On Thursday, Reddit user u/llsuperninjall asked people, "What's the darkest secret you found out about a family member/relative?"
It led to people sharing super-shocking, disturbing, and scary secrets that they discovered about a family member. Here's what they said:
Note: Some of these stories may contain distressful content. Please continue at your own discretion.
"My father tried to kill my mother while she was pregnant with me."
"I found out that my grandfather’s first wife (before my grandma) died of botulism from eating some tomatoes she had canned at home. She could have been saved, but he refused to take her to the doctor because the botulism was her 'fault.' He let her die to teach her a lesson."
"I found out from my dad that one of my cousins isn't related to anyone in the family. My aunt decided to adopt him, but a few months later, the woman showed up again asking where he was. They both lied and said that he was given up and didn't have a clue where he was. They still haven't told my cousin anything."
"I found out that my father, who really hated gay people, used to secretly go to parks and highway rest stops to meet other men for anonymous sex."
"There is strong debate in our family as to whether my aunt fell out of the window of her flat, whether she jumped, or if was pushed. She survived but with brain damage, and says she can't remember."
"Not really dark, but surprising: My mild-mannered Buddhist lawyer uncle was International Mr. Leather's 'Leather Daddy's Boy of the Year' sometime in the late '80s."
"My dad told me that before my mom and dad broke up, he hadn't been happy with her for several years. My mother even had a miscarriage at one point, which destroyed the both of them. But he couldn't leave her because he was afraid that she would hurt or even kill herself. So his only thought was to have a kid with her so that motherly instinct would hopefully prevent her from killing herself."
"My mom found out that the woman she thought was her mother was actually her grandmother. Her 'sister' was her biological mother."
"My great-uncle and his wife were murdered. The suspect was run down and got stuck in a swamp, so he shot himself in the head. The strange particulars: My uncle, his wife, and the murderer were all deaf/mute. The murderer was renting a room from them. This happened in the '40s, and no one ever found the motive. A few years ago, I took a DNA test and found out that I had cousins who were descended from the murderer's wife. Turns out, my great-uncle was cuckolding him."
"My mother supposedly has a fraternal twin. My grandmother couldn't handle the thought of two kids, so she gave the male child away to someone she knew who was moving away."
"A relative tried to poison one of their guests one time."
"I found out that my grandfather murdered his own brother to inherit his money."
And finally...
"My uncle tells the story that when he was a kid, his older brother wanted him to go out hunting with him in the woods near their house. They woke up really early and started walking much deeper into the woods than they usually did, and way off the normal trails they were used to. My uncle realized that his brother was letting him get farther and farther ahead. He stopped and turned around to see his brother starting to bring the shotgun up in his direction. He asked him what the hell was he doing, and his brother said, 'Oh, I thought I saw something.' My uncle decided to go back at that point. Later that week, he went back and found a pit that someone had dug a bit farther off the trail. He never went anywhere with his brother alone again."
Do you have any wild family secrets or stories? Let me know in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.