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You don't get to choose the family you were born into — you're stuck with the one you have. While this usually includes a fair share of blissful highs, devastating lows, and plenty of mundane in-betweens, that’s not all there is. See, every family has a skeleton or two lurking around in their closets. Often filled with murkier waters, concealed in the nooks and crannies, and kept under lock and key out of fear that they might accidentally get uncovered.
But nothing can remain hidden forever. And if you thought you and your family had some dark mysteries that can never be shared, these startling, scary, and disturbing tales compiled from this 'Ask Reddit' thread may change your mind. "What is the strangest/creepiest secret your family has?" someone asked and inspired hundreds to shine a light on their family riddles.
We at Bored Panda have gathered some of the most chilling confessions spilled in the thread to share with you all. So sit back, buckle up, and be warned: some of these are quite intense and may not be for the weakest of hearts. Be sure to upvote as you go, and let us know about your own experiences in the comments.
Psst! After you’re done reading through this list, check out our earlier post about the most shocking family secrets people ever found out right over here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Great-grandmother was apparently a prostitute in Liverpool. I was actually as proud as hell to find this out, as I have nothing but respect for anyone who will do what they have to do to survive and provide for their family. No shame.
Yayheterogeneity 3 years ago
And what good comes of this knowledge?! It's also one of the major professions where women can be most easily be abused. Yes, there are women who chose it by free will but yes, more than that have been forced by circumstances, neglect and being forced by others.
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DrGirlfriend 3 years ago (edited)
I was trafficked at 15 from Lowell, Ma and taken to Washington D.C.was forced to work for years,every time I escaped with some trick he would rob me or try to lock me away in their house, accept my fate that I'm most likely not going to survive this... start doing drugs to forget. Finally get away, get sober. It's been years but the trauma is still so debilitating I. Crying writing this. no one looked for me no one cared I was gone. I do not recommend. Edie for spelling
October 3 years ago
Hang in there. It is an amazing achievement that you survived and escaped. Be proud of that! And I really hope you will get the help and affection you deserve.
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Sydney Smith 3 years ago
As long as it wasn't a situation where she had a pimp, because that would be her contributing $0 towards her family - pimp would talke 100% of it - while working insane hours and getting the s**t beat out of her constantly. That's not something to be remotely proud of, that is just heartache and despair towards hers and others that are trafficked like that. If it was on her terms then yes, I agree with OP.
deanna woods 3 years ago
There is no shame in being a sex worker. You do what you have to do to pay your bills.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Every employee/worker sells a body part for a paycheck: hands, legs, back, brain. That's what all sex-workers do in their jobs. I don't see the difference.
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
If she was from Liverpool she was probably doing it for fun ...... (kidding ok, although if she was from Manchester ....)
Nitka Tsar 3 years ago
I think your comment is funny. Have an upvote. Of course there really are women and men who do it for fun!
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Peter J. Margesson 3 years ago
I have the greatest respect for people who do this to maintain their families.
RELATED:
#2
My Great Great Great Great Grandfather was busted in England pretending to be an Anglican priest. At the time a marriage was not official if it was not conducted by an Anglican priest, and he'd done ceremonies for quite a swathe of important people. Rather than publicly expose him, thus voiding the marriages he'd presided over, they invented a charge of forging stamps and sentenced him to transportation to the Australian colonies. Thing is, they didn't tell the ship captain or send word to the Governor in Sydney Town that his crime was actually impersonating a priest. When he arrived in Sydney the Governor saw from the ship manifest that there was a preacher on board who had committed a relatively minor crime. They had a lack of priests to minister the colony at the time, so the Governor pardoned him so that he could carry on his ministry, which he did. He started one of the first schools for children of the colony and led rather a worthwhile life from then on (aside from being a fake priest). The school he started still exists. Today it is Sydney Grammar School, one of the country's most elite schools. In their entrance hall they have a giant portrait titled 'Our Glorious Founder'. That's him, my GGGGGF, the dodgy priest.
Seabeast 3 years ago
"Laurence Hynes Halloran was a poet, unordained clergyman and felon who became a pioneer schoolteacher, journalist, and bigamist in Australia..." ___ A bigamist as well! He covered all the bases.
Cara G 3 years ago
This detail is making me giggle due to the reason why the Anglican church was formed in the first place. Henry VIII and his "Great Matter" of trying to get permission from the Vatican to divorce Catherine of Aragon, which was repeatedly denied. This was a nine-year-long saga during which Henry was courting Anne Boleyn and at one point, he sent his delegates to simply ask for a papal dispensation to enter into a second marriage with her. Yeah he thought the Pope would be down with some light bigamy just that one time, just in his case. Until finally he broke from Rome and created the Church of England. Hehe.
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Gavin Johnson 3 years ago
Given that all priests are peddling a work of fiction I can’t see an issue here!
#3
My mother abused me my whole life and one day I finally couldnt take anymore and told a teacher. CPS was called and as soon as my mom realized what was going on she raced to the police station andtold them that an hour previously I had gone crazy and tried to kill my baby sister so that **I** looked like the crazy one and nothing I said would be taken seriously. I was removed from the school in handcuffs and immediately taken to the county courthouse where I had to face my mother in a trial. I chose not to testify because I knew it wouldn't help, but in the end the judge realized that She was crazy and I wasn't. I had the choice between being put in a psychiatric hospital for teens or going home, so I chose the loony bin. Five days later my aunt came from another state and adopted me. My family doesn't talk about it and to this day my mother maintains that I was a horrible child and I was "sent away" for my "own good" and that she is so happy I am better now.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Let me tell you that all the saccharin sentiments in the weeks leading up to Mother's Day is an infernal time for me, even after all these many years.
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Tmartin105 3 years ago
It sounds like you were sent away for your own good...to get away from her
GoGoPDX 3 years ago
This story is so sad and I am sorry the system and all the people who were supposed to help actually failed you! I hope you and your family can realuze that this needs ro be discussed and you all can see a therapist, and start healing
PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
Sadly, much like politics, the very flaws in the system are sometimes the flip side of the protections due to human frailties. The only thing I know to start initiating a change is that anyone (like a therapist, social worker, or even a psychiatrist), who is attempting to guide a troubled individual through a situation fraught with behavioral health issues, be *required* to be healing or recovering from the same or highly similar situation themselves. It is one of the basic dynamics in addiction recovery, that only one who has been through it can effectively be trusted to offer perspective (note I did not say take control or command). Not flawless by any means, as human ego is horrifying and people stray from the service of being guides to discovery, and occasionally an "outsider" is amazingly empathetic, but it ups the ante when one bets on attempting to assist, and is for many of us the *only* link to healing.
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Riley Quinn 3 years ago
My abusive mother had me confined to a psychiatric hospital when I was a teenager while my father was working out-of-state. As frightening as that experience was, I felt safer than being home with her. About a year later, I left home for good except a brief stay many years later to care for my dying father.
Amy Taylor 3 years ago
When I was in high school in the late 80's, a fellow classmate of mine was living in a very similar situation and ended up murdering his mother. Her own parents had tried to take custody of him several times and his mom would report him as a runaway. He wasn't a bad person at all and we were all shocked when it happened. He was only 16 when it happened and was in the California Youth Authority until he turned 25. I hope he's doing okay now.
PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
Yes. There is no shame in this. I am blown away by the thought that OP is charitable enough to even acknowledge their mother's existence...
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marianne eliza 3 years ago
It's more difficult to get a dog license than to have a kid. Birth control should be free to all. No questions, no pamphlets, no sermons. All and every kind of birth control, including surgical.
#4
This'll probably never be seen here, but I think it's funny so here goes: My uncle Rawhide (yes, that's his name; no, we don't interact with him at all) once tried to mug some dude back in the day. The guy didn't have any cash, but he said he'd cut a check if he was given a name. Rawhide was stupid enough to fall for it, and the police apprehended him shortly thereafter.
TheElderNom 3 years ago
I've heard the modern version of this where they offer to transfer money via the bank on their phone or with some app. Supposedly robbers have been caught that way.
#5
I just found out that my grandparents wanted more kids but were having trouble getting pregnant for a second time. They adopted a toddler aged brother and sister when my mother was was 7. Soon after, my grandmother got pregnant, the girl died from a *very* mysterious fall down the stairs and the boy was quietly given to another family. They never, ever spoke of either child from that day forward. I thought she was pulling my leg but a quick search turned up the girls death record.
I was never close to that grandmother and can't help but think back to every weird aspect of that women and all the strange relationships she had with her family.
ALEXANDER DALE 3 years ago
Pretty sure that they are insinuating that the adopted son pushed the daughter down the stairs on accident, and that was the reason they gave him away.
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Chrissyfox 3 years ago
I had a very close friend (she died of heart failure some years ago) who was, along with her twin sister, put up for adoption by the grandmother because the shame of illegitimate grandchildren was too great. The girls were 18 months old at the time. Eventually they were adopted by a childless couple. When he wife became pregnant- ironically with twins - the couple sent them back to the children's home. At the age of 3 they were adopted by a loving couple. Sadly, as adults, one twin was murdered by her boyfriend and my friend died far too young. When their biological mother was told, she just said, well these things happen. SMH.
Freckles 3 years ago
Oh no. That story just got sadder and sadder with every line.
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Benita Valdez 3 years ago
So OP comments to their original post to someone: " Grandfather was a traveling salesman. He brought them back from a sales trip and surprised her with them. (this was 1940) She was at home at the time of the accident and he was out of town. My mother came home from school and Bunny was lying on the bed, motionless and the house was full of strangers talking in hushed tones. At a bare minimum my mother considers the death negligent. The family never spoke of these kids after that and no pictures exist. I am doing an extensive family tree and only found out about the them in that context."
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
The little girls name was Barbara and they called he Bunny
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Catlady6000 3 years ago (edited)
Back in the 30s and 40s there was a huge adoption racket going on. A lot of movie stars and others illegally adopted children, often ordering what they wanted. For example, a blue eyed boy with curly blond hair. Many of these were toddlers and younger stolen from playgrounds and yards. I wonder if these kids were from that. The actress Joan Crawford was known to have adopted 2 children this way
Catpawsarethebest 3 years ago
Oh ok... wow! Poor children! Cant imagine how they must all have felt! Sad!
#6
Condensed version: My parents abused me often. I told some friends about it, and child protective services were called multiple times. My mom convinced me to help her stage a dramatically emotional meeting between me, her, and my middle school guidance counselor, during which I confessed that I made it all up for attention. I made the same “confession” to all of the friends that I told, and was quickly alienated. This all happened under the pretense that it was my fault for telling them, and that I was “destroying the family” if I didn’t cooperate. Now there are at least dozens of people who remember me as a bratty, twisted attention whore.
The Gingersmurf 3 years ago
You are worth goodness and love. You are NOT what your parents did to you. Take care of yourself and the hell with anyone who thinks badly.
Misty-Dawn Amayi 3 years ago
As I stated above, my mother behaved similarly and was diagnosed as a sociopathic narcissist. Your mom's behavior is textbook. You have a superpower though. Only you, can choose who and what influences you and in what way. You are the the only one who can make and act on the choice between which is your priority... Being the helpless and self-defeating victim, or, making yourself a person you can make peace and friends with and making your life one worth living. Surround yourself with rolemodels who have qualities you want to emulate, and be certain to also learn how they balance those great qualities with their not-so-fabulous ones. Your battle is to rewrite your conditioning and personal narrative. I know you can do it, because you survived everything that was done to you for so long with zero to nourish your soul or purpose. Imagine what you can do with all the strength, endurance, and resourcefulness if you turn toward making yourself a product of your will instead of your past.
Cara G 3 years ago
The amount of care, compassion, and wisdom that you displayed here is astonishing, Misty-Dawn. I was raised by a mother who sounds like yours. I too have had to reprogram myself as an adult and now at age 43, I feel genuinely good about myself and the person I've become. And this is how I hope others feel. It IS inspiring to surround yourself with people who motivate you to continue working towards self improvement and it also allows you to be that same inspiration for others. I'm proud of who I am today, I'm proud of you, and I am proud of the OP. Keep being your best, beautiful self! ❤
Load More Replies... PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
MORE Gaslighting :-( I hope you are in a safer place, my friend...
Sydnie Laney 3 years ago
I hope you get away from your parents! I can try teaching you self defense and how to show them they have no right to harm you!
#7
A great Uncle of mine passed away when I was a little boy. The family met at his house after the funeral to start packing things up and all as he had no children and his wife died many years before him.
My great uncle was a highly respected member of his small town. He was a banker of some sorts, deacon in the church, all of those things that made him a good person.
Well tucked away in the attic, not covered by any dust mind you, was a large wooden trunk. Inside this trunk were the purple robes of a KKK Grand Dragon, various member listings, meeting notes and all other sorts of things related to the KKK. Turns out that my great uncle was a very active although very much secretive member of the regional chapter of the KKK.
Squirrelly Panda 3 years ago
Match made in hell, which is where people who do horrible things in the name of God should go.
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Jerry T 3 years ago
There is weird family lore about my Grandpa. He started smoking when he was 5, drilling wells when he was 10 and was kicked out of the KKK for being too full of hate. These facts were often recited with pride and awe. I was always confused by the stories they told about him but mostly by how they were delivered.
Luke Branwen 3 years ago
I'd keep those juicy and without a doubt very damning documents. No rest for the wicked.
Tammy Wait 3 years ago
My great-grandfather was also. It was during the depression and any child born with black hair was abused or given to the state.
#8
An uncle i've never met (mom's brother) killed my mom's parents when he was sixteen in a fit of rage, and burnt down their home in an attempt to cover it up. I've never met him, as he has been in jail on a life sentence since before I was born. I was only informed of his existence, because my dad was black mailing my mom with this.
Panda Kicki 3 years ago
What a shitheaded person blackmail a partner about a tragedy she was totally innocent in?
Wood Carver 3 years ago
Your poor mother. I hope that with the karma she's earned she gets a lovely house and a partner who respects her as much as she deserves and maybe like a puppy. That is a lot to survive....
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Remember when the term "dysfunctional family" was an innovative term we all began to notice in magazine articles? Guess they've been here all along but it took the shrinks a while to notice.
Madeleine 3 years ago
More likely it took the media a while to notice that depicting family life as always warm and loving was no longer credible.
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#9
Half my family lives in VA while the other relatives live in Iowa because back before the civil war a relative we all refer to as 'Uncle Raz' was late for supper and was afraid that his mom would kick his a*s so he took a shortcut through a field.
He got half way through the field when a bull started to chase him so he climbed a tree, and still afraid to be late for dinner he shot the bull dead. He made it home in time for dinner but the next day he ran away to Iowa for fear of the neighbor whos bull he had killed. He started a family there and thats why our family has relatives in Iowa.
Madeleine 3 years ago
What’s awesome about his mom being so brutal as to make him think he had to kill an animal to protect himself from her? And all for a few minutes of dinner waiting.
Load More Replies... #10
My great-grandfather had a 17 year old mistress he put up in an apartment, great-grandmother found out, confronted them at said apartment, shoots and kills 17 year old mistress.
Great-grandfather serves the time in prison for the murder.
weeeee
Inga Paškevičiūtė 3 years ago
Sad the girl had to die after being roped into a relationship with an old man.
Great Pyrenees 3 years ago
We don't know when this happened, people got married really young back then
Load More Replies... Mary Lou 3 years ago
A seventeen year old set up in an Appartement by an older married man is not a mistress but a groomed victim. She didn't have to die - she got killed by a misogynist self- rightious woman, who never got punished for that crime!
GoGoPDX 3 years ago
Yes!!! This is spot on! That poor 17 year old was a victim in more ways than just the murder.
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Anna Banana 3 years ago
I think most comments are focused on the wrong thing here: even if all 3 were in their 40s and the mistress knew about the wife, it's still not okay to kill someone for sleeping with your husband. Or to frame somebody for murder. Great-grandma is a psycho.
Tamra 3 years ago
Yeah, it's sad she punished the girl, rather than the cheating husband. But, he's in prison, so...
Emie N. 3 years ago
For all we know she could have had that plan as well. Maybe that was the idea. Kill her and frame the husband. Otherwise she is terrible for killing an obvious grooming victim since she's underage.
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Raj Kuthrapali 3 years ago
Great grandma shot and killed the 17 year old? So why is the great grandpa serving time? The punishment for cheating is one thing, but homicide is a different ballgame. Or am I reading this wrong?
Jaya 3 years ago
I assumed they lied and said grandpa did it, because he felt like he was at fault because of the cheating. But I might have completely misinterpreted.
Load More Replies... #11
My great grandfather hit his wife with a fire poker, and slit her throat. He then proceeded to blow his head apart with a shotgun. He sat in a rocking chair and used his cane to push the trigger. All over an argument wither it was to cold for me to walk to a grocery store to get some milk.
The Gingersmurf 3 years ago
I hope that you know that none of this was your fault. That's a heavy load to carry in life but this is all on your great grandfather and NOT you.
Kiss Army 3 years ago
If he was that unstable, something would have caused it... if not that argument, then the next one...
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YetAnotherSarah 3 years ago
I think we can all agree that it was not over that argument. He was an extraordinarily broken person well before that.
Randy Klefbeck 3 years ago
Pretty sure that was not all there was to that. Something other than shortage of milk and extreme temperatures surely contributed to that exchange. Extreme tempers and other shortages going on.
#12
My grandmother jumped off a cliff and killed herself after receiving shock therapy to cure her depression. She was staying with us during winter when she went missing. They found her footprints in the snow that led up to the cliff. I found this out when I was 20 years old, from my cousin who was 18 at the time.
Tuna Fish 3 years ago
My grandfather was so angry when my grandmother wanted to go to work that he had her put into the hospital for electroshock therapy, which they called behavioral therapy back then. My dad said he can remember when he was a kid anytime my grandma wanted to do something my gpa didn't want her to do he would say..."well, it's either you listen to me or we go back to the hospital". Knowing my grandma outlived him by 30 years (and had a couple of fulfilling jobs in the community during that time) is the only thing keeping me from hating my gpa sooo much.
Morganne 3 years ago
Your poor grandmother, I'm so sorry. I'm glad she outlived him, what a jackass. You'd think it would make it easier to have a job but toxic masculinity and misogyny was widely accepted back then. Sounds like he's the one who needed to 'go to the hospital', not her.
Load More Replies... Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Psychiatry has always been a hit or miss proposition, but it was much, much worse for female patients.
Bouche Clay 3 years ago
My cousin recently killed himself. My sympathy to the OP. Some a*s told my uncle that Al went to hell.
Víctor Manuel Calatrava Gallardo 3 years ago
You make it look as it is due to electroshock. It is not, electroshock is a valid treatment which is not inferior to medication (hope new drugs turn better).Probably it is due to his condition: major endogenous depression
Amused panda 3 years ago (edited)
It seems like you are making assumptions there. Where did you read the actual diagnosis for OP's grandmother? I can't see it on the original thread. Plus, ECT has negative perceptions due to previous misuse and a historic lack of consistency with anaesthesia/muscle relaxants, and when it was originally used many received ECT against their will, and it isn't clear when or where this took place, so this could possibly have involved misuse of the treatment.
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Nicky Hands 3 years ago
And I’m considering shock therapy as a last ditch effort to help solve my depression 😲😬😖😫😩🥺😭🤬
#13
My distant ancestor (great (x8) uncle) was a sociopath and a serial killer. His name was Tom Quick and he was an "Indian Slayer" who stalked the Delaware tribe.
He claimed to have killed ninety-nine members of the tribe by the time he died, including an entire unarmed family with two young boys and an infant, which he beat to death with a rock.
It's weird. These days his monument in Pennsylvania had to be removed due to vandals, but when it was erected in 1889, he was considered a hero and a defender of the civilized settlers.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
The US has never been a civilized nation. It just has an excellent PR department.
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Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
That is f****n sickening. The level of white superiority hate and inhumanity is shameful. I am glad this type of savagery is almost on its way out. I hope Tom Quick is getting tortured eternally.
Fluffy mommy panda 3 years ago
What an awful man. Sad that they pegged him as a hero. More like a murderer.
Mary Lou 3 years ago
Hold on - the monument was not removed due to wide public outrage but because vandalism made it to inconvenient to maintain it?😳
Amused panda 3 years ago
It sounds so wrong, like they removed it because of graffiti or something. But I've just searched and it seems that in 1997 someone took a sledgehammer to the monument. I guess, maybe the outraged public decided to take direct action rather than work on petitioning for the removal.
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Willow Quinn 3 years ago
As a kid I thought people of this mindset only existed in the past. The 2016 election proved me very wrong.
Madeleine 3 years ago
If you only noticed people like this in 2016 you weren’t paying enough attention to the world around you. They’ve been here all along.
Load More Replies... Keara Ritson 3 years ago
he is a monster (hope im not offending you) a toddler and little kids do not deserve to die at a young age let alone be killed with a rock i am disgusted that i was born in the same area he was buried at
Debra Robinson 3 years ago (edited)
What a vile waste of atoms assholevirus dickfungus+!!!
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Riley Quinn 3 years ago
I remember hearing stories in my youth about this sicko. Glad to know he died a painful death from smallpox. The irony is palatable, since that's how white settlers killed Natives in certain regions.
#14
I only know the story from being told when I was really little so the details are sketchy but apparently a cousin accidentally spilled my great-grandmother's ashes into shag carpeting and they had to vacuum her up and emptied the vacuum bag back into the urn with whatever else had already been sucked into the vacuum from previous usage.
Amused panda 3 years ago
Can't imagine this is the first time someone had to vacuum up ashes, but maybe they should have thought about emptying the vacuum bag before they started to get rid of the previous usage's whatever else.
Lady Snowfall 3 years ago
This happened to me as a kid, too, only it was on the kitchen floor, so granny was swept up with some dog hair and a couple cereal bits.
Cassidy Moore 3 years ago
I honestly hope my family dumps my ashes. Like I can see my kids and maybe even my grandkids holding on to them, but what happens after that? Do they just keep getting passed down to family members I don't know? Or will they just be thrown out as soon as they get to a family member who doesn't care?
Martin König 3 years ago
Maybe they used a fresh bagener so there is only the scented ashes (lavander, if you know what I mean).
#15
My older sister is actually my mother, my father was my mother's (actually grandmother) husband.
They don't think I know.
GoGoPDX 3 years ago
So, lets get this straight. OP's stepfather (guessing and hoping it was their step father from the wording) raped her mom, got her pregnant and the whole family pretended that OP's mom is her "sister", and her grandmother is her"mother? This whole situationis f****d up. The greandmother, didn't turn her husband in, or even divorce him, and then proceeded to cover up the rape of her daughter by pretending OP was her (grandmother) and the abusers child. Then there is OP's mom ("sister"), who has not completely cut off their lationship with her abusers to protect herself and OP. I truly hope OP can get the help they need to not only deaL with the knowledge of this, but also get out of and far, far away from a very toxic and abusive family environment.
Celtic Knotter 3 years ago
The very sad reality is that coverup is the norm, not the exception, in these cases.
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Gluten_free 3 years ago
I went to the original Reddit thread. OP's cousin told them after they had already had suspicions. Everything surfaced after OP's grandmother died
Winter 3 years ago
Look up the Hapsburgs once. They don't really have a "family tree" so much as a "family braid".
Load More Replies... Nitka Tsar 3 years ago
Hmm they did not say that their real father is also their grandfather. They called him their Grandmas husband, not their real mothers father. But either way, this is messed up.
Paddling Panda 3 years ago
My Mum's dad and second wife raped my mum repeatedly for almost ten years before she got away from them. Even though he was mu biological grandfather, I've never referred to him as such. I've always referred to him as my Mum's dad. He was a f*****g monster - as was his second wife - and he never deserved to be recognized as a grandfather to my siblings and me.
Load More Replies... Andy Williams 3 years ago
I think Ted Bundy had a similar family issue (sorry no offence meant, I hope it hasnt damaged you in the same way)
Michael Largey 3 years ago
This was true for the actor Jack Nicholson. He didn't find out until later in life and not from a family member.
#16
When my dad was in high-school about 2 years after getting his licence, he was driving home from school, It was a sunny day and the sun was in his eyes, all of a sudden 'thump' he realizes that he has hit a jaywalker, he gets out of the car and realizes that the person he hit was his high-school principle's son, who in the few seconds has passed away. He wasn't arrested and the principle told him that 'he understood, and not to blame himself because it wasn't his fault'. My grand-father who was an alcoholic did the one good thing in his life for my dad and that was make him drive that car home, if it wasn't for that I don't think my dad would have driven again. 6 years of therapy later my dad was all right. We don't talk about it, and no one in my immediate family told me about it, I heard it from my friends mother who went to high-school with him, and confirmed it with my mom. Driving with my dad now if he's driving by smaller children you can see his hands tremble.
PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
At least this post has an element of legitimate forgiveness and an absence of asholes, thankfully for your dad; hope he continues to get support toward more peace <3
alias D. 3 years ago
Some men can be permanently scared by their actions I don’t blame him for trembling
KING ILLEGAL FOREST 3 years ago
My uncle was driving home drunk one night and he hit and killed some dude who was walking home from the pub. I'm not sure of the details, but my grandfather somehow covered the whole thing up and no one ever found out it was my uncle who did it.
Choco 3 years ago
Damn assholes driving drunk, just that fact makes it so much worse
Load More Replies... Bouche Clay 3 years ago
My uncle was killed by a 16 year old girl in a similar situation. I feel very sorry for her, to carry that the rest of her life.
#17
Two of my great uncles 'attempted' to rob a convenience store with water pistols. *le sigh*
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
Either those were some VERY realistic looking water pistols or Uncles An and Non were a pair of unbelievably huge dumbasses.
#18
My grandparents met in a mental hospital. My grandmother worked there and grandfather was a patient. He was also married at the time, and since he never got a divorce my grandparents weren't legally married.
Purple light 3 years ago
Patient and someone who works there? I hope she worked in a different section or wasn't professional involved with this patient.
gotham-panda 3 years ago (edited)
Everyone saying they should have gotten a divorce first: these are grandparents, so this was awhile ago. It was much harder in the past to get a divorce. You often had to show "cause", and "I fell in love with someone else" wasn't considered valid. Also, since he was a patient in a mental ward, it might be his wife abandoned him and left for parts unknown. That happened a lot back in those days. There was such stigma being associated with someone who had mental health issues, sometimes it was just easier to leave them behind and pretend you never knew them, so people would stop treating you like a pariah. You can't get a divorce, even for cause, if you can't serve the papers. And there was no easy way to find people who just up and left. If she moved on with her life, why shouldn't he? Either way, his wife at the time obviously didn't want him back, or all she had to do would be to commit him to a different hospital somewhere else to keep grandma away from him. As for grandma having been a nurse at grandpa's hospital: even if she was involved with him in a professional sense, she was also probably one of the few people around who would have treated him like a human being, not a broken piece of trash. Once you were labelled "crazy" back then, it followed you the rest of your life. So while professionally unethical, it was certainly ethical from a human perspective.
Black Pearl 3 years ago
I get what you're trying to say, but no one should really be falling in love with someone else while they're married. If they're to that point, they need to get a divorce.
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#19
My uncle molested my sister when she was younger. He was sort of exiled for a few years, but now we talk to him again. Due to eavesdropping and discussions with my parents one-on-one, it seems they never bothered coming to terms emotionally with it, but rather prefer to pretend it never happened. I find it odd to watch them interact with that knowledge in mind.
Tamra 3 years ago
"Sort of exiled" for destroying a child's innocence and giving her lifelong trauma?! Any parent who ignores or denies something like this is equally complicit, imo.
April Caron 3 years ago (edited)
This is super common and it’s actually a type of coping mechanism. Parents whose children are abused often deny the abuse or blame the victim for lying/making it up, because they feel the abuse reflects badly on them and they feel judged by others… or because it’s so painful to see your children abused that denial is just easier. It’s sad and very hurtful to those victims of abuse. It’s like being abused twice. It’s in no way alright.
Paddling Panda 3 years ago
Exactly. It's like being abused in perpetuity. I have no voice in my family. I feel unbearably alone when I'm with them.
Load More Replies... Paddling Panda 3 years ago
I feel this. My dad molested me on my 13th birthday and made explicit sexual comments to me for several years. The psychological abuse went on into my 40s. My family knows but doesn't talk about it. Last year, ten months before he died, he molested me again. I haven't told my family and I'm really struggling with my feelings. I'm tired all the time and often just hope I don't wake up. I've started counseling again so I can sort this out. Sometimes the only things keeping me going are my dog and my cats.
Anna Banana 3 years ago
This internet stranger is glad to hear you've started counseling. I hope you get the help you need, from the therapist and the pets. Take care of yourself!
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Riley Quinn 3 years ago
And, how does your sister feel about all this family time (at her expense)?
Seabeast 3 years ago
A lot of families do that. Make nice with the abuser and pressure the victim to "forgive and forget".
D Stone 3 years ago
How does your sister feel about him not still being exiled? Your parents should be ashamed of themselves. If you sister decided to never speak to them again, no one would blame her.
Madeleine 3 years ago
I don’t think either child should speak to them again. They are terrible parents.
Load More Replies... #20
I have no idea how my family gets its money. While growing up, I would ask my parents (usually my dad) how it worked, since my parents did not work, to which they would respond that we get money from my grandmother. Whenever we would get low on cash (my mom would always be reluctant to ask for more money from my grandma) and we kids complained about being low on money (thus not having much good food at home), my dad would tell us stuff like "we're never actually short on money. we actually have a lot, just not right now" or something in that direction. He had also mentioned stuff about how when we kids are older, we'll all get money that my mom was supposed to inherit.
Last year, when my mom, my sister and I were overseas staying with my grandparents over summer, I was able to find out that my mom had some stocks. I asked her how much they were worth, and simply said she did not know and that my grandmother handles those things. Grandparents are currently paying for my brother's college tuition (I think around $4000 per semester, but I don't know), and will soon be paying for my sister's ($12,000). I asked my brother about it, and he said it was through stocks and that he didn't understand it himself either and to just leave.
So yeah, that's probably the biggest secret and sadly I don't even know it.
April Caron 3 years ago (edited)
This just sounds like they’re living off of some trust fund and are not very good about using it to live within their means.
Susan Mesick 3 years ago
OP is probably the Kellog's or General Electric heir and doesn't know it LOL
#21
My uncle is currently serving a lifetime prison sentence for murdering a prostitute with an axe.
Your Mother 3 years ago
The uncle murdered them with an axe. {No need to downvote this comment, they just don't understand.}
Load More Replies... Amused panda 3 years ago
Well (thankfully) there aren't many whose family includes a literal axe murderer
#22
My uncle was kidnapped for two years when he was 15. He's never spoken of it to this day.
Also my super uptight, neo-con, evangelical Christian uncle who lives in Nebraska was actually a hippie stoner in the 60's. Oh and his wife is a mail-order bride.
Oh and my aunt's college fiance was murdered by a hitch-hiker.
April Caron 3 years ago
Mail-order bride… have you not heard of this? So, sometimes women in certain parts of the world will advertise their willingness to marry someone in order to move to a different country and start a new life. And usually they ask that a fee be paid, which is usually given to their families. That’s the main point… this is a way for them to help their families out. I had a friend with a mail-order bride. She was from Guam. He paid $10K to her family. They actually were very compatible and had a son together and are still married after 12 years. And they do send money back to help support her family on a regular basis.
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Kevin Hickey 3 years ago
Nothing worse than a hippie who switches sides. Unbearable to be around.
Anya 3 years ago
Nothing wrong with a mail-order-bride. Most of those women are trying to escape shitty living conditions and it’s sad that this is the only way they can achieve something
meerkatz007 3 years ago
In my country it happens a lot. I know 2 men who have a family like that, both from England, both older. One of them used to be the most unpleasant, nervous, yet arrogant dude. I spotted him in the airport once, he was a changed man, lovingly fussing around his young Asian wife and tiny toddler.
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#23
Wow. No incest or molestation in my story, but here goes. My mom's brother was depressed after his divorce and tried to commit suicide, so he called my mom and asked her to watch over his kids once he was gone. She instantly figured out what he was going to do, so she called the cops and rushed over to his place. They kicked the door in and saved his life. Once he was conscious and in the hospital, he told my mom that because she interfered, she was never allowed to see his kids again or he'd burn our house down, with all of her kids in it. Funny thing is we still run into him all over town. He pretends he doesn't know us.
alias D. 3 years ago
More than “wow” this requires a what the ever loving hell
Load More Replies... Madeleine 3 years ago
It’s weird and hard to understand why mom called the police about his plan to kill himself but apparently told no one besides her kids that he threatened to kill her whole family. Does she not value her own life and her children’s lives, just his? It’s not ok that he threatened them!
gotham-panda 3 years ago (edited)
I've seen this before with a friend of my sister. He asked her to watch over his kids, etc, just like this and she called the cops and intervened, and after, he told her he hated her, because she'd "condemned him to a life of misery" and "destroyed" his "exit strategy" because she was his only friend and the only person who could take his kids. So now he was "forced to live in misery" until all his kids turned 18. As far as we know, he's still planning to kill himself when his youngest is 18.
Gozer LeGozerian 3 years ago
Dammit... I mean, do we really have the right to force someone to live if they truly don't want to?
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#24
My family thinks my dad is a priest of the Melchizedekan order and will change the way the world does church.
My dad is 600lbs., in chronic pain, is lucky to leave the couch more then once a month, diabetic, and isn't even 50 and has already had a major pulmonary embolism.
They don't tell anyone outside the family because "they won't understand."
Nicole Weymann 3 years ago
They're right. At any rate I don't understand how someone who essentially doesn't make any public appearance (preach etc?) is supposed to affect any major changes in an organization. Is that some kind of closed bubble effect within the group or is it just me?
smugdruggler 3 years ago
I don't need to read any other comments to be pretty damned sure it's not just you Nicole.
Load More Replies... YetAnotherSarah 3 years ago
From OP: "Yes, he had a dream he was given a choice between being the leader of a small village or taking a very long and arduous path to a giant city (representing the world). He was the one who started all this, the family just buys into it because they want to believe they can be part of something special. I think my dad may have Bipolar Disorder (because I have it and other behavior also matches up with it), which would explain the manic delusions there."
Carla Phillips 3 years ago
It sounds like op's family (whomever knows the truth) should worry more about getting him some kind of medical intervention rather than spending time making up elaborate cover stories. Not judging, there could be other circumstances to the story that make what I said impossible, but with the facts given, that's my opinion.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
This is confusing. Who's the big guy preaching to if no one's allowed in and he's unable to leave?
MyCatsTheRealPanda 3 years ago
I think dad might have some serious mental health problems on top of his physical issues if he's the one who has started this whole thing and keeps it going.
Madeleine 3 years ago
The family members playing along with his delusions have some serious problems as well. Their behavior is beyond being gullible, closer to developmental disability.
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gotham-panda 3 years ago
This isn't a real world priestly order, it's something mentioned in the Bible: https://www.versebyverseministry.org/bible-answers/what-is-the-order-of-melchizedek . OP's dad is delusional and family is shining him on - probably because they like the idea they have a special connection with God. The "order" of Melchizedek was a special status held first by Adam, then his son Seth, then Methuselah, Noah, etc. down to Joseph, father of Jesus. It passed to Jesus on the death of Joseph, and the Bible states Jesus is the last Melchizedek, forever. So... dad might also be claiming he's Jesus.
#25
My brother had his hand bitten off by a seal to avoid going back to army
Mirt 3 years ago
Where did he find a seal to do that? It is the weirdest story ever and most people wouldn't even believe it actually happened
Stephanie A Mutti 3 years ago
It's a plot line from Arrested Development. It was a Loose Seal, not to be confused with Lucille.
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Texas teacher 3 years ago
Upvote because this was published. But again, that's why you should always leave a note.
PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
A penguin who dropped his car off for diagnostics went to get some ice cream. When he came back with vanilla all over his face and asked the mechanic what was wrong, the mechanic replied, "It looks like you blew a seal"
Ben Stubbs 3 years ago (edited)
A seal seal, Seal the 90's singer or a Navy SEAL? These questions need answers!
PolymathNecromancer 3 years ago
Omg, picturing hand bitten off by Seal, lmfao
Load More Replies... #26
Not really a strange or creepy secret but my grandpa lent my uncle 180,000 USD in the 90s from my dad's business without my dad's knowing for a start-up that failed miserably. I recently found this out when my grandpa died and we were forced to actually see my uncle and his family after decades. I hate that guy. It's not even about the money. He's just a good for nothing piece of s**t alcoholic, leeching off our grandma and what little she still has. F**k him. I hate family.
Pheebs 3 years ago (edited)
My grandfather kept a book of loans he gave out - how much, what was repaid, etc. Grandfather leant my sib like $5k for school, which sib started paying back within a year. Based on the book, my grandfather has loaned my uncle close to 1M over the years for failed businesses (between money, property, getting stuck with his loans, etc), plus various other amounts to other people. My sib was the only person to start paying back the money (grandfather died soon after). My uncle is not one of my favorite people, but he did eventually grow up and start giving back to the community after my grandfather died. Only took him 50 years.
Penny Kemper 3 years ago
Sometimes people tell me things and I just get the feeling they're lying. Some people just lie for no reason at all.
Amanda Hunter 3 years ago
My ex borrowed quite a bit of money from his dad after retirement and never returned it, he used to say his dad beat him and would lock him in a trunk. I don't know if it's true because his brother has no knowledge of it.
#27
My Great Great Great Grandpa was in the Ku Klux Klan and killed three black men in a lynching. We found out through a scrap-booked newspaper clipping which named him as a suspect. I think that's the worst
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Find his grave and have a dump on it :0((( Utter, utter bastard, anyone who condones this deserves a similar fate.
Nicki 3 years ago
Not surprising, there are people still alive today that have witnessed or participated in lynching's. I have a theory that this is one of the reasons why people don't want real American history taught in school. They don't want their kids to see their grandparents participating in violent racist activities, like screaming at 5 y/o Ruby Bridges for daring to be first person to integrate a school. Fun fact: Ruby Bridges is still alive and younger than my mom (I'm 43).
Madeleine 3 years ago
The woman who lied about Emmett Till making a pass at her is still alive as well.
Load More Replies... gotham-panda 3 years ago
The cherry on top is he was so proud of what he'd done, he saved a newspaper clipping of it. Racists are straight up evil.
#28
Some family from my dad's side was asking if he would take in one of my distant cousins because the cousin was turning out to be a problem child. Apparently it's pretty common for that side of the family to send problem kids to other members of the family in an attempt to get them to shape up. My dad said no because he didn't have that much money and was dealing with some serious health issues like epilepsy and his heart. A few months later, the kid ended up robbing a store and murdering the owner of that store with a butcher knife. My dad felt guilty about it and I don't think anyone in the family knows that the kids mom had asked for my dad to watch him. I personally don't think sending the kid a state away would have changed him but my dad always used to wonder out loud to me in private if he could have done something to help.
Dillon Brown 3 years ago
In a month??? It was too late and he should be glad he didn't take the kid in before he murdered you all in your sleep! Maybe if it had been years between when he could have taken him in and the literal murder but come on!
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
I think by the time your father was asked for help, the kid had already crossed the line. Not your father's fault. Consider yourself lucky.
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
I doubt it would've done anything. My aunt took in one of her nephews but it was too late by then. He stole alot of things and money from her and then disappeared, moving from New York to Florid. His drug habit hit its peak and he contracted AIDS from sharing needles; cut off contact from family for years. That occurred in the 80's and he passed away about 7 years ago after finally cleaning his life up a bit.
Madeleine 3 years ago
“I personally don't think sending the kid a state away would have changed him but my dad always used to wonder out loud to me in private if he could have done something to help.” It is delusional that this family seems to think antisocial behavior can be treated by a simple change of scenery. A kid like this needs professional help, not just a new place to live. It sounds like it runs in the family (“it's pretty common for that side of the family to send problem kids to other members of the family in an attempt to get them to shape up”) but why are the ones who aren’t troubled by personality disorders or other mental illness playing along with the idea that they can fix everything by providing a place to live?
#29
My great-grandfather and great-grandmother separated (but never divorced- they were Catholic) in the 1970s. My grandmother stayed in Minnesota; my grandfather and his "aide" moved to Nebraska. The aide was a man of the same age as my great-grandfather (mid-60s) but in better health. His daughters believed him; this was an aide who lived with my great-grandfather to help him out. However, once my mom's cousin (my great-grandfather's oldest granddaughter) came out as being a lesbian, he told her that he was, in fact, gay, and his aide was actually his lover. I'm pretty sure that my mom's cousin and her wife, my mom, my mom's sister, and me and two of my cousins are the only ones who know this. Apparently it would "just *kill*" my grandmother and her sisters to hear this.
gotham-panda 3 years ago
Back then, doing stuff like this was just a convenient way to save face socially. Non-military "don't ask, don't tell".
Load More Replies... #30
I am pretty sure my mother was in some sort of cult or something as a child (parents forced her and r*ped her I think). She would tell me these pretty creepy stories of bodies being chopped up and thrown down a well. It's incredibly disturbing and I really don't want to know what really happened.
Aubrey Theo 3 years ago
I mean, many of them likely are. However, these situations aren’t impossible, just think of how many people haven’t been caught for their crimes. Sadly its likely more common than most people think.
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Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Cults tend to live in extremely rural, deserted areas where there are myriad places to dump a body. Where I grew up, disposing a body would be a cake walk, and no one would've been the wiser.
#31
I had an aunt who committed suicide when I was 3 and my older sister was 4. Her daughter had ran off and no one had any idea what happened to her mom. It was my older sister who told my mom that "Aunt Pam is playing in the garage" Sure enough they found her dead in her car. No one knew why my older sister knew this and when asked about it she said that her dream friend told her. My sister and I found about this recently. My sister also used to talk to this "dream friend" who came to her first in a dream about a graveyard.
Laurora Borealis 3 years ago
Kids often formulate imaginary people/situations to grapple with trauma at very young ages
R 3 years ago
She wasn't grappling with trauma when she told them that her aunt was 'playing in the garage.'
Load More Replies... #32
I'm half Japanese, but my family would never talk about relatives in japan. Then I saw an old photo my "whole" family, half were in traditional Japanese garbs and the other were in military uniforms. Turns out half my relatives were war criminals.
UKGrandad 3 years ago
Just being in the Japanese military during WWII (I assume this is what is being referenced) doesn't make them war criminals. Either the major part of the story is missing or the author is leaping to one Hell of a conclusion based on nothing more than a photograph.
Jordi Sharpe 3 years ago
They probably have more information that they aren't sharing for obvious reasons. Like records of military service and records of misdeeds perhaps?
Load More Replies... Benita Valdez 3 years ago
OP adds in comments: "One of my Inlaws was a decedent from Yamamoto, to what degree I have no idea. Its also interesting to note I had a few relatives working for the Allies too. One joined the Canadian army, but hated it because of racism I guess. But he never did any fighting because the war ended. But had a some grenades in his house the bomb squad had to remove when we clean out his house. Another one was a spy for the British in India. They really don't talk about it much, because I suspect it was a pretty shitty time for them."
Celtic Pirate Queen 3 years ago
My former father in law was of Japanese descent, but was born in Hawaii & therefore an American citizen. During WWII he was drafted into the US Army, where he served honorably - while his wife and all of her family were held at the Japanese Internment Camp in Puyallup, WA. How f*cked up is that?
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Does OP think everyone in the Japanese military were war criminals? Does OP have any definitive proof that his relatives committed war crimes?
#33
In 1995, my uncle died in a car accident. Not speeding, not drunk, just lost control, overcorrected, and rolled the car. To this day, there's still speculation as to whether it was an accident, or if my aunt grabbed the wheel and pulled the car into the ditch.
over it already 3 years ago (edited)
This is sad. My sister died in a similar 1 car accident in 1993. Likely was not your aunt's fault. Long story as to why, but I strongly believe my sister was swerving to avoid an animal in the road.
Taibhse Sealgair 3 years ago
Had a good friend that fell asleep (no drugs or alcohol) while driving on some back-country roads and ended up in a ditch. Responding officer asked what happened and my friend told the truth. He said the officer looked at him for a few seconds and said something to the effect of, "So you swerved to avoid hitting the deer that ran out in front of you?" Insurance paid for the damages.
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Jordi Sharpe 3 years ago
I rolled a minivan when I hit a patch of loose gravel that had spilled onto the road. I swerved and overcorrected.
#34
This was Mexico back in the day, and I'm not quite sure how different it was over there a few generations ago, but my great great "grandmother" was unable to have children. Apparently my grandfather was told that because of this, his "aunts" gave his "mom" their children occasionally. What really happened: Wife unable to get pregnant so great great grandfather had sex with wife's sisters and took the children when they were born. Apparently this was completely normal and no one cared.
#35
My grandmother on my mom's side just kind of disappeared and no one heard from her again. The story was that she fled back to her home country (Japan) leaving behind two daughters. Of course, alternate speculation exists. The only person with answers would have been my Grandpa but he didn't ever want to talk about it and took whatever he knew to the grave. Anyone have a grandma who told stories of America before returning home in the late 50s?
Minath 3 years ago
I can't help thinking that grandma might be in a shallow grave not far from where grandpa lived.
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
I'm still trying to unpick my Grandparents lives and they live 30 miles away !! Only been 20 years of me trying to discover stuff ....
#36
My great grandmother would always tell the story of how she just knew she was going to end up marrying her soon to be husband the first time she saw him. She left out the part about how he was married with a kid at the time. She also had an affair with a married man after her husband died. Not super strange, but sort of weird to think that our whole family exists thanks to her home-wrecking.
Emie N. 3 years ago (edited)
I hate people like that. If you know someone is married, leave them alone and find someone who is actually single. And the people who cheat are just as bad if not worse. Break up with someone first before you start an affair if you REALLY need to have that affair. 🙄
TheElderNom 3 years ago
My grandmother stole my grandfather from a friend. They were only casually dating, but dating nonetheless. My grandmother told her after one evening with them both that she would steal him to which her friend replied "good luck". Two weeks later my grandparents were dating.
Eunice Probert 3 years ago
To be honest, I hate all this, oh she "stole" him. He had free will too and was free to not agree to be "stolen". He is as much to blame.
Load More Replies... Riley Quinn 3 years ago
My grandmother was a nurse attending a dying woman. Being the impatient woman she was, she was screwing the husband downstairs. They eventually married, but that didn't lessen her appalling behavior.
Elizabeth 3 years ago
I don’t know the full story, but I know that my dad was my grandfather's youngest child…but that it might have been either my grandfather’s second or even third family (there were two other boys and a stepdaughter as a part of the family as well). My dad had no idea until the half siblings started showing up at their family reunion when he was an adult.
Natalia Allen 3 years ago
I think this kind of thing happens a lot more than people are aware of....
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Tony Zecco 3 years ago
Going after a married person is just trying to date on extra hard mode.
#37
Not creepy, but my great-grandfather was a bootlegger, and my grandmother spent her entire life trying to hide that fact from the family. Everyone knew, and everyone thought it was kind of awesome, but if it came up in conversation, it would bring her to the brink of tears and she'd start screaming her denials. She was ashamed until the day she died. We also had only one picture of the guy. He was full-on Jewish mafia, and we're convinced that in the background of the picture they're either killing someone or puling out his teeth.
over it already 3 years ago
Grandma knew the truth of what that meant, and that it was not, in fact, 'kind of awesome,' especially if it involved torture/murder.
LittleWombat 3 years ago
Exactly! If she knew to be ashamed or unhappy about it, she was there! She knew what the reality of it was.
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But Nobody Came. 3 years ago
Not creepy, but he was either murdering someone or pulling out their teeth. Definitely not creepy.
Sue Mullen Andersen 3 years ago (edited)
My Grandpa was a bootlegger from Canada to Michigan. Ours only traveled booze though, so a bit different. We look at it with pride rather than condemn him :)
#38
step mom is 96; im 18 dad's under 50
LittleWombat 3 years ago
This older woman may realize that by marrying, she can pass her finances on to help this father and his daughter and perhaps he helps care for her so she doesn't go to a nursing home. It may be a platonic arrangement. In the US especially, there are concerns always about marrying for insurance and financial security. Lots of marriages in name only between people helping each other.
UKGrandad 3 years ago
That's cringy but unless your dad tells everybody that his wife is his mother or something then it's hardly a family secret. I get the feeling that it is the teen who doesn't tell people about the old lady out of perfectly understandable embarrassment (and I'd think it equally understandable if the mother was in her 40s and the step-dad was the 96-yr-old).
gotham-panda 3 years ago (edited)
Why does it even matter what ages they are? They're both (seriously!) mature adults, and can marry for any reason they want. OP doesn't state anything but ages, so we can probably assume there's no conflict or abuse. (Or they probably would have mentioned that.) This just sounds like a teenager who's icked out and embarrassed by the Olds having a relationship.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
Switch the genders and think about it for a second.
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#39
My schizophrenic aunt has burned down her house and crucified her cats.
Wood Carver 3 years ago
I don't know if I should up or down vote this comment.... if comedic it's Dark.... but like horribly funny too lol
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Becky Samuel 3 years ago
Notice how ten times as many people care about the cats than care about the lifetime of suffering of the woman?
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Huddo's sister 3 years ago
My uncle had schizophrenia and poured petrol on himself and ended up losing multiple fingers. Ended his marriage, but as far as I'm aware he never had another problem like that.
#40
My grandparents are first cousins.
Bianca Saville 3 years ago
It isn't incest in the UK. Many 1st cousins get married here.
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Eunice Probert 3 years ago
That's not incest. First cousins are allowed to marry, they just have to have gene counselling.
gotham-panda 3 years ago
Not illegal in the US either. But actively frowned upon, which is why so many people think it is illegal.
Load More Replies... Amy Taylor 3 years ago
I can't even imagine marrying one of my first cousins..ewww... we were raised more like siblings.
#41
I always thought my dad's sister had died young because she had a whole in the heart. Transpired that she was actually institutionalised in a mental institution very young, where she grew up, and died. Nobody speaks of this. Ever.
#42
When I was eleven or so, I found out the man I grew up thinking was my uncle was my f*****g half-**brother**. He's about twenty years older than me, to boot. My mother in general has a lot of dark secrets that I haven't completely uncovered yet, and I'm not sure I want to.
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Then don't delve, it'll be very painful for both of you if and when you find what those secrets are ....
#43
I actually have two older siblings living in a different country. My parents tell me we're cousins. The truth is my parents had trouble conceiving, so my mom's sister brought over her newest born baby (me) from overseas and left me to be raised in the states. My birth mother (my aunt) is not allowed in the US anymore.
Felice Coles 3 years ago
And if you're over 18 years of age, you can go to wherever your aunt is. Physical control stops at adulthood. Take back your history.
#44
My step-dad's father, during the communist revolution in China, fled to Taiwan with his wife. He then proceeded to make many of the wood cuttings used to print anti-communist pamphlets and propaganda. Best part is nobody else in his family knew about it, not even his wife. My mother was the first one to get this story from him. He kept it secret so that if he was ever caught, his family would be safe.
Marek Čtrnáct 3 years ago
Why would his family be safe just because they didn't know? Would anyone believe that they didn't know? Would anyone CARE?
Remi (He/Him) 3 years ago
It might help that the family is genuinely surprised, if there had been any kind of investigation. Not a guarantee, but anyway
Load More Replies... #45
Ive got two: My biological father ran CP sites back in the 90s, before he went to jail. The mother's maiden name on my maternal grandmother's adoption papers is the same as her husbands last name. When my great-grandfather died, his last words were calling my mother, aunts, and uncles "the product of bad seed." He died 5 years ago, and we found out about the adoption papers last year. It all makes sense now. EDIT: My grandfather married his sister/cousin. Everyone else in the family knew it but them and their progeny. This is only touching the surface of the crazy that is my family.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Surprised dad's still alive. Inmates tend to kill child pornographers.
#46
My uncle was supposedly possessed by a demon. Some nuns did some sort of prayer over him, and he started speaking in tongues and then some big black cloud supposedly appeared. He turned himself over to religion, and is now a Catholic priest. Honestly, I don't know what to believe. I know he believes all of this with all of his heart. Either he is just batshit crazy, or there are some batshit crazy things in the world. Either way, creepy.
LinkTheHylian 3 years ago
I can't reply directly to @Ricky Namara, but son... you got schooled.
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Catholic Church (actually any church / religion) = batshit crazy. Go figure.
Nicole Weymann 3 years ago
Hot water only freezes faster when not in a closed container, because a) changing from liquid to gas takes energy, which lowers the temperature, b) without a lid the steam escapes into the environment instead of keeping the surface warm and c) the evaporated water minimizes the amount left in the container so there's less left to freeze. Can't explain the molecular particulars of ice crystals though as I'm not a physicist.
Load More Replies... #47
My dad's Russian. He managed to keep this a secret from me for fifteen years before I found out. I don't even know why he cared that much.
Pg130 3 years ago
I immediately thought of the exact same thing. Potentially a sleeper cell.
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#48
My mother was a prostitute while going to high school. I don't know anything more than that.
over it already 3 years ago
That's what we now call a human trafficking victim. Your mother, if a juvenile at the time, was a victim, not a sex worker.
Remi (He/Him) 3 years ago
The mother was s*xually abused and exploited while in highschool, you mean
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
I hope OP isn't ashamed of her mother. Chances are she had no other choice.
#49
My 22 year old sister pulls out all her hair. She can't/won't stop. She just wears wigs. I get caught off guard a lot if she's not in her wig because it kind of looks like a bald mullet. Poor thing.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Habit reversal training is a method to combat trichotillomania. I suggest she seek treatment.
Carla Phillips 3 years ago
I have a friend who does this with the front of her hair. She wears headbands. It was quite a shock when she first showed us
#50
We are pretty convinced my dad's wife had a hand in his death in order to take all his money. We can't prove it though.
Honu 3 years ago
It seems quite likely. Laws very from place to place, but typically you can't disinherit your spouse. Maybe with a prenup you could. I'm not sure. If you do not have other stipulations in your will, or you have no will, your spouse gets everything. If she was not convicted of murdering him, then I can't see how she would be prevented from keeping the money.
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busymum 3 years ago
There were suspicions within the family that my grandad's partner had something to do with his death. My grandad had a bad fall, his brain haemorrhaged a few days afterwards and he went into a coma, brain unlived in a few days, turned off machines after that. His partner demanded him to be cremated, but my uncle was adamant he was told to Bury my grandad with his family before he was gone. My grandads partner then threw a fit and didn't show up at the funeral. She unalived herself a few months later, we believe she couldn't take the guilt.
#51
I've got a few. My biological grandmother was killed by the Las Vegas mob when my dad was 16. She was dating one of the high-ups and witnessed something. The police labeled it a suicide. My great-grandmother (the mother of the grandma above) retired from Area 51. She had to sign the secrecy contracts and everything. She went on to paint houses for a living and left behind several million dollars. None of with came to my family though, due to my gold-digging aunt. My other great-grandma from that side of the family was a silver prospector in the Nevada mountains and carried my grandfather around in the mountains for years, living off of rattlesnakes and hares. She's in a History Channel episode about Nevada silver and is buried in a famous ghost town in Nye county. I'm related to Ty Cobb, Hans Christian Andersen, and Billy the Kid. All traceable. Oh yeah. And I was a secret in my family for a while. Shotgun marriage. Mom's side of the family was ridiculously christian and disowned her temporarily after they found out I was conceived out of wedlock.
#52
My grandfather had an illegitimate child after he came back from the war. He had four kids afterwards and told none of them about it. My dad, the oldest of the four, one day gets a call from his long-lost older half-sister. She has eight kids, none of which I've ever met. We don't plan on telling my grandmother until she passes (85, still tickin...), will be interesting to meet that side of the family. To top it off after my great uncle passed away they found letters from my grandfather from from when he fought for liberation of France, which alluded to the possibilty he knocked up some French girl as well, so that may be another entire side of the family.
Pheebs 3 years ago
My hubs found out in his 30s that he has an older bro. Wasn’t much of a secret, just no one ever thought to him and his sibs. The bro was apparently born with a severe health issue their mom couldn’t afford to treat (need major surgery), and so she relinquished the baby to the state so he could get treated and be put up for adoption. She was preggers out of wedlock, so double no-no at the time and little support system. Said baby grew up, and eventually went looking for his birth mom when his adopted one was in health decline. Met him once. Seemed nice.
#53
My great grandpa was a Grand Dragon of the KKK It's weird because my best friend is black
#54
I suppose this is a secret, we don't really talk about it.
My moms boyfriend's dad murdered his wife by running her over with a car. It was a big deal at the time since we are from a small area.
#55
My uncle murdered 2 guys when he lived in Juarez, Mexico. He's an ex drug dealer and he was drunk when he slipped this out to my dad (I was eavsdropping).
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Not trying to top this, but a friend of my late Uncle's just happened to drop into a conversation about WW2 and how many of the enemy they had stopped, that 'quote' ' I once blew up a troop ship with 800 men on board' turned out he was a Frogman who'd put 10 HE limpet mines on the troop ship whilst it was moored up in Norway ...
Amused panda 3 years ago
You might not have been trying to top this, but you managed to
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#56
My mom and stepdad have an INCREDIBLY kinky sex life. I heard them f*****g since 2nd grade and they have TONS of sex toys including a strap on. I suppose this is a lot creepier for me than for you hehe :(
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
Maybe stepdad straps it on for the double-barrel shotgun effect?
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LynzCatastrophe 3 years ago (edited)
Before his prostate cancer, my dad and mom had a fairly active sex life. This wouldn't bother me so much if my bedroom wasn't directly below theirs when i was a kid and I could hear A LOT! Invest in good headphones, it'll save your sanity.
#57
My dad lost some large sum of money when I was a child. It was their profits from selling their very first house. Hundreds of thousands. My mother still has no idea where the money went.
Ricky Namara 3 years ago
My aunt was actually my cousin, and I didn't find out until my parents got divorced and married...my cousin (not the same cousin but another one). I guess this is family tradition?
#58
>I also have a half brother in Puerto Rico who is in his 30's I will never meet. I only know his name is Ricky and my dad had a fling with a Puerto Rican woman while stationed there in the army sometime in the 70's. Ricky Martin is from Puerto Rico and was born in the 70's. Just sayin'.
Fenchurch 3 years ago (edited)
Shut up! Says woman born in the 70s 🤪 looking at the original post it was made 11 years ago, so yeah maths checked out then
Load More Replies... #59
Apparently my dad and my grandpa had a scheme to grow and sell weed for extra money back in the 70s. They would've went through with it if it weren't for my grandma intervening. This was revealed to me while browsing a head shop's book store/library with my mom a few years ago. I didn't think they were the "type" to get involved in that scene but I guess I was wrong.
Madison Pheysey 3 years ago
They would've gotten away with it if it weren't for the meddling grandma
Remi (He/Him) 3 years ago
Or the grandma stopped the scheme because she knew those two would get caught, like maybe they were bad at secrets or something of a pair of bumbling idiots
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#60
When my grandmother died, we found out she was married more than once and none of the children ever knew about the first husband.
#61
My Grandpa ran a union for a long time and did a lot of unsavory things with a lot of unsavory (read: Mafia) people.
#62
When my family emigrated from Scotland (in the 1800's), we had a history of crime. To make sure this didn't follow us to America, we changed our last names to different colors. Technically I'm somehow related to everyone with a color for a last name.
Seonag Udell 3 years ago
Yeah I don't wanna be Mr Brown it's too close to Mr S**t
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#63
My great uncle was a fugitive from the law for scamming people and the FBI showed up at my aunts funeral looking for him.
Felice Coles 3 years ago
This sounds like the pitch for a movie starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich.
#64
My mother's family came to the US from Suwalk, Poland before the war. They were Jewish. None of the family that stayed behind in Poland survived the war except for one cousin who move to Palestine in the 30s. This cousin had known Avraham Stern, the famous Jewish terrorist back in Poland but they didn't share the same politics. During World War II, Stern and his group fought the British in Palestine. When Stern went into hiding from the British, this cousin hid him. Eventually he had to move on to another safe house and he was killed by the British.
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
We (the British), and in particular Balfour - look him up - really, really screwed up the Middle East. So much so that 70 years on it's still utterly f****d up !! Oh, as an aside, the idiot Balfour was (and his family still is) firmly entrenched in the aristocracy ...... don't you love the knobs ....
#65
I have a grandfather that was somehow involved in the super creepy prairie lynching of a cattlewoman in 1889. :(
Squirrelly Panda 3 years ago
The act of a mob or other group of people hanging someone without any sort of due process, often for zero reason, such as the victim being black.
Load More Replies... #66
I thought my mom had 2 sisters, and 1 niece until years later I found out my mom only had 1 sister and 2 nieces. I was 16 when I gained knowledge that my "aunt" and cousin were having sex with each other when I was propositioned by both of them. Why I thought telling them that they were half sisters would stop the incest that was taking place, I have no idea, but it just seemed to fuel the incestuous fire.
LinkTheHylian 3 years ago
One of OP's aunts is really a cousin, and not only does she f**k her own half sister but both of them asked a 16-year-old OP to join them.
Load More Replies... #67
My uncle's first wife left him for her first cousin. They got hitched and had two daughters. Also my other uncle and his wife purposely got pregnant with my second oldest cousin so they'd have to get married because my grandparents didn't approve of my aunt. And a distant member of my family was excommunicated from the Catholic church for being a Free Mason.
#68
Commies, the lot of us. Not so much a secret anymore, but it *was* a little touchy for a couple decades.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Not knowing what country OP hails from, keeping your commie beliefs a secret was the only way one would survive in the US for many, many years.
#69
My mother claims she has the ability to hex people which apparently causes people to be murdered and destroys multi-million dollar buildings.
LinkTheHylian 3 years ago
Hold on a minute. She could bring down Elon Musk first, without having him murdered, and then she could get help.
Load More Replies... Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
That's because she is a nutcase. I, on the other hand, can make gold out of tomatoes and can levitate to 3000000000 feet, but only in the dark and when there's a Q in the month and when Prince Andrew sucks on my big toe on a rainy Tuesday whilst in Rutland.
Riley Quinn 3 years ago
If this is true, then why didn't she put a hex on Trump and his inner circle?
#70
My mother got married before she went into the army for better living situations and more money.
LinkTheHylian 3 years ago
Did she divorce once she'd left, or is this a standard romantic coupling where your mother and possibly father agreed to marry so she'd have the extra benefits, and they'd be better off when she left?
#71
On a sleepover when I was 13 and she was 14, my cousin and I lost our virginity to each other. Even though we both dated other people as we got older, we occasionally would have sex when the opportunity came up. It's been over 15 years. We live several states apart, but at family gatherings or if were just both in town, we still hook up if possible.
Carla Phillips 3 years ago
Curiosity getting the best of me, I wonder what the gender of the op is
Hugh Cookson 3 years ago
Nothing wrong with this ; caveat being that you may want to not procreate. Good luck and well done on following your love.
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What do you think ?
Sky Render 3 years ago
I discovered that I AM my family's deep, dark secret. My parents moved out to Kennewick, WA so that I could be born at Kadlec Regional Medical Center nearby specifically because they knew from ultrasounds that I was intersex and it was considered shameful back in 1981 to have an intersex child. They had me altered shortly after my birth, moved back to Oregon not long after, and made up some story about dad having gotten a regional position out there that didn't pan out as a cover story.
Lily Mae Kitty 3 years ago
can I ask are you happy about the alteration? I have read about this happening and it seems they just used to pick the sex the genitalia looked more like when people were infants and tended to overcorrect towards female. Without knowing anything of the child's personality and the lack of knowledge of the repercussions, I can't imagine most people are happy with the surgeries they got.
Load More Replies...
TheElderNom 3 years ago
My great grandfather got excommunicated from the Catholic Church. He became a member so he could marry my great grandmother in the Catholic Church, it was very important to her since she was a devout Catholic. But at sone point during the process either of joining the church or at the wedding he was expected to kiss the priest's ring which he refused, some insults followed, he hit the priest and left the church. They married in the normal Danish Church instead.
Lsai Aeon 3 years ago
I was adopted, but the unwanted child. My parents adopted me in 1979 when I was first born. I was mentally and emotionally abused by the entire family, I always got the feeling they didn't want me. They shamed me for everything, always told me I didn't know what I was talking about, anything I wanted to do they "weren't waisting money on that for you", I got weekly reminders "If you were a boy you'd have been named William Gregory, we'd call you Billy Greg" and oh so much more. I have no happy memories of my childhood with my family. My Uncle confirmed it during his speech at my parents' memorial just this past July. He named my son my parents' pride and joy, "the son they never had but so desperately wanted." Why they didn't tell the adoption agency they wanted a boy, or send me back I'll never know...
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
There's a few sour apples on any family tree. Some more nasty than others. Mine are gone from my life, thankfully. It got nasty, very nasty, at times, including murder. OK. And that's humanity. We can create art and horror in the same day. We are a weird animal, we humans.
Wysteria_Rose 3 years ago
It wasn't that long ago discovered my parent's sibling had a child out of wedlock in college (back in the days when it was NOT OK at all). They were sent to a religious home for unwed mothers where she stayed until she had the baby, gave it for adoption, and then resumed life as normally as possible. I was recently contacted by them through a DNA service...I couldn't respond. My cousin has no idea they have a sibling and already are incredibly mentally fragile with a codependency, their parent will never reveal it. I've written my unknown cousin a letter which I've instructed my husband to send to them explaining the entire story should something happen to me, so at least someone tells them. I hate this secret but hate the idea of the pain and fallout it would cause if it was revealed to everyone.
Wysteria_Rose 3 years ago
For what it's worth, I was able to find my unknown cousin via social media. They look like they have a great life, which I'm happy but it makes me sad to know that my aunt has grandchildren she'll never know and this person can only guess as to WHY they were put up for adoption. Honestly, I've never seen my grandparents on that side in the same way again (they've passed on since). My mom is still very angry about it.
Load More Replies... Amy Taylor 3 years ago
My good friend has a large family and 1 of his 8 siblings kind of disassociated from the family and moved away. He found out that she was in a cult when he watched the Netflix documentary "Holy Hell" and she was in it. She's since left the cult and is back in touch with the family.
Amy Taylor 3 years ago
My dad's side of the family is a huge treasure trove of family secrets. 1. My dad's brother has 5 kids.. the youngest one isn't his bio daughter. While he was away in Vietnam, his wife got pregnant by his uncle (who is only 5 years older than him) Everyone in the family acts like it's completely normal and all get along just fine at family gatherings. I only found this out when I was in my 20's. 2. My dad just found out at 77 years old that the man he knew as his dad actually wasn't his bio dad. A 'close family friend" that he knew really well was. He found this out doing a DNA test. 3. My grandparents were both married to other people and both had kids when they ran off together. My grandma took her oldest son with her, and left my dad with his father. We have no idea if my dad's father even knew my dad wasn't really his son, as he passed when my dad was in his 20's. 4. Several of my dad's uncles were part of an infamous Mafia crime family in the 1960's.
Patti Vance 3 years ago
my mom and my aunt have different dads. apparently gma eloped when she was 14 w/someone who was not portuguese so when they returned my ggdad forced an annulment, not realizing that she had become pregnant during their honeymoon. so he always considered my aunt illegitimate and treated her differently. i have the name of the guy but have never found much about him. would still like to find out more.
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
So before moving to the US, my great grandfather lived in England; we're going back to late 1800's since my grandmother was born 1912 in the US. So great grandpa had a twin brother who was said to be gay and we have zero information other than that. He was just blotted out of the family tree as if he never existed. Only know of his existence because of my grandmother; it was mentioned to or around her when discussing institutionalizing her sister. My great aunt was schizophrenic and very violent and tried to murder my grandmother which was the deciding factor to lock her up. "Illness" ran in the family per them; referring to my great grandfather's gay brother as well as murderous great aunt Kitty. Honestly, this is my mom's side and there are many more instances of actual mental illness, massive drug use and police records
Shannon Mallory 3 years ago
We discovered an entire family we didn't know existed after my great-grandmother died. At the turn of the 20th century the Ukrainian village of Bridok decamped for Canada, which was selling land cheaply to foster Westward expansion. After serving in WWI Grandpa (from what we've pieced together) was a border guard during America's Prohibition, but apparently he was a "dirty cop," who took bribes and confiscated and resold liquor. There may have been more, but hearsay is that he was "encouraged " to leave the community. They moved to Michigan, USA, and we never knew a thing about any of it or the family, which is still in Canada. We are literally the only branch that left, and grew up completely ignorant of our family names or history. Facebook has put us in touch with our family tree, finally.
Sky Render 3 years ago
I discovered that I AM my family's deep, dark secret. My parents moved out to Kennewick, WA so that I could be born at Kadlec Regional Medical Center nearby specifically because they knew from ultrasounds that I was intersex and it was considered shameful back in 1981 to have an intersex child. They had me altered shortly after my birth, moved back to Oregon not long after, and made up some story about dad having gotten a regional position out there that didn't pan out as a cover story.
Lily Mae Kitty 3 years ago
can I ask are you happy about the alteration? I have read about this happening and it seems they just used to pick the sex the genitalia looked more like when people were infants and tended to overcorrect towards female. Without knowing anything of the child's personality and the lack of knowledge of the repercussions, I can't imagine most people are happy with the surgeries they got.
Load More Replies... TheElderNom 3 years ago
My great grandfather got excommunicated from the Catholic Church. He became a member so he could marry my great grandmother in the Catholic Church, it was very important to her since she was a devout Catholic. But at sone point during the process either of joining the church or at the wedding he was expected to kiss the priest's ring which he refused, some insults followed, he hit the priest and left the church. They married in the normal Danish Church instead.
Lsai Aeon 3 years ago
I was adopted, but the unwanted child. My parents adopted me in 1979 when I was first born. I was mentally and emotionally abused by the entire family, I always got the feeling they didn't want me. They shamed me for everything, always told me I didn't know what I was talking about, anything I wanted to do they "weren't waisting money on that for you", I got weekly reminders "If you were a boy you'd have been named William Gregory, we'd call you Billy Greg" and oh so much more. I have no happy memories of my childhood with my family. My Uncle confirmed it during his speech at my parents' memorial just this past July. He named my son my parents' pride and joy, "the son they never had but so desperately wanted." Why they didn't tell the adoption agency they wanted a boy, or send me back I'll never know...
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
There's a few sour apples on any family tree. Some more nasty than others. Mine are gone from my life, thankfully. It got nasty, very nasty, at times, including murder. OK. And that's humanity. We can create art and horror in the same day. We are a weird animal, we humans.
Wysteria_Rose 3 years ago
It wasn't that long ago discovered my parent's sibling had a child out of wedlock in college (back in the days when it was NOT OK at all). They were sent to a religious home for unwed mothers where she stayed until she had the baby, gave it for adoption, and then resumed life as normally as possible. I was recently contacted by them through a DNA service...I couldn't respond. My cousin has no idea they have a sibling and already are incredibly mentally fragile with a codependency, their parent will never reveal it. I've written my unknown cousin a letter which I've instructed my husband to send to them explaining the entire story should something happen to me, so at least someone tells them. I hate this secret but hate the idea of the pain and fallout it would cause if it was revealed to everyone.
Wysteria_Rose 3 years ago
For what it's worth, I was able to find my unknown cousin via social media. They look like they have a great life, which I'm happy but it makes me sad to know that my aunt has grandchildren she'll never know and this person can only guess as to WHY they were put up for adoption. Honestly, I've never seen my grandparents on that side in the same way again (they've passed on since). My mom is still very angry about it.
Load More Replies... Amy Taylor 3 years ago
My good friend has a large family and 1 of his 8 siblings kind of disassociated from the family and moved away. He found out that she was in a cult when he watched the Netflix documentary "Holy Hell" and she was in it. She's since left the cult and is back in touch with the family.
Amy Taylor 3 years ago
My dad's side of the family is a huge treasure trove of family secrets. 1. My dad's brother has 5 kids.. the youngest one isn't his bio daughter. While he was away in Vietnam, his wife got pregnant by his uncle (who is only 5 years older than him) Everyone in the family acts like it's completely normal and all get along just fine at family gatherings. I only found this out when I was in my 20's. 2. My dad just found out at 77 years old that the man he knew as his dad actually wasn't his bio dad. A 'close family friend" that he knew really well was. He found this out doing a DNA test. 3. My grandparents were both married to other people and both had kids when they ran off together. My grandma took her oldest son with her, and left my dad with his father. We have no idea if my dad's father even knew my dad wasn't really his son, as he passed when my dad was in his 20's. 4. Several of my dad's uncles were part of an infamous Mafia crime family in the 1960's.
Patti Vance 3 years ago
my mom and my aunt have different dads. apparently gma eloped when she was 14 w/someone who was not portuguese so when they returned my ggdad forced an annulment, not realizing that she had become pregnant during their honeymoon. so he always considered my aunt illegitimate and treated her differently. i have the name of the guy but have never found much about him. would still like to find out more.
Benita Valdez 3 years ago
So before moving to the US, my great grandfather lived in England; we're going back to late 1800's since my grandmother was born 1912 in the US. So great grandpa had a twin brother who was said to be gay and we have zero information other than that. He was just blotted out of the family tree as if he never existed. Only know of his existence because of my grandmother; it was mentioned to or around her when discussing institutionalizing her sister. My great aunt was schizophrenic and very violent and tried to murder my grandmother which was the deciding factor to lock her up. "Illness" ran in the family per them; referring to my great grandfather's gay brother as well as murderous great aunt Kitty. Honestly, this is my mom's side and there are many more instances of actual mental illness, massive drug use and police records
Shannon Mallory 3 years ago
We discovered an entire family we didn't know existed after my great-grandmother died. At the turn of the 20th century the Ukrainian village of Bridok decamped for Canada, which was selling land cheaply to foster Westward expansion. After serving in WWI Grandpa (from what we've pieced together) was a border guard during America's Prohibition, but apparently he was a "dirty cop," who took bribes and confiscated and resold liquor. There may have been more, but hearsay is that he was "encouraged " to leave the community. They moved to Michigan, USA, and we never knew a thing about any of it or the family, which is still in Canada. We are literally the only branch that left, and grew up completely ignorant of our family names or history. Facebook has put us in touch with our family tree, finally.
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