
It can feel strange when someone forces a secret on you. Now, asking for a secret in middle school about who your best friend might be in love with is one thing and can bring a group of friends closer together. Getting told when you're both adults about a traumatic, horrifying family affair is a little different and a little more scarring.
And sad.
*WARNING: Entries may involve self-harm and familial incest.*
Reddit user, u/DiceSided7, wanted people to discuss the disturbed when they asked:
What's the most disturbing secret you've been told?
Meet Dad's New Partner
Dad introduced me to his girlfriend when I was 15 years old.
"Now, don't tell your Mama."
Not Really Yours
A co-worker told me her 2nd child wasn't her husbands.
Did not need that information.
Sowing Your Wild Oats
My father had 6 children from 4 different women. One he knocked up when he was married to his first wife . He put the child up for adoption in secret so his wife wouldn't know. The only people who knew were his mom and dad and the mother of the child's family. He lied to his current wife about the child when his second wife found the papers in his office while they were going through a divorce.
30 years later, 23andme reunited all and he found out quickly this "secret" wasn't really so secret. Everyone in the family knew and just didn't say anything.
The child put up for adoption was me. What really sucks for him is if he had just been open about it it may have saved him many years of pain.
Killing In Defense
A guy I hooked up with in college had a breakdown when we were black out drunk and essentially admitted to killing a guy who had taken advantage of his little sister. He was a total wiener of a guy who was always trying to hype himself up and exaggerate to be a bigger, better, "manlier" person so I didn't think much of it at the time. The timing would have made him a teenager and the man a full fledged adult. It just felt like another bullsh-t story he was always telling.
But sometimes I think back and wonder if there's any truth to it.
A Dark Origin Story
In 1994 a now retired judge told me he and two childhood friends were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate down by a creek where they were playing one day. He had pretty much kept it to himself for a lifetime.
Life Inspires Television
I've told the story on here before, but a girl I worked with once told me about her first love. They dated for a while, fell madly in love and lost their virginities to each other. Her family situation was weird. Her parents weren't married, but when her dad was in town, her parents were a couple and when he wasn't they weren't. Well one of the times that he was in town, she introduced him to her boyfriend. They got along and got to talking and he asked about the kids family.
After the kid went home, her dad told her she couldn't see him anymore. Turns out he was the kid's father. She'd unknowingly fallen in love with and lost her virginity to her half brother.
And yes, I know this also happened on an episode of House. I was told this story back in '99 before that show was a thing.
A Literal Family Affair
I found it out myself.
My immediate older sister is cheating on her husband with my oldest sister's husband. Both the couple seem to be in a happy and healthy marriage with kids. Wtf!
Getting Close With Family
My friend was telling me about how jealous she was of her boyfriend spending time with one of his female cousins instead of her.
Me: "I mean, that's his family though, don't you think you're being a bit psycho getting jealous of him spending time with his own cousin?"
Her: "Well he slept his other one!"
Me: "............I'm sorry, WHAT??!"
Turns out he'd lost his virginity to a different female cousin when they were teenagers
Hollywood really has made a mess of entertainment and storytelling.
And it doesn't have to be that way.
There are so many people with new, fresh ideas, yet they choose to keep redoing the same old. concepts.
The people want more and better and it is possible
Nobody needs 167 sequels done poorly!
Redditor MainCrab1383 wanted the entertainment industry to listen up!!
"What do you wish Hollywood would stop doing?"
I wish they would give more chances unknowns. Every known starts an unknown, you know.
It was already great!
"Remakes of good movies, I don’t understand why they remake good movies, when there are tons of flops that have potential, that they could remake."
Ratchel1916
Not Real
"Characters getting punched multiple times in the face in 1 scene and having no signs of the trauma in the next scene."
kyle158
"Or shot, but they remove the bullet in a dirty motel and sew it up with freaking twine and knitting needles so now it doesn’t hurt anymore and they can go fight more bad guys unencumbered."
Parking_Aerie4454
"This reminded me of characters getting absolutely wasted then either being relatively sober in the next scene, or have no hangover the day after."
pt256
Lights Up!
"Stop making films and TV shows that we cannot see because they are too dark and cannot hear what TF people are saying. That would be a good start."
No-Abrocoma-381
"I honestly think some vfx engineers stuffed up and others thought it was a trend and continued to underexpose. Series 8 of game of Thrones was about 8 slightly diffident blank pixels running about the screen."
Procedure-Minimum
Fill her up!
"EMPTY CUPS. I hate seeing people holding cups and pretending to take drinks from obviously empty cups. Their hands never move right, or if it’s an open cup, you can literally see that it’s empty."
undecyded
"They move their hand way too fast! It's like they don't even know they're supposed to be pretending it has liquid inside."
Alcohorse
Not a 10
"Casting attractive people in ‘ugly’ roles."'
R_man98
"Like when the obviously gorgeous person gets a makeover."
storagerock
Casting is subjective... so they say.
Save Them!
"Showing incorrect CPR."
myersla
"Just do what the AED tells you to do. No thinking required."
Ok_Opportunity2693
that scene....
"Forcing a love story that makes no sense in a movie that has nothing to do with romance."
Jesuslovesmemost
"Long kisses in the middle of a 'we're running out of time' scene. We gotta save the world, but let me take my time to say goodbye/goodluck first."
aldhibain
"Long kisses after a death defying scene. Sure, kissing is what they do next."
Busy-Appearance-6077
Makes no Sense
"Having a main character whose job/income level does not match their home or lifestyle at all."
Stellathewizard
"I was about to say that Charlie’s shi**y apartment in 'It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia' is the one exception to that rule I can think of. But oddly enough his roommate, Frank, is a millionaire."
FlowRiderBob
"Supposedly when they started making Big Bang Theory they tried putting them in a realistic apartment, and it made it really depressing."
Hrothen
WTF?!
"Adapting stuff into live-action movies when they should really be animated. Examples include upcoming Mega Man, Pac-Man and Minecraft movies which are ALL set to be live-action."
TheChainLink2
"I had no idea that any of these movies were in the works. Pac-Man will be half CGI, NO doubt. Going the Sonic route. Unless they literally just have it as an inspiration, and it's just a guy in yellow running away from ghosts in a labyrinth."
"Minecraft? Well, everyone will watch it, so I'm sure they don't care if it's good. But it's clearly going to focus on Steve building a nether portal and trying to kill a f**king dragon. Mega-Man? Yeah, I can see that working live action. Oh wait, it's a Netflix Original? Yeah, no. That's going to be absolute trash."
Maxtrix07
ID please?
"Casting 35 year olds as high schoolers."
StaircaseRailing
"Can we add casting 16-18 year olds to play 11 year olds?! Priah Ferguson was 16 when she played 11 year old Erica Sinclair in Stranger Things season 4. WTH!?"
thatswhatthekidssay
Lord Hollywood has a lot of work to do!
What would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
People Break Down Which Things Have Progressively Gotten Worse Over Time
Time is not always a friend.
It can systematically destroy everything.
Or is that just humans abusing time?
Everything does degrade naturally...
RedditorBoring-Cauliflowerwanted to talk about the deterioration of life in general.
"What has consistently been getting shi**ier?"
Life in general. Life has gotten worse. Not to be a downer. What happened?
Falling Apart
"My health as I get older. People aren’t kidding when they say 'I turned X age and started falling apart' it actually happens."
BionicYeti
Stop Sharing
"Social media."
Alex-J_Mercer
"Yeah it used to be all about sharing stuff with your friends. Now it’s all about trying to keep your eyes on it as long as possible so they can show you more ads. The social networks that are about sharing stuff and the actual content either get acquired or die."
JiveMasterT
“softness”
"T-shirts. It used to be that you would get a t-shirt and it would last you literally decades. Almost more importantly in my opinion, the shirt also had some 'structure' and shape to it. Now t-shirts are thin, flimsy, and formless. I feel like I’m wearing an undershirt or a pajamas shirt."
"I should note that around the time t-shirts got sh*ttier, all the t-shirt brands started advertising 'THIS IS THE SOFTEST T-SHIRT EVER.'"
"I’m 99% sure the whole 'softness' marketing was to distract customers from the fact that the fabric got thinner and cheaper. Because although the flimsy fabric is legitimately very soft, 'this shirt is not soft enough' was never a complaint I had with old t-shirts."
redditor1983
Company XYZ
"Advertisements. Not only the quality of advertisements, but frequency has skyrocketed. For example, when you watch a basketball game, these MFs put an ad in between free throw attempts. Everything is presented by Company XYZ, everything has some sort of advertisement connected to it, and it is infuriating."
will_bartnik
Bad Idea
"Fast food. It was always bad for you, but now it doesn't taste as good either, and is more expensive, on top of being bad for you."
THE_GR8_MIKE
Remember when Burger King was only like a dollar? What happened?
Downgrade
"The quality of furniture. Unless you want to spend $10k, you cant really get something that will last 50+ years."
epidemica
Boo!
"Halloween Decorations. Used to be able to buy metal gates, concrete/plaster tombstones, and many other creative decorations that would last you several years - maybe even decades. Now all you can get are flimsy styrofoam and plastic tombstones meant to last only one Halloween (looking at you, Spirit Halloween)."
crappymailm
Try to buy...
"Housing costs."
Xixiiiiiii
"It's ridiculous. Our rent keeps going up, so my husband just said 'Screw it, let's move in with my dad for a year or so to save.' Thankfully he was cool with it, because we seriously never have any extra to save! I don't know how people without help can do it. Rent is so expensive it's impossible to save the money needed to buy a house!"
Myingenioususername
“the old days”
"Life and perception. As i get older and learn more I consistently yearn for 'the old days' but I’m not actually yearning for old days… I’m merely wishing I could go back to when I didn’t know anything about how life and the world actually operates. Youthful perception is usually more optimistic."
S0n0fthunder
Mainstream Down
"Mainstream network television programing."
Just_Credit_4913
"I swear to God, at work, most of the crap on TV is either a mediocre drama show about a government organization or firefighters, cringe a** news stations like Inside Edition, game shows or generic 'talk' shows that feel more like advertisements."
TheDragonborn117
Oh, the good ole days. What happened?
When it comes to naming children, there are all kinds of different approaches.
Some parents like to honor the legacy of a late relative, while there are those who prefer naming their baby after a revered fictional character–"Luke" (Skywalker) being one of them.
But let's be honest. Baby naming can get way out of hand, and it's the child who becomes a victim by having to live with a name they might get teased for...like "Blanket."
Curious to hear examples of what some of those might be, Redditor Sarah_Trekkie asked:
"What are some of the craziest baby names you’ve personally been witness to?"

Pity these children with these unfortunate names.
The Three Hs
"Well they weren't babies, but at the summer camp where I worked this summer. 3 brothers: Honor, Heritage, and believe it or not, Henceforth. I felt a little bad for those kids."
– fabook
It's Satisfying
"The manager at a shop near me is named Goodenough."
– Pagan-za
In Case You Missed It A Second Time
"Coworker grew up with a girl named Kelly Kelly Kelly."
– Jimbo---
Metal Head
"Jam Metallica for a baby girl."
– wordofmouthrevisited
Drugs and babies just shouldn't mix.
Pharma Baby
"I work in child welfare and it’s actually more common than you would think for someone to name their child after a drug or strand of drug they were using at the time. So with that information, MF Pitbull and Knucklehead were the two that I saw that were pretty bad. Another sad fact is when a child is immediately removed from a family (they have already been proven not to be fit parents) they’ll give them the name Baby Boy/Girl or Infant until they’re adopted."
"Edit: at the time = time of conception"
"Edit edit: 'they' as in the nursing staff, the birth parents often aren’t coherent enough or don’t care to give a name."
– spacecowboy203
Out With The Old In With The New
"I summer nannied for two kids, siblings who had been adopted by a wonderful woman who immediately changed their given names, which were Crystal and Rocky."
"Edited to add that both babies were born addicted to meth. Forgot that little nugget."
– checkitbec
It gets worse.
Going By A Gender
"Boy. True story."
– _mybloodyvalentine
What A Pair
"Noodles and papoose."
"I heard these 2 magical names uttered in a single sentence by a woman. 'Noodles! Put papoose down!'"
– MrScribz
Fantasy Household
"Thunderbird, Winter Star, Rainbow, Baby Girl."
"Culturally not that weird, but day to day life outside of the Rez, strong names to live with."
– ghastlyglittering
How Super
"I met a young man named Jor-El."
"Yes, as in Jor-El, father of Kal-El who became Superman on Earth."
– CowboySpencer
Copy That?
"Xerox."
– hand-pic-appreciator
"Were they a clone?"
– jonsconspiracy
"Nah, just a carbon copy."
– iamevilcupcake
The Pressure Is On
"I was at the park with my nephew last week and a woman started calling for her son to get off the swings. His name was Messiah. That seems like a lot to live up to!"
– BatmansKhaleesi
I would have to say one of the craziest names I've heard of was Otis Payne.
The names individually are actually pretty cool, but when you slap them together and say the full name, well, I can only imagine the amount of jokes this person had to endure.
He probably lost track of the number of times they saw someone doubling over in fake distress–clenching at a problematic part of their body–and saying his full name in jest.
We get it, we get it, "Oh this pain!"
Poor guy...
With so many streaming platforms and too many recommendations to watch your friends' favorite shows, how do you prioritize what shows to watch?
Those who can afford to sit in front of the TV all day–because that is the commitment it takes to start making a dent in your viewing playlist–must choose wisely in determining which shows to start binging.
If a show fails to grab your attention from the get go, you might be prone to ditch it and go on to the next one on the list.
The risk of course is you might be missing out on something that is worth sitting through the slow-burn, exposition-y episodes of a show that is trying to establish itself at the beginning but becomes wildly rewarding towards the end.
But who has time for all that?
Apparently, there were many TV show viewers whose patience ran thin.
To find out what shows strangers online thought was not worth their time, Redditor itsamu asked:
"What TV series isn't worth finishing?"

You would think fantasy and action shows can sustain your attention, but they're not all created the same.
Not Having The Time For This One
"Once upon a time. It literally repeats the entire first season’s plot."
– ShamrockMilk
The Irony
"The Flash."
– XxMysteriousManXx
"I'm the fastest man alive. Except for the main villain of this season. And the random guy I'm chasing who escaped around the corner of the building, despite the fact I can search an entire square mile in under a minute. Nah, he's gone, no need to check."
– no1ofconsequencedied
One Strong Season
"Heroes. Watch the first season, and then stop."
– jodefo8605
Can't Kill What's Already Dead
"The walking dead, gave up a while ago. Don't even know if it has finished or not yet."
– nanermaner
The Outlook Was Already...
"Grimm. Started off so good, just got worse and worse and worse."
– j4ck_0f_bl4des
Getting Straight To The Point
"Arrow. It ends at season 2, ya hear me? SEASON TWO!"
Many Redditors recommended cutting the length of a TV season by half.
Wrap It Up
"We really should have more limited series. Some shows have premises that are good for a season or two that get ruined by dragging it out for multiple seasons."
– serefina
The Brits Get It
"Watch more British shows. Fewer episodes generally so they don’t as often run out of ideas or go off the rails. Fleabag for example, two perfect seasons and done."
– BrockStar92
Even people who enjoy the pacing of dramas found some in the genre quite tedious.
That Final Season
"House of cards. Just stop watching on the last episode of the penultimate season and pretend the last one is still in the works. The last season is insulting on so many levels."
– Strange-Ad8829
You Gotta Be Toking
"Weeds. Good for the first three seasons or so. Really f'king comes off the rails after that."
– tobor32779
They May Have A Case Here
"Suits. It becomes very repetitive after a while."
– darkspark1224
"Worst Finale Ever"
"The last couple seasons of Castle were garbage. The finale was the worst finale in the history of finales. Yes even worst than GoT and HIMYM. Such a disgrace for a show that used to be cute, fun and sharply written. I can’t even bring myself to watch marathons when they are on and it was one of my favorite shows when it first started."
– Mental_Worker_1520
I'm probably in the minority here but I had to give up on Game of Thrones by the end of its first season.
I think I was expecting more fantasy and dragons straight away, but as I waited for more action, I found myself losing interest in the characters and patience in keeping track of who was related to whom.
So I put a pin in it and started watching other shows.
When I heard about fans complaining about the letdown of an ending, that was enough for me to remove it from my list permanently.
Hey, to each their own.