Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. That is one of the wisdoms of life that people are always throwing around. It can be especially true when meeting your idols, finding your dream job and searching down blood relatives you knew nothing about.
Redditor u/VideoFork wanted to know who would be willing to give up some salacious tea about their blood tie discoveries by asking..... People who have taken an ancestry DNA test and accidentally uncovered a family secret, what was it?It's Me!
"I am the family secret, family discovered their brother/cousin/son and his wife had 3 children and gave them all up for adoption - after matching with me through a DNA test. They were shocked to say the least, but we're all pretty close now."
_orange-soda__
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That Type of Guy
"My aunt discovered that her mother cheated on her father and she was a product of that affair, meaning she was actually only half-siblings with her 4 siblings. The rub was that my aunt's husband was married before he married her. The woman he was married to is the daughter of the man involved in the affair. So no one knew this, but my uncle got divorced and then married his ex-wife's half-sister. I guess he has a type."
Herd_That
Zulu Forever
"I was adopted and always knew I was adopted. My parents told me that I came from a family that had already had all of their kids. They lived several towns over. I was a surprise. Three years ago my wife decided to take some DNA tests. I figured what the heck? Maybe I'm part Zulu warrior. That'd be cool."
"When the tests came back, I found out I had a first cousin. They had listed a public email. I emailed them, started comparing notes, and wham! I was in for quite a surprise. First, I was not born into a traditional family. Instead, my bio mom was single. Second, I was not a late addition. I had four sisters and one brother. I was the baby, but only by a couple of years. Third, most all of them lived nearby. Finally, nobody knew I was alive!"
"My biological mom had passed. She had kept the pregnancy secret from everybody else. Before she died, she had confided in one of my bio sisters that she had a baby a long time ago, and she had put the baby up for adoption. She told nobody else."
"When my sister told the rest of the family? They didn't believe her! So when I finally looked them up, she was like 'See! All those years! I told you so! We have a baby brother!' It was an amazing experience. I had no idea what I was getting into when I sent that DNA test off."
The Line
"Found out I have a different father. My dad also took a DNA test at the same time and found out his father, of 52 years, was not his biological father either. As it turns out, I come from a line of b**tards."
Benevolent_Burrito
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Bad Mom
"I was given up for adoption by my bio mom and none of her family knew about me. However, i was not her first or last child. I was her second of 4 kids. My older half brother (we all have different dads. I don't know who mine is and i don't think bio mom does either) was adopted by my bio moms parents. Her whole family found out about me when i found her when i was 19 and went to visit."
"It was pretty weird. I feel like the lucky one who got out. I don't talk to my bio mom. She is not a good parent to my 2 younger brothers and i hate that she pretends to know me or be my parent."
mladyKarmaB**ch
That one time....
"Not me, but a friend never knew who his father was (mom had a weekend fling in college and never contacted the guy after) and his wife helped him use ancestry.com to try and track him down. My friend reached out and the guy was obviously surprised, but flew across the country to meet him. They have a great relationship now, the dad attended his wedding, and they try to get their families together a couple times a year or so."
djsquidnasty
What a Man....
"My FIL was married to at least 2 women at a time. Nice guy but a man wh*re, and I think he just didn't want to let each woman down when she got pregnant and/or started bringing up marriage. My MIL says that he was already married when they got married, but we also know that he has a child 3 months younger than my husband and the woman and child both go by FIL's last name (and that's NOT the woman MIL claims he was married to when he married her). So he might possibly have had 3 wives at the same time. My husband has upwards of 10 half siblings from his dad."
You're Fired....
"My wife is adopted (but found her bio mom) and did one of the genetic tests. Someone matched with her and asked if she knew such and such a name. She found out her bio dad wasn't married to the bio mom.... it was her boss. oops."
valeyard89
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A Favor
"My male cousin did one and found a female cousin we did not know about. He reached out to her and apparently our deceased uncle was good friends with her mother. Mom wanted a baby so uncle got her pregnant simply as a sperm donor. Female cousin lived a few blocks away from my grandmother. She had met her a few times going around selling Girl Scout cookies or something. My grandmother had no idea that she was buying cookies from her granddaughter."
OrangeTree81
The 3
"On the flip side - my dad used to say my mom slept around and none of the 3 of us were his kids. Welp, thanks to the test, we know all 3 of us are!"
sparklypiggy
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Siblings...
"Not my story, but someone very close to me discovered that none of the ethnic background that they were expecting was present in the results. This person, whose father was deceased at the time, questioned their mother. The mother admitted that the person's father was not biological as they believed their entire life (they were older than 40)."
"The mother gave the name of the biological father. My friend then found the biological father, contacted him, and then discovered that they had several 1/2 siblings. The biological father was unaware he had another child and accepted my friend into his family as did the siblings." ~ galtsgulch232
Family Affairs...
"My bio-dad left his family and two daughters in Washington and married my mom in Los Angeles 5 weeks later. I found his first marriage certificate but nothing about a divorce. I'm pretty sure he was a bigamist." ~ khegiobridge
"My grandfather (mom's dad) had a second family living down the street. It was apparently an open secret and my mom and her sisters talk about their half siblings occasionally. My mom refuses to speak to us about it though, so I only have the bits and pieces mentioned here and there." ~ ladyinthemoor
DNA is WILD
"I exported my raw DNA from 23andme and threw it through promethease to find out why I have porphyria, which is supposed to be hereditary. My mom and dad are definitely my mom and dad, but neither of them have this, which means it was environmental exposure that caused it. Discovered a rare AMPD enzyme deficiency in mom, found out dad carried a recessive LUPUS gene and gave it to my sister. DNA is WILD." ~ djspacebunny
Lineage
My son is my 4th cousin. (We adopted him as an infant from an agency.) Fun to find that we are actually related!" ~ iawegian
Family GIF
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Extortion
"I have an uncle that was put up for adoption. He contacted my grandma and she thought he was going to extort her (they’re well off). Turns out he’s a multi, multi millionaire on his own. They still have limited contact, though my dad has reached out and formed a relationship. Apparently they look exactly alike and have the same personality (which sounds kind of stupid now that I’m writing it out, but they’re only half-siblings)." ~ RolandDPlaneswalke
In Chicago
"A woman over in Chicago decided to find out who her real parents were. She was getting close to 60 and realized that there may not be much time left to find her father. So through the magic of ancestry she was matched to my grandfather. She seached out to him and told him who her mother was. He didn't recognize the name but dug up his little black book and lo and behold... there she was. So now I've got a new aunt!" ~ dazeyd
he's dead now...
"I found a half sister that none of my siblings or mother knew about. My dad had an affair 50 years ago (he's dead now). For us it wasn't really a surprise, we already have a half-sister from another affair but for the newly discovered one it answered a lot of questions and gave her some needed closure. We all met a few times, it was pleasant." ~ AztecWheels
Facebook Finds
"My cousin took a test and goes on and on about how she's almost completely Irish. Our grandpa was German. I'd heard from my mom as a kid that my aunt's biological father was probably her friend's father. I've looked the family up on Facebook and my aunt looks just that friend. My cousin seems to have no idea of any of this. I don't think my aunt does either." ~ jelly-8
'grandpa’
"I found out that my dad is not my biological father. Turns out the family friend I grew up calling ‘grandpa’ is. Oh yea, and he was also my mom’s bariatric surgeon. Felt weird man." ~ agrajag159
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BOOM!!
"My dad and Aunt found out they had an older brother! Long story, my grandfather had a fling before he met my grandmother, never even knew he had a son, went and lived his life and some near 60 years later, BOOM! Ancestry test, here you go! So another really good story from this one." ~ Leighmer
The DNA discovery craze has been all the rage the past decade or so.
Everyone is running around contacting family they never knew they had.
That can be quite the Pandora's box of family secrets and scandal.The outcomes have been all over the place.
Though one of the best led to the discovery of the Golden State killer so that's a win.
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The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
