His Behavior Changed And They Had No Idea Why
“My wife’s uncle is an incredibly nice guy who absolutely adores his wife. We started hearing about marital issues. He was becoming more and more argumentative. And then he hit her. They separated. He harassed her to the point that she got a restraining order. He defied the restraining order and was put in jail.
In jail, his issues got him a medical evaluation. Turns out, he had a brain tumor. They removed it. He returned to normal and was released from jail. They’re back together with him back to his wife-adoring self.”
When Everyone Found Out What She’d Done, She Just Disappeared
“In middle school, a guy (John) and a girl (Chelsea, fake names) were in our friend group. They started dating in 7th grade. John was a great looking dude, had a great personality, and was a star athlete: star quarterback, point guard, and pitcher all through high school. He went all-state in every single sport he played.
Chelsea was drop-dead gorgeous, down to earth, a good cheerleader, and crazy book smart. Straight A’s all through school, teacher’s pet, and never missed a day of class. They were absolutely perfect together; they never seemed to have any serious issues and everyone thought they were destined to get married. They were voted Best/Cutest couple our senior year for the yearbook.
Our senior year was coming to a close and John got a full ride to a big D1 college for baseball. Chelsea got a full ride to the same college for academics. It really seemed like they’re destined to be together and this was just the next step in their relationship.
That is…until one of the other cheerleaders walked in on Chelsea with the head basketball coach (he was a good-looking, fun dude in his early 30s, basically an older version of John) after school in a locker room two weeks before graduation. The news spread like wildfire. The coach resigned the next day, no idea what happened to him, but Chelsea fell off the face of the earth. No one could get in contact with her, not John, not her friends, literally no one. She soon deleted all her social media accounts. She wasn’t at school for the next two weeks and she didn’t walk at graduation. People tried getting in contact with her that summer, but no one could get a response or track her down. She ghosted everyone, her boyfriend of six years, friends she had grown up with since we were kids, all of us.
John was devastated, but he went on to college to play baseball, graduated, and seems to be living a great life now with a solid career and amazing girlfriend.
It wasn’t until a couple years after we graduated that someone was finally able to track Chelsea down. Her mom finally admitted to a friend that she had Chelsea shipped off to the other side of the country to live with some other family and go to a fallback college in that city to avoid all the backlash and fallout of what she had done. Someone was able to find Chelsea’s new Facebook based on this information. Come to find out, she got married at 20 and has a couple of kids. She never completed college, even though she originally had a full academic ride. She seems happy, I guess, based on the Facebook photos, but she ignores and blocks any of us that try to contact her.
Legit biggest plot twist I’ve ever seen and this happened nine years ago now.”
The Best Way He Could Get To Know Him
“I was adopted from South America to the US when I was a toddler and have no memory of my birth parents. I had an older friend/mentor I met in college. I knew him as Mike. He got me involved in the local church and always went out of his way to help me when I needed someone. I never got to thank him for being there for all the times I needed him. After graduating from college I got to meet my birth mother. She did not know where my father was though. When she died, I got a few of her belongings including some pictures. Guess who was in those pictures?
Mike. He was my birth father.
I tried to reach out to him again and I haven’t heard anything. No one seems to know where he is now. He knew all of those years that he helped me and went out of his way. I knew this because he always seemed to help me even though he didn’t need to. Back then I just thought he was especially nice but thinking back now he definitely knew something about our relationship that I did not.”
Locked Into A Love Battle She Wasn’t Supposed To Be In
“I was seeing a guy from Tinder for a couple of months but it fizzled out and we stopped talking. I was on Tinder again shortly after and matched with a girl (I’m bi) who told me to follow her on Instagram. I noticed the Tinder guy also followed her, so I asked how she knew him. She hit me with, ‘He was dating my best friend for ages but they broke up a couple weeks ago because he was banging some girl from Tinder.’
I reply with ‘Oh no…’ which she figured that meant I was the girl. Which I was. I later messaged her friend and she was happy that I told her what happened, though.
The guy actually messaged me recently and said he wishes he chose me, yuck!”
She Saw Her High School “Stalker” Again In The Strangest Place
“When I was a senior in high school, there was freshman girl that ‘Single White Femaled’ me. She would follow me around and tell me how cool and funny I was. She asked what hair product I used, what body spray, where I bought my clothes, etc.
I was not funny or cool, and honestly, it was flattering at first. She styled her hair like mine but it was a high school in the 90’s and we all pretty much did our hair the same. Then she started dressing like me. Then she got involved in all the activities I was in. Then she started telling people we were cousins. She found my home number in the phone book (again, the 90’s) and would call me all the freaking time. It was weird. I just went out of my way to avoid her.
After my graduation ceremony, she found me on the field and hugged me. She was sobbing- big ugly, snotty sobs- telling me how she was going to miss me and the school wouldn’t be the same without me there. I peaced out and then completely forgot about her.
Flash forward nine years and I’m just beginning to date the man that is now my husband. We’re going through old pictures and I see this girl from high school. And I’m like, ‘Hey! I know this girl! She was this weird chick that stalked me in high school! Why do you have a picture of her?’
It was his ex-wife.”
“There’s A Strange Man Sneaking Around My House!”
“During the last year of my grandfather’s life, he had dementia and was having trouble keeping track of reality. Before he was placed into hospice, he kept complaining about a man that was in his house. He would say that he would come around at night and that he was taking his things and using his stuff. Grandma, of course, kept reassuring him that she was the only one there. His doctor increased his medications because he was losing touch with reality so badly.
Fast forward to my grandfather’s funeral and a man showed up who wasn’t known by more than a few people in the family. Turns out, he was an old friend of my grandmother’s who showed up to give his support. In a small town like that, it wasn’t exactly an unusual thing to have random people show up to the funeral home who knew the person at some point.
Well, about a year later, my grandmother let slip that she was seeing someone: the guy from the funeral. At this point nothing too odd, they got to talking at church and we thought it was sweet.
Then a bit later sweet, innocent ol’ grandma mentioned that it was their third anniversary.
Grandpa died two years prior. This man was the person that grandpa saw in his house every night. He was the reason that everyone thought grandpa was going crazy, he was the reason that my grandfather was medicated to the point of being a vegetable for the last horrible year of his life.”
A Beautiful Marketing Ploy
“The little town I grew up in had these two car dealerships on opposite sides of town – one Chevy, one Ford.
They were bitter rivals. Attack ads, bad mouthing talking salesman, billboard wars, you name it.
When the owner of the Chevy dealership died, it came out he’d also owned the Ford dealership by way of a shell company. No one saw that coming, including a lot of the higher-ups who worked at the dealerships.”
They Always Thought Grandpa Spent His Nights At The Pub
“My grandfather’s funeral. He was always a fairly reserved and distant father, as far as I understood. He would definitely fit the stereotype of a northern dockworker who comes home expecting dinner to be on the table and then goes to the pub all evening via the bookies.
Anyway, an unsurprising heart attack later, we all gathered for his funeral. We’re a big, but close family so we know everyone, including his friends. However, one guy turns up, about the same age as my dad and his siblings, who nobody knew.
Long story short, turns out it was my grandfather’s son. From another family. From another marriage. That went on for as long as his marriage to my grandmother. My grandfather had maintained two marriages over 40 years, having seven children with my grandmother and just the one with this other woman. They knew about our family and kept away. Apparently, my grandmother knew about them but kept quiet.
Turns out he wasn’t going to the pub every night.”
When Things Don’t Work Out With One Brother…
“One of my good friends in high school started hanging out with this guy from the other public high school in our city and before long, they were basically joined at the hip. She had a HUGE crush on him and was pretty sure he liked her too, but she’d never had a boyfriend before and was too shy to make the first move. One night they were hanging out and he told her he had something huge to confess…he was gay.
They remained close friends. Then a few months later at a party, the guy introduced all of us to his younger (by one year) brother. The dude and his brother looked similar, had similar personalities and the exact same sense of humor. Fast forward 20 years and my friend is happily married to the brother, her best friend is her brother-in-law, and he and his husband are godfathers to her kids.
Sometimes the painful crush on the gay dude pays off.”
The “Thief” Was Somehow Familiar…
“1991, I was 19 and had just signed the lease for my first (solo) apartment. I just got the first paycheck from my new job and I deposited the paycheck at an ATM (another first! I’d always gone into the bank to do it). Two weeks later, I got my bank statement in the mail and saw with horror that I had only $1.87 in my account. Way wrong, I should have at least $200, I’d been very careful with my spending. I freaked, I came within $2 of bouncing my first rent check.
I was literally reaching for the phone to call the bank when the phone rang. It’s the police, asking if my ATM card was stolen. I checked my wallet and the card was missing (my job at a theater pub came with cash tips so I didn’t use the card often), and told them I was about to call them anyway because I was missing $200 from my account. ‘Well, we’ve got your card, and your $200, so come down to the police station,’ they told me.
I couldn’t figure out how they have my card AND the cash. It just didn’t make sense, so I drove down there.
The detective said someone (let’s call him Bob) pulled in to use an ATM and saw a man acting suspiciously while he was using it: moving back and forth as if trying to dodge the camera. Bob said the man then left the ATM, got into a car, and drove away at high speeds as if fleeing the scene. Bob then went to the ATM and put his card in, which popped out. Bob then withdrew $200, and then another ATM card popped out. My card. Bob’s card had popped out because the crook had left my card in the ATM before speeding away. Bob realized he had withdrawn the money from my account, not his, so he brought my card and the cash to the police and reported the attempted theft.
The detective gave me the description of the crook. According to Bob, it was a man 5’7″, brown hair, round gold-rimmed glasses. I say out loud, ‘So, about my height, my color hair, and glasses like mine,’ before realizing Bob was describing me.
I’d never deposited a check in an ATM before, so I was moving back and forth, following the instructions on the screen, filling out the envelope with my account number, punching the amount in, etc. I then forgot to take my card out and just left because I’m a giant idiot. I drove away at high speeds because I was 19 and that’s how I drove everywhere.
Worried the detective might be annoyed, I didn’t tell him I was the crook, I just thanked him and left with the money I ‘stole’ from myself. Somewhere in a box in my closet, I still have the police report where I’m both the victim and the perp.”
Everyone Was So Bummed They Couldn’t Go To The Wedding
“A few years ago, I got invited to a friend’s engagement party. They were throwing a huge bash because they were planning on a very small destination wedding. Later in the evening, my friend’s fiancé took the mic and started thanking everyone for being there. ‘Sorry, Jen will be out to thank you guys in a minute, she’s just having a wardrobe malfunction.’ He went on to tell the story about how they met, how they were best friends and decided to get engaged and finished with something along the lines of, ‘We wish you could all be there and that we could get married right now. So we’re going to.’
Out walks Jen in her wedding dress.”
You Never Know Who’ll You Might Meet Online
“I met a guy online, he was cool, found out he lived less than wo hours from where I live.
We meet up. First time seeing each other’s actual faces.
Total doppelgangers.
Turns out his father is my bio father’s older brother. Both our bio dads bailed before we were born. We both were abused as kids by teachers (him at 15, me at 13). Both us have soy allergies and Lysinuric Protein Intolerance (it’s genetic).
And both of us joined the army and failed out during BCT due to undiagnosed mental health issues.
Our lives had run parallel to each other. He’s only a year older than me.
We meet every month for drinks.”
How A Jealous Friend Wrecked A Relationship
“My high school sweetheart’s best friend let me know that my girlfriend cheated on me with multiple guys at a party. I broke things off with her that same day. It was a very nasty breakup.
Years and years later, I got a message on Facebook from her best friend. She explained to me that my high school sweetheart never cheated on me, she just wanted to break us up so that she could have me for herself because I seemed like the ‘perfect boyfriend.’
Her plan backfired because I thought she was ugly, inside and out, and as soon as I broke things off with my girlfriend, I wanted nothing to do with her. Between her plan failing and the guilt of ruining an otherwise great relationship, she decided to keep her mouth shut.
I don’t know if she told her best friend, but I know that I never will.”
His Humanitarian Work Wasn’t So Humane After All
“My sister’s boyfriend decided that he wanted to do more with his architecture skills, so he gave his two weeks notice and moved to Haiti to help rebuild after the earthquake. They stayed together. He had bad phone service, so they mostly kept in touch through emails. He would send her long emails with photos and stories of what they were doing. This went on for a couple of months.
One off-handed tip from a co-worker and a week of sleuthing later and it turns out he never went to Haiti. He moved to Seattle to be with his fiance and partner of nine years.”
Why You Should Always Talk About Relatives On The First Date
“I met this girl out at a bar, got her name and number and we agreed to meet up for lunch. Lunch dates are nice because you automatically have a discreet timeframe.
We were chatting before ordering and we got to talking about who I knew from the small town she was from. I mentioned that she has the same last name as my cousins who live there, just spelled differently. She asked who and I couldn’t remember their first names, but the two youngest are twins. She said, ‘X and Y?’
I said, ‘YES! that’s it!’ We aren’t a terribly close family.
I looked at her and she was curled up in the smallest posture in what feels like she is sitting behind her chair as she said, ‘I was married to X.’
I let out a tremendous laugh and said, ‘I thought you sort of looked familiar. You were at grandpa’s funeral right?’ She says yes, and I smirked saying, ‘Thought you were cute then too.’
I hadn’t eaten yet and was starving, so we ordered a sandwich and tried to pretend it wasn’t weird.
When the date ended, I called my mom immediately and told her coyly about the date I had.
Me: ‘Hey mom.’
Mom: ‘Hey honey, how’s it going?’
Me: ‘I just went on this date with this great girl, so much in common blah blah blah, I don’t know if we’ll see each other again though.’
Mom: ‘Why not?’
Me: ‘You and Dad went to her first wedding!’
Couldn’t have made a story up that was this good if I tried.”
A Flight To Remember
Wiaan Coffee/Shutterstock
“I was on a flight from Paris to Boston. I had the aisle seat across from a little hall of bathrooms in the middle of the plane. At one point, a man from a few rows up went into a bathroom and after a couple of minutes, he came out and just stood in the aisle, which got my attention. He kept going in and coming back out, looking up towards where he was sitting. I looked over, too, and saw a woman who was sitting next to his empty seat shaking her head at him, but he didn’t give up. Finally, after like five times of coming in and out, he finally got the woman to come back there. The lights were out and most of the plane was sleeping. Once she came back to him, they started making out in the bathroom hallway before he went into one and pulled her in with him.
They were in there for quite a while. Then he came out and went back to his seat and a few minutes later, she came out and did the same. They were really flirty in their seats and about an hour later, they repeated the whole thing. The man went in and then she joined him. They ended up doing this three times throughout the flight. My husband, who was sitting next to me, had caught on to what they were doing as well and we made a joke about how they must be newlyweds on their honeymoon.
We got off the plane and the woman was standing at the gate waiting and the man was nowhere in sight. As the people from the back of the plane get off, a completely different man went up to her, gave her a kiss on the lips, and asked her if she was able to get any sleep on the flight. He even called her dear. Then they walked off towards the luggage area with their arms around each other. So apparently what we thought was an adventurous newlywed couple was actually a woman hooking up with her seatmate while her husband was sitting in the back of the plane.”