Dual Existences Unveiled
Reddit user U/Dino-pencils revealed, “Several years after my grandfather’s passing, we discovered he’d been living a double life. Despite spending over six decades with my grandmother, he had never legally divorced his actual wife or married my grandmother. With his ‘wife’, he had five children, and six more with my grandmother. There was a degree of overlap, and both women were aware of each other, but it didn’t stop him from deserting his first family.
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His second family relocated cross country and never revisited their original hometown. As he lay on his deathbed, he continually expressed fear of going to hell and insisted his death be kept a secret with no obituary, no announcement, no word of it to anyone.”
The Fear of Photographs
“A peculiar rule my mother enforced was a ban on taking photos of me. She vehemently prohibited my friends from capturing any images, and her reasons remained unsaid. One day, in her absence, I took a few photos. Hours later, I was thrust into a living nightmare. My mother returned, panic-stricken, locked me in the bathroom for the night.
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The following morning, when the bathroom door finally opened, I was greeted with a revelation that shattered my world. It transpired my mother had deceived my father about my fate. She had convinced him I had tragically died, and now my inadvertent error risked exposing her deception.”
Above the Law
Reddit user U/Jupitersdangle disclosed, “There was a girl a year ahead of me in school who later became a teacher at our alma mater. Despite her high-and-mighty attitude, she was caught in a compromising situation with an underage male student. You’d think she’d face legal consequences, but she didn’t.
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Her father, a football coach and health teacher at our school, must have convinced the boy’s parents not to press charges. It seems to have worked since she avoided jail, though she lost her job. It’s clear that privilege shouldn’t exonerate you from your indefensible actions.”
The Step-Mother in Name Only
Reddit user U/Compozurev shared, “My dad only referred to his stepmother by her actual name, Margaret. It eventually surfaced that Margaret was the woman my grandfather had been seeing while my biological grandmother, my dad’s mom, was battling colon cancer. My dad was only five years old at the time…
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Margaret moved in with her three kids, while my dad was forced to live with his married sister, who was only 18 (not unusual for the rural late 70s). He chose to live with his best friend and his mom when he turned 16. It became clear that he likely harbored deep resentment towards Margaret, refusing to address her by any title that might suggest she was a mother figure to him.”
A Tragic Demise
“When I was a child, my grandpa died in a fire. I was told he’d suffered a heart attack, but I was barred from attending his funeral and all questions about his death were met with silence.
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The truth was that he’d had a heart attack while attempting to extinguish a field fire, collapsing and being consumed by the flames. I’m still unsure of how long it took for him to be discovered, but it must have.
which included what was essentially a second family. Despite his sixty year relationship with my grandmother, it came to light that they never officially married, and he never divorced his first wife. He fathered five children with his wife and six more with my grandmother, some of them overlapping in age. Both women were aware of each other, but that didn’t stop him from abandoning his first family. After the revelation, his second family relocated across the country, never to return to their previous home. His final words on his deathbed hinted at his deep guilt, as he insisted that no one be told of his passing—no obituary, no newspaper notice, nothing.”
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Problems
“My mother was obsessively against me taking photographs of myself. She even forbade my friends from snapping any pictures, and always remained tight-lipped about her reasoning. However, one day, her fears materialized. When she was at work, I dared to take some pictures. Her reaction upon returning was frantic, locking me in the bathroom overnight in fear of the potential consequences.
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When the door finally opened the next morning, I was confronted with a shocking revelation: My mother had lied about my birth to my father. She had told him that I had died, and now he was on a frantic search for me, threatening to upend my mother’s life.”
Above the Law
User U/Jupitersdangle shared, “I knew a girl from school who ended up teaching at the same institution. She carried an air of superiority and one day, found herself in a scandalous situation with an underage boy at the school gym. Given the gravity of the situation, one would expect legal repercussions.
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However, she escaped any legal consequences, likely due to her father’s influence as a football coach and health teacher at our school. Despite avoiding jail, she lost her job. The incident was a reminder that privilege shouldn’t exempt you from facing the consequences of your actions.”
Stepmother by Name, Not by Nature
U/Compozurev revealed, “My father only ever referred to his stepmother by her first name, Margaret. I discovered why as I grew older—Margaret was the woman my grandfather had cheated with while my real grandmother, my father’s mother, was dying of colon cancer.
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After my grandmother’s death, Margaret moved in with her three children, forcing my then-five-year-old father to live with his eighteen-year-old married sister. It became clear that his reluctance to call Margaret anything resembling ‘mother’ stemmed from resentment over the upheaval she had caused in his young life.”
A Burning Secret
Another dark secret came to light when I learned about my grandfather’s death. As a child, I was told that he died of a heart attack and wasn’t allowed to attend his funeral. However, the truth was more gruesome: He suffered a heart attack while trying to put out a field fire and subsequently burned to death.
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I still don’t know how long it took for his body to be found, but I can only guess it was hours.
Profiting from Overbooking
U/AndromedaFire unveiled, “Many hotels frequently double-sell their rooms. I used to work in an airport hotel where we capitalized on the likelihood of missed or delayed flights by selling more rooms than we actually had. Guests checking out in the early hours due to early flights freed up rooms, which we’d hurriedly clean and allocate to unexpected arrivals or new bookings, citing a computer glitch for any delay.
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More than once, I had to cool down a recently used kettle quickly before a new guest discovered the previous occupant had just left.”
Saying Farewell in Style
User redmooncat15 shares, “Back in 2010, during my senior prom, I arranged for a post-prom gathering at my folks’ countryside cabin. As the night progressed, I discovered my boyfriend and my volleyball co-captain being intimate in my car.
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I held my emotions in check, not opting for a confrontation. Instead, I went to his car, which was merely two or three weeks old, and defecated on the passenger seat. The glove box provided napkins for clean up, which I left behind in his cup holders. After this silent retaliation, I returned to the party and continued enjoying my drink.”
Defining the Boundaries
As told by fildarae, “Many years back, my father lost his job for attempting to siphon money from his employer. However, he spun a story to me, claiming he had left for his mental well-being. A few months later, I found the truth, having grown suspicious. Our extended family still believes he’s employed, attributing his constant need for monetary aid to his ‘supporting’ me. Despite my independence and having lent him thousands, the false narrative painted me as the villain in our family’s eyes.
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The emotional toll led me to the brink of suicide a few years ago. When his relatives call, he would exaggerate about his gruelling work schedules, while alleging I was idle. The cost of covering up for him became too heavy for my mental health. To date, he remains oblivious to my knowledge of his true job departure reasons.”
House of Ashes
“My secret revolves around my father’s act of burning down our childhood home for the insurance payout. I was used as his alibi to vouch that he wasn’t in proximity when the incident occurred. I was only 13 at that time. The realization that everything I owned – clothes, books, photos – would be turned into ashes, made me cry inconsolably.
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He forbid me from salvaging anything, stating it would raise suspicions. I later found out he had pinned the entire event on me, spreading a false tale that I had caused the fire by smoking secretly in my room. For the record, I have never smoked.”
Wicked Stepmother Tales
User nixnuckingfuts states, “I bear the knowledge that my father bought full custody of my youngest sibling from our mother for a mere $1500. The revelation of this could deal a severe blow to my sibling, especially knowing the trade-off led to enduring years of abuse from a quintessential wicked stepmom, whom our father hastily married.
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If my sibling discovered our mother sold her off for such a small sum, the consequent emotional trauma would be devastating.”
Unseen Ventilation
Derpicusss confesses, “During my childhood, around the age of 6, I had an irrational fear of the dark. One late evening, I urgently needed to use the bathroom. Close to my bed was an air vent on the floor.
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With childish innocence, I thought it’d be a sensible idea to urinate in the vent. My parents, oblivious to my nocturnal secret, continually grumbled about the inexplicable urine smell. This secret is one I plan to carry to my grave.”Hidden Faces
User Jearly3 reveals, “My late father was a perfect model of a father – worked diligently and was home every evening. There was only one peculiar aspect: his frequent requests to use the money from our piggy banks. He also oscillated between being irritable and exceptionally amiable, which my sisters and I attributed to his ‘nice face’.
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Just before my graduation, my mother let out a horrified scream. Our house was being foreclosed. Our father hadn’t paid the mortgage and was concealing his functional cocaine addiction. The ‘nice face’ was his high phase. Apparently, his addiction had worsened over time, spanning over 20 years without our knowledge.”
The Puzzle Comes Together
Dontfindme__ shares, “My grandparents have been living separately since we were young. My grandpa would always doze off on the couch during holidays and was supposedly ‘out for coffee’ by the morning. We never thought much about it as they were always together.
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Reflecting on it now, I don’t recall them sharing the same room or interacting past my fifth birthday. They are devout Catholics who don’t believe in divorce, but now they both have new partners pressuring them to get married. Holidays have become rather peculiar.”
Sibling Rivalry
As told by Pigmy, “My dad and his brother share a deep animosity. Their father…needed a kidney. My dad was a match but he declined to donate. As a heavy drinker, losing a kidney would have a significant impact on him. My uncle, a serial adulterer, has been married six times. He would often travel to ‘be with his dad’ during his numerous hospital stays, but in reality, he was pursuing his affairs, one of them being a nurse looking after my grandfather.
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He’s currently married to wife number six (she thinks she’s the third) and has his first child, who’s about 10. Over the years, the hatred stemmed from my uncle trying to keep his affairs secret while painting my dad as an irresponsible man who preferred drinking over saving his father’s life.”
The Tamale Tale
User Fat_manXXL narrates, “An elderly couple lived a few houses away, selling homemade donuts in the morning and tamales at night. They were a familiar and cherished presence in the neighborhood.
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One day, the husband suffered a fatal heart attack. His grieving wife claimed to have had him cremated, and continued selling tamales. Customers noticed a change in taste, leading to speculation and eventual discovery of a macabre secret. My mother never disclosed the exact details of what was found, but the suggestion was that the wife might have used her deceased husband’s remains in her tamales.”
