20 Strange And Dark Secrets That People Buried Deep Down To Hide Them From Their Close Ones

Telling lies and keeping secrets is a part of human nature. There could be different reasons why one chooses to hide something, the basic ones being - to protect the feelings of their loved ones or to protect their own feelings from other people's judgements. When someone on Reddit asked, “What is the biggest secret you’ve ever kept from your family?”, many members came out to share the deepest secrets they’ve ever kept hidden for a long time. Scroll below to read some of them. More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: whyunoletmepost, Carol VanHook "When I was a kid I dropped the rake while working in the yard and the handle landed in dog poop. Instead of cleaning it off I used duct tape to seal off the poop from the outside world. It ended up being used for almost 10 years after that and I always thought about that rakes dirty secret. The secret was poop!"

#2

Image source: OOIIOOIIOOIIOO, Stanley Morales "This was a long time ago, but I pretended to graduate from college after four years of my family paying for it. The last semester of my senior year I was told that because of an incomplete my sophomore year I wouldn't be graduating. When I promised to re-take that class over the summer, they allowed me to march with my classmates in a cap and gown. Instead of telling my family the truth I just went ahead with it, the whole family came, big party etc. Of course I did not take the class that summer. That hung over my head for 20+ years when after getting sober I completed my degree by working with the college and taking a local class."

#3

Image source: VodkaKahluaMilkCream, Pixabay "My family has no idea that I had an abortion when I was 23. They would never, ever forgive me. Edit: I have no guilt or regret over my decision. If forgiveness was ever needed, I gave it to myself a long time ago. However, it would not be worth the headache I would get from my deeply right-wing family if they ever found out. All they ever need to know is that my mom thought i was pregnant and it turned out I wasn't. Second edit: instead of giving awards to this post please give money to pro-choice charities. I know what it is to be pregnant and desperate for options. There is nothing okay with denying that choice to others."

#4

Image source: julvin9mM, Marina Shatskikh "Just how stressed out, depressed, and lonely I am."

#5

Image source: AndrogynousRain, Miriam Espacio "So…. My brother and I saw Aliens as a kid and we were super intrigued by the flame throwers. In a feat of idiotic 13 year old brilliance, we determined that a super soaker filled with aquanet with a butane lighter strapped to the front might actually work the same. To our utter shock, it did. Shot twenty foot streams of sticky flame. We were just overjoyed. Until said sticky flame hit the side of the house and caught it on fire. Oh s**t! So we race over and between my shirt and the hose get it out, but there’s a large dark spot on the side of the house. So we disassemble and clean out the flamethrower and mums the word. Thirty years later, we’re eating dinner over at the folks, and dad remarks they’ve painted the house and ‘finally got rid of that weird dark spot’. Much stealthy chortling ensued. Honestly. How do kids survive childhood? We’re all idiots."

#6

Image source: GetOutTheTapeMeasure, Pixabay "My alcoholism. I'm 600+ days sober Edit: I should clarify. My wife knows, and she's been my rock and my biggest supporter through the whole thing. But my wife and my therapist are the only people who know. My Mom and brother have no idea. Edit edit: If you're looking to stop drinking or have trouble doing so, go to r/stopdrinking. Those fine folks have talked me out of relapsing many times."

#7

Image source: ktward007, Maycon Marmo "I was SAed from 11-16 by my “cousin” and I reported at 17. No one believed me. Half even blame me. Even my father has a familiar relationship with the guy."

#8

Image source: Unyielding_Cactus, mododeolhar "Honestly, just how much my cousin has improved my life. My parents were total s**tbags. Both dead now, my aunt and uncle raised me. They were amazing people, sadly both of them died in a car accident a few years ago and left behind my cousin. It was a hell of a battle gaining guardianship over her, even though she wanted that as well. (I'm male, and was single at the time) so that was a pain to deal with. But yeah, she's really just put a sparkle in my life that was never there before. I had a really s****y childhood, and my teenage years were rough till I moved in with my aunt and uncle. Being responsible for her really pushed me to succeed, and now I'm living very comfortably, and semi retired. And I attribute that drive to better myself to her. Because after loosing her parents, I never want her to have a bad day again."

#9

Image source: Least-Designer7976, cottonbro studio "Self-harm. And that the only reason I didn't end myself between 11 and 17 was because I'm an only child and I was sure my mom would never survive. It's pretty damn awful to discover that you can actually not survive but just live also for yourself. And have real pleasure. That life can be enjoyable. Edit : a bit horrified by how quick the number of likes is increasing ... If anyone of you need it ; I love you, I give you a hug, I hope you enjoy your day and that you didn't forgot to drink and eat. Am your SH godmother and no, you didn't deserved to be so worry that you were afraid for the feelings of the adults surrounding you as a child. NEVER. You deserved to be helped and to live a normal childhood. If anyone wants to talk, come to my DM. 876 days free from SH, so I can hear pretty anything. EDIT 2 : I would have loved to create a kinda AA equivalent for the mental issues : depression, suicide, anxiety, bipolarity ... When I see how many people want to talk, I really feel like it would be worthy. EDIT 3 : Following the advice of a fellow Redditer, I created an AngelsAnonymous community to let a free space for anyone to talk about any mental issue you have, or any mark year you want to celebrate. I absolutely don't know how to share it ^^' but it's written r/AngelsAnonymous . I'm going to try to create a few groups to talk in. Feel free to come in, you're safe there <3 EDIT 4 : I insist, everyone is welcome on r/AngelsAnonymous ; no matter what you need, how you feel, what happened to you, we are all little angels trying to help each other. I can't make it live on my own, speak on it, do your own post, that's OUR family safe space. EDIT 5 : I'm amazed by the dozen of people who came to me to talk about their stories. Yet a lot of people are member without writing anything. Write. Tell. Express yourself. It's a free space and no one may judge you in it. You're worthy of respect and you deserve to be heard."

#10

Image source: BurrSugar, Pixabay "I had a miscarriage on my 17th birthday. I had found out I was pregnant 3 days after my HS boyfriend and I had broken up when my sister caught him f*****g my best friend. I didn’t tell anyone I was pregnant, except him. I hadn’t figured out what I was going to do yet, or how to tell them. Turned out to not matter, because 2 weeks later, again, on my birthday, I woke up in incredible pain and my bed was just covered in blood. I was home alone, so I just called my ex to take me to the hospital and never said a word to anyone in my family. He and the girl he cheated on me with showed up, and she cleaned up the bed while he drove me to the hospital. I had already passed the fetus - she found it. It messed me up for a long time, and I tried to kill myself not long after that. My family does know about that, but they assumed it was a combination of my anxiety meds and my breakup. Those were factors, but the miscarriage was a big factor, too. ETA: Thank you everyone for the kind words. This was nearly 15 years ago now, and I’d say I’be healed now. I still think about it from time to time, think about how I’d have a teenager by now, and how different my life would be (I came out as gay about 5 years later, started dating a woman and moved across the country with her, later marrying her. We have no children). I’m grateful that I could heal and see a better life for myself after that."

#11

Image source: Independent-Ad-1921, Karolina Grabowska "I gave $10k to a woman overseas I met online so she could leave Egypt and study in Germany, despite being pretty broke at the time. She did actually go study in Germany and I met her there. A few years later she paid me back. And yes there was a bit of romance at one point (long after the loan) but it didn't last long. I should also mention we are the same age. We're still close."

#12

Image source: spicykaramelee, Lisa Fotios "My dad's brother adopted me. They didn't know I found my biological mom. I didn't talk to her though."

#13

Image source: Account-by-force, Stanley Morales "My family thinks I’m still studying. I haven’t told them that I’ve basically dropped out because of my sleep problems. Right now I do nothing but write, do comedy, paint and drink beer. They think I’m gonna have a degree in about a month and a half, so that’s gonna be a fun talk."

#14

Image source: Ill-Ad-8421, Christopher Carfi "Alright, so I gotta admit, I swiped some cash from our safe. I feel super guilty about it, but I just can't bring myself to come clean. I have no clue how they're gonna react."

#15

Image source: TheUrbanFarmersWife, Caroline Veronez "My 14 year old godson is actually my biological child. About 16 years ago, I disappeared in the middle of the night to start a new life away from my toxic family and went no contact with them for 3 years. I ended up getting pregnant from a one night stand. I was homeless at the time so keeping my son was not an option. My ex-best friend and her husband had been struggling to start a family of their own so they offered to adopt my child. Plot twist: My husband and I currently have custody of my child and his 4 siblings. Their parents are in jail for domestic violence and child neglect. EDIT: Holy bananas! I did not expect this to blow up. I want to clarity a few things: 1. My son does not know I am his biological mother but we plan to tell him soon. My husband and I plan to petition to adopt him and his siblings. Our lawyer warned us that his parentage would come up during the process. I want my son to hear it from me. He is currently battling PTSD due to the incident that brought the kids into our care. We are working with his therapist to find the best way to tell him the truth without causing him more trauma. He mental health is our top priority. 2. My ex-friend has endometriosis which affects fertility. Pregnancy can put endometriosis into remission for some women. She was one of the lucky ones. Once in remission, she had no trouble conceiving the other 4 kids. 3. My husband and I are raising 10 children. We are in the process of adopting my 12 year old cousin and took custody of her two older sisters last week. We also have a set of biological 1 year old twins. Eighteen months ago, we had **zero** kids."

#16

Image source: Ok-Try4295, Caleb Oquendo "This is hard, but just how frustrated I am with them. They wouldn’t have any clue just how angry I am at them for the things they did to me as a child and how much I blame them for my insecurities and lack of confidence as an adult. And that we might seem ok every time I visit with them, but how I just want to yell at them and ask them why, why they had to be so hard on me and couldn’t just accept me for what I was when I was a teenager."

#17

Image source: Wanderingwarwalrus, Valentin Antonucci "Okay I've been wanting a thread to share this in for ages. So this is my secret with my mum and dad from everyone else in the family. My dad is married to another woman. Mum is single. Mum and "dad" (hard to actually call him that) have been having an affair for 30+ years, even their best friends don't know about it. I was an accident. Dad stepped out of picture because my parents didn't want me to know about the affair and who he was. At 15 when I was told who he was, and tried to act cool to not upset my mum, he came back into my mum's life (but absolutely not mine). I have three siblings who don't know I exist. 2 brothers and a sister. They have the most amazing life, two parent income, holidays, all the things I wanted as a kid in a family of 3 with a single mum. I went to high school with my brother. I'm mid 20s now, I still want to meet them, I just can't be the one to break the secret and crush two families."

#18

Image source: TinktheChi, fabio.tsu "A secret from my grandparents who I adored. They were actually my great aunt and uncle, having raised my mother from the age of 2. Her mother had passed away and her father was an alcoholic, who ended up enlisting and going to war during WWII. I had a habit of looking through my parent's wedding album when I was very young. I loved the dresses, etc. At the back of the book was their marriage license and I saw when I was about 11 that my mother's last name was not the same as my grandparents last name. I asked her and she told me they were not her biological parents. I never told them I knew because I didn't want them to feel less than my grandparents which they absolutely were. By this time my biological grandfather had passed. They were always nana and grandpa to me and they were amazing grandparents."

#19

Image source: MaesTim, Timur Weber "I had no home or place to stay when I was 19-21 years old. I slept in phone booths, sometimes at a friends house. Everything turned out all right once I got a girlfriend, moved into her/her moms house, started a career in programming. Not many people actually know this."

#20

Image source: benaamishere, cottonbro studio "That the reason I stress over my grades rights now is so that I have good enough grades to go to an abroad university on a scholarship and live my life there. It's not because I want to make my family proud or something, nope. Just want to live."