Secrecy can be fostered for many reasons, from ill will to seeking to spare someone’s feelings. And because of that, there is a wide range of how significant or detrimental secrets are; while some have close to no harm or affect, others can really turn someone’s life upside down.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ subreddit recently touched upon the topic of secrets, after one of them, a user going by the moniker ‘Necrocharm’, asked them about what would shock everyone if it came into the light. Redditors shared stories, ranging from personal matters to events of a larger scale, so if you’re curious about what they think would cause quite a havoc, wait no longer and scroll down to find the secrets on the list below.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with a professor of communications at Syracuse University, Makana Chock, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about keeping secrets, as well as with the person who started the thread, u/Necrocharm.
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The amount of homophobes that are actually closeted gays.
Grindr usage went way, way up in Wisconsin during the Republican National Convention. Just sayin'...
I secretly run a wildly popular OnlyFans account where I just narrate bedtime stories in different accents.
You're in a pyramid scheme, Kathy. You don't own a business.
Yes but this is not like those schemes because..................
Discussing the reasons why people choose to keep some things a secret, Professor of Communications at Syracuse University Makana Chock suggested it can give us a competitive advantage—like having grandma’s secret recipe or keeping our mouth shut about a job search until the right moment comes; it can also help protect our own or others’ reputation or to avoid negative consequences caused by our actions.
“We also may keep secrets as a way of maintaining our membership in a group,” Prof. Chock continued. “For example, if most of our friend group support one political candidate, we may keep secret that we voted for their opponent. Or we may attempt to maintain social harmony, by not sharing secrets at the family BBQ.”
How many well respected people are sexual predators.
And how many are hidden and "open secrets" because there's money to be made off them or their brand.
I love my cat more than anyone else. She always greets me and is happy when I get home from work. Especially when I have a bad day.
Ditto, my cats are what keeps me fighting. I don't think I'd be here without them.
cats are just better versions of dogs honestly, downvote me if you will but CATS ARE BEST
Nobody is shocked by this. Cats don't start wars, they don't yell homophobic slurs, and they also agree Keanu Reeves and Tom Hanks are tied as the best humans alive right now. D**k van Dyke is a very close third.
Because they’re usually busting down the door because the food dish is empty
Load More Replies...Huh. This one isn’t meeting the “secret that rocks my world” criteria. Someone either doesn’t understand the concept or else has Main Character Syndrome.
According to the expert, our decisions about what—and whether—to keep secret are heavily influenced by the perceived negative consequences of sharing certain information, and the benefits of keeping silent. “How much harm could be done to ourselves and those we care about by making some information public? Who would be hurt?”
I hate existing. I just wear a happy mask, not genuinely I'm not happy and I wish assisted suicide was legal in the States and that my family understood how I have no enjoyment in my life. I got out of an inpatient facility a little over a week ago and found out I'm on the spectrum, and while I'm on meds now, while I'm aware it takes time -- the only thing I'm really holding on for is my family. My mom would probably follow me so I'm stuck living as though I'm starting to get better. It's honestly exhausting.
The amount of people hiding an addiction, whatever that is to them. D***s, alcohol, food, gambling, p**n, sex, watching/following sports… even “healthy” things like exercise, meditation or whatever.
I am beginning to believe that our reward system in our brains have been so hijacked by modern day that we don’t even realize it, and we feel lesser or powerless over time as we dwell on our specific thing.
I don't actually know what I am doing at work. I have no qualifications or previous work experience in the field. I just wing it every day and seem to get results
Edit: Because so many of you are asking what my job is, I will tell you. I'm currently the operations manager at the biggest sawmill in the area.
The only job I had before this was washing dishes at a care home.
I didn't lie on my resume, I guess they just liked me.
...well i mean under your management nobody's gotten their limbs sawed off... right?
According to Prof. Chock, there are sometimes conflicting consequences from keeping secrets. “People may feel betrayed or angry that you’ve hidden (or revealed) information from (or about) them. Particularly if you are keeping secrets about others.
“For example, you’re friends with a couple and one of them is cheating. Your brother dropped out of school and doesn’t want your parents to know. Keeping secrets can involve a complicated algorithm of weighing consequences and ethical considerations.”
If my grandfather dies (virtually knocking on the wood) today I will inherit all of his property and money.
He showed me his last will with his attorney.
I think my parents and uncles might k*ll me if they find out
Context:
When my granddad suffered from kidney failure, no one visited him except me. The reason is that he had many mistresses and still drank heavily when he was 75 to 80, which made his children hate him. Also, they have their own lives. From the day he was diagnosed with cancer until today, I have visited and taken care of him every day.
My parents kicked me out of the house for being a party-goer and wanting to arrange my marriage at a young age (I was 19 back then and a female). I ran away for one month, but when I returned, they officially kicked me out. That’s when I told my grandfather. He gave me a lump sum of money to start over, so I went back to university and rented an apartment near his place.
When I graduated this year, he called a meeting with his attorney and me. That’s when they told me that I will inherit all of his assets, including the ranch, his cars, basically everything he owns, and his real estate/construction business. When they asked me what will I do with the money I told them that my experiences when I run away when I was 19 opened my eyes to everything that’s happening within our city. It made me realize how hard life is. I use to have 5 cad for 1 week and I have to stretch it out. Most people would think homeless people are dangerous but they are not, unless you provoke them or they are defending themselves.
My plan when I receive the money is to put half a million each towards
- red road healing society
- hope mission in Edmonton
- Edmonton addiction youth services
- WAEC woman shelter
This has been noted on our meeting and currently working on it with his attorney.
EDIT: Hi everyone, thank you for your input and advice! I did mention this to my granddad’s attorney, and for legal purposes, he said I wasn’t supposed to post anything regarding this, lol. I’m just an excited 22-year-old female who wants to make a difference in my community because I have experienced it for about a month. I know how hard it is, and it excites me to think about how many people I know around that area who would be happy to finally have a shelter!! Thank you everyone. Wish me luck!
I wish you all the luck in the World! My Uncle never married and for years said he was leaving all his money to his younger sister. He is one of 6 kids. Now he got mad at her and now is giving his house and money to his neighbor because they bring him dinner everyday. They brought over an attorney last year for him to sign for paperwork. All he does is talk about his money. He can take his money , rings and watches and shove them where the sun doesn't shine. I could go up there to his house and bring him dinner and desserts but I don't want his money nor anything else from him. He is a very evil man who only can talk about his wealth. Sorry it's just gross to me. Be nice to me and I will give you money. No thank you!!
How close the world actually is to an all out apocalyptic war at every given second.
Oh, believe me, many of us are very aware of that, but there's f*ck all we can do about it.
Discussing secrecies of a larger scale, such as government secrets, Dr. Makana Chock pointed out that they might sometimes be essential. “Revealing the details of a prisoner exchange before it’s finalized could jeopardize the negotiations. They can’t reveal troop movements that could put lives in danger. But as some legal cases have revealed (for instance, Watergate), the definition of ‘national security’ has sometimes been stretched to include reputational damage to specific administrations or individuals.”
The Mormon church is a front to a $100,000,000,000 hedge fund specialized in real estate. They use fear tactics to force their cult members to donate 10% of their income and then funnel that ecclesiastical donation through shell companies in order to grow that fund. They've recently been fined by the SEC $5,000,000 for this.
Edit: f****d up the number. Increased. Actuals above $100B are pure speculation due to the lack of transparency.
I spend most of my day doom scrolling and pad my hours because my work doesn’t take as long as people think it should.
Yet, my boss and team love me and always compliment me on how hardworking I am.
Work smarter, not harder ;) If you deliver good work anyway, there's no problem.
I used to work in politics as an assistant, and between ourselves, we talk. We talk about who sexually assaulted us and when and how. We'll never come out with the sh*t, because these are very dangerous people to out by the nature of the field, but there's a lot of politicians out there who should count their blessings that we're scared. I've heard names whispered in confidence that would destroy people if spoken out loud.
In a recent interview with Bored Panda, the user ‘Necrocharm’ shared that they were curious about the kinds of deep, hidden truths people might be holding onto; that’s why they decided to start the thread.
“We all have secrets, but some of them are so significant or shocking that they could change our entire perception of a person or situation if they were ever revealed. I wanted to see what kinds of things people might be willing to share anonymously, and it turns out there's a lot people are keeping to themselves.”
That I was addicted to m*th for almost 4 years, and no one knew. But I overcame addiction with my gf that I’ve been with for 10 years almost, by ourselves. 🤘🏻.
I once discovered that a close family friend, who everyone believed was a retired teacher, was actually in witness protection for testifying against a major crime syndicate. It blew my mind and completely changed how I viewed them and their 'quiet' life.
I never turned in my 4th grade writing assignment. I just stuffed it in my desk incomplete and ignored it. The teacher never said anything. I’m 38 and I think about that way too much.
Discussing what secrets would likely shock everyone the most if they were to come into the light, the OP emphasized that it’s hard to pinpoint exact secrets. “But I imagine that the most shocking ones are those that involve people who we think we know well, like family, close friends, or even public figures,” they said.
“For example, discovering that someone has been living a double life, has a hidden criminal past, or has done something that goes against their public persona would definitely be shocking. These are the kinds of things that could completely change how we view someone.”
Though it's been public knowledge for nearly 10 years now, people are still shocked when I tell them that every single bit of data, every phone call, and every electronic communication that enters the N America or Europe is captured by US and EU intelligence agencies. This practice predates the internet, going all the way back to the advent of long distance calling in the US. This is called the Echelon Surveillance network and was confirmed to exist by the Edward Snowden.
When I was still a virgin I went to a Punk concert in London on vacation...ended up talking to the girls of the band, got along and went to a 'club' with them. Turned out to be a staircase in the industrial complex leading down, down, down...to a dominatrix dungeon party.
I had the time of my life stepping on guys who were begging for it, some were actually super cute.
My friends would never guess that. I even let one of the men pay me 300 pounds to let 'April', a fem male sub who works there as a stripper, give me a lapdance in the back rooms on a suspicious leather couch.
Nowadays I'm still looking for a cute sub or switch male. That experience really brought out the beast in me lol.
The amount of information that our own United States government tracks and keeps of us forever
EDIT:
Since for whatever reason this has high visibility and people don't agree with this statement, go find and read this Wikipedia article on the Utah Data Center
Its amazing how often people will ignore ACTUAL facts becuase it doesnt fit with their premade ideas. Government all track. The UK has the highest coverage of CCTV in the world. The US has been proved to track their citizens (honestly not too sure about how other countries monitoring works haha). Main point, this is a fact. Its like trying to disagree that clouds exist by not looking up.
“The responses were both fascinating and a bit unsettling,” the redditor continued, revealing what they thought of the response the thread received from the online community. “I was surprised by the sheer variety of secrets people are holding onto: everything from personal regrets and hidden identities to dark family secrets and past crimes. What surprised me the most was how open people were in sharing these things, even though they were doing so anonymously. It really shows the power of platforms like Reddit, where people feel safe enough to reveal things they might never tell anyone in their real lives.”
The last puppy I brought home I told my family it was just left by the dumpster at Walmart but really someone was giving it away and pressured me to take it.
So many years ago my husband and I were hosting my family at our home. The plan was burgers and all the standard "summer sides", think fruit, salads, chips, ice cream for dessert. My grandma for whatever reason requested HOMEMADE potato salad. My grandma was a saint and didn't make outlandish requests often, if ever, so I did plan to accommodate her request. Unfortunately life was crazy busy leading up to the get together date and ultimately I didn't have the time/energy/supplies to make home made pasta salad. So instead of coming clean I decided to run to the grocery that had a decent deli and get their loaded baked potato salad, it was a little bit more elaborate ingredients wise then the standard potato salad. I put it in one of our glass bowls with a lid and served it as my own. No one questioned it.
Now years later, grandma has since passed, my family will request that I make my homemade potato that grandma loved for potlucks. I don't have the heart to tell them it's store bought.
If these secrets have awakened your curiosity about what things some people would rather those around them didn’t know, continue next to this list of deeply disturbing secrets people have found out about someone or these dark secrets individuals wanted to get off their chest themselves.
4 out of 5 dentists don’t recommend trident.
The whole world economy is over leveraged to the max. GDP growth can't keep up with inflation. It's a house of cards and when they start falling the human cost will be immeasurable.
I didn't pass my exam, and I no longer have my scholarship. But I'm working to pay my tuition.
How easy it is to lose everything with your bad password habits.
If someone would hack into my bank account, they'd probably have bigger problem than me. I have almost nothing to steal and maybe even would get some compensation money out of it. The thief would risk jail time, reputation and job. (Just kidding, I know that there's more at risk than money)
I’m a married “straight” man. My wife is the only one who knows that I’m bisexual. She’s supportive too.
That I can’t cook, but I’ve mastered the art of convincing people that takeout is gourmet.
A majority of my childhood was spent in motels, so whenever I told my friends they could not hangout because my place was "small", I never said the real reason why. I felt ashamed..
Some elected Presidents and world leaders were actually gay and their first lady and children were orchestrated for public image.
This year Finland almost elected an openly gay president (48,38% of votes). I voted for him too and I'm proud of my country for being so open. Also the election campaigns never focused on anyone's sexual orientation and it was barely mentioned at all.
The stock market is filled with fake shares from hedge fund a******s that do illegal naked shorting. The authorities know about it but don’t know exactly what to do about it.
That I p***ed away my first year of university and failed half my classes because my parents forced me to be there but I didn’t want to be.
Same. Given the ultimatum: school or military. I dropped out after two years in a major I hated, went back after seven years and did something I love. School just hits differently with time!
That no one is in control.
All the f*****s involved with Epstien.
I am almost 40, but I still suffer from the mental damage the aftermath of my parents' divorce did to me when I was 15.
My parents think I have my life under control, and after such a long time it would be a massive shock to them how much I still suffer, sometimes. They didn't care much for me right after the divorce, but at some point I feel the "statue of limitations" of that has ran out so it would be weird if I ever brought it up or let it show.
They also had their own set of mental problems (alcoholism, s***idal) that they were finally able to overcome, so I am scared it would throw them back into a dark place if they ever noticed how I am feeling.
I'm 32 and my father's absence lukewarm presence in my life has left me resentful and without confidence. My parents divorced before I was even born, and I only saw him on my birthdays and certain holidays of the year. Now that he's old, frail and mentally unstable I've been pressured into checking in on him and making sure his needs are taken care of. My people's culture looks down heavily on those that refuse to take care of their parents in their old age, no matter the circumstances. So I find myself in a frustrating situation I was shamed into complying.
Wow, a lot of people are commenting. I’d like to share a story it's actually from one of my siblings who was in high school at the time. There was a school called 19 (shortened to 19). One day, a student in a chemistry class accidentally drank a chemical from a glass, mistaking it for water. Tragically, she died alone, with her mouth filled up with white fumes. What makes this even more disturbing is that no one knew she had died in the classroom only the teachers and staff were aware. My sibling's mom used to work there and told her about it. I’ve heard that the school paid a large sum to the girl's parents to keep quiet about the incident (though that’s just a guess).
(I'm sorry if the story doesn't make complete sense or if some details are missing. English isn't my first language, and I tried to explain it simply and anonymously. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.).
I'm always impressed by people who write and speak English so well, even when it's not their first language. Yay for you!
That this is humanity attempt #23. We usually only make it to 1990, so this run is doing well.
Unless you want to start attempt #24 you will all pretend you didnt read this. Back to your lives everyone.
The sexual desires of the people around you. All the random guys that like feet or want to be dominated. All the women that regularly watch CNC content on p**nhub. All the straight married dudes that watch gay p**n. All the straight women who fantasize about their stepdad. Everyone is weird.
CNC as in Computer Numerical Control? That's a fetisch I haven't heard about before.
Brain washing is real.
Over the past 8 months wife and I have made multiple police reports about some kid online our son decided was a creep and cut contact, after this he blasted not only our sons social media, but ours too about him swatting us or our kid.
Went so far as this kid calling in threats to the school or anon reports for us to dispel them and file more reports.
2 weeks ago police raided our house 24 deep and snatched our kid on some serious s**t.
Been almost 3 weeks and state refuses to turn over discovery saying they are still investigating but they have eliminated anything in previous reports as a possibility.
Back the blue until it happens to you.
After 4 years of quitting smoking & promising everyone close to me that i'll never to it again , I've been back at it for more than a year.
If a species food supply is stable, the species population is stable.
If a species food supply increases the population increases.
We think we need to grow more food to 'catch up' with the rising population; however, growing more food **creates** the rising population.
If the amount of money donated for Africans reached africa,each one of them would be millionaires by now.
B******t. The population of the African continent is 1.2 billion people. Of those, 135000 are already millionaires. But hey! Let's round that up to a million people, just for fun. So, now we need to make millionaires of 1.1 billion people. Even if those people already all have $900,000 (that is, they are just $100k away from being millionaires), charitable donations would need to have totaled at least $110,000,000,000,000, or $110 trillion. Obviously, the average wealth of non-millionaire Africans is not $900k, so add a few zeroes to this. I have no idea the level of audacious BS it takes to make a claim like this.
During WW2 the soviets trained dogs to run under enemy tanks with explosives strapped to their backs. After the war soviets have claimed to have eliminate over 300 german tanks using this method, but there's no way to confirm that score.
Unfortunately they were trained using soviet T-34 tanks and would often run under their own tanks, destroying them.... And the US army planned to attach incendiary bombs on bats to release in Japan so they roost in houses and burn them down....I believe the plan was shelved when the bats burnt down parts of the base where the tests were held.... And of course, though the evidence is a bit sketchy, there was a plan by the US navy to train dolphins to carry explosives to blow up ships....... aren't we a lovely species...
Most people would be shocked if they found out that most celebs who train for roles take PEDs.
N....no. They really wouldn't. Christian bale went from being in batman at 185lbs, to the machinist at 120, and back to batman at 210lbs in the span of like 18 months. Chris hemsworth went from lanky surfer dude to thor in less than a year. Go back and look at 31 year old hugh jackman in his first outing as wolverine. He was a normal looking dude....9 years later he looked like he was cut from granite. Unless it's stallone or Arnold, they're not maintaining those bodies between roles, they have a few months to get "screen ready" and that's not going to happen without some medicinal intervention.
I was able to walk across the stage at graduation and then the university sent me an email TO MY PERSONAL EMAIL THE DAY BEFORE and told me I was missing credits.
This was in 2013.
I havent fixed it because I am still so mortified that they did that to me.
The amount of coworkers my female coworker banged while married with a child. Her husband knew about one of them and still tried to "mend the relationship" because he loves her so much. She had an "emotional affair" in the past, (so he thought, she was again banging around) and again "they mended the relationship". I know of at least 6 guys she had sex with numerous times (not including me, she told me that they broke up, but the divorce isn't officially yet), and many times that happened within the office (conference rooms, basement parking lot etc etc).
I mean this woman would blow a guy in the parking lot and then pick up her daughter from nursery, driver her home to her husband, they'd have lunch as a family and then she'd come back to the office and f**k another guy before she leaves in the afternoon.
If her husband knew all that happened, I honestly fear about both his and her life.
What a tramp. Sidenote, why do you have so many coworkers that screw around in the office? I'd like to address that for everytime she did it, there was apparently also a male coworker she's doing it with.
The amount of the defense budget spent on secret projects that would profoundly change our understanding of the universe and our place in it. The truth is out there.
Except that conspiracy theorists just generally create lies to get attention. They are usually losers who have zero access to secret government programs. So how would they know what secret programs exist?
American politics is fake, they are all on the same team. Literally like the WWE.
False. The competition is real. If you go back a few decades, you’ll at least find some cooperation between the major parties. That’s rare today. Does anyone really think Obama, Biden, and Harris are “on the same team” as The Orange Buffoon?
The electricity surrounding us, although not particularly a secret, but most people don't realise how much electricity is around us at any given time and it's pretty shocking if it came out.
That Charles Manson was manipulated by the CIA/FBI to turn the population against the hippie/anti-war movement. The FBI literally had a program to infiltrate and bring down groups they saw as threats, one of those being the hippie movement.
Johnson and Nixon loved the Viet Nam war because it was a reason to draft the hippie counter culture and send them to be killed. It was a methodical extermination of a group of youth who were questioning the status quo and the corruption of American traditional values.
You’re getting fat because you’re not eating fat.
Everyone making blanket statements on why people are overweight can, respectully, f**k all the way off!
My mom actually had sex with all those dudes on Xbox.
I'm pretty sure that Bill and Hillary Clinton have been open/poly since they started dating and it was easier for people to handle "infidelity" than the president and first lady openly boinking. It'd be nice to have confirmation but I don't think it'd be as crazy to hear now vs then.
Good for you for being “pretty sure”. You don’t know them so unless they confirm it, your speculation means nothing
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These became less likely and/or more silly as the list went on. Does no one at BP read these before posting them?
A click is a click in yellow/tabloid "journalism"".
Load More Replies...I have a secret. I'm not really two cats and a soft can-opener all rolled into one. Don't tell anyone, especially Bouche and Audi.
The "hidden addiction" comes out in the news. A "normal citizen" aboard a plane will suddenly freak out, run around shrieking, and try to open a door. I figure they're secretly addicted to something, but "have it totally under control" in everyday life, but when put to stress or go too long without a hit - explodo!
That government contractors work at most 2 hours a day, or just 10 minutes, or not at all. I was a contractor for different agencies in DC for five years. Contractors are supposedly "cheaper" because they can be hired for projects and fired the second they're not needed - like picking up a tool and dropping it back in the box. The government hires 10 contractors to help 1 Federal employee. So contractors are basically on-call until needed. Sometimes they're not needed and just sit around. I worked on a Homeland Security team and once had nothing to do for four weeks. Very typical. And there are MILLIONS of contractors on the payrolls. Your tax dollars (not) at work.
Here's mine: I just don't care anymore. 1 or 2 people who aren't my family give me true joy. That's it.
Ok, now I'm done. I can spend 3 years more without remembering this awful site. I need to reconstruct my brain. I've lost maybe 1 thousand gray cells reading that much stupidity.
These became less likely and/or more silly as the list went on. Does no one at BP read these before posting them?
A click is a click in yellow/tabloid "journalism"".
Load More Replies...I have a secret. I'm not really two cats and a soft can-opener all rolled into one. Don't tell anyone, especially Bouche and Audi.
The "hidden addiction" comes out in the news. A "normal citizen" aboard a plane will suddenly freak out, run around shrieking, and try to open a door. I figure they're secretly addicted to something, but "have it totally under control" in everyday life, but when put to stress or go too long without a hit - explodo!
That government contractors work at most 2 hours a day, or just 10 minutes, or not at all. I was a contractor for different agencies in DC for five years. Contractors are supposedly "cheaper" because they can be hired for projects and fired the second they're not needed - like picking up a tool and dropping it back in the box. The government hires 10 contractors to help 1 Federal employee. So contractors are basically on-call until needed. Sometimes they're not needed and just sit around. I worked on a Homeland Security team and once had nothing to do for four weeks. Very typical. And there are MILLIONS of contractors on the payrolls. Your tax dollars (not) at work.
Here's mine: I just don't care anymore. 1 or 2 people who aren't my family give me true joy. That's it.
Ok, now I'm done. I can spend 3 years more without remembering this awful site. I need to reconstruct my brain. I've lost maybe 1 thousand gray cells reading that much stupidity.

