jumped ship. Okay, I thought, no big deal.
Then I was told to create bogus social media accounts (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram) to see who was connecting with who and if photos of illegal substance use, etc. were being posted, to report my findings.
Finally, I was asked to create fake profiles for online dating sites and report back when I found anyone in the company on there.
When it came to our annual remuneration, I wrote exactly what I did and within a week, they had a juicy severance package for me. When I pointed the finger at my bosses, they denied, denied, denied. HR asked that I sign a non-disclosure and they would throw in even more cash.
I sensed this would happen from day one, so I backed up an external hard drive every month with every sensitive email I could find. I’m still sitting on them, and that company did a lot of illegal stuff.”
She Has More Native American Blood In Her Then You Know
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“My best friend’s mom had a baby when we were in middle school. We are all white (this is relevant). My best friends step dad is white. She’s white. The mom’s white. Everyone is white. This baby comes out looking very Native American. The mom laughs it off as ‘We have some Native American blood in our line that came out!’ The dad is oblivious or in denial. It’s a small town, and no one says anything.
At the same time, In middle school, my other best friend and I fixed all the school’s computer systems. We got called to do a bus driver’s computer because it crashed. Lo and behold he has a picture of the ‘surprise Native American baby’ on his desk. She looks exactly like him.
This friend and I have never told a soul that we know who the real dad is.”
A Wife’s Revenge
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“My partner has been cheating on me for months with various women under the guise of work (he’s a photographer). How did I find out? He posts the videos on his Adultwork profile, to which I have recently gained access. I have screenshots of thousands of pictures and hundreds of videos of him making the beast with two backs with about 100 women (and a couple of TV’s).
I am planning on releasing this information to anyone who will listen. Especially his parents and the mother of his child.”
Some Secrets Are Better Left Secret
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“I have some information surrounding the founding and earlier years of the Mormon church that isn’t available to the general public. As a descendant of Joseph Smith these secrets have been passed down through my family, and if I let loose, it could destabilize the leadership of the church.
I am not an active member of the church, and I do not believe in it. However, I recognize that for a majority of people involved in it, the church is a very positive influence providing support to its community. I recognize that the leadership has done some questionable things however it is my opinion that causing so much damage to the church would cause more harm than good on the grand scheme of things.”
Just Some Fun
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“When I was 19 years old, I was seeing this woman in her mid-30s. She was in the process of getting divorced, and her husband had left the country. I wanted it and was usually on something or inebriated. After months of this going on and eventually him coming back into the country, she started to see him again. I was getting bored being involved with the drama, and she never got divorced. He knew she was seeing someone else, but he was too so I don’t think they cared.
I wish I could have got to know the 8-year-old child that was the result of our time together, but the dude thinks it’s his. They have decent jobs/family/life/home and seem like they are doing pretty good judging from the last time I checked her Facebook. I would never want to fracture something like that especially for reasons of malice, sure I would have loved to have some involvement but in general I’m messed up/a waste of space and would rather him get the best development he could, maybe one day in the future but its probably for the best and seems selfish to get involved.”
Not There When He Was Needed The Most
“The reason my dad wasn’t there right away for my mom when her dad died was that he was with another woman.
I had suspected from the beginning because he wasn’t picking up his phone. He was a valet at the time so it wasn’t uncommon because sometimes he’d be running back from dropping off a car at the lot and wouldn’t feel the call. So I called his work so they could tell him to check his phone but they said he wasn’t working that day.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to check his phone the next day and saw a text message about meeting up with this woman he worked with at his other job. He was with her and told me and my mom he was working.
My parent’s marriage was falling apart at that point, but I love and respect both my parents too much to ever tell her I know. Even though they are divorced now, I know it would break her heart to find that out, especially since that woman he was with is now my stepmom.”
Getting What You Deserve
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“For about a year nobody in my department was getting paid for exactly one lunch per week. See our students go out into the community once a week and on those days we were never given a lunch break. I didn’t realize until the end of the year that our pay stubs did not reflect this extra hour of work.
I had my entire department in my school (not the whole district) write out a full years worth of vouchers and submit them to be paid, roughly $400/person. It was denied (as I expected it would be). The next week the district started demanding we get scheduled lunches for that day each week. We never pursued anything after that point for some reason. I guess we didn’t want to be bothered.
Anyway, fast forward to the summer when I emailed HR about an unrelated issue. HR lady was a huge jerk, and in the email, for some reason, she dropped a nice piece of evidence against herself, ‘You were specifically told not to voucher for unpaid lunch days throughout the year.’
I don’t want to start anything because even though I get paid horribly for my job, I like my colleagues. I imagine if I put in a complaint with the state with that specific piece of evidence I could probably get her easily fired.”
He Had It Coming
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This guy made the mistake of seriously angering me. What he thinks I don’t know:
- He’s had four bankruptcies – he can’t even get a place in his name at this point. He goes all out to hide that.
- He’s had five counts of domestic violence, culminating in restraining orders.
- He has cheated on all four of his previous wives and is already cheating on the soon-to-be-fifth.
- The only reason he has a car and can drive as much as he does is his job which pays for gas and maintenance. He has already wrecked two thanks to a phone game.
- He violated one of the restraining orders, and I have pictures to prove it.
- He has repeatedly broken into his most recent ex’s house and continues to stalk her.
Complicated Family Situation
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“My dad died the day after my 15th birthday by slipping off of a roof he was remodeling at his company’s construction site and hit his head. Everyone in my family was devastated including, but not limited to, my stepmom, stepsisters, entire step-family, and my dad’s narcotics anonymous ‘family’ with whom I was VERY close. Two weeks later, my stepmom tells me that she’s pregnant, having no filter I asked whose baby it was. She was shocked, but she was lying to my face because I knew she had been sleeping with my dad’s brother. My mom is the only one who saw them sleeping together multiple times in the middle of the night after my dad died, which she let me know about right away.
She said it was my dad’s and I went along with it. This baby became a ‘miracle baby’ because everyone knew that two years earlier my dad had a vasectomy, and then she just so happens to become pregnant two weeks after his death. I only ever told my littlest stepsister about them sleeping together. Whom with I looked through my stepmom’s phone and we found texts from my uncle to my stepmom saying things like, ‘I would take care of you forever if you’ll let me,’ and ‘I could love you.’
A few months go by, and my uncle was living in my old room at my dad and stepmom’s house, helping pay the bills when she mysteriously kicks him out, and he comes to live with my mom and I. We never asked any questions because we knew already. My stepmom then comes to my mom and me and says that she’s going to sue the owner of the building my dad was remodeling for x amount of money and says we’ll all get more if I sue with her. The owner of the building was a close family friend, which is the reason that we didn’t want to sue him. He was my grandpa’s best friend and back in the day my grandpa and he built this building together.
She ends up winning the lawsuit that she went along with and had the baby, my newest ‘half-sister,’ but my cousin. My mom knew she had to do something to protect me since I didn’t get anything from the death of my father. So we began a lawsuit against my stepmom. That’s when it all kicked off. We made a statement that the newest addition to the family was not my father’s child and proved that my father’s marriage to my stepmom was never legal in the eyes of the government but that they just had a ceremony. My stepmom refused to take paternity tests and changed her last name to my father’s after he had died. We ended up settling in court because we all just wanted it to end. The secret I had that could destroy someone ended up ruining my relationship with anyone who was close to my dad AND my stepmom because everyone sided with her. Including my little stepsister. Every one of them now thinks that I am a cruel, lying, piece of garbage who tried to destroy this perfect image they all have of my stepmom. I know in my heart though that the truth will show itself like it always does eventually. I just wish people could still be honest. Everything would be so much less complicated.
A few years later my uncle who I always remained close with came to me and told me straight up that he was sleeping with my stepmom after my father’s death and that the baby was his. He told me that he called her and told her that he told me and she said, ‘No matter what you say I am going to believe it’s [my dad’s name],’ and hung up on him.”