People Share the Darkest Family Secrets They've Ever Discovered

Family members are supposed to be the people we know the best and are closest to. However, some people realized they were mistaken when they uncovered some dark truths in the quiet corners of their family history.

It's said that one can choose their friends, but not their family. What if you learn one day that the family folks you thought you knew well were hiding something all along? The people in this article lived such an experience, and it wasn't an easy ride for some of them.

These people took to Reddit to share what they went through when they uncovered dark secrets about their families. While some of those secrets could be considered hilarious, some were spine-chilling and jaw-dropping.

Comments have been revised for clarity and grammatical accuracy.

1. The Bride Exchange

u/TemporalBreak: I found out one of my aunts had an arranged marriage. She wasn't the one who was supposed to get married, but her sister was adamant about not marrying the guy, and I guess my grandma decided to persuade my aunt to replace her sister.

The aunt and the guy eventually got married, moved away, and had kids. They lived far away, so I barely ever saw them.

Only as I got older did I learn that the guy ill-treated my aunt to the point where she still had some intense mental breakdowns long after he died.

2. Definitely Not a Narrow Escape

u/QuokkaMocha: My dad tried to run out on my mum while she was pregnant with me because he had been embezzling money from a photography club at his workplace (then a government institution) where he had been a treasurer.

It was all about to come out because the club needed the money, so my dad decided to cut and run.

My mother's brother and father caught him by pure accident as he was leaving the house, and my grandad told him he'd be in trouble if he ever pulled a stunt like that again. My dad, according to the story, wet himself right there.

My grandad paid the money back to the club so that no one found out, as not only would my dad have lost his job, but most likely, he'd have been jailed, too.

My mum could never trust him with money again, so although they had a joint bank account, she had them limit his access and make a separate account to control the bills, etc.

She went back to work to support herself, which in those days in rural Scotland was uncommon. In that area, most women were stay-at-home moms. So, there was no such thing as childcare for under 4s.

Mum returned to her job as a primary school teacher, and I spent the first few years of my life sleeping in a basket in the stationery cupboard in her classroom.

At mum's funeral, some of her former colleagues were still coming up to me, saying, "Oh, it's the baby in the cupboard!"

3. It Was about Dad and Granddad

u/Klaudiapotter: My grandpa doesn't know that his dad died in an accident caused by a drunk driver. He was two when his dad died and can't remember any of it.

The only thing he remembers is that it involved a truck. I found the article about my great-grandfather's death when I started digging into my grandpa's family tree.

I learned that my great-grandpa was the result of a teen pregnancy and was raised by his grandparents. I'd tell him, but I'm not really sure there's too much point in bringing it up now.

4. I Didn't Have an Innocent Great-Granny

u/Traitorius: My great-grandmother ran a "hotel" in the late 1800s near a train depot and army fort in the Oklahoma territory.

Turns out it was a brothel. My great-grandmother was a madam! She must have been good at it because she left a valuable inheritance to my grandma.

5. It Was Confrontation Time

u/billbapapa: My grandfather tried to end my dad's life with an axe. Literally showed up at his workplace and went looking to end his life... and somehow, my unprepared dad fought him off bare-handed.

My grandpa escaped and came back the next day to finish the job with a gun, but my dad didn't show up at work, so my grandpa offed himself in the parking lot, leaving behind an ugly note. My grandpa probably had mental issues.

6. Everyone Hated My Grandpa for What He Did

u/Halleaon: When I was a kid, I knew my grandfather was odd. He'd call me his grandson even when I was wearing a dress and clearly female, but my parents would tell me to ignore it.

Then I found out that when my dad was a kid, Grandpa sold my dad's sister, Barbara, to someone. He kept my dad and his brother because he didn't want a girl in the family.

My dad found his sister, Barbara, around the time I was in middle school. They were reunited. She's my favorite aunt now, and no one liked Grandpa.

7. It Was a Wild Reveal

u/Drewskeez-e: My brother discovered we had a sister because he was hitting on a girl at the bar, and they talked about their parents. It turned out we have the same dad. He gets annoyed whenever I bring it up.

8. This Discovery Led to My Trust Issues

u/beachdadowen: My aunt was recently arrested. Why? She got pulled over, and the cops had a warrant authorizing her arrest.

She was sent to jail, and they found narcotics in her car. It turns out that a large number of people in my family use narcotics.

Also, a ton of the adults in my family are apparently involved/have been involved in having forced intimate relations with some of my close cousins and family members. It makes me wonder who I can trust now.

9. An Awful Childhood

u/2PlasticLobsters: My parents had two kids before I was born. My mother drowned them in a bathtub during a psychotic episode.

Somehow, despite this and a prior history of mental illness, she was released and had me a couple of years later. They had another child just before I turned two, but I never saw her.

Neither of them ever fessed up, though. I only found out about their existence after an aunt died & left me her personal effects.

I found birth announcements for these other kids in her mementos. I always thought she meant for me to find them. When I asked my parents, they refused to discuss anything related to these kids.

A few years later, I went back to my hometown & looked up that date in the newspaper morgue. The friend who went with me was floored. I wasn't, really. I'd grown up in fear for my life from her rages.

I broke off contact with them as soon as I could. Not just because of this, though it didn't help. I had a slew of my own traumas growing up. It was a huge mistake to let them try to raise another child.

10. A Nasty Secret

u/[deleted]: My dad learned he had an older brother, his parents' oldest child (If I remember right, he was named Ron after his dad).

When Ron was as old as a preschool kid, they were told he was mentally unstable. Horrified, they turned him over to the State and never spoke of him again.

Years later, they received word that their kid was not, in fact, mentally disabled. He had "auditory dyslexia" (now called auditory processing disorder).

He grew up to be a fully functioning independent adult. He refused to have any contact with the family when my dad reached out. It was fair, in my opinion.

11. The Man Who Desired Deaths

u/tuestcretin: Before my granddad took his own life, he was planning to unalive every single family member in the house (Grandmom, my mom, my aunt, two uncles, and a few more people.)

He had left a detailed note blaming everyone for his death and his intention to unalive all. Family speculation is that it was due to some extramarital affair he had and how the family was obstructing his path.

My mom's family is still traumatized by this entire episode, and no one likes to talk about it. I guess that trauma of waking up one day and learning that your dad, who just took his own life, was also planning to unalive all of you is impossible to shake off in a lifetime.

12. I Was the Secret

u/LilTreeHuger21: My biological parents started having kids as teenagers. For context, when my biological mom found out she was pregnant with me, she was 21, and I was their 4th child.

They quickly realized they needed to get their act together. They were already struggling financially and had countless other issues.

They decided that they were going to put me up for adoption. I was a baby. I was adopted by a loving family quite quickly, only about an hour's drive from the city I was born in. Coincidentally, I ended up returning to that same city for college.

In my sophomore year, I decided to seek out my biological family. Turns out, my biological parents separated right after I was born.

My biological mom is still in and out of jail to this day, but my biological dad was able to start a new chapter. He got clean & sober, remarried, started going to church, and built a legitimate career for himself.

He told his new wife about me when they first met but didn't tell any of his children. My other siblings didn't know I existed.

Thanks to the internet, I ended up tracking down his work number and gave him a call. Later, he said as soon as I said, "Hi, this might be really weird, but..." he knew it was me.

Apparently, ever since I turned 18, he and his wife anxiously waited for me to resurface. They knew the day would come eventually.

That evening, they sat my siblings down and told them about me. It was difficult at first, but now I'm 25, and my father and I have a pretty solid relationship.

13. 'Baby' Secrets

u/meeper_meeps: My dad was discharged from the military for going AWOL. He had found out his ex from when he was about 15 had his children and never told him about it.

I have two siblings who are twins out there. I don't know their names or what they look like, but they're out there somewhere, only three years older than me.

14. The Unfortunate Kid

u/SpaceWhale89: My great-aunt and uncle had a baby when they were still in the dating phase. They were in love, and getting married was a sure thing down the line.

However, coming from a very conservative society in the Middle East back in the 50s, they had to give the child away to an orphanage. Once that was done, they got married and eventually had four children.

That child grew up knowing his origins but was allowed minimal contact with my family. He still isn't invited to family events.

When my great-uncle passed away, I was told he was amongst the random people who came to the cemetery to pay respects.

None of my cousins, including myself, know what he looks like, but my dad, his siblings, and his cousins all do. It's sad how he's punished for something that isn't his fault.

15. Elopement Gone Wrong

u/p38-lightning: My great-aunt was a nurse at a mental hospital about 100 years ago. She fell in love with a guy who had been committed there by the State.

She helped him escape, and they ran off together to another part of the country. Turns out the guy was a psycho criminal, and he was extradited and put in prison.

My aunt, a sweet old soul, lived to be 99 years old, and I never knew anything about her past until decades after she was gone.

16. The Cool Uncle with Secrets

u/daddioz: My cool uncle visited our house every Christmas and Thanksgiving. He was always really great and pleasant...He had a bunch of cats and dogs at his house and had married my aunt shortly before I was born.

One day, my mom and I went to visit him and my aunt at his house, and there was this girl there...I think she was a year older than me, so she was about 15.

My mom and I are like, "Who's this girl?" and my uncle is like, "Well...I just found out a few days ago that I have a daughter, so...I guess this is your cousin!"

Turns out, before he married my aunt, he had a wild bachelor party where he impregnated a call girl. My uncle accepted his responsibility and started paying child support to the woman—his idea. My aunt was also very forgiving.

17. Not a Normal Family

u/Balloon_Lady: My uncle got his high school girlfriend pregnant, and my grandmother drove her to the clinic for an abortion, agreeing to pay only if the girlfriend didn't tell my uncle that she was going to abort his unborn child.

My uncle was devastated when he found out. But that hardly excuses his next actions. My mother was pregnant around the same time and offered the same deal, which she refused.

My uncle finds out, tracks her down, and punches her in the stomach for "daring to take what was ripped away from him."

My mother miscarried, yet she forgave him and tried to help him get therapy. He rejected her help and joined the Army instead. I didn't know about it until I was an adult.

18. A Man with Nasty Tales

u/[deleted]: My paternal grandfather cheated on his wife like it was a job. He had several children, but he had no count. Our estimate was "about 35-40" and this was in the 80s.

The youngest one—not sure if she's his kid—is eighteen years old, and the oldest one (my pops) is 64. As if cheating weren't bad enough, he also ill-treated his wife and neglected his two legitimate kids.

19. A Weird Happy Ending

u/gdubtheballer: My grandpa was married to Mary Jane (fake name, obviously). Mary Jane committed embezzlement and went to jail for it.

She only did it to get more money for her family (although she continued to do it after the need had passed). She went to prison and got leukemia.

While she was in prison, dying of cancer, my grandpa divorced her. A while later, we got a wedding invitation from my grandpa—two days before the wedding.

And can you guess who he was marrying? Mary Jane. A different one. HIS NEW WIFE HAS THE EXACT SAME NAME AS HIS OLD ONE.

20. No More Secrets

u/alias1ch1: My great-grandmother was initially married to my great-grandfather's father, and she and my great-grandfather (her stepson) would secretly have relations.

My great-grandmother and my great-grandfather ran away together. Both of my great-grandparents are still alive and happily married.

21. The Millions

u/Qu1nn1fer: My great-grandfather had built a company called Johnson Corrugated from the ground up. It manufactured corrugated cardboard for shipping boxes.

My grandfather was supposed to inherit the company some 30 years ago, but then Uncle Randy happened. My great-grandmother was still alive and was technically the owner of the company.

She was also blind and deaf. Uncle Randy impersonated Grandpa and had her sign away the entire company to him. He gave half of the 15 million to his son, and he died from cancer shortly after fleeing the family.

Grandpa, 80, can't retire because he's been fighting for the company for 20 years and owes about $300,000 in legal fees. I discovered this secret after finding a stack of legal documents in his attic.

22. It Was 'Whoa' Inducing

u/Philaharmic: My dad's sister wasn't his sibling at all. She was his cousin, as the aunt was super religious and wouldn't have tolerated a teenage pregnancy.

So, his aunt gave her daughter to my grandparents, and they raised her as her own. I found that out not too long ago. It was not that big of a deal, but it was pretty 'whoa' inducing.

23. "Yours for All Eternity"

u/norwaymamabear: My grandmother had a sister who died in the 60s. She wasn't married and had served in the Army in WW2.

When my grandmother turned 100, we were looking at old albums. I climbed on the chair to get her another album and found a little book at the back of the closet.

It had pictures of my father's aunt in an army aircraft, like a fighter plane, and of a few other people. On one page, just a few words were written, "yours for all eternity."

My gran panicked when I was holding that book. She said that nobody had ever seen it and she had promised to take it to her grave.

She then told me that she believed that her sister met someone in the war (man or woman, we don't know) and that they died. Her sister had decided to never fall in love again.

I never told anyone until a few weeks ago when my father asked if anything I would have wanted was missing from her house.

The book disappeared because nobody thought it was important when the house was cleaned out. And I think my gran would have been happy about that. She died aged 102, having lived through 2 world wars. She's my hero.

24. Who Was My Dad?

u/USACM-A: I was always told that my dad left me when I was born, and technically, it's still true, but I was told my dad was someone completely different.

I got a little suspicious about the whole thing because my cousin, who didn't know the entire cover story, told me that my dad had blonde hair and my mother had black, and that's where I get my black hair, but everyone else told me my dad had black hair.

I thought about it and had a little suspicious thought about the whole thing, and then what really revealed it to me was I had to use my birth certificate so I could join the military.

My father's name was Alexander Smith, and my last name was Smith, but they all told me that I got my name from a baby book, so my last name differed from everyone else in my family.

I then spent a couple of days researching 'Alexander Smith.' I found out that everything added up. He was born in Russia and changed his name when he got here.

I'm 70% Russian, so that makes a lot more sense, and what sold it for me is that it said his mother's name was Natasha Kelovich, which was my Grandmother's name.

I confronted my family about it, and they revealed that he was my dad. They told me what happened. To put it short, after I was born, he didn't want any kids, so he tried to smother me in my sleep when I was just a little child.

When my brother and my uncle stopped him, he left, and they called the police on him. He later returned in the middle of the night, set fire to our house, and caused our family dog to die.

The fire jumped to another house and ended an old lady's life in the process. After that, he was arrested and sent to prison for life. He later died in prison.

They said they wanted to keep it a secret, so I didn't know my dad was a psychopath who tried to end my life. They planned on telling me over letter when I joined the military, but I figured that out beforehand.

25. Only Konichiwa Now

u/AdditionalAlias: We were born and raised in the Philippines. After moving to the US, my mother has always been about "Pinoy pride" and making sure we weren't contaminated by Western culture.

She also hated (with a passion) being confused as anything except Filipino. In my late 20s, we found out that we weren't even Filipino.

We're Japanese. My mom was hiding the truth because she thought it was embarrassing to admit it. We now greet her with "Konichiwa" to mess with her.

26. The Illegitimate Son

u/SirRettfordIII: My uncle had an illegitimate child. When this boy grew up, he found my grandfather and would call him multiple times a month with some story for some money.

Being the absolutely kind-hearted yet unbelievably gullible man he was, my grandfather gave in almost every time. Once, my uncle disappeared without a trace. His family genuinely thought the worst.

The kid called saying my uncle was dead and demanded his inheritance, as well as whatever inheritance he would have gotten from my grandparents' will.

Eventually, he even threatened to get a lawyer. Uncle showed up one day. Turns out he had gone into hiding after he ran out of money and was in trouble with banks. The kid dropped the lawsuit. Nobody in my family lets their kids talk to that cousin.

27. Instant Karma

u/Instachef89: My family found out with my grandpa's passing that my grandma was never married to him.

She refused to marry him because her main goal was to live on Social Security and never work a day in her life.

But she said she started telling everyone they were married when she got pregnant with my aunt.

She didn't want to be seen as an unmarried pregnant lady.

She did end up living off Social Security, but recently, the government found out, and now she may be sued by the government. She's a horrible person and only cares about money, so this is instant karma.

28. The First Cousin

u/never_mind_its_me: My first cousin contacted me through a DNA service website. I had no idea of their existence until then.

Turns out, this cousin was put up for adoption as a baby years ago by my aunt. My aunt had only told my mother about it. My mother told me everything after I started digging to figure out how this person and I were related.

My aunt is horrified I found out about her child and avoids me at all costs now at family gatherings. I don't care about what she did.

29. She Loved Several Men

u/EnModestoSeLaPasa: My grandmother got intimate with many men before meeting my grandpa. Her four oldest kids have different dads.

She later had four other kids with my grandpa. My grandfather was a righteous man and adopted her older kids. He later died protecting them.

30. Secrets Come with an Expiry Date

u/_ryannyce: During WWII, my great-grandmother had an affair with the mailman while her husband was away at war and ended up getting pregnant accidentally.

To save her marriage, she decided to put my grandfather up for adoption before her husband came home from war, and nobody ever found out.

Somehow (and I have no clue how), she managed to keep it a secret until she was on her deathbed and ended up telling her two daughters, who were born after my grandfather.

Sometime later in the early 1990s, they hired a private investigator to find their long-lost brother, and when they found him, they waited in the parking lot for him to get off work and broke the news to him that they were his sisters.

My dad told me he remembered going to a Christmas party with them as a child, and that was about it. They lost contact.

I've never met them, but the story still fascinates me, and I figured you all on the internet would find it fascinating as well.

31. She Stole Us

u/BloomieBoii: When I was about two years old, my maternal grandmother was watching me and my sister while my parents were at work in the city.

She refused to let us see our parents, and we ended up staying with her for around half a year. Turns out our parents were trapped in the city for two days, so my grandma had gone to the courthouse and said they abandoned us.

She took temporary custody of us, and my parents had to wait six months to be deemed "suitable" parents. For years, we never spoke about her.

32. Shady Stuff

u/Emil000: I learned that my family was taking part in some really bad stuff involving Mexican gangs. I learned about it after my brother's dad was found dead the day he got out of prison.

My mom and aunt were talking about it. They were talking in Spanish, but they didn't know that I was learning the language. (My siblings and I didn't learn Spanish growing up.)

About a month or so later, some other people our family knew were found missing or dead. Later, I asked my mom about it, and she said that our family had been part of this shady stuff since before my grandmother even migrated from Mexico.

I used to wonder why we moved every 3 to 6 months. People knew me before I'd ever even heard of them. My siblings and I are not involved, but 4 of my cousins are.

33. It Was Shocking

u/superstartsky: A few years ago, my father found out from an obituary that he had an Aunt he never knew existed.

He asked my grandmother about it, and it turns out they had apparently put her sister in an institution when she was in her teens (sometime in the 1940s) because she was "too wild" and just NEVER TALKED ABOUT HER AGAIN.

Even when he asked her about it, she didn't want to discuss it with him. Eventually, she gave him that bare minimum - that the Aunt was very wild, and their father had her sent away to an institution.

I've never seen or been able to find the obituary - but this is a very strange and dark part of our family history.

34. My Mother Didn't Want Me to Know

u/zombiemann: I found out I had a sister who had been given up for adoption. The only reason I found out was that the person who informed me no longer felt bound to secrecy after my mom died.

And the person who told me had "receipts" solid enough that I have no reason to doubt them. It also explains why mom freaked out when I told her I'd done a 23AndMe test.

35. He Was Not My Uncle

u/EhlersDanlosSucks: A dark family secret that I discovered was that my uncle was actually my cousin.

He was abducted as an infant, and when he was returned a year later, my aunt didn't want him back. My grandparents adopted him, so he was legally my uncle.

36. He Died, She Served

u/Cannoli_Emma: My extremely wealthy uncle's health was deteriorating due to Alzheimer's. He apparently made a deal with my aunt that if the time came when he needed to be placed in a nursing home, she would end his life instead.

He wrote all of this in a letter and gave it to the attorney of their estate. When the time came, I don't know why she chose to shoot him in the back of the head instead of choosing something less violent.

It was a pretty big trial with a fair bit of news coverage, and it really blew up when the lawyer testified and brought forward the letter. My aunt served like two years, I think, and was released on parole.

37. They Found Her

u/ManicDigressive: When I was about 32, I learned that apparently, in 1973, my dad had a daughter he never knew existed. I found out because he texted me about it while I was working.

This was a week after he learned about her. She was in her late 40s by that point, I think. What's sort of tragic is all this time, we thought I was my dad's only kid, and he always wanted a daughter but never got one.

He would have loved this girl with all his heart. She was the result of his one-night stand with a girl he never spoke to again, and according to the daughter, her mother had a mental breakdown not long after giving birth and never really had her custody anyway.

Dad never would have had any way to find out. She grew up with her maternal grandparents in another state, and the mother kind of went AWOL.

38. My 7th Birthday

u/No-Ice-9612: My parents took me to Disneyland for my seventh birthday. I recall landing, going to the park, and having a great first day or two.

Then, I saw my parents dealing with a bunch of stressful phone calls. They kept telling me nothing happened, and everything was okay.

Eventually, we flew home, and surprise!! We took an extra couple of days to go to a big water park away from home.

Around ten years later, my parents finally told me what happened. My uncle, my dad's brother, tried to end his life on my seventh birthday. He was depressed in life.

He survived. My parents took me to the water park so that we didn't have to come home to him leaving the hospital.

By not telling me, my parents let me keep my birthday as my day, not the day my uncle tried to end his life. Knowing how a 7-year-old's brain works, I probably would've thought I had something to do with it.

39. It Ended Well, Though

u/Pandora1685: When I was in my early 30s, I found out my mom had not four but six kids. She gave up two for adoption before I was born.

I was the last baby she had with some random man before she married my stepdad. She had intended to give me up for adoption, as well.

Silver lining? One of the babies she gave up contacted her a few years after I learned about this, and now I have an awesome new brother!

40. It Was Just Bizarre

u/afa78: My grandpa (15) abducted my grandma (14) from a convent. No one even bothered looking for her because she was an orphan and didn't even know who her family was. They had 16 children together.

41. A Wild History

u/arjacks: My paternal grandmother had an affair with our small town's mortician in the 1940s. She got pregnant, and he performed an illegal abortion.

The fetus was buried behind the funeral home he owned, where we kids used to sled every winter. My dad told me this as I was getting ready to take a ride down the hill on the sled when I was 12.

Also, my paternal grandfather had multiple illegitimate children around our small town. Turns out one of my best friends was also my half-cousin.

My father told me about it when I was 17. My father was educated, intelligent, honest, and moral. The fact that his parents were so wild was absolutely shocking to me.

42. The Sword

u/plurperonipizza: My mother grew up in the American South. Her brother died in his early 20s, and she always told me it was a freak accident.

A bullet came through the window, ending his life. They lived in a rural area, so I never questioned it. One year, I inherited an old Korean War officer's sword after my grandpa passed.

My mom freaked out and told me that it was too dangerous to keep. She said we should sell it or get a safe to lock it up in. I thought it was weird, so I asked my dad, and he got this sad look on his face.

Turns out my mom's brother met a brutal end with a similar sword in the 80s. He had gotten involved with the wrong people, and they thought he had snitched about one of their big deals that got busted. I found this out when I was 16.

43. It Was Disgusting

u/Aggressive-Bat-4000: My grandmother didn't lose her leg to cancer. She lost it because she got injured while helping my grandpa fix the roof.

My grandpa was too cheap to have her leg fixed properly, so he told the doctor to cut it off. Then he ill-treated her for life.

44. The Jewish Escapee

u/Fragmented-Rooster: When my grandma's gentleman friend was admitted into a care home for his dementia, they had a problem verifying his medical records.

As he deteriorated, he lost his Irish accent and would occasionally speak in German. He was a child during WW2. My parents reckon he was probably a Jewish escapee.

45. He Had to End What Was Happening

u/Kaiser93: My great-grandfather ended his village mayor's life. Why? Because the mayor had physical relations with his mom while his father worked in the field.

I think he was 15 or 16 when he did that. My great-grandfather was not heartless, so he never told his father about what had happened.

He told my mom (that's my mom's grandfather; sorry, I didn't specify) that he confessed to his mom on her deathbed what he did.

One may never know entirely about their origins or why the elders are sometimes hush-hush about their family's past. The people in this article looked into the dark corners of their family history, mostly to learn something heartbreaking or disgusting. Thankfully, some could also find a happy ending. But is there a point in digging into the past? Let us know if you've ever uncovered your family's dark secrets.