We all hold onto certain secrets, wishing they remain concealed. However, some family truths are so unnerving and gloomy that they ought to be kept hidden in the depths of a family tree. From undisclosed half-siblings to clandestine crimes, individuals have taken to Reddit to reveal family truths that should have remained buried. After all, the truth has a way of surfacing. These family revelations are bound to leave you deeply unsettled.
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Unveiling the Unknown Down Under
User ivydragons shares, “My step-grandfather led a secret life in Australia before encountering my grandmother. He had a spouse and children there, faked his death by driving his car off a precipice, and then relocated to America.
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His children believed he had died until my grandmother discovered them and initiated contact years later. His son, a well-known comedian in Australia, frequently includes a joke about his father faking his death to sever ties with them in his performances.”Â
Shielded by Brotherly Bond
User jgorbeytattoos tells, “One of my friends discovered a profile on Instagram that was uncannily similar to me. This guy bore such a striking resemblance to me that even my mom was convinced it was me. We then contemplated the amusing possibility of us being separated siblings.
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Then he remarks, ‘That’s entirely feasible! My Dad was absent – he was a wanderer and a biker who had a fling with my mom one night.’ My dad was a famous tattoo artist and a notorious biker who traveled in the region where he grew up…I asked him to check with his mom if his father’s name was James Jobin, suggesting we could be brothers. After promising to ask his mom, he blocked me on all platforms. Complete silence.”Â
Grafted Family Bonds
User dring157 recounts, “One of my aunts raised another aunt’s child as her own. With all of my mom’s siblings married with kids, I have approximately 20 cousins. Tragically, three of my aunts were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 30s. All three recovered, but the youngest, Maria, had a relapse, and it was more severe. Maria required a bone marrow transplant.
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All her siblings and children were tested, but no matches were found. The family then disclosed that Maria’s first child, John, had been adopted and raised by my eldest aunt. The cousins, including John and his revealed adoptive siblings, were oblivious to this. John was a match and agreed to donate bone marrow to his birth mother…The transplant was successful, but Maria passed away about a year later.”Â
Sibling Bonds Undying
User Mynameisinuse reveals, “Russell, my brother, was 12 years older than me, and my earliest memories involve playing with him. We shared a room, and I remember the joy we found in late-night pillow forts and story-sharing. I loved Russell and still do.
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Tragically, he died in a car accident when I was 7. It was at his funeral that I discovered Russell was not my brother, but a young man my parents had taken in due to his troubled home life. This revelation was hard to process, but I am grateful that my parents welcomed him and treated him as their own. Even today, I regard him as my brother and miss him profoundly.”Â
Driven Out of Town
User blxndeandblue says, “My biological grandfather threatened my grandmother’s life while she was young and expecting my uncle. My grandmother became extremely paranoid and housebound as he used to hurl bricks through her window. When she confided in her friends about his threats, he soon vanished, never to be seen or heard from again.
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We’d jest about how one of her friends must have ‘ran him out of town’ or possibly even murdered him on her behalf. While going through her photographs and letters, we discovered her friendship with the infamous Kray twins.”Â
A Cautionary Tale
User Thowitawaydave shares, “When he was young, my uncle went hunting with his older brother. As they ventured deeper into the woods, my uncle noticed his brother letting him move ahead. Suddenly, he saw his brother raising the shotgun towards him.
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‘Oh, I thought I saw something,’ was his response to my uncle’s startled reaction. My uncle then stumbled upon a pit dug up off the trail a few days later. From that point onwards, he never went anywhere alone with his brother.”
 Exposing Deep-seated Secrets
User cgamble336 writes, “My parents had a bitter divorce, filled with constant slander against each other…One day, we were discussing my dad’s upcoming visit. The mere mention of my dad prompted a visitor to blurt out a deeply personal secret about my father.
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Despite living with my father for 18 years, I had no knowledge of this aspect of his past. To date, I remain perplexed as to why she thought revealing such a personal truth about my father was appropriate.”
 Unearthed Truths
User finalOctober shares, “My great uncle and his wife were murdered. The murder suspect ended up stuck in a swamp and shot himself in the head. Oddly enough, my uncle, his wife, and the murderer were all deaf/mute. The murderer was their tenant.
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This occurred in the 1940s, and the motive remains unknown. I took a DNA test a few years ago and discovered cousins descending from the murderer’s wife. It turns out my great uncle was cheating with him.”
 Life on a Knife’s Edge
User GloryGloryLater reveals, “When I turned 20, I found out that my father had attempted to murder my mother while she was pregnant with me. My father had a drinking problem and would often become extremely violent. One day, he held a knife to her throat and pushed her towards an open window.
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A commotion alerted the neighbors, who managed to disarm him. My religious mother, a firm non-believer in divorce, remains with him after 45 years. I’m the only other person in the family who knows about this incident.”
 Contentious Family Dispute
User Smart-Connections6154 says, “In our family, there is an ongoing debate regarding whether my aunt fell, jumped, or was pushed out of her apartment window. She survived the fall but suffered brain damage and claims she cannot remember the incident.”
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A Shocking Revelation
User PookFreak unveils, “I discovered two years ago that my father had a wife before my mother who died in a bizarre accident on their wedding night…She sleepwalked and fell to her death from the balcony.”
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Haunted by the War
User, taniapdx reveals, “A somewhat distant cousin of mine returned from WWI with severe PTSD and was institutionalized. One day, he turned up at home, claiming he was cured and released. He took his family to a park by the cliffside to celebrate with a picnic.
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In an unforeseen tragedy, he pushed their two older children over the cliff edge, took his baby from his wife’s arms, threw the child over the side, and finally jumped off the cliff himself. This horrifying incident made national news, and I discovered this dark truth while doing some genealogy research during a lunch break.”Â
Misguided Affections
User WiscoSippy shares, “I’m an only child of my parents, who both had children from their previous relationships. When I was seven, they split because my dad had developed feelings for my mom’s oldest daughter.
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About 13 years later, my dad suddenly became involved in one of that daughter’s children’s life. It took me another seven years to realize that my dad was the father of that child. I’d grown up thinking she was my niece, but in reality, she was my half-sister.”Â
Family Betrayal
User Bassman1976 recounts, “My father revealed a heart-wrenching secret to me a few years before his death. He wasn’t the first man to sleep with my mom on their honeymoon; instead, he found her in bed with her cousin, whom she had been in love with for a long time.
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A repeat incident six years later made him contemplate leaving, but he chose to stay to keep the family together. Given all the hardship he endured, I wish he’d chosen to pursue his happiness instead.”
 Childhood Trauma
An anonymous user unveils, “My mom witnessed a friend die in front of her after being hit by a bus. She even described seeing her friend’s intestines coming out of her mouth; she was only 9 or 10 years old then. After she shared this story, I never questioned her about her past again.
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I might think she’s problematic, but causing her any sadness isn’t my intention, and I feel awful for her.”
Deception and Regret
User stev10 divulges, “My great-uncle lied to his wife that their son died at birth because he had Down’s Syndrome and gave him up to the state. This secret was kept hidden for about 40 years, only coming to light when the family lawyer confessed on his deathbed. For added context, my great-uncle was incredibly wealthy, and he could have easily hired caregivers for his son.”
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Unfortunate Wardrobe Malfunction
An anonymous user discloses, “I bought a new white dress for a dinner hosted by my husband’s company. When we returned home and saw the pictures from the event, I realized the dress was completely see-through under the lights, leaving nothing to the imagination. His colleagues got more than they bargained for that night.”
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Unethical Adoption
User Existed_ tells, “I discovered from my dad that one of my cousins isn’t related to anyone in our family. My aunt and her mother used to work at a maternity ward where a woman gave birth and abandoned her child the next day. My aunt adopted the child, and when the mother returned months later, they lied that they didn’t know where the child was. My cousin still doesn’t know about his origins.”
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Cold-hearted and Cruel
User Fliaeagricola exposes, “My grandfather’s first wife (before my grandma) died from botulism caused by eating home-canned tomatoes. She could’ve been saved, but my grandfather refused to take her to a doctor, blaming her for the botulism. He allowed her to die ‘to teach her a lesson.'”
