The Biggest Secrets People Learned Cleaning Out A Late Relative's Home
How well did you really know the people who are no longer with us?
Many of us present our best selves to our friends and relatives but do you share with them your deepest, darkest insecurities and secrets?
Maybe you do. But there are plenty of others who take their secrets to the grave.
But those closely guarded secrets or the truest identities can come to light posthumously in many forms, giving a glimpse of who they were to the people they've left behind.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor WhoAllIll asked:
"What secret was revealed when cleaning out the home of a deceased family member?"
Not everyone had pure morals or ethics.
Shady Business
"Elderly aunt had a hidden room with staircase to basement area no one knew about. She and her son had a meth lab. This was in the 90’s in Philly. Blew us all away."
– pekepeeps
Here's The Story
"We all knew this one uncle had a second family. We expected drama at the funeral."
"No one was expecting his third family to show up. Wife. Three kids. This new family knew the rest of the family by name from pictures. How we are all related, names, hobbies. That was a wildly bizarre experience."
– z-adventure
Late Discovery
"My dad passed away in 1994 (I was 28). While going through his safe I found some adoption papers. While reading through them I got excited at the prospect I might have a brother out there somewhere (I was raised as an only child) but couldn't understand why my parents never told me that they'd adopted a child but never told me. After rereading them, I realized that they papers were about me. After confronting my family about this turns out everyone - family, close friends, I mean everyone, knew I was adopted. Except me. That was a fun day."
– rolandblais
You never know about a person.
Once Upon A Cash-tress
"Many years ago I went with my dad and aunt to clean out my great uncle’s apartment after he passed away. He was never married, no kids, and lived (we thought) very poor. Tiny apartment with a twin bed, table and chair, a couple of pots and pans, a couple pants& shirts, and that’s basically it."
"As we stripped the bed and moved the mattress, we were shocked. He had hundreds of stacks of 10 dollar bills, wrapped in rubber bands, under his mattress. They were all 10 dollar bills. He lived during the Depression and didn’t trust banks, apparently, but we had no idea he had so much cash. He never spent it on anything. Just bundled it and saved it under his mattress. Some of the bills were so old and yellowed. It equaled thousands of dollars. We had no idea."
– Sostupid246
The Neat Hoarder
"My grandfather, who spoke English as a third language, was a bit of a hoarder. Lots of old sh*t stockpiled in his basement, but well organized. Imagine a generic episode of Hoarders, but with a prepper OCD vibe."
"Everything was sanitized, stacked/nested, and grouped logically. It was like the stock room for a store that wasn't yet sure what products it was selling and wanted to be ready."
"So we find a cylindrical container that was kinda heavy for its size, and it had the label 'OLD PENIS'. It was one of those black plastic film containers."
"Hesitant, but curious, we removed the lid."
"It contained a collection of one-cent pieces which had been minted in the first half of the 20th century."
"Part of me was disappointed, part of me was relieved."
"Edit: I'm glad so many people got a chuckle from the mystery of my grandfather's old penis. It was an innocent typo, but he was a jovial man and would have enjoyed knowing it made so many people laugh."
– funkme1ster
Unpublished
"We knew my originally British, naturalized Canadian great-grandmother had been an enthusiastic amateur historian, who had been fascinated by Britain’s war with Napoleon - not for the least reason because she was herself tangentially related to the Duke of Wellington’s family, via a cousin’s marriage to his son’s nephew, or some connection equally obscure and tenuous."
"What we didn’t know is that, likely in preparation for a book she never wrote, as a young woman she had actually interviewed several dozen elderly English, French and Spanish veterans about their experiences during that war - including three actual survivors of Waterloo (two English, one French), and an aide-de-camp to Spanish General Francisco Javier Castaños, at the time he handed the Napoleonic army its very first defeat in the field, and captured nearly 20,000 French troops at the Battle of Bailen (1808)."
"But there it was, stored in a wooden egg crate under her iron-framed bed, among old calendars, untested recipe clippings and copies of Family Circle magazine: a manuscript with nearly three hundred pages of transcribed military memoirs - all laid out in three languages (in which she was fluent) in her elegant, Spencerian hand."
"My parents donated her manuscript to the Imperial War Museum, where no doubt it will never have human eyes laid on it again."
– theartfulcodger
These Redditors share heartwarming discoveries.
Preparing For The Onward Journey
"My dad was in hospice at home for a couple months before he died of lung cancer, and when I went to clean out his house I found that he had already sorted and packed away most of his personal treasures in couple storage bins. It was heartbreaking all over again thinking of him sitting there packing up his own life knowing it was coming to an end."
– F0regn_Lawns
Messages From Beyond
"When my husband died a few years ago i found several notes/letters he had scattered in various places around our home, written to me in advance (he had terminal cancer & knew he was dying). some were marked 'open when you can't stop crying' 'open when the holidays are too rough' 'open when you have to put one of the cats to sleep'."
"They didn't contain any secrets, but they are heartbreakingly beautiful."
– miss_trixie
Sweet Keepsake
"My dad kept a handwritten note in his wallet containing my mom’s old address, phone number, and directions to her house from when they first started dating in the 70s. He had moved it from wallet to wallet over the years. ❤️ He just died this past March and that was one of the first things we found."
– Jinx5326
Scavenger Hunt
"That my dad hid money all over the house, not huge amounts mind you, but $60 here, $120 there. Felt like a bit of a scavenger hunt when we were cleaning out his stuff. He was always a bit of a sneakily generous guy, always gave me and my brothers a secret handshake with money tucked in his palm when we’d go back to school after a weekend home, etc, so wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done it intentionally. Made us smile every time we found some, iirc I think the final total was somewhere around $800."
– Mzunguman
Photographs are treasures.
When my family cleaned out the house of my father's aunt who lived in America, we found stacks of vintage photographs well before the advent of digital photography.
There were photos of my great aunt in Japan from when she was a teenager to photos of her and her husband at a Japanese internment camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
There were no secrets uncovered but it was so profound poring through images capturing decades of her life captured on film.
Whether or not we enjoy cleaning, we can all appreciate a calm and clean environment.
Some of us really like the "extras" of a comfortable home, like cozy blankets and pillows, soft music, and uniquely scented candles.
There are even some candle scents people would love to have in their homes but which are not available at this time.
Wondering what others liked to be surrounded with, Redditor unknownyoyo asked:
"What obscure smell would you buy a candle of?"
Fresh Lumber
"I'd love a candle that actually smells like wood. I love the smell of fresh lumber."
- BretHitmanHart84
Only '90s Kids Will Understand
"I want a candle that captures the experience of the Scholastic Book Fair."
- modestyahoo597
Emphasis on "Old"
"Ooh! A candle that actually smells like OLD books."
- misterjonathancrouch
Talk About Swoon-worthy
"Freshly baked bread."
- AmusedCrane
Oscure and Lovely
"The smell of rain on hot pavement."
- sanseriouz
Good Morning, Indeed
"I wish I could capture that smell of a clear cold morning in a boreal forest in Northeastern Ontario. Crisp, pine, lake, clear, cold, sunshine... it's a whole vibe."
- ElleRyder68
A Reverse Candle, In a Way
"The smell of a candle that's literally JUST been blown out."
- T-Bizzle
The '90s Friday Night Vibes
"I bought a candle that smells like Blockbuster and I love it. It smells like buttered popcorn, carpet, and that smell VHSs had."
- maniacalmustacheride
The Smell of Rain
"This might just be a UK thing but there's a certain smell on a cloudy day just before the rain hits and you can tell it's about to start. That's a comfortable smell for me."
"Fresh-cut grass in summer is good too."
- IndependentTax2482
Or a Whole Line of Cooking Candles
"Melted garlic butter."
- ForestCityWRX
When Nostalgia Comes Knocking
"I want a candle that smells like my old dog. It's not the most pleasant smell, but I miss that big id**t."
- Pressed_in_Pages
Pizza Rolls, Anyone?
"The smell of that friend's house you used to go to sleepovers at and spend all night playing LAN PC games together back in 7th grade and his mom bought pizza for you."
- 7point62Neato
Don't Forget Your Racket
"The smell of a freshly opened can of tennis balls."
- chefarmer
French Onion Soup
"About a year ago, I made homemade french onion soup for the first time. I spent over an hour caramelizing the onions on the stove."
"I went to the grocery store to get cheese for the recipe. As soon as I got there, three girls stopped me and asked what I was wearing. I don't wear cologne, so didn't know what they were talking about."
"They were sniffing me all over and telling me that I smell amazing. H**l, they started calling other people over to smell me."
"That's when I realized they were smelling the caramelized onions. I was pretty popular that day. If I wasn't already married, I'd make french onion soup every day!"
- Herbiethelovebug
Three Cheers for Childhood
"That smell right when you open the container of Play-Doh."
- kcc3121
Each of these scent ideas brought back comforting feelings and great memories, especially for anyone who grew up in the '90s. To be surrounded by these scents every day at home would create quite the vibe, for sure.
Most towns have a story to tell.
After decades of Dateline NBC, 20/20, 48 Hours and ID Discovery... what town is left without a story?
There is always a moment or a person of infamy.
It's tragic, but true.
Scandal makes the world go round.
Redditor AndyBales wanted to hear the small town tales that left everybody shook, so they asked:
"Redditors who grew up in small towns, what was 'the incident?'"
My towns are dull. But I have a feeling dull is good.
Scraped
Yard Work Dog GIFGiphy"It was hushed up, but the former sheriff of my hometown stole people's lawnmowers and sold them for scrap for close to a decade. Weird place."
Power_Wiz_IV
In the Woods
"A light shining into the sky a couple times from out in the woods. Police went out to check it, found a man no one knew in a cabin no one knew of, LOADED with guns and ammunition. When asked why he had so many, what he was doing shining a light into the sky."
"He was sending a beacon to the aliens because they told him to shine a light to guide them, when he had things ready for them…. Yeah."
IDontEvenCareBear
BAAAHHHHH!!!!
"'The incident' involved sheep..."
"A flock of sheep kept on the town green migrated through a broken fence into the adjacent cemetery. The sheep became known as the 'Lamb-scapers' because they did a better job of manicuring the cemetery grounds than the maintenance person."
Back2Bach
The Scandal
"Guy in my high school knocked up the daughter of the local fitness center owner. The owner offered him a car to leave his daughter alone and not be a part of the baby’s life. He accepted the offer and took the car. Once she gave birth, they ran away together in the car."
"The fitness center owner found them, torched the car, and threatened to kill the guy. They fought and the baby daddy won. This apparently garnered some respect from both men and now everyone seems like a happy family."
LessGoooo
The Stash
pulp fiction art GIF by hoppipGiphy"A wealthy couple were brutally murdered in their home by an adult daughter and her boyfriend. It was rumored they had a ton of money stashed in the house."
bemest
Money is always the root of evil.
Down the street...
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy"A guy robbed the bank then ran to his home to hide… that was down the street. Took the cops an embarrassingly long time to get him."
Wenissucker
Bianca Piper...
"Small town in Missouri. Bianca Piper, it was 2005, supposedly she went for a walk after a fight with her mom and was never seen again. I was a junior in high school and skipped school that day. My friends and I freaked when we saw cop cars and helicopters out EVERYWHERE. Thought they were looking for us. Everyone here has always said her mother had something to do with it."
thallemeyer
The Giggler
"The 40something drunk man who broke into the high school dressed as batman to prank scare the high school classes by staring in the windows then running away giggling uncontrollably to appear somewhere else on campus and scare a different class. There was an hour and a half long lockdown and he ended up found and arrested."
quietcopse
At the Bottom
"A little girl had a seizure (or hit her head. Nobody knows for sure) in the YMCA swimming pool, went unconscious, and drowned during a youth swim team practice. My sister and her friends were also on the team. They saw her at the bottom of the pool and thought she was just messing around. Lifeguards and instructors weren’t even paying attention."
broshley
WTH?!
Okaay What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"Some cheerleaders pooped on a pizza at cheer camp and blamed the rival high school's cheerleaders. George Bush (president at the time) even spoke about it."
Alicesblackrabbit
Lord, the scandals of a small town.
Adults are meant to be the wise ones.
Adults lead children and show compassion and grace.
Well that is the plan.
So it's always disappointing when many adults show cheap, rude behavior towards the young that Billy Porter would read for trash.
I guess it shows just how flawed we all are and how many of us stay.
The sad thing is that showing that kind of behavior to a child only prolongs the cycle.
You're the adult... act like it.
Redditor x3Nekox3 was hoping some people would share some tales about the times elders have shown less than perfect behavior. So they asked everyone:
"What was the most petty thing an adult did to you, when you were younger?"
Rules. Adults holding onto rules that make no sense, just because.
So petty.
Unreadable
hands swerk GIFGiphy"I broke two fingers on my dominant hand in 9th grade and had a splint on them so I couldn't write. I had a test at school and the teacher made me write with my left hand then marked my answers wrong because she couldn't read them."
j0hnniefist
Penmanship
"I have horrible handwriting. I have forever, no amount of intervention or practice has helped. When I was in 5th grade, my Social Studies teacher seemed to take a lot of pleasure in constantly reminding me of how awful my hand writing was. We used to have to bring out notebooks up for her to check our homework."
"I dreaded this so damn much. She would hold up my notebook so the whole class could laugh at my handwriting. I'm grown now, that was a long time ago, but I still hate to have hand write anything that other people will see."
KringlebertFistybuns
Thinking Back
"In grade four, a teacher gave us a few questions before lunch break and expected us to answer each of them correctly right after the break was over. A classmate couldn't get a few answers correct so the teacher made him walk to each bench and get a slap from each student present in the class. Thinking about the incident now, I feel like going back in time and beat the sh*t of that horrible teacher."
Geniar_med
Grunt Work
"At 16 years old, I had a job at a gas station after school. Did all the grunt work (sweeping cigarettes in the parking lot, emptying trash bins, etc.)."
"I'm taking the trash out one day and a grown a** man in his 40s comes up to me and says something along the lines of 'I make more money in a week than you do in a whole year' and all I could think at the time was 'Well yeah, I sure hope you do I'm in high school.'"
"Such a petty thing to say to a kid just trying to make a little bit of money after school."
therealjoshua
Hey Bunny
"I was at an Easter Egg hunt when I was around 6. It was in a big park area with lots of rocks. I saw a little chocolate egg foil glisten and ran over to pick it up. As I reached my hand out to pick it up a man trod on my hand to stop me getting it, then he called his kid over to 'find' it."
HedgeHoggington
Why is Easter always such an issue? Hunt responsibly...
Traitor
lies liar GIF by The Maury ShowGiphy"I did a chore that my father had asked me to do. My mom got home and commented on how nicely the chore was done. My father took credit for it in front of me - so I fired back saying that I was the one who had done it... he then yelled at me and called me a traitor."
MadeItForTheArt
Still Salty
"I got in trouble in 6th grade for reading during home room. Home room was like a random 30 min period to work on homework but I always did my homework the night before so I would just quietly read. For some reason my home room teacher hated it."
"One day she just yelled at me for always reading in her class and told me to do my homework. I told her all of my homework was done. She told me to prove it so I showed her all of my completed homework. Then she confiscated my book and sent me to the principal’s office for being disrespectful. I’m still salty about it."
omglookawhale
Still Shocked
"A math teacher handed back our tests in class. They were graded and marked and all that. She was going over some of the questions that most people got wrong (myself included), so I was writing down some notes on my test so I could reference it later and remind myself why I got things wrong and what I was supposed to do."
"She ripped my test away from me and started screaming at me that cheating is absolutely not allowed and that I should be ashamed of myself. Confused and in shock, I started choking up and tried to explain that I was just trying to take notes. One of the most humiliating times of my childhood (around 13 years old), and I still don’t understand why it happened."
Soulfighter56
You too?
"One of my uncles was in a years-long fight with my mom. To stir trouble, any time he greeted my sister and I, he would tell my sister how beautiful and wonderful she is and to me just say 'Oh, you're here too' and then promptly ignore me the rest of the night."
"I used to adore him up to that point so this ended up in me being extremely hurt and crying to my mom for hours about how I'm ugly and not special."
"He got his petty vengeance on my mother and crushed my self-esteem. Till today I don't forgive him for it."
super-ro
Just Ill
Sick Season 4 GIF by FriendsGiphy"I was feeling sick one day in grade 3 or 4 and the substitute teacher wouldn’t let me go to the nurse’s office because 'I didn’t look sick enough.' I had strep throat."
buzzybee2
Some adults really are a mess.
Do you have any experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Every now and then, we fork over a rather large sum of money to buy something which we think will have a positive impact on our lives. This could be anything from a new home or car, an ice cream machine, or a super big flat-screen TV.
At the end of the day, we find ourselves justifying the purchase as money well spent, no matter how much damage the price tag inflicted on our bank account.
However, not all purchases which could have a hugely positive effect on your life require a loan or a second mortgage to buy.
Sometimes, something we find on sale or a discount store might prove to be the very thing we were missing all our lives.
"What’s something $100 or less but is a total game changer?"
For Safety And Sanity.
"Musicians ear plugs."
"Mine cut down the sound level by 2/3 or so and I use them at every concert, but also on the subway, at loud bars etc."
"They don't make things sound muffled, just quieter."
"Your ears can't regenerate, ever, and my work depends on my hearing so I gotta keep 'em safe."
"And my pair only cost about $25 Canadian!"- bjackilly
No Change Of Getting Tangled Up!
"Under-mattress clips to keep your bedsheet from coming off at the corners."
"It was recommended to me on Reddit and remains one of my favorite possessions."- Nepentheiii
Your Wrist And Fingers Will Thank You Later.
"Nintendo Switch Pro controller.'
'Huge difference over the joycons."- BocTheCrude
Video Game GIF by Fall GuysGiphyThe Good Kind Of Pressure
"A nice shower head."- Astrosloth92
When You're Not Ready For The Sun...
"Blackout curtains."
"Especially if you work second shift or graveyard."
"The quality of sleep goes up so much."- Fourloken
Three Simple Items, One Life-Changing Result
"Vinegar and Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle."
"It's absolutely 100% the best cleaner I have ever used."- evilpigclone
Window Spraying GIF by Leah DubucGiphyLet There Be Light!
"An electric, USB chargeable lighter."
'I don't smoke, but I do light a lot of candles, use it to light my fireplace, etc."
"No more dealing with the stupid ones that run out of fuel or whatever."
"Or the little tiny ones with the rollers that I could never freaking get to work."
"Plus there's no flame to blow back at you."
'If something pushes against the electrical current, it just goes out."- beepborpimajorp
Office Mobility
"Roller blade wheel casters for your desk chair."
"Quieter, smoother, and don't damage your floor."
"I finally just got some and I love them, 20$."- bingwhip
Surf With No Interruptions...
"PiHole."
"It Basically blocks every ad in your home network from loading."
"Combined with an ad-Blocking browser extension you will experience the internet on another level."- schobaloa1
Internet GIFGiphyIt's The Little Things That Get You, And The Thought That Counts.
"I bought my dad a $2 letter opener and he acted like it was the best gift in 20 years."- writingwrongs
As the saying goes, money can't buy happiness.
And it's the simple things in life which make us truly happy.