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Pet Owners Describe The Times Their Pets Quickly Went From Sweet Angels To Furry Demons

Pet Owners Describe The Times Their Pets Quickly Went From Sweet Angels To Furry Demons
Thapanee Srisawat/Unsplash

Optimus Prime can open doors.

This seems perfectly reasonable if you're talking about Optimus Prime the leader of the Autobots and possibly the greatest Transformer to ever transform.

But I'm talking about Optimus Prime, my 90 lb rescue pit bull who likes to break into neighbors homes.


Reddit user AngusGibsonT asked:

" Pet owners of Reddit, what's the quickest you've gone from 'My sweet furry angel' to 'Why are you doing this, you goddamn goblin?' "

When we adopted Optimus Prime, we had no idea he knew this little trick until he let himself out of our house and INTO a neighbor's home down the street.

They were polite ("Um, hi, it seems we have one more pit bull in our living room than we did a few minutes ago. Are you missing someone?") and he isn't aggressive—but anything can happen out there and it's my responsibility as his person to keep him safe.

He's not safe letting himself into and out of rooms, houses and buildings.

Mr. Prime is a stunningly gorgeous boy who loves his cuddles and doesn't understand personal space—do any bully breeds? Why do they need to be snuggled constantly?

But he is also a monster who lets himself out of our house, the vets office, friends places, the car and pretty much anywhere else.

Flat handles, round handles, pocket doors, child locks, kennels—none of it matters. Only a deadbolt has foiled him, so now our front door stays deadbolted.

The thing is, he doesn't DO anything once he opens the doors. He just opens them and stands there, sometimes across the threshold so you can't close it again.

Aside from the time he visited the neighbors, he mostly just seems to have a thing against closed doors. There's no panic, there's just typical bully refusal to leave something alone.

So me and 'Houdini The House Manatee' (he's enormous, grey, and lazy) spend the day playing passive-aggressive games. He walks around opening the doors and just standing in the doorway. I spend the day closing the doors he opens 'cause we live in Florida and mosquitos.

Optimus isn't the only pet wreaking havoc.

Pet owners of Reddit absolutely do not have it together and it makes me feel a little better about myself, honestly.

Rabbit Becomes Man, Man Becomes Pest

"I have raised two rabbits from birth. They're half-siblings with the same father; a boy and girl."

"Girl has always been shy and sweet. And so was boy …up until his testicles dropped."

"My boy became a man overnight, and not a good one."

"Up until his appointment for neutering came, he became the devil incarnate. Honking, running around in circles, pissing all over his toys. All toilet training completely forgotten. Biting us. Growling. Scratching. Wiping his tic-tac on anything fabric. Destroying anything in his path."

"We lined a Perspex storage box with hay that we used as 'horny jail' - a time out zone, if you like, to sit think about what he’d done."

"He’s still a little bruiser by nature, but after his surgery he calmed down immensely, especially once his sister was spayed as well."

"On the day they were reunited, I held my breath as they sniffed and chased. But they re-bonded successfully and are inseparable. He’s so protective of his sister and grooms her regularly."

"He’s smaller than his sister, and I think he just has Little Man Syndrome half the time. I wouldn’t have him any other way"

"Tldr; Boy rabbit becomes man. Man becomes pest. Pest has his balls cut off. Pest calms down and becomes a loving brother. I love him."

- LexiRae24

Giphy

The Dogs Plan

"Had a pit when I was in my early 20s."

"I went through some crap and ended up pretty much homeless. I did have a hotel room for a few months, which made me feel grateful to no be on the street."

"My job at the time was crap pay for sh*t work."

"I was down to my last few dollars and bought some chicken nuggets for myself and got my dog his food, because I'd rather barely eat than to see him hungry. Chicken nuggets wouldn't fill me, but it would be SOMETHING and he could eat too."

"For the first time ever, out of nowhere, he jumped on the table and ate my chicken nuggets. I didn't even have enough money for a single pack of ramen."

"I was so mad I yelled and screamed at him and he took off running out the door."

"He was gone almost 3 full days till some old man came walking towards the hotel with my dog on a leash. He came to my door and said he'd seen me letting the dog out before and found him behind his garage."

"We chatted a while and I ended up sharing my struggle story with the old man. The next day I get a call in the hotel room phone with a job offer making almost 16 an hour."

"Old man owned a small construction business and created a position of 'Site Cleaner' for me. I just picked up trash and swept floors after drywallers and electricians etc."

"My first check had a bonus on it labeled 'down payment for apartment.' I still think the dog had his own plan."

- phatkidd76

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My Husbands Cat

"My husband's cat loves him, and only him, unreasonably."

"It's adorable. He's her person and she gets jealous if he's snuggling me instead of her. We're on the couch and he puts his arm around me? She'll squirm her way onto his lap and just stare at me. So that's pretty cute."

"The problem is that when he goes away, she cannot handle it at all."

"This critter goes through the stages of grief, every time. One day of denial (she hangs out on his office chair and generally behaves normally)."

"Two or so days of bargaining (she climbs on my lap, apparently hoping that if she acts real cute, I'll turn into my husband?)"

"Three days of depression (she hides under his desk and only comes out to eat at night.)"

"Finally, she hits anger. She waits until I clean the litter box, and have gone outside to throw the poo out. Then, she SH*TS ON THE FLOOR."

"This lasts anywhere from one to seven days and does not end until my husband returns. She never progresses to the acceptance stage."

"OH BUT IT GETS BETTER. It all ends when my husband finally gets home."

"This ungrateful sh*tgoblin sees him walk in the door, looks me dead in the eye, and strolls into the litter box like she hasn't just spent the last week tormenting me."

"I get it. It's absolutely separation anxiety. Poor goblin."

"We have tried Feliway, but I'm allergic to it. So we set her up in my husband's office overnight (food, water, litter, and privacy from my rambunctious cats) and make sure he leaves some unwashed shirts for her to snuggle."

"She's only got one eye and doesn't hear well so I think it helps her feel safer. But nothing will satisfy her until her person returns."

- WavePetunias

Giphy

Rabbits Can Climb?

"When my then 18 month old, ball of attitude with fluff on it house rabbit bit through my laptop cable while it was plugged in, then proceeded to get angry with the cable and kept biting it because it was biting him back."

"I got home to a totally destroyed cable and a rabbit who had nothing but a minor stomach problem for a few days."

"Everything was on top of a table - including the outlet! I didn't know the little bastard could CLIMB to reach the top of it. Did you know rabbits can climb? BECAUSE I DIDN'T."

"There's no way he could have jumped on stuff to get up there. He literally had to calculate a route and CLIMB."

"All accessible cables are now fully armoured and I check everything for potential bunny access, no matter how improbable."

"He's ridiculously lucky to be alive. He's 6 in July."

"He's a total prick. But I love him."

.- CrazyPlatypusLady

Giphy

Brownie Time

"My German Shepard."

"Wife decided to make brownies in a glass pan. After they had cooled down, we put them back in the oven to eat after we went to go pick up dinner."

"Well, we came back to an open stove, dog diarrhea mixed with vomit all over the house, and my dog laying in the center of the living room - hyperventilating."

"Old boy had used a tea towel we had hanging over the handle to pull the stove open, and decided to eat the brownies, glass pan and all! He must have pulled the pan out and eaten the brownie - and half the shattered glass pan."

"Thankfully this was 22 years ago and I had access to a military vet so it 'only' cost $1200 for the surgery he needed to have the vet remove glass out of dummy’s stomach."

"He lived for another 10 years."

- Hardheaded_Hunter

Giphy

Menace To Society

"I am constantly flip flopping between the two"

"My cat is adorable and I love her. But god damn she is just... she's a f*cking menace to society, honestly."

"Cat outside the window? Gotta try and murder it through the window and then maul mom for a week when I can't. Why? Because yes, that's why."

"New furniture in the house or old furniture being disposed of? I am now angry, let the mauling commence once more. For an entire week."

"Something left on a table? I must knock it off the table."

"Same item now put in a deep cubby to prevent me from being an asshole? I must claw my way into the cubby, and then knock it on the floor again."

"Too close to the cat tree for too long? Time to slap."

"Hold her for a second too long after she bawled around the house with her toy in her mouth demanding cuddles? Time to maul."

"There's a box outside? or a bag? Time to attack the window until it's investigated by someone, and then it's time to maul mom for a week about it."

"I don't know why she feels the need to be a spicy lil sh*t. It's a good thing I named her Pepper, I guess."

- GenjisWife

Giphy

Chinchilla Love

"My chinchilla goes from 'sweet innocent fluffball who just wants some treats and pets' to 'horny little bastard' real quick."

"I’ll just be sitting with him giving him pets and he’ll try to hump my foot. Or the blanket. Or a pillow. Or a stuffed animal. Or my knee."

"Honestly, any nearby semi-soft thing is in danger of being humped."

"He’s also jizzed on his vet. More than once."

"The vet never seems shocked by it, though. Male chinchillas don't normally get neutered since it's risky for them. It's usually only done if there's a medical reason for it, so this must happen pretty regularly."

- whateverimtootired

Giphy

Gag-Crying

"I had a really well-behaved blind foster dog."

"I was very sick one night and put him to bed in his kennel (which he loves) earlier than normal. I slept later than normal too since I felt so horrible."

"I woke up expecting him to have had an accident and was so proud he hadn't pooped anywhere since I'd left him in there so long."

"That is, until I brought him out of his kennel and he chugged an entire bowl of water and then threw up. Turns out he had pooped, but then eaten it and now vomited watery poop all over my doormat."

"Since he'd drank so much water, it spread all over my floor. Cue me gag-crying with a bottle of 409 and paper towels."

"I didn't blame him, obviously."

- astrosergeant

Giphy

Merry Christmas

"When one of my cats was still a kitten, she would climb the Christmas tree. We thought it was funny and didn't really mind that much because she wasn't big enough to knock it over or really cause any damage."

"Until she decided to open her mouth as wide as possible to bite a FREAKIN GLASS ORNAMENT and then it basically got stuck in her wide open mouth."

"My husband and I were both freaking out and trying to get it out of her mouth, and then the GLASS ORNAMENT BROKE IN HER MOUTH. Shockingly, she was perfectly fine and somehow didn't cut her mouth but it was the most ridiculous and terrifying thing I've had a pet do."

"Our Christmas ornaments are all made of plastic now because of this."

- beloved_wolf

Giphy

Under Two Feet Of Snow

"My dog loved snow. I love snow."

"The first time I ever got to take him out in a proper blizzard in NYC was so exciting. It dumped so hard so fast, I had never seen anything like it. I had to take him out for a walk."

"He was beside himself, hopping in and out of deep drifts like a juiced up rabbit, completely disappearing beneath the surface and re-emerging a few feet away, crazed. So pure, so playful. That’s my boy."

"It was late at night in Brooklyn, streets were empty."

"I took him into a fenced-in basketball court up the street from my apartment. Pristine, untouched snow. I let him off leash to go absolutely nuts in the stuff. I stood by the gate beaming as he dashed and darted and dived."

"Within seconds he made a bee-line to the far corner where he began rolling around, fixated. I knew that roll. The roll reserved for smelly things."

"By the time I sprinted to the far end of the court he was covered, head to tail, in soft wet human feces. Someone, at some point before the storm, literally sprayed an ungodly amount of diarrhea shit in the corner of that court and despite being buried under two feet of snow, my dog immediately clocked it and bathed in it."

"It was matted so deep in his fur I spent over 6 hours cleaning him and the mess in my apartment that night. And still had to call a cleaning service and air out the stench for days and days in the dead of winter."

"Dogs, man..."

- MEEfO

Giphy

"The Sweetest Psychopath"

"Pretty much everything."

"I adopted her at two years old, some sort of pitt mix, and the vet pegged her perfectly. She said 'she's the sweetest psychopath we will ever meet.' "

"She's so lovable and loving, but has such a strong prey drive and fear of the unknown. Poor girl. I love her and hate her every f*cking day."

- Gotforgot

Steve

"One time when I was doing homework at the kitchen table, my puppy (Steve, who it now 5 I believe?) was just chilling under the table."

"Suddenly, I hear gagging noises. I look under the table with my mom to see what is happening."

"That a-hole throws up a whole sock! Then just acts like nothing happened."

- Alyvent

Bless You

"My cat came up and was purring and giving me little kitty kisses as I was eating my birthday breakfast."

"Then he sneezed in my open mouth and on the bite of food I was bringing to it."

- PM_ME_YOUR_WEIRD_PET

Groggy Gribble

"Wasn’t there to experience it, but when my dad took our new kitten to get neutered, he warned the vet that he was quite the little bastard."

"He explained that he will bite, claw, scratch, & draw blood from anyone he felt even slightly intimidated by. The vet (obviously) said it was fine, & that they see cats much worse all the time. In fact, Gribble (my cat) was completely calm after leaving the kennel."

"My dad brushed it off & chalked it up to the vet being good at his job."

"When my dad returned to pick Gribble up, the vet had his arm stretched out as far as possible while holding Gribble by his neck & cautiously approaching my dad."

"Apparently, after the grogginess wore off, Gribble went absolutely batshit on the vet & his assistants, leaving decent sized marks to prove it. All the vet had to say was, 'Well, I can see what you meant earlier.' ”

- beccabitesback

Lizard Puppy

"I have an Argentine blue Tegu I adopted after his original owner passed away."

"For those of you who don't know Tegus are often called 'lizard puppies' by the internet and for good reason. They're affectionate, Intelligent, and all around very personable large lizards with one exception."

"Anywhere between 10 months to 2 years or so when tegus hit puberty they enter a brief but violent stage of growth that tegu owners affectionately call 'guberty'."

"During this stage they literally act how you'd expect a raging, hormonal teenager to act and become Satan incarnate. They will lunge at and bite anything that moves and seemingly overnight transform into a vengeful God of hatred trapped in a little scaley package no matter how much they bonded with you before."

"My boy went from being a sweet, beautifully socialized little man into a emo teenager who didn't just threaten you with dark poetry and blasting Black Sabbath in his room all day; he had a powerful bite and tail to back up the threats."

"There was an extra twist to his behavior I didn't quite expect though. Apparently during this time male lizards can also get extremely horny; especially if their owners are female."

"Instead of lunging at me with pure adolescent hatred my little man had other intentions when he attempted to latch onto my leg or arm."

"He rubbed his ass on everything to leave his scent, would come running at me full tilt, and I had to wear shoes when I was in the house or he would attack my feet, rip off the sock, and steal it so he could attempt to violate it."

"I gave him a stuffed turkey so that he could take out his horniness on that instead of trying to latch onto my arm or leg."

"Did I mention tegus have powerful jaws? Because they do, and honestly I'm lucky the bites I got were the gentler amorous kind."

"I saw his gross little winky far too many times that summer. I would have preferred he just hated me like a normal lizard but no. I had a 6 lb horny lizard, instead."

"Thankfully my boy got through 'guberty' and is back to his sweet self and giving me an appropriate level of affection when I take him out every day to roam my house."

"I know his previous owner would have laughed his ass off at the ordeal."

- Alternative_Many_614

Smacking A Service Dog

"I have PTSD and a service dog. He is my second, after my first lovely lady retired (but never stopped working) and then passed on."

"This isn't about him, but does involve him. This is about my cat."

"I've had this cat for almost as long as I've had a service dog and my working theory is that he learned from my first that he could do something to help me when I needed help."

"It's wonderful having two animals who are so attentive to my needs. It's not so wonderful for one of them to be possessive over the ability to do things for me."

"Sometimes, when I need help and my cat has gotten to me first (usually because he can be up on my desk/table/etc while my dog is next to me on the ground) my cat will get prickly with my dog and be like, 'I GOT THIS. Jeez, leave off! I got it this time!' and slap him in the face with his paw when he too tries to help."

"and my poor dog is like, 'but it's my job. I need to do job for human. I can't leave! I HAVE JOB.' "

"My previous service dog was pretty good at rolling with this and let him help me while squishing against my back safely away from kitty paws."

"My current service dog has not puzzled this out yet and will keep trying to help from the front and keep getting bapped in the face for his troubles."

"Fortunately, I can ask my dog to go fetch something for me (meds, sweat shirt, what have you) so he can still do something for me even if he isn't immediately doing the getting-all-up-in-my-bzns thing he's trained to do."

"This isn't every time. My cat hovers nearby if my dog gets to me first, which is usually."

"On occasion, he will come over and try to take over if he thinks my dog isn't doing a good enough job, which involves smacking my dog to get him out of the way."

"This is very rare, and seems to happen less and less as my cat gets older. My guess is he is grudgingly deeming my dog is doing a better job than he initially thought."

- FaustianPacts

Now, because I'm the kind of writer who knows what the people really want—here's a picture of Optimus. Specifically, a picture of him gorgeously basking in the light of a door he just opened.

Dog tax paid, dear readers.

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People Who Actually Died And Were Revived Share Their Experiences

"Reddit user AlaskaStiletto asked: 'Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?'"

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.