21 Terrifying Secrets People Uncovered About Others And Immediately Wished They Didn’t

Whoever said ignorance is bliss knew exactly what they were talking about.

Jesse

• Published in News
• November 17, 2024

There’s something thrilling about sharing a secret. It’s a bond, a moment of trust, a whisper only the two of you are meant to keep. But let’s be real—secrets are slippery things. 

Sometimes, that juicy piece of hidden knowledge doesn’t stay hidden, especially when it finds its way to the internet. That’s where things get interesting and sometimes a little disturbing.

Imagine stumbling across a confession that flips your entire view of someone you thought you knew—or maybe uncovering a family mystery that shakes you to your core. 

In today’s digital age, secrets don’t always stay within four walls. With the click of a button, those whispered truths can be broadcast for the whole world to see, and Reddit has become a hotspot for these hidden confessions. 

From family mysteries that unravel decades of deception to confessions that could give thriller novels a run for their money, these stories are as wild as they are intriguing.

Below, we’ve gathered 21 stories of secrets that range from jaw-dropping to downright chilling. So, grab some popcorn, settle in, and get ready for a wild ride through the most shocking secrets Reddit users have ever shared. 

And don’t forget to let us know which one leaves you the most speechless. Keep scrolling if you’re sure you can handle some not-so-pretty truths!

1. A horrifying act no child should ever have to face hidden under the guise of ‘s$x ed.’

A friend in the year below me at school mentioned that he's not allowed to do se$ual education "for religious reasons". Fine, fair enough.

"My family," he added, "taught me everything I need to know already..."

The look on his face told me I shouldn't respond yet.

"...with, uh... practicals."

His parents were abusing him, together, and dressing it up as "s$x ed". He lost his virginity at 11, to his dad.

I pointed out that that was insane, f****d up, and a serious, serious crime. He agreed to go to the police about it. Two brutal years later they were locked up, he spent the rest of his childhood in foster care, and by all accounts grew into a wonderful young man.

2. Imagine finding out you have a sibling minutes before they walk in the door. What a roller coaster

So I'm 37 and my dad calls me and says "Can you come over tomorrow? I need to talk to you about something." We'd just gotten back from a family visit that involved my aunt and uncle raving about their senior living community in Phoenix, and my parents are roughly that age, so I figured they were gonna sell my childhood home. Not a huge deal, but definitely not something you wanna drop on me by accident. No no no.

Instead I get there and my parents sit me down and say to me, "Fourteen years before you were born and before we were married, we had a son. He was adopted by a family in Sweden and he'll be here in half an hour." Cue the longest, strangest two hours of my life.

3. Revenge on an abuser turned into lifelong torment—a truly tragic confession.

Someone confessing a murder. I'm a nurse and she was recovering from being unwell and it triggered her PTSD to be immobile in bed. When she was 11 she pushed her uncle down the stairs after he se$ually abused her. She'd only told her husband. She was in bits- thought her illness was God punishing her. She needed a lot of TLC.

4. Yes, kiddo, even your mom has a mom. Shocking, I know.

It was me. I mentioned that my mom, my daughter's grandma was coming to visit. 

My then five year old was shocked to the core: "IS GRANDMA your MOM???"

I didn't know it was a secret.

5. Twenty-one blissful years on this earth, only to find out your dad wasn’t quite the hero you believed him to be

My whole life growing up, my dad told me my mother was a drug addict and didn’t want me. When I was 21 I met my mom for the first time and as it turns out, my dad kidnapped me when I was 4 and she never knew where we went. Yup. I should be in therapy. Both are dead now and my dad and I never reconciled after I found out.

6. He watched his family next door for half a decade without making contact

I was like 5 so it was less jarring, but I went to my grandmother’s house, ostensibly to show off the first tooth I ever lost (I was so excited lol), and there was an old man there I’d never seen before. My mom and grandmother were basically like “Tada! This is your grandfather!” I was just like ok, I guess he just fell from the sky and now I have a grandfather ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

When I was a teenager I learned the full story, which has a pretty wild component. My grandparents were very Catholic, like truly didn’t believe in divorce. And my grandmother, as wonderful as she was to have as a grandmother, was a very hard person to have as a wife or mother. So my grandfather had an affair.

My grandfather and mother had a close relationship, and his mistress was jealous. I assume she saw my mom as the reason my grandfather wouldn’t leave his wife (they could have been childless, neither would have been willing to divorce). So she started stalking my mom. Would call the house and her work and hang up or whisper weird shit and threats in the phone to her, etc.

My mom got suspicious, eventually found out, and told my grandmother. Both were pissed as hell. My grandmother kicked him out, and both of them cut all contact with him. This happened like 10 years or so before I was born.

But here’s the wild part: HE LIVED NEXT DOOR THE ENTIRE TIME. My great uncle (grandmother’s brother) lived right next to my grandmother, and my grandfather moved in with him. It must say a lot about him respecting boundaries, because I never heard him or caught sight of him whenever I was at my grandmother’s or my uncle’s house. Although I imagine it was really hard for him. My uncle’s windows looked right into my grandmother’s yard. I can’t imagine what it’s like to watch your children and grandchildren exist right under your nose and not be able to talk to them.

Anyway, at some point, they all decided to reconcile. The day I met him, he had already moved back into the house. And I’m glad, because he was amazing. He passed when I was 8, but in those three-ish years he became (and remains to this day), one my favorite people on the planet.

7. The lengths some kids will go to avoid homework—but this one definitely takes the Oscar for prank gone too far

My brother had his appendix out when he was about 13. 5 or 6 years later he confessed to me that he made it all up to get out of doing some homework. He made all the right noises at the doctor's surgery who sent him to hospital, where he fooled them again.

After the operation he says the surgeon spoke to him and said it was odd because there wasn't any inflammation. I am amazed that in the days before the internet he knew where his appendix should be.

He is 50 next year and my parents still don't know...

8. The aunt’s gatekeeping was next level

Several months after my mom passed my aunt decided to tell me that my mom had given a baby up for adoption when she was 17. somehow he had contacted my aunt several years ago wanting to meet his birth mother but my aunt decided to play gatekeeper telling him my mom was ill (she had dementia but was still functioning several years ago) and she didn't think it was a good idea.

why did she even tell me? It's too late. I can't ever get answers to my questions. I tried a DNA website hoping to find him but no matches came up. 

in my moms last few months she kept asking where the baby was and calling a name I did not know. at least that makes sense now but I feel bad that I kept telling her there's no baby and we don't know anybody by that name.

9. She broke her friend’s trust to save her life—and never regretted it

When I was 11 I had a friend reveal that her step mother was abusing her.. she made me promise not to say anything to my mom or any other adult. I agreed, we had weekly therapy sessions with a guidance counselor if you wanted it so it was my day to go and I just felt like I needed to tell… so I did. The counselor ended up reporting it and CPS got involved and my friend was made to live with her mother. She was so angry at me for telling but I felt it in my soul that I should. We are still friends to this day.. both of us 29 years old.

10. Such an appalling confession would leave anyone unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance brutally scarred for life

11. That awkward moment when you find out your favorite van was actually your great-grandmother’s death spot

That a majority of people from my Dad's side of the family "borrowed" money from my great grandmother and never paid her back. I'm talking like 10-20 thousand dollars each person. My uncle, my Aunt, my Grandmother, my Great-Uncle, Great-Aunt

Apparently when she died they all fought over the remaining stuff in her house, and what money was left over.

My Dad never asked for money. Never asked for anything. And after she died, all we got was her Van.

That actually leads into another secret. That Van was then handed down to me, as I had just gotten my license as a teen. It was a good van. Heated seats. Good speakers. TV in the back. seats went all the way down. Hot boxed that van so many times, got lucky in there as well. I loved that van. Then I learned that my Great Grandmother didn't actually die in her living room like I had been told. She died in the driver seat of that van. Just died while putting it in park one day. I feel very weird when I think about everything I did in that van now.

12. Such an appalling confession would leave anyone unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance brutally scarred for life

I was a bridesmaid for a friend, who had problems with her MIL. I went to have a chat with MIL, after her brutal verbal attack at friend, while at the bridal shop. I found out that MIL was raped by her FIL & BILs multiple times and her husband supported this. MIL wanted to brake the engagement, after she overheard her husband, BILs & sons talking to the groom about sharing friend with them and groom told them that will consider it.

13. Imagine going on family vacations to the very scene where your dad was callously murdered—by your mom

My aunt murdered her second husband to marry her third, then she made the kids go to the lake and campground where their dad died every single summer for vacation.

My cousin just dropped this bomb, like, “oh yeah, my mom isn’t a good person and I wish everyone would quit acting like she is.”

14. Guess he finally decided it was high time he  served his sentence

My brother owns a restaraunt that has an old school counter service. Same customers every day. Very popular place. This one guy, a city worker came in every work day religiously . One day he finishing his lunch calls my brother over and tells to call the Prosecutors Office. He admitted to killing a classmate in school 20 years prior. My bro said he was casual as could be . Just said it was time to be accountable. You never know.

15. I know tough love is necessary sometimes, but this is just plain evil

16. Mom has lived quite the life

Qqq

17. A four-year relationship built on lies

Literally just happened to me. I have an almost two year old son with my ex girlfriend of over 4 years (we broke up not long after he was born). Come to find out she cheated on me throughout nearly the entire relationship with at least 5 different people and was even cheating on me well into her pregnancy. I am absolutely devastated and should probably get a paternity test.

18. It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin

My friend from uni hid her pregnancy, had the baby, and gave it up for adoption without telling anyone. I regularly saw her throughout the pregnancy. She didn't really show or put on weight and only found out she was pregnant herself at 7 months. One day, I noticed she was at the hospital as she had left her location on snapchat. I messaged her in a panic, asking if she was ok. She brushed it off as visiting a friend. I found out three years later from a mutual friend that was the day she gave birth. I had actually caught up with her for drinks 2 days after she had the baby. I had absolutely no idea that she had literally just given birth 48 hours prior

19. An unexpected reunion that was actually  a final goodbye

I had an old girlfriend who was coming to Florida and wanted to hang out with me and my wife, she brought her mom, who I knew pretty well. A great dinner, drinks, fun stories, then when my ex went to the bathroom, the mom told me she (the ex) was dying of cancer. (I had No idea). It was sad, but yet felt so good she wanted to hang out. She died within a year. We were probably 35 years old at the time.

20. Drunken confessions are always heavy. Stay away from alcohol, guys

At the start of this year, my mom got drunk and let it slip that I was adopted. At 30 years old that was and is still a trip.

21. A day meant for celebration brought an unexpected goodbye

What did I tell you? These confessions are not for the faint-hearted. Some secrets should stay buried, but others? Well, they’re just too wild not to share. 

If any of these secrets left you particularly stunned, we'd love to hear your thoughts. For those who’ve got some tea of their own to spill as well, we’re all ears in the comments!

Jesse