People Explain Which Dark Family Secrets They Were Finally Let In On
Reddit user EgglessYolk asked: 'What dark family secret were you let in on once you were old enough?'
Content Warning: Mental Health, Suicide, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, True Crime Cases
We've likely all had a really good friend or close family member whom we felt we could share all of our biggest dreams and deepest, darkest secrets with. But truth be told, most of those deep, dark secrets were having a crush on the "bad boy" at school or cheating on a math test in sixth grade.
Some families have genuinely dark and troubling secrets, the stuff from true crime stories and the best psychological thriller fiction, and upon being revealed these secrets, it might become hard to ever look at the family quite the same way again.
Bracing themselves, Redditor EgglessYolk asked:
"What dark family secret were you let in on once you were old enough?"
Not the Best Sledding Day Ever
"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 that when I was 17."
"My father was educated, intelligent, honest, and moral, but also Autistic and not always the best with timing. The fact that his parents were so wild was absolutely shocking to me."
- arjacks
Wonderful Bonus Brothers
"I found out when I was in my early 30s that my mom didn't just have four kids, but actually six, though she gave two up for adoption before I was born."
"Also, I was the last baby she had with some rando before she married my stepdad and she had intended to give me up for adoption, as well, but somehow kept me."
"The 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!"
- Pandora1685
A Terrible Family History
"1. My grandfather killed his own son by throwing him on the floor because he was crying (he was just a couple of months old)."
"2. My uncle tried to rob a bank and ran away on foot. He later got married and his wife ended up committing suicide. At the time, the police thought that my uncle killed her since he had a criminal past, but he didn't (he was at work and there were witnesses)."
"3. I have multiple half-siblings (my dad was, and is, unfaithful)."
"4. My grandfather burnt the house down with his wife and children inside with the intention of them dying. My grandmother ran away with her seven or eight children, I don't recall, and she asked a priest that she worked for (she cleaned his house) to give her a space to stay, and he ended up giving her a home that an old lady left for the church (and if I'm not mistaken, she was paying it off little by little)."
"5. My aunt's neighbor (who I went to the beach with when I was little) apparently killed his own wife abroad."
"6. There was a rumor that my uncle's kids weren't his."
- _leticia_
A Tragic Family Tree
"My grandpa (15) kidnapped my grandma (14) from a convent. No one even bothered looking for her thereafter because she was an orphan and didn't even know who her family was. They had 16 children together."
- afa78
An Assisted Ending
"My extremely wealthy uncle was going downhill quickly with Alzheimer’s. Before he was too far gone, he apparently made a deal with my aunt that when things got the the point that they would have to send him to a nursing home, she would kill him 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 something less violent, but she did."
"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."
- Cannoli_Emma
"That's extremely sad but also really bada** of both of them. I'm sorry for everyone who was involved."
- tsunaminatpot
"It’s kinda insane that this even had to happen. If we lose control of our body, we should be able to say what we want and when."
"She was doing what he asked. I think most would if they could. Sad that she had to go to jail."
"End of life for a lot of people isn’t something they want but they’re forced to do it for the sake of everyone else."
- jazzhandsdancehands
A One Night Stand
"I found out when I was about 32 that apparently in 1973, my dad had a daughter he never knew existed."
"I found out because he texted that to me while I was working, after finding out about it himself about one week earlier. 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 due to marriages ending. He would have f**king LOVED this girl. His daughter was the result of a one-night stand with a girl he never talked to again, and according to his daughter, the mother had a mental breakdown not long after giving birth and never really had custody of the daughter anyway."
"Dad never would have had any way to find out, the baby grew up with the mother's parents in another state, and the mother kinda went AWOL."
- ManicDigressive
A Disney Trip to (Not) Remember
"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 my parents had to step out and take a bunch of phone calls. They sounded very stressed. 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 Waterpark away from home."
"I fondly remembered this birthday and eventually forgot about any of the weirdness."
"Maybe 10 years later, my parents finally told me what happened. My uncle, my dad's brother, tried to kill himself on my seventh birthday. He shot himself in the stomach with a rifle. He was poor, addicted to drugs, no work, etc. He felt depressed my dad had the life he always wanted, so tried to kill himself."
"He ended up living. My parents took me to the Waterpark 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 die. Knowing how a seven-year-old's brain works, I probably would've thought I had something to do with it."
- No-Ice-9612
The Documentary in the Family
"My dad's first cousin is serial killer Kenneth McDuff. We saw the 'America's Most Wanted' episode when it aired and were so surprised to hear about another McDuff, not knowing he was a relative."
- lolabam3
"Google Search Result: 'McDuff was given three death sentences that were reduced to life imprisonment consequently to the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Furman v. Georgia. He was paroled in 1989 and went on to kill again. He was executed in 1998 and is suspected to have been responsible for many other killings.'"
"Jesus H. Ch**st, they f**king paroled him after he had been given three death sentences commuted to a life sentence?!"
- dcbluestar
The Motherly Figure
"My uncle was actually my cousin."
"He was kidnapped 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."
"My aunt was a real piece of work. To backtrack a moment, this side of my family isn't biological. Technically my dad is my step-dad, but he raised me from toddlerhood and he's my dad, pure and simple. All of his family treated me as one of their own."
"Except my aunt. She would always tell my grandparents that she just couldn't understand how they could love me, because I wasn't 'blood family.'"
"I have no idea why she didn't want her son back. It was a familial kidnapping, a non-custodial father. When my cousin was returned, she ditched him with my grandparents and got back together with her other half."
- EhlersDanlosSucks
23AndMe Discoveries
"I found out I had a sister who had been given up for adoption. The only reason I found out was 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."
- zombiemann
"23andMe is how my father discovered he had a bonus cousin. As it turns out, his uncle had a fling before leaving for WWII that resulted in a child he either never told anyone about or didn’t even know himself."
"When my father looked her, the cousin, up she happened to live in the same city. He and my aunts contacted her and all met up for lunch. Turns out the woman had been searching for years to find her father's side of family. As far as I know, they still keep in touch."
- pyroagg
Hidden in Plain Sight
"My grandfather had severely scarred legs from burns he got as a kid. Growing up, we were told that he was in a fire in an apartment building and sustained the burns while escaping. He died when I was seven, and one of my few memories of him is an image of those scarred legs."
"Well, when I was 23, my great aunt (his sister), told me that it wasn't a fire. Their father ran a bath with scalding water and put my grandfather in it as a punishment."
"My great-grandfather was an abusive alcoholic piece of s**t who f**king maimed his son."
- idksomeusername42
An Unhonorable Sword
"My mother grew up in the American South. Her brother died in his early 20's and she always told me it was a freak accident. A bullet came through the window killing him. 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 and that 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 was brutally murdered with a similar sword in the 80s. He had gotten involved with some drug dealers and they thought he had snitched about one of their big deals that got busted. No idea why they decided to use a sword but it was pretty f**ked up to hear about. My mom had to ID the body."
"I found this out when I was 16 but she never directly acknowledged it until years later. My mom said he was just trying to make some extra cash by introducing people who partied to the dealers. I'm about his age now and I can see how he just thought he was making a quick buck. Never thinking something like that would get him killed."
- plurperonipizza
The Miniature Farm
"When I was very young, my family lived in a townhouse, and against all local bylaws, my mother decided to keep a horse in our backyard."
"Not only that, but it was an ex-racehorse that came as a package deal: the goat companion that slept in the closet of my nursery."
"I also later found out she was running a grow-op in the basement."
- SlyGuy011
Inspiring Our Own Inner Glorias
"Y’all’s stories are WILD! Mine is super tame:"
"When I was in my early 20s, I found an old photo of someone in a family album I didn’t recognize."
"When I asked my mom about it, she said, 'Oh, that’s your Aunt Gloria.” Then she lowered her voice (even though we were alone) and added, 'She’s a NUDIST.'"
"Poor Aunt Gloria. She just wants to be a nudey-lady and everyone acts like she’s a leper."
- WithoutDennisNedry
"I aspire to be a Gloria."
- breadanudes
The Redditor who posted this marked it for "Serious Replies Only," and their fellow Redditors did not disappoint.
While some of these might have had a happy ending in a way, like a family expanding with "bonus" siblings and cousins, but some of these, it's hard to imagine moving past the news. It's a delicate reminder of how resilient humans can be.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Every family has a past.
We all think we want to know our family's tales.
But that journey can be riddled with horrors.
You don't always want to find yourself saying....
"I wish I didn't know that."
Redditor Flash_Dimension wanted to sip all about the crazy family tea that our loved ones are hiding.
So they asked:
"Once you were old enough, what were the dark family secrets you were finally let in on?"
My family's darkness is too long to share. And I also don't want to know.
Hey Fam...
"Got a Facebook message from one guy asking if I was related to [my dad], since it's not a common last name. I thought he was a fan of his work, because I was in college at the time and the guy was about the same age as me. And that's how I found out my dad slept around and that I had a half-brother the same age as me."
Apatches
Never Found
"My father was married with another woman before meeting my mother. They had a daughter and my dad loved her so so so much his wife started going crazy jealous. My dad noticed some strange behaviour she had towards the girl and when he tried to talk to her about it she started arguing with him. He then left with his daughter to my uncle’s house."
"She knew my dad would left the girl with my aunt while he was at work, so she called the police and said my aunt kidnaped her child. The police came in and took the girl away from my aunt. She immediately tried to call my dad. But the woman drove back home, put poison in her daughter’s milk and forced her to drink it. When my dad arrived, he found his daughter already dead and left alone."
"The woman was never ever found. My dad had never had justice for his first child. Kinda sad. Then when I was born my mother didn’t mind to named me after my 'sister.' We share the same name, and that’s actually how I found it out! I asked my parents about my name and they told me the whole story."
mylows
The Aunt
"When I was around 3-4, my 'Aunt' and her 3 sons came and lived with us for a few weeks. One night my mom stayed up and I found her downstairs sitting in a chair looking out the window. One day, my 'Aunt' and the boys 'moved' and never came back."
"Turns out, she was going through a nasty divorce. She had the boys at the house with her while she was packing things one day, and her husband came home. He locked the boys in a room, stabbed her, and then shot himself. My mom had been staying up with a gun that night because she had seen him in our backyard earlier that night."
Deepstate-intern
No Touch
"My paternal grandfather was an alcoholic wife abuser who regularly cheated on Grandma. When my father was a teenager he stood up to him, and threatened to kill him if he ever touched her again. The abuse stopped."
pattersonjeffa
It's HIM!
"My mild-mannered Christian mother casually told me that she dated a gangster who trafficked drugs in NY during the 80's. He bought her a brand new BMW before getting sentenced to prison for murder for 20+ years. Someone who was friends with her and her ex for YEARS turned out to be an FBI informant and she barely escaped jail, had to enter a witness protection program, and moved cross country."
"Here's the craziest part: He's still stalking her, has contacted her on her birthday every year for 40 years, and keeps tabs on her!! My dad has no idea."
"I asked her why she waited so long to tell me. Like, what if she went missing? and she said 'Oh, honey. He's the type of person that if he wanted to harm me, I would already be dead by now.' Very comforting."
marvelous_persona
This is why we're sent out of the room as children when adults are talking.
Swing Low...
"My grandmother tried to murder my grandfather when she got sick of him beating the crap out of her everyday. She swung an axe at him and he blocked it with his hand and lost his thumb. She left him before I was born."
beers_n_bags
"I don't AT ALL wish to make light of an obviously terrible ongoing domestic violence situation (my grandmother faced a similar scenario, I'm very sorry). But the appearance of the axe makes it poetry. Good on her. I wish every victim could feel that strength."
Dangercakes13
Madness...
"That schizophrenia ran in my mom’s side of the family. I developed it a year after she told me about it at 25. She didn’t refer to it as schizophrenia, but as the '(her maiden name) Madness.' She said that every once in a while someone in our family would go mad and that that’s what they would call it."
"I guess her side of the family also had ties to organized crime. My family never talked about issues or emotions at all so it was a shock. I assumed our ancestors were relatively normal, but I also thought my family was sane back then too."
A**ckindragonyo
“sister day”
"Grandma had 13 siblings, of those 7 women are still alive. Once a year they have a 'sister day' where they all except one are going somewhere to have fun. They’ve been doing this since they were teens. All but one sister, who has been lied to her whole life about sister day, because she thinks it doesn’t exist. This is supposed to have been started when that one sister borrowed something and didn’t give it back."
"Or something trivial like that. We are all reminded whenever we ALL get together (pre pandemic) that we’re not to talk about this, because it will hurt that sister. Still can’t wrap my head around how backstabbing *itchy some family members of mine are. Because this is just stupid."
Whooptidooh
History
"My father always tells me as a joke that it's my fault my mom and him are married ( I'm the second son). But through the years from drunk conversations and several sources I've pieced the story together, my parents separated before they knew my mother was pregnant and only came back together after I was born."
Mond_13
Anxious...
"My mom had a brother who died in childhood, maybe 9 or 10. I always thought he drank cleaning chemicals and died that way, but turns out he was hit by a school bus while riding his bike. Now I know why my mom was so anxious about me biking on the road."
Corgi_with_stilts
Well, family is certainly never boring... but sometimes it's safest to keep these skeletons in the closet.
Do you have any family secrets to get off your chest? Let us know in the comments below.
Secrets, secrets, are no fun, you say?
Wrong. Secrets are very fun to keep. In fact, we should all work on building our trust we've set up with our loved ones so they feel comfortable holding on to our secrets for a long time. That way, ours don't end up on a list like this one.
Since we're all here, however, let's learn some stuff!
*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.
Reddit user, Duck_Diggler_, wanted to know the secrets no one else was supposed to know when they asked:
"What's a secret you'll take to your grave but you'll share with reddit because you need to get it off your chest?"
It's Just A Habit That Got Out Of Hand. Right?
"The amount of empty liquor bottles I found hidden around the house after my husband passed away. I knew that he liked to drink, sometimes a little too much, and it was something we bickered about occasionally, but I didn't appreciate the full scope of how much exactly he was drinking. Maybe 2-3 years before his death he started working from home full-time and I'm guessing being home alone all day was when he started going off the rails."
"Absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding his death and I wouldn't want to tarnish his memory to family or friends, so I keep it to myself but I don't mind sharing it with strangers."
– Hrekires
Unable To Properly Move On
"A year ago my partner of 8 years left me out of the blue, two months before our wedding."
"People tell me how ‘strong’ I am and how well I’m doing. Compliment my work ethic (I work 60+ hours a week between two jobs) and tell me how ‘admirable’ my coping skills are. When people ask I’m quite firm in saying how much better off I am without him and how happy I am."
"Truth is, I think of him every minute of everyday, I work so much to avoid being alone in our house, I still love him, I cry myself to sleep at least twice a week, I think about suicide a lot and truly I don’t think I’ll ever love anyone like I love him. He was truly my best friend."
"We bought a dog a few months before he left me, I don’t know where I’d be if she didn’t come into my life."
– ArtVirtual6866
When Even The Family Doesn't Back Them Up
"My ex-girlfriends family told me to break up with her because of her erratic behaviour - I will never ever let her know this -"
– beermansam
Exploding Tank, But Not The Cool Kind
"I lit a firework in a public park and panicked so I flushed it down the toilet... boom. No more toilet. Whoops, I was 12."
– No_Housing_4819
Walking To What She Really Wants
"My first day as a nanny looking after a baby girl. I take her to the park and I'm taking videos of her and getting her to walk to me. She walks three steps to me and then falls on her butt and cries. It occurs to me that I don't actually know if she has walked with her parents yet, she isn't sure of foot yet. Speaking to her mum later on she tells me she is super close but hasn't walked yet. I figure she must have walked with me because she was feeling clingy without her mum. I never told her parents she walked with me and it was about three weeks later she finally walked for her parents."
– Sydneyfigtree
Getting Revenge Any Way You Can
"Not as dark as the most in here..but as a teen I had a really bad relationship with my dad...and one day I was really pissed and signed his e-mail up in any freakin newsletter I could find online... He still get's spam mails and doesn't know why .. (we get along great now)"
– CutimedSiltecSorbact
Sometimes It Never Leaves You
"The first and only time I stole something in my(M8) life was from my neighbor who was having a yard sale to take his kids to Disney land. He had a DS game of backyard baseball and I had the money for it, it was $5 and I wanted it. I went up with the money and he told me that he was going to give it to the landlords kid who was my age too. I was so mad and annoyed that he was going to get the game for free. A few hours later I went back outside and I saw he wasn’t there, I walked up to the stand and I saw the game was still there so I took it. I also grabbed a bag of golf balls he had for $10 and a few more games that were marked $1 each so he wouldn’t think it was me."
"I then ran into my apartment and the guilt was eating me up, 30 minutes later he knocked and asked if I took the games because he knew I wanted one. I told him no that I was inside the whole time. I never played any of those games I felt so damn bad I couldn’t put in my DS. I even wanted to take them back but I knew I would get caught. They did end up going to that trip, and the landlord kid was mad he didn’t get his game (I didn’t like him so I was fine with it). I still have that guilt and I remember the prices of everything and the stand."
"Edit: to clarify I’m 23 now"
– Chivasguy1906
All It Takes Is A Lifeline To Hold On
"When I was nineteen I was seriously considering suicide. I had written letters to my family and everything. The day I was going to do it my mom took me on a surprise errand. It was a woman selling chihuahua puppies. My mom had me pick one out to be just my dog. I fell inlove with that puppy and knew I couldn't leave her by herself. My mom and that dog saved my life."
– UnicornQueefsGlitter
Heartbreak So Bad You Don't Think You Can Go On
"When I was 26 I got divorced. Should have never been married to that woman but here we are. I was already in a bad mental state but that put me to the edge. I after the first couple weeks where I was kinda shell-shocked, then it really sank in and I was just looking for the best opportunity to do it."
"She calls me one day and says she’s taking my dog to the shelter because of some bullsh-t reason. I tell her to f-ck off, I’m coming to get him. I pick him up and get him home, look down at him and know that as long as I have that little fuzzy f-ck, I can’t do it. That was 7 years ago and he’s the reason I’m alive. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it when he passes."
– Barf_el_Moggo
Never Ever Mess With An Allergy
"My cousin purposefully tried to find the people lying about food allergies by putting a little bit at a time of something they were allergic to in their food at a restaurant she worked at. Most of the time she would tell me people would lie just to make sure something wasnt on their order. I'm not sure the restaurant but she got caught and fired after she almost killed a young girl that had a severe reactions to onions."
"My best friend who worked with her when they happen, told me they were regulars and that no matter what they ordered everyone in the family would ask for no onions. The cook was aware of this and would always make sure nothing he used for their food had touched or been anywhere near an onion. Well my cousin, not believing the girls allergy, grabbed a little bit of chopped onion and put it in her food and covered it with something so they wouldn't notice it."
"Well the little girl took a bite and immediately couldn't break. The boss called for an ambulance and her dad used the epipen but she still couldn't breath as good. My cousin found out later that she was put in the hospital due to her putting some onions in her food. The parents were mad and they demanded the owner pay for her medical bills."
"Apparently they wanted to press charges as well but they didn't have cameras and no one would own up to who did it so my cousin didn't get arrested but later on after the owner paid someone told him it was my cousin and he said he wouldn't report her but he was keeping her last check due to him paying the medical bills for the girl. My cousin got arrested a year later for almost killing her then boyfriend at the time doing the same shit. She's now serving time for attempted murder due to her knowing about the allergy."
– Glitter_Love1
Different Paths To Success
"I didn't graduate college, I dropped out, just got lucky with a job that doesn't have anything to do with my 'degree'"
– jojo_ryoko
Too Late To Tell Her Now
"I ratted out my sister for sneaking her boyfriend over to the house at night because she was always mean to me. I told my therapist who I knew would insist I need to tell my aunt. I told them I didn’t want her to know I ratted her out so my aunt said the neighbors saw her one night. My sister brought it up the other day and still hates the neighbors for telling on her. (We are both now in our late 20’s) We are actually really close now and I love my sister so much. I don’t have the heart to tell her it was me. I’d rather she just hold a grudge against the neighbors."
– itsgoingtobeokayyy
Too Late To Tell HIM Now
"I used to work night shifts."
"My dad would let me drive his truck on nights/mornings when the weather was expected to snow bad."
"The morning after my shift it snowed pretty bad.. traffic was absolutely terrible."
"I was finished with my last 3rd 12 hr night shift and absolutely exhausted and not patient."
"I went through a neighborhood to avoid traffic only to find more traffic within the neighborhood, guess people had the similar idea. There was a crash ahead, out of frustration I backed into someone mailbox... luckily I was able to reposition it. As for the truck.. there was a large dent."
"My dad noticed it later that day and blamed the snow plow trucks. I went along with it. To this day he still thinks the snow plow truck was responsible"
– AwkWORD47
Do You Smell Smoke?
"I almost set a kitchen fire about 2 weeks ago. I was boiling some food on the electric stove when it started over spilling. I’m not really sure if water effects a stove, I just know water + electricity = bad. So I turned the stove off and moved the pan away, the area it was on still glowing red."
"Then I was a dumbass and decided to dry the water with kitchen roll. After all, there’s no fire, and I just turned the cooker off, so there was absolutely no way it would be hot enough to start a fire!"
"Feel free to laugh at me now."
"The sheet of kitchen roll sets on fire. Panic. Grab the bot burning end and put it down on the side. Put it right next to the toaster like the absolute moron I am. P a n i c. I didn’t want the fire to spread to the toaster and burn the house down, when I suddenly remembered: I was in the kitchen. Water exists. I just cupped water in my hands and threw it until all the flames were gone. And I will never tell my family because I won’t live it down"
– CC12gg
My Secret Based
"I skipped an intire 2 terms of school by hiding in the tiny hatch in the attic"
– MyHatHasDepression
Hoping For The Best
"I'm pregnant right now, but I can't tell my husband because I usually have miscarriages. I don't want to make him sad because I know how badly he wants a second child. I'm 39 and time is running out. I'm just waiting, trying not to feel anything about it, not excitement, not sadness, just nothing"
– Apprehensive-Ad4244
Something for all of us to learn, really. Make sure you're friends with people who have an eye out for you.
Feel like sharing a secret you were never going to share with anyone? Tell us all about it in the comments!
Every town's history is riddled with lies and tall tales. A Nightmare on Elm Street might be just a fictional horror story, but a portion of it is rooted in fact. All those parents held close to the vest the fact that they killed Freddy and years later the children paid for it. Every small town has the same issue. Secrets are always buried. Everyone should discuss these matters before Dateline NBC arrives.
Redditor u/The_StoryTeller_Am wanted to know all about the darkness many towns keep quiet about my asking.... what is your towns dark secret?On a 10 Speed....
Our town Bank got robbed twice by a guy on a bicycle. Twice. Thru the drive thru. The suspect was never found.....
Meth
Meth. There's about two meth busts a year in a population of about 11,000 people, half of which are federal prisoners.
Edit: The state is Michigan.
I am in the central Michigan area too. It's like every rural community has a meth factory. Hope it gets better where you are. Ionia has so many gorgeous houses that it is a real shame some people are literally poisoning them.
The Popular Guy
A guy was murdered on the main street of my small town and from what I'm told everyone knew who did it but one of the police officers mishandled almost all of the evidence and the guy who supposedly did it fled the country. The cop who mishandled the evidence was apparently friends with the suspects parents and many of the other cops accused him of purposely mishandling the evidence and he was forced to retire early.
Edit: just figured I would give more information on what kind of happened. The guy who was killed was very popular within the community, he was a great football player and was genuinely well liked, when he was murdered we had two days off from school. It was believed that the man who is suspected of murdering him killed him as a case of mistaken identity.
The police officer who mishandled the evidence was not a normal patrolman but a detective and he had been one for awhile, when the other police officers began to voice their concerns with his work and his mishandling of evidence he was immediately demoted and then was forced to resign/retire. That is all they could do as there was no legitimate evidence that he had purposely disrupted the investigation other than the fact he knew the suspects parents and the other cops did not trust him anymore.
Everyone in the town was surprised by these rumors because much like most of my town's police force he had never been involved in any use of force incidents or any type of controversy for that matter. After all of this he was pretty much banished by the police force and many of the other officers families stopped associating with his. I believe this case actually ended up on a dateline episode a few years back but I'm not completely sure, of course the police department didn't want any further controversy so I'm pretty sure they neglected to tell of the mishandled evidence. It was a very messed up situation all around.
The UC
Think Law And Order Svu GIF by SVUGiphyIn 2008, our City's police department pressured a 23-year old woman to act as a confidential informant in exchange for not being charged on drug charges. She was executed by the dealers while 20 police officers (and some DEA agents) were supposedly supervising the buy. City had to pay out $2.3 million to the family in the civil suit.
Erskineville....
The neighboring suburb I used to live in in Sydney had been renamed Erskineville. It was interesting as all the addresses or shops would be considered to be Erskineville, but the train station was still called Macdonaldtown Station.
I did a little digging online and it turns out that in 1800s, we had "baby farmers" who, for a weekly or monthly fee, would raise babies that were born from affairs or illegitimate marriages.
A few years down the track, workers are digging up a yard in Macdonaldtown (as it was still called then) to clear a drain, and they found two dead babies in the drain. They investigated it further and ended up finding like 15 more. The baby farmers were living off the weekly and monthly fees they were given to take care of these babies, and they were killing them and disposing of them.
As a result of these horrible events, they renamed the suburb so it wouldn't be associated with some gruesome history. I don't know why they never changed the station though?
The Missing...
A local chinese restaurant was owned by a married couple. They had 2 young girls. Most of their time was spent there as a family. One day a news report went out about one of the girls who "went missing." We were asked to check sheds/outbuildings & check for footprints on our property. Police were searching everywhere, based on details given by the couple.
A couple days later (if I'm remembering correctly), they finally searched the restaurant and found the missing girl in the freezer, beaten to death. Husband blamed the wife, wife took the blame. Husband escaped the police van escorting him to jail but didn't get far.
Restaurant is now closed, and nothing has taken its place. I believe they just painted the windows/made it look like an extension of the other stores in that plaza.
Under the House
The small town I grew up in was once home to a serial killer- a woman who may have killed at least 42 people (though only 14 bodies were actually found)- about a hundred years ago. She may have died there but it was suspected that she staged her own death and left town. They dug up bodies around her house afterwards, including those of her children.
God Better Have My $$$$....
jesus deal with it GIFGiphythe christian book store on one side of my street is used to launder money from the illegal gambling joint on the other side of my street.
they get raided at least twice a year by the sheriff but they are still operating.
The Squad....
In 2003 a commando squad attacked my city's prison with AK47, blasted the door with C4 and an helico landed to exfiltrate the inmate that ordered rescue mission. We live a bit more than a km away from the prison and got woken up in the night by the assault. It's otherwise a quiet neighbourhood lmao, I was too young to really remember anything though. My parents do full well
Edit : Link to the story
"IT"
pennywise it 2017 GIFGiphyFamous Serial Killer here liked to dress up as a Clown.
Though it couldn't be proven, it's suspected he had accomplices that helped him. They may have gone out on their own.
"Closed doors"
This woman was my supervisor at my second job right before she killed her entire family.
It's, of course, no longer a secret. But at the time I knew her, her children were begging neighbors for food, and she'd show up to work like nothing was happening at home.
I work in social services now, and I've taken that lesson with me. You just don't know what's happening behind closed doors. People who seem ok, may not be. You literally cannot know what's going through people's minds, so always be cautious, always be vigilant. Especially in my line of work.
I'll just never get over how normal she seemed. So boringly normal.
"Still missing"
Not really a secret but goddamn dark, about 60 years ago a couple spent two years snatching children off the streets, murdering them and burying them on the nearby moors. They killed 5 children, and one body is still missing.
It happened in 2008 I think. I was a little child when I heard the news about it. There was a little restaurant/trattoria near the town I grow up in Peru. The dishes were mostly traditional, but it was popular because of its "chicharron" which is basically fried pork skin or pork rinds, really tasty. It was a family business...turns out the main's chef husband cheated on her, and she killed him, and instantly chopped the body and mixed many parts with the pre seasoned pork meat.
"Thankfully we didn't during these months it happened"
All this happened while the restaurant was working normally, the woman (killer) called the police some days later saying his husband never returned from the nearest city, but she got caught after some interrogation made by the police. She admitted it and told them where the rest of the body was, they would only bones and the hard parts like feets, head, etc.. she used mostly the ribs and all the fatty parts. She said it would taste exactly like pork after seasoned. If I remember correctly she is in a mental hospital now. Ps: we used to eat there many times, because it was in the middle of the road to go to the nearest zoo park, thankfully we didn't during these months it happened.
"I did NOT vote for him"
Our scumbag MP went to the Caribbean for Christmas and prerecorded a bunch of videos to look like he was at home. Wore sweaters and had a green screen in cabinet meetings. Our province is on lockdown at the moment due to covid. We were all told to isolate and not celebrate with members outside our household and this dude is on a beach. We are the embarrassment of the country. I did NOT vote for him. His office is in my town.
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There are just some truths about life we need to stop running from. Everyone tiptoes around certain topics and people when we should be exposing secrets and lies. More often than not harboring secrets just leads to more secrets and hinderance. Life is not always on our side and most of the people we know.... are going to disappoint us and chocolate is fattening. Take a deep breath and start there....
Redditor u/Mark_Ps2 wanted to see who was wiling to share some truths about the everyday that often are kept hidden by asking.... (SERIOUS) What are some dark secrets about regular life that people should know?Enemies
Gameplay Livestream GIF by AsmodeeGamesGiphyYour workplace is not your friend.
The employee who dishes with you about all the other employees most likely talks about you to other people too. So watch what you say to that person. Bonding over disliked coworkers can cause you to let your guard down.
What We Get
You don't get what you deserve.
Someone once said to me, "You get what you get, and what you get will never be what you deserve." It was after I had just done some good then got crap on for it, but I realized years later he was talking about malicious attitudes never getting their comeuppance.
Fragility...
Friendships are fragile. Most have a convenience factor (go to school together; work together; live near each other) and once that's gone the friendship becomes much less important.
As you age, work, family, and spouses demand more of your time and there's less left for friends. It doesn't mean you care less but without effort you'll lose those friendships. Often one half of the friendship is more willing to put the work in than the other, and that can sustain the relationship or lead to bitterness.
The Cells
animation loop GIF by davestrickGiphyCancerous cells form in your body on a regular basis, but your immune system recognizes the cancerous cells and kills them... usually.
Along the way....
You can be going along, enjoying your life thinking you've got it all figured out, and boom, in a matter of minutes it can all go to hell, and everything you believed to be true, and the future you imagined for yourself will be gone. And just because you do everything right, doesn't necessarily mean you get what you want.
Evil among us....
I ran a non-profit for a while and thought that the non-profit community would be pretty great, because aren't we all trying to do good things? OOF. The Non-profit world is home to some of the most ruthless and cold-hearted savages I've ever come across.
Particularly when it comes to competing for funding, there are no friends among non-profits and charities.
Never the Same
People change. You never really know them. They can be in your life for 20, 30, 40 years and out of nowhere blindside you. So learn to be happy on your own. Live and love of course, but do not allow anyone or any few people to define your happiness.
It's alright to give people the power to hurt you by loving and trusting them, but never give so much of yourself away that their very presence in your life defines you and you cannot live without them. That leads to you either accepting sh!tty behavior to keep them around or it leads to crippling depression if they leave. Own your own happiness.
Good. Not Great.
Bass Pro Shop Fashion GIF by John Crist ComedyGiphyBeing a good employee at work and having an agreeable, friendly personality will get you further than being a great employee with a poor personality.
The Power!
I got involved in community activism (I'm keeping it vague here) and pretty much everyone involved higher up is a power-hungry monster. Competitive with each other, not just for funding but for clout and popularity with the public.
Also it was amazing how many people were willing to sell out the cause/their beliefs for money. Lifetime community organizers making a living by taking funding from the most unethical sources imaginable.
If you ever meet someone that's spent years dedicated to a charitable or humanitarian cause, then you've probably met an @sshole. The exceptions are the genuinely kind volunteers who are relatively new. They last about 2 years, 3 if they're tough. But they eventually see the people running the show for the monsters that they are, and leave, completely disillusioned.
The Death Racket
Funeral GIF by memecandyGiphyThe funeral industry is just like the wedding industry.
The funeral industry is an absolute racket. They hose people experiencing deep and unrelenting grief by subtly guilting them that if they don't spend more money, they didn't truly care about their deceased loved one.
When my friend passed away at 23, his family - who had a lot of money and not a lot of healthy coping skills - ended up spending an exorbitant amount on his funeral. They got upsold on a casket that cost thousands (which was only for the viewing), jewelry made of his ashes, weird art made of his handprints... They easily spent as much as a wedding. It was grotesque watching the way they got rinsed because they were mourning and didn't have the emotional fortitude to consider what was happening in the moment.
That Magic Moment
You are never done growing, or shouldn't be anyway. When I was younger I thought growing up was a thing that happened, then you are a fully complete adult. Nope. You never stop figuring it out, learning and growing.
The thing you realize as you get older is that there is no moment when you are an adult. I still feel like the same person I did in my 20's. Yes, I know more about things and have more experience but the person inside is the same.
It's something I try and explain to people younger than me when ever it comes up. Like, there is no magic moment, you're just the same but older.
the "nice" ones
sad episode 5 GIFGiphyBullies are not just in middle school. They are everywhere.
A lot of them are also 'the nicest people ever', who would NEVER do anything awful to anyone. My case for a while now. It doesn't matter what terrible things they do, every lie they tell is true.
The Unfixable
There are some people you just can't save, and who will drag you down with them if you let them.
Whether it's addiction, excessive anger, constant negativity, or just never-ending chaos, if they're an adult, you have no obligation to "fix" it for them, and you can't anyway, until they become ready to fix it for themselves.
Priorities
Throwaway for obvious reasons.
I hit a smallish lottery (~few mill) a little while back and told absolutely no one, family and friends included. I took a bunch of steps to secure my kids futures and we live a very comfortable but not lavish life. I'm pretty generous with the people around me, I think that they just think I'm doing very well career wise (or something illegal under the table).
I justify it by thinking that if this was general knowledge amongst friends and family it would ruin relationships. My priority needed to be my kids.
Mush
When you get diagnosed with alzheimer's, your brain is already mostly mush.
The disease has been ravaging your brain for at least 20 years before you started noticing it. You also probably exhibited symptoms for the past 5-10 years but they were super mild and no one, including you, paid attention. One of those early symptoms can be mood swings, depression... and the loss of the sense of smell.
There is no hope left for you at that point. The main research against Alzheimer's or any neurodegenerative disease is to act years before the first symptoms, when your brain still is relatively healthy. You showing symptoms mean that your brain cannot compensate for the degeneration and it will go downward from now.
Pose
campy lady gaga GIFGiphyThe celebrities that you crave to emulate, get a lot of the stuff for free. They are just breathing billboards. Stop putting yourself in to debt for them, at the end of the day, just like money, you can't take it with you.
Everyday
You can do everything right and still die on your way to work. My husband died 2 years ago on his drive to work because someone made an illegal turn. People die every day in auto accidents. You can die when you leave your house and its so easy that its scary sometimes.
The Undeserving....
Even though you are by far the most qualified candidate for a job or a promotion... they can give it someone undeserving and there's nothing you can do about it. Nepotism (I gave the job to my son), friendships, inability to recognize talent... you at some point may likely face this and it sucks.
Alone
Nobody said being an adult would be this lonely. Im a 26 year old female, relatively attractive, sociable and I take pride in how kind I am. But it doesn't matter. People are busy and making the friendship connection is so much harder as an adult than it was growing up. (And it was freaking hard growing up lol)
I have about 3 friends total I can go to for anything. On the up side, my familial relations have improved greatly as an adult. We were broken growing up but now are all in a good place in life and with each other.
Live Alone
bored matthew perry GIF by Nick At NiteGiphyDeciding to be roommates with your best friend is dangerous. I've known people who have stopped speaking to their best friend because the small things build up. Some people luck out and it turns out fine, but most of the time it doesn't.