Truth be told, we don't get to choose our relatives. We are born into it whether we like it or not. While most families have their share of ups and downs and all the things in between, there are some that harbor dark secrets. And that's the topic of my article today.
Recently, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread that asked, "What is the strangest/creepiest secret your family has?" and boy, will the answers surprise you or even shock you. Let's check it out.
"My grandparents met in a mental hospital. My grandmother worked there and my grandfather was a patient. He was also married at the time, and since he never got a divorce my grandparents weren't legally married."
Isn't that wild or what?
"My distant ancestor (great (x8) uncle) was a sociopath and a serial killer. His name was Tom Quick and he was an 'Indian Slayer' who stalked the Delaware tribe. He claimed to have killed ninety-nine members of the tribe by the time he died, including an entire unarmed family with two young boys and an infant, which he beat to death with a rock. It's weird. These days his monument in Pennsylvania had to be removed due to vandals, but when it was erected in 1889, he was considered a hero and a defender of the civilized settlers."
That's crazy, no?
"I also have a half-brother in Puerto Rico who is in his 30s I will never meet. I only know his name is Ricky and my dad had a fling with a Puerto Rican woman while stationed there in the army sometime in the '70s."
Who knows, maybe one day this person will meet their half-brother. Stranger things have happened, no?
"I suppose this is a secret, we don't really talk about it. My mom's boyfriend's dad murdered his wife by running her over with a car. It was a big deal at the time since we are from a small area."
Oh, wow!
"An uncle I've never met (mom's brother) killed my mom's parents when he was sixteen in a fit of rage, and burnt down their home in an attempt to cover it up. I've never met him, as he has been in jail on a life sentence since before I was born. I was only informed of his existence because my dad was blackmailing my mom with this."
That's not right!
"I actually have two older siblings living in a different country. My parents tell me we're cousins. The truth is my parents had trouble conceiving, so my mom's sister brought over her newest born baby (me) from overseas and left me to be raised in the states. My birth mother (my aunt) is not allowed in the US anymore."
What an interesting story, right?
"My great-grandfather had a 17-year-old mistress he put up in an apartment, great-grandmother found out, confronted them at said apartment, shoots and kills 17-year-old mistress. Great-grandfather serves the time in prison for the murder."
I wonder how that happened? Did he take the fall?
"My uncle molested my sister when she was younger. He was sort of exiled for a few years, but now we talk to him again. Due to eavesdropping and discussions with my parents one-on-one, it seems they never bothered coming to terms emotionally with it, but rather prefer to pretend it never happened. I find it odd to watch them interact with that knowledge in mind."
Oh, my God! I have no other words than that.
"My uncle was kidnapped for two years when he was 15. He's never spoken of it to this day.
Also, my super uptight, neo-con, evangelical Christian uncle who lives in Nebraska was actually a hippie stoner in the '60s. Oh and his wife is a mail-order bride. Oh, and my aunt's college fiance was murdered by a hitchhiker."
And the surprises keep coming.
"My grandmother jumped off a cliff and killed herself after receiving shock therapy to cure her depression. She was staying with us during winter when she went missing. They found her footprints in the snow that led up to the cliff. I found this out when I was 20 years old, from my cousin who was 18 at the time."
That's so sad.
"When my dad was in high-school about 2 years after getting his license, he was driving home from school, It was a sunny day and the sun was in his eyes, all of a sudden 'thump' he realizes that he has hit a jaywalker, he gets out of the car and realizes that the person he hit was his high-school principle's son, who in the few seconds has passed away."
"He wasn't arrested and the principal told him that 'he understood, and not to blame himself because it wasn't his fault.' My grandfather who was an alcoholic did the one good thing in his life for my dad and that made him drive that car home, if it wasn't for that I don't think my dad would have driven again."
"6 years of therapy later my dad was all right. We don't talk about it, and no one in my immediate family told me about it, I heard it from my friend's mother who went to high school with him and confirmed it with my mom. Driving with my dad now if he's driving by smaller children you can see his hands tremble."
I don't know if I could ever drive after that.
"I'm half Japanese, but my family would never talk about relatives in japan. Then I saw an old photo of my 'whole' family, half were in traditional Japanese garbs and the other were in military uniforms. Turns out half my relatives were war criminals."
Wow!
"We have a pedophile in the family, one who also is a misogynist so he molests girls with the sole purpose of ruining their lives. He had abused all of my aunts and raped a 7-year-old girl who lived next door, and probably a lot of others that I don't know about. Everyone kept it pretty quiet until his wife filed for divorce because he was cheating on her, and used the molestation cases for her benefit. He has three sons who still don't know what their father is."
Why isn't he in jail?
"Some family from my dad's side was asking if he would take in one of my distant cousins because the cousin was turning out to be a problem child. Apparently, it's pretty common for that side of the family to send problem kids to other members of the family in an attempt to get them to shape up. My dad said no because he didn't have that much money and was dealing with some serious health issues like epilepsy and his heart."
"A few months later, the kid ended up robbing a store and murdering the owner of that store with a butcher knife. My dad felt guilty about it and I don't think anyone in the family knows that the kid's mom had asked for my dad to watch him. I personally don't think sending the kid a state away would have changed him but my dad always used to wonder out loud to me in private if he could have done something to help."
I can understand how this person's dad blames himself but it really wasn't his fault.
"A great Uncle of mine passed away when I was a little boy. The family met at his house after the funeral to start packing things up and all as he had no children and his wife died many years before him. My great uncle was a highly respected member of his small town. He was a banker of some sort, a deacon in the church, all of those things that made him a good person."
"Well tucked away in the attic, not covered by any dust mind you was a large wooden trunk. Inside this trunk were the purple robes of a KKK Grand Dragon, various member listings, meeting notes, and all other sorts of things related to the KKK. Turns out that my great uncle was a very active although very much secretive member of the regional chapter of the KKK."
That's a pretty big thing to find out, huh?
"I just found out that my grandparents wanted more kids but were having trouble getting pregnant for a second time. They adopted a toddler-aged brother and sister when my mother was 7. Soon after, my grandmother got pregnant, the girl died from a very mysterious fall down the stairs and the boy was quietly given to another family. They never ever spoke of either child from that day forward. I thought she was pulling my leg but a quick search turned up the girl's death record."
"I was never close to that grandmother and can't help but think back to every weird aspect of that woman and all the strange relationships she had with her family."
This must've been so odd to find out, huh?
"My Great Great Great Great Grandfather was busted in England pretending to be an Anglican priest. At the time marriage was not official if it was not conducted by an Anglican priest, and he'd done ceremonies for quite a swathe of important people. Rather than publicly expose him, thus voiding the marriages he'd presided over, they invented a charge of forging stamps and sentenced him to transportation to the Australian colonies. Thing is, they didn't tell the ship captain or send word to the Governor in Sydney Town that his crime was actually impersonating a priest."
"When he arrived in Sydney the Governor saw from the ship manifest that there was a preacher on board who had committed a relatively minor crime. They had a lack of priests to minister to the colony at the time, so the Governor pardoned him so that he could carry on his ministry, which he did. He started one of the first schools for children of the colony and led rather a worthwhile life from then on (aside from being a fake priest). The school he started still exists. Today it is Sydney Grammar School, one of the country's most elite schools. In their entrance hall, they have a giant portrait titled 'Our Glorious Founder'. That's him, my GGGGGF, the dodgy priest."
Oh, my goodness. Haha!
"My uncle is currently serving a lifetime prison sentence for murdering a prostitute with an axe."
Holy, moly! I know there is more to this story but I guess we'll never know so I leave you with that.
In comparison, my family sounds pretty boring. At least, that's what I know. Reading all those unbelievable turns of events makes me wonder, though. Could there be a secret that my family is hiding? I really hope I don't find that out! Tell me, which story surprised or shocked you the most?
