Recently, we rounded up some deep secrets that people have kept for years...and members of the BuzzFeed Community came through with their own secrets.
We also rounded up this Reddit thread about secrets a while back, and y'all had some great responses on that post, too. Seriously. Y'all are just dropping secrets left and right like it's a sleepover.
Here are some of the most shocking secrets you shared!*
WARNING: There are mentions of sexual assault and self-harm ahead.
1. "As a kid, I grew up in a small country community of 3,000 people. ... I had a crush on a girl who was two years older than me all the way through high school, and when I was 16, I found out she was my half-sister as my dad had cheated on my mum."
"This only came out when she turned 18 and found out who her dad was, prior to that no one knew, and my dad and her mom had kept it a secret for 18 years. Completely fucked with me for quite a while that I'd had a crush on my half sister for a number of years."
2. "I'm a gay man. While on the internet, I met this older man and we clicked. We played games together, talked a lot, facetimed, etc. ... After a few dates, we ended up hooking up a few times. Then literally weeks later, my parents invited me to an event to meet my distant family members."
"I went there and knew practically no one — my grandfather has 11 sisters and two brothers so there were many unfamiliar faces. Except for one. It was my internet friend. We pretended to be meeting for the first time. Obviously we kept quiet about it while trying to figure out how we were related. He's essentially my grandfather's sister's first son. Not only that, but he's married with three kids. He told me he was single. After that awkward encounter we distanced ourselves from each other. ... I had sex with my first cousin once removed, and a married man."
3. "According to 23 and me, I have an aunt and a first cousin. I know they would have to be on my dad's side as my mom took the test and has no relation. I have not told my dad and I am not telling anyone on that side of the family."
"My only hope is that no one else that's actually blood related decides to buy a test because that is an awkward convo I'm not ready for."
4. "My dad was single and a couple of my friends' moms were always bringing us food. My dad would say they were just being nice, because he was a single guy raising three kids by himself. My aunt picked me up from school sick, and we headed home. She must have known what was up and had me wait in the car. Both of my friends' moms came out half dressed and shit, with my aunt yelling at my dad. I never did tell out of fear. One mom was divorced but one wasn't, and I was afraid of tearing their family apart. [I] will take it to my grave."
5. "Was walking my dog on a dirt road next my subdivision. This dirt road ran parallel to several backyards and had lots of trees on either side for concealment. For me, it was an unofficial nature trail because it allowed me to get away from people. One morning, I spotted two of my neighbors (who were married to other people) making out and obviously about to do the deed."
"Since they were so into each other, they didn't hear me coming up until my dog started making noise. For several seconds we all looked at each other saying nothing until the couple took off running in the direction of their respective backyards. We all knew each other, but I wasn't friends with the two nor their spouses. Long story short, I kept my mouth shut about what I saw and neither of the lovebirds ever said anything to me."
6. "When I was in high school, a friend confided in me that they had problems with cutting. Showed me recent marks. We had a long talk. I went to the counselor of the school and told them a couple days later. I was a teen. I struggled with the choice, but ultimately the fear of losing my friend won. Long story short, he ended up in a mental facility for a month and came back, absolutely baffled as to who ratted him out. Decided it was probably a different friend. Well...I married him. He still doesn’t know."
7. "I was on mushrooms, the special kind, when my mother killed herself. I spent the night surrounded by the police in the hospital and it has always really fucked me up."
8. "I lost my mother's wedding ring playing with it. She was a child bride and it was too small for her to wear. I was playing with it and lost just about the only nice thing my mom ever had. Sorry, mom."
9. "I visited my mother’s hometown in Mexico during the summer with her and my younger sister. ... My anxiety and difficulty adjusting to the time difference meant that I was up pretty late at night. I was just on my phone playing some mobile games when I heard a gunshot. ... Then two more shots. ... I was just lying there thinking someone must be drunk. ... The next morning, my mom asked me if I was up last night. ... Apparently the neighbor two houses down had murdered his wife the night I was up with a shotgun."
"It was a small town so everyone knew and he was quickly arrested. She had been shot at least twice. I asked if anyone else was hurt last night but she told me that it was just the woman who was killed. The town was close to the city and they were strict about their gun control. So I should be happy that I know about what caused those two loud shots, right? Well, I think a lot about that first shot. The man only had a shotgun and he was the only one reported shooting that night. The first shot to my knowledge was more likely from an handgun. Who was that first person? Did the wife conceal her own gun and shot in self defense? Was it a drunk guy like I initially thought it was? Did someone else die that night but no one else knew about? ... I’m not sure I want to know who fired that first shot."
10. "When I was a high school senior, I had an affair with my sister's guidance counselor. I’ve always suffered from anxiety and depression, and that year I was completely wrecked with graduating. I’m also a lesbian. She was in a bad marriage and had young kids at home. Under the guise that I was a babysitter, things slowly started to get more intimate."
"Her husband was a compete maniac who wanted to be a cop but had to settle for being a security guard. He suspected it and hated that she spent more time with me than him. The even more messed up part is we acted like mother/daughter around other people. When things really started derailing, she gave me an ultimatum sitting in her car in the school parking lot. We could be mother/daughter or lovers but the latter would not last. The whole situation was fucked up beyond all repair and there were times we were both clearly in danger because her husband became unhinged. I was 17."
11. "The real reason I was discharged from the army was because I was raped. ... I always just tell my bros that I hurt my head or something."
12. "When I was eight years old, we had pet mice. This one mouse got pregnant and she was starting to eat some of her babies. This upset me so much. I rushed to tell my stepfather. I was so distraught and mad at the momma mouse! Why was she eating her young?? What a bad mom! My stepfather's reaction? He made me kill the mom."
"He put her in a sink full of water and literally dragged me in there, grabbed my hand and forced me to hold this mouse underwater. I was struggling and crying the whole time to take my hand away. This fucking traumatized me. And what's worse...He then took the rest of the baby mice that had lived, and he fed them to this fucking fish he had. ... I've never told anyone that story. I'm too ashamed. I know I was a kid and I'm clear that he forced me, but it still doesn't take the pain and shame away."
13. "I was helping my mom go through her photos on her camera after a big vacation. I accidentally hit the wrong button and deleted ALL of them. There were hundreds of photos, and to make it worse, many of them were of her closest sister and brother-in-law, who tragically died a couple years later. I can’t ever tell her…she thinks the camera suffered a fatal error."
14. "I lived with my aunt in fourth grade. She had a neighbor that lived downstairs so they had a shared backyard. Rule was always make sure the latch is closed on the gate so the dog doesn’t get out. I always made sure to lock it. One day I forgot. The dog got out (chihuahua) and was eaten by a big neighbor dog. She blamed it on the neighbor."
"She cussed him out and would badmouth him any chance she could. I was too scared to tell her and she still doesn’t know."
15. "Me and a friend were around 8–9 years old. ... We decided to build a base, as we liked to pretend we were soldiers, so we used to walk down to check out [the] base every day and stand guard at different posts. ... We heard that the dad of some of the girls in our class had made a little cabin in the woods nearby for them to play at. So we went over there and were awestruck how nice it was, with a real door with hinges, kind of a fence, and a window. So we discussed it and perceived it as a threat to our territory, grabbed hammers and a saw, and really went to work on destroying their cabin."
"Next day, we saw several of the girls mourning their clubhouse. ... We were too afraid of telling anyone, so we kept it a secret and were never caught."
16. "When I was in fourth grade, I put mustard in ... my friend's burger because he had told me that he hated mustard. Turns out, he was actually allergic. He didn't come to school for three days and I was scared that I killed him. To this day, no one knows that I did it."
17. "My brother said something that made me mad when we were kids. I had my BB gun in hand so I shot him in the ass. I blamed it on a wasp sting and my mom bought it."
18. "My secret story: once at my godfather's lake house I accidentally starting driving the golf cart while the charger was still plugged in. The charging cord snapped out but I assumed it was all fine. Like 10 minutes later from the lake we see the golf cart ON FIRE and everyone thought it just spontaneously combusted."
19. "When I was 13, a nefarious kid in the neighborhood was a shoplifter, and I had just started smoking. A new gas station just opened up, and back in the day (I'm showing my age here) they left cartons of cigarettes out in the open. Anyway, this kid would steal cartons. So I asked him to steal a carton for me. He said he would, but asked me what I would trade for it. He wanted my Game Boy, but I said I'd give him something better: one of my mom's rings. So I go to my mom's room, open her jewelry box, bust out a single diamond ring and give it to this asshole, and he gives me a carton of cigarettes."
"To this day, I keep telling myself it was costume jewelry to make myself feel better, but I honestly don't know. I'm sorry, mom."
20. "I can't remember how old I was. It was dial-up internet era. I'm now 29. But we received a phone call. I'm not sure if i was home alone or why I answered it. But a man called and explained to me that my dad had affair with his wife. I hung up and never told anyone except my therapist like a year ago."
21. "My dad passed away of an accident exactly three days after my 17th birthday. As an only child who's really closed to him, it was devastating losing him so suddenly. ... I was left with my toxic, hot-headed, stubborn, uncaring and victim-playing mom. At first. I thought we would became closer like what we see on dramas — turned out I was wrong. This selfish mom of mine remarried just 18 months after my dad was gone, without even asking for my opinion. Then the step dad moved in to our home, bringing sons. I wish it was her that died that night. Still feel the same now 14 years later."
And finally, I'm saving the gross ones for last because some people don't like them:
22. "I have a mooncup menstrual cup which you need to sterilize in boiling water. So I did that late at night and left the pan out on the stove for me to clean the next day. I had to go somewhere in the morning, came around lunchtime and my roommate had cooked her pasta with that pan."
23. "In my early teen years, I was invited to spend the night at a new acquaintance's house. I didn't know her very well, and I was extremely shy and awkward. I was on my period and I went to the bathroom to pee and change my pad, but didn't find a bin to throw the old one. I didn't have pockets, and apparently I was to shy to just ask where I could throw it (in my defense, I was autistic but undiagnosed and I froze in social situations I didn't know how to navigate). Well, I panicked and I hid the bloody pad in their laundry bin."
24. "Once I was living with a few guys (I'm a girl) and I really had to poop but was too embarrassed to since everyone was home and girls don’t poop. So I literally went out back, shit my pants on purpose and the threw my underwear away in the outside garbage."
25. "I hooked up with a girl one night. We got a hotel room. I drank a little too much and felt sick. I tried to take a shit to ease the nausea. One minute into my shit, I had to puke. I turned around to puke. Ended up having the dry heaves, and blasted shit on the wall behind me."
"I used my boxers to clean up. Showered and went home."
26. "There was a guy in school who used to bully everyone. ... One day, I was sick, so I ... went to his room and peed in his water bottle. [I] threw the pee [out] but didn't rinse the bottle ... Felt really good later watching him drink from it."
27. "I was standing talking to my wife who was in the shower and I was naked waiting to get in after her. I had the urge to fart which ended up being a shart all over the bathroom mat. Luckily she never noticed, and I made the excuse that I hated the feeling of the mat and I rushed it to the bin outside. She looked absolutely bemused by the situation, but it was better than the shame."
What secrets do you have to get off your chest? Let us know in the comments below!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.