Siblings can either be the best of friends or each other's worst nightmare. Whether it's pulling pranks on one another or typical sibling fights, it can get tiring. Most siblings grow out of the phase, but for some people, their childhood sibling terror was only the beginning. In the following stories, people share the moment they realized their siblings were truly evil.
Warning: content may be graphic for some readers.
That’s One ‘Sympathetic’ Sister
“It’s interesting really. My mom died recently. When I called my sister to come down the day before she died, she said ‘I thought she was going to die today. I’m not disappointed, but I can’t keep missing work.’
The next day I called her to come to the hospital again as the doctor and I made the decision to take her off the ventilator. On the phone she said ‘Well, can we pull out the tube as soon as I get there because I have plans tonight.’
She also proceeded to ask me for rent money that day, as I also live with her.
The things they say, and don’t realize how messed up it is really baffling.”
An Absolute Nightmare
“I’m going on six years of not speaking with my sister. She was adamant that the world was too populated and people should only have one kid. My wife and I had two kids, and she complained about it all the time. Then I fell off a ladder at work and was out of work on disability for about nine months. She got on my case for living off the government and that we shouldn’t have had another kid if we couldn’t afford it (we had our second son before I had my accident). I tried to explain that my disability wasn’t a government handout, it was an insurance policy that my employer and I had paid the premium on, and I was only getting it BECAUSE I FELL OFF A LADDER.
She never called and said, ‘hey, how’s your back?’ She never showed interest in her nephews. She was just an absolute nightmare 100% of the time.”
Even Their Mom Was Scared
“When I was 10, my mom put a lock on my door because my brother started threatening to kill me and my mom in the night. When I was 14, he fixated on my mom and threatened to burn down our house, shoot my whole family, steal all the valuables, and then drive away.
That same year, (he was 17), he took our car and ran away from home for two weeks. We ended up calling the police on him. When he came home, the police decided that it would be best if he lived somewhere else, so he did. As we were cleaning out his room we found hundreds of knives, a hand weapon, lighter fluid, gasoline and lighters.”
Time To Float
“I was playing with a suitcase while watching TV. I was small enough to fit myself in it. My brother, nearly four and a half years older than me, saw what I was doing and asked to zip me up in it. After already having learned to never trust him, I asked our mom to watch us to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.
He zipped me up inside the suitcase and started carrying it in a shuffle-step.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I heard the sliding door to the enclosed patio open, my mom started screaming and I could hear her slapping my brother repeatedly. The suitcase fell over onto its side with me still in it.
I managed to pry open the zippers from the inside and got myself out of the suitcase as quickly as possible. My mom was still slapping at my brother, screaming ‘Why?!’
I was two feet away from being dumped inside a suitcase into the family hot tub.
He laughed and said that I would have floated, what’s the big deal?
So, yeah, that’s what it was like growing up with a sociopath.”
She Ruins Countless Lives
“Growing up, she had total control of my life. She criticized what I wore, listened to, ate, everything. If I was different I was weird, if I liked what she liked then I was copying her. She tried to scare me multiple times with weapons and knives, claiming she never would actually hurt me, but she would hold up a samurai sword to my throat and tell me if I moved I died.
Eventually she had at kid when she was 19, and I was 16, and for a year, she was a good mother and then decided she didn’t want to be a mom anymore. I’ve seen her ruin countless people’s lives, spanning from just stringing them along to drowning their bank accounts to contributing to them being put in jail for domestic abuse (she’s still waiting for trial on her charge).
I despise her and she is not family to me. I had so many issues growing up that only stemmed from things she did to me and I don’t want to see my niece grow up like that. My parents are doing a wonderful job of raising her but she doesn’t understand why mommy isn’t there and it breaks my heart.”
He Wrote Down His Plan
“I’m not even totally sure of my older brother’s diagnosis, but several years ago I found out through his journal that he had an elaborate plan to murder me and had apparently attempted to before, but couldn’t go through with it. His reasoning was mostly because I was mean to him as a child, but really he was the one cruel to me?
The part that really messes me up is that both my parents knew about his wish to kill me and never said anything to me, let us sleep under the same roof. They always coddled and treated him differently. He is severely mentally ill, likely a psychopath, has been in a mental hospital now for several years. I cut contact with my parents as soon as I moved out.”
I’m Even Scared Of This Kid
“My 6-year-old brother once asked my mom if he could have some of her fries, she said yes and asked why. He replied with ‘So I can kill seagulls.’ She asked why, and he replied with ‘so I can bait them and then kill them with rocks’. My mom also asked why he would do that, and he answered ‘because I don’t play enough Fortnite.’
Another time my friend accidentally stepped on my dogs paw and was like, ‘oh god I’m so sorry!!’ Then, my brother from the other room yelled ‘I wish I could break the dogs paw!’ He’s done other things like talk about how he wouldn’t miss me if I died and such. I’ve also had dreams about him killing everyone I know like family, pets and friends.”
Once Pathological Liar Always a Pathological Liar
“My narcissistic brother is almost 10 years older than me, so I don’t remember a lot of the things he did. I know the stories, though. He left home at 16. We did have a relationship as adults, but I cut it off realizing that he hadn’t changed. He’s stolen from my family members, is a pathological liar, and a con man to say the least… we call him ‘Con Man Don.’ He has even lied to his children about having cancer. He is a piece of work. He has never ever acknowledged anything he’s done, in fact he acts like none of it ever happened. As of now, we do not talk. I am close to his children. I get joy out of family events my brother actually attends because I make him super uncomfortable.
I also have an older sister who has gas lighted me my entire life. I didn’t realize it till adulthood when people would point out her behavior to me, and question it. She’s narcissistic in many ways too, never sees the error of her own ways. I can be around her, but I have to keep it limited. I finally learned to have boundaries!”
Truly A Psycho
“My sociopath older sister and I shared a bedroom growing up. I slept on my stomach with my head under the pillow and my stuffed animals on both sides because she would beat me in my sleep. She would lock me in our old spider infested shed instead of ‘babysitting’ me. She would invite me to hang with her and her friends (all I wanted was to be included) in our room…everyone would be really nice to me for like 5 minutes before my sister would snap and beat me while her friends laughed. They bullied me all day, every day. I was sweeping the kitchen one afternoon, and she walked in…snatched the broom out of my hands and proceeded to beat me with it. Telephone receivers, tennis rackets, soccer cleats, and hair brushes were her weapons of choice.
Once when I was 18, I still lived at home, and she lived a couple miles away. I just got off work, and she showed up at my parents and invited me to hang out at her place and told me to bring my weed…knowing she was just using me, I told her I was tired and didn’t want to go anywhere. She left and about an hour later I left to get a pack of smokes. As I’m driving down my parents street away from their house, I see my sister barreling down the street towards me. Needless to say, she plowed right into me, totaled my car.
Currently, my mother, my brother, his partner, his ex-wife and her husband and my 18-year-old niece all have restraining orders against my now 44-year-old sister. She has been banned from grocery stores and other public places for her explosive (I’m just being honest) tirades on other customers. She was arrested for assaulting one of the aforementioned family members and as the cops were putting on the cuffs on her, she said, ‘I should have curb stomped the brat.’
Side note…my dad bails her out of every legal situation she has ever been in, so she has never been held accountable for her behavior. She literally believes laws exist for other people and not her. She is a narcissistic sociopath according to ALL the mental health providers I have seen over the last 25 years.”
Like Father, Like Son
“When I was about 12, I realized something is off with our dad and after reading and maturing a few years later I figured it’s that he is a classic case of narcissist (basically he’s exactly like Trump but with no money or twitter followers).
I’m still not 100% sure my brother is also a narcissist but I think he definitely has those tendencies and if unchecked he will spiral when as he gets older.
Growing up he would torture me, but claim that I provoked him so it’s ok for him to beat me up. I was four years younger and a girl, and my parents agreed with him, even now as we’re adults they’d say things like ‘Yeah he was awful, but to be fair you were pretty annoying.’
Our family is super patriarchal, and I was expected to serve my brother- wash his clothes make his lunch, basically be a 50s housewife to him, and me not wanting to do this resulted in him ‘being provoked’ by me and acting horribly. I can’t remember if he would beat me up regularly but I know couple of times he did. My parents just laughed it off as a thing siblings do.
One time when our parents were away he locked me in a bathroom, turned off lights and went out of the house- I was sitting in a dark room for about three or four hours before he came back.
I was a little chubby, and he made huge effort to humiliate me, call me names and point out my size at any opportunity. He made awful songs that were about me being fat, and he taught it to all of his male friends- so anytime he had friends over, these 16-year-old guys would just sing in front of me/ to me about how ugly and fat I am.
One time, and this is the worst I remember him get violent he pulled out a knife at me. He didn’t do anything luckily but I remember I was so scared that I couldn’t fall asleep that night.
Now we’re adults and I can see that a lot of the behavior he displayed he seen from the way our father was towards our mum, so I try to not hold it against him too much. He has a lot of issues and trauma and I think he could use a good therapy though I doubt he will get one. Our relationship is ok, I do love him but I don’t open up to him not do I ever actually care or listen to his opinions. He lies a lot and likes to pretend like he’s doing awesome and I indulge him enough not to challenge him because I know it wouldn’t lead anywhere.
The ones I think were most at fault here were our parents, though my father is a narcissist himself and my mother is blinded by her love for my brother. They’re both wrongly patriarchal so my brother was put first and was in the right above me in most situations. I never felt protected by my parents and when I have children I want to right those wrongs. You can’t force children to like each other but you sure as heck can force them to act respectfully and not hurt each other.”
Jealousy Drives People Crazy
“The thing with narcissists is they HAVE to be the center of attention. If the focus is on a sick relative or someone else who is being celebrated (like a wedding or graduation), they start drama so the focus is back on them.
My sister has always been morbidly obese – once I got engaged, she talked on her blog about how she wanted to lose 100lbs to have all the focus on her at my wedding. Her reasoning was ‘I’m prettier, so I might as well be skinnier than her.’ She obviously didn’t lose the weight so about six months before my wedding she started trying to get pregnant so everyone could talk about her and the future baby at my wedding. Like she couldn’t even have one day when she wasn’t the center of attention.
My last straw was my actual wedding day; I didn’t invite her, so she lashed out and took photos my mother had sent her and wrote all kinds of hateful things on her blog. She tried to take something loving and wonderful and twisted it to cut me down and praise herself. I don’t need that in my life anymore. She will randomly send me emails asking to repair the relationship, but honestly it was never good and there isn’t anything to repair.”
Crazy Cousins
“Not a blood sibling, but my cousin I grew up in the same house with. We considered each other brother and sister.
He committed suicide in 2016, and it wasn’t until then I realized how messed up he was. He was abusive to the family pets (throwing them across the room), constantly said how he’s going to end up in prison for killing someone, and made comments about how assault isn’t abuse if the woman isn’t screaming and fighting back.
When I was 6 to 9 he’d throw me into doors and tackle me to the ground, choking me. Memories of that are far and few due to the gas lighting from the rest of my family.”
One Thing After Another
“My brother was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder at 16.
He’s never had empathy. Children learn empathy at some point, but it was like he never reached that developmental stage. He was unconcerned when people got hurt. He hit and bullied others in school to get what he wanted. Doctors, therapists, medication… Nothing made a difference, and it’s not like there was some kind of trauma or a reason for his behavior. It’s like he was just born wrong.
When he was 10 he started taking and dealing some substances (as a runner for some older teens; you can’t be prosecuted under 14 in Germany). My parents called our version of CPS for help. He got more therapy, some in-patient stays, and his own social worker. He stole my dad’s car when he was 12 and got picked up by the cops. He got his first charges at 14: dealing and assault.
My parents were at their wit’s end and agreed to have him placed in a group home for troubled teens for a year. He was kicked out shortly before the year was up. He came home and seemed to recognize in a clinical, detached kind of way, that he couldn’t go on like this without ending up in prison. He was about 15. He started being less violent, but he had insane delusions of grandeur and needed everyone to comply with whatever he wanted. If they didn’t, he lashed out.
My parents still made him go to therapy. He assaulted my dad and choked him because he didn’t want to. My brother was 16, but also 6’3 and about 190 lbs.
My dad died from a sudden aneurysm when my brother was 16, and he went off the rails completely.
He got a girl pregnant, and she was kicked out by her mom. My mom took her in. The girl was not a bad person, just had some issues, so it wasn’t that surprising that she’d date my brother (who could be charming if the situation demanded it). He beat her up at our house a couple months later while she was still pregnant. That was the last straw for my mom: she kicked my brother out. We helped the girl to find an apartment for her and the baby. Unsurprisingly, my mom caved a short while later and let my brother move back in.
He seemed to think he was the head of the household. My parents never married, so my father’s modest possessions went to me and my brother instead of my mom, and that included the car my dad bought a year before he died. It was the first brand-new car he ever bought, a small one, but he was proud of it. My brother made my mom sell it so he could get ‘his’ half of the money. It wasn’t even an expensive one, and my mom was devastated to lose my dead dad’s little car.
I was 20 then, my brother was 17. He was verbally abusive and basically tortured my mom mentally. He threatened to hit me on a daily basis whenever I didn’t do something or give him something he wanted. He also threatened to kill me a couple of times.
On a particular bad day he told my mom that he’d have no trouble to get a couple guys to run her off the road when she went out. When the threats got stale, he’d beat me up every couple weeks.
There was one particular instance where I was actually afraid he was going to kill me. He did his usual spiel of using me as a verbal punching bag because he had bad a bad day, and I was just burnt out. Didn’t even react anymore. He hit me a couple of times and choked me. No idea how, but I fought him off, grabbed my phone and ran to the bathroom where I locked myself in before he could get to me again. He was trying to beat down the door while I called the cops.
The cops did nothing. Told me he lived there, so we’d have to get along, and since we both said opposing things, nothing would come of it. I insisted they take my statement.
My mom wasn’t home at the time, but she was a wreck anyway and couldn’t deal anymore. A couple days later, my aunt came to visit for a couple of days. My brother was his charming, manipulative self for her. My aunt tried to pressure me into not pressing charges, since apparently I gave myself the dozens of bruises and contusions I had, as my brother had told her.
I was severely suicidal at that point and gave my mom an ultimatum: me or him. She kicked him out again. He came back a year later, and I moved out for college immediately.
I don’t blame my mom much anymore, rock and a hard place and all that, but she never could understand the fact that her love for her son was misplaced. He didn’t have the things that made someone human. He had no empathy, he was not capable of love, he was just an empty shell that went through life trying to get whatever pleasures he so desired by whatever means necessary.
I haven’t spoken to or seen him in about seven years, but my mom’s still in contact with him. He went to Spain when the mother of his daughter tried to get child support. Sometimes, my mom still talks about the things he’s done. A couple examples:
For some reason, his ex-girlfriend started letting him see his daughter, and she flies to Spain with my mom once or twice a year. Or used to, anyway. He locked her in the basement with an adult-size portion of food she threw up on because she couldn’t eat anymore. She was 4 (hard to remember) or so. She doesn’t want to go visit him anymore.
He withheld rent from his Spanish landlord for like 6 months. The landlord had terminal cancer and my brother saw it as a waste to give money to a dying man.
He married a girl in Spain and had another kid, and he now makes a living as a realtor. From what I’ve heard, he still thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind.
I don’t think I’d even go to his funeral if he died.”