Blood is thicker than water, right? Maybe for some families, but for those who harbor dark secrets that lie beneath the shiny and exuberant leaves of the family tree, blood and murder and abuse will haunt present generations and generations to come.
You always wondered why your dad never really talked about his eldest brother. Your grandparents acted as though he didn’t exist, and family functions always left a bitter taste in your mouth. It turns out — your uncle had sexually abused the younger siblings and your grandmother refused to believe your dad when he came to her. Pedophilia and abuse ran rampant in your father’s life and you knew nothing about it until you were in your 30s.
Finding out that one or more of your family members were involved in gruesome murders isn’t always the easiest or most pleasant thing to talk about, and hell — it makes you wonder if evilness runs in the family. But just remember that everyone’s family has skeletons in the closet; some might be buried deep within memories of the past, but we can always dig up secrets when grandma drinks a little too much and lets them slip.
These 23 people were shocked to find out about their family’s devastating secrets:
1.
My great grandpa died on top of my aunt while raping her when she was 13. My great grandfather was a Klan member. And he was married 7 times.
2.
I was about 9 years old, and while staying with my cousins, they told me about an uncle we had in common, who was adopted. My cousins told me that he wasn’t really part of the family anymore, partly because of his uncontrollable alcoholism and cruelty, and that he kept leeching off our grandparents. When I got home, I asked dad why he never mentioned that I “had an uncle Sean? And how come we never see grandma and grandad?” He and my mother bowed their heads, and dad growled – “we don’t speak of uncle Sean.” Years later, from an older sister I heard that uncle Sean had molested my two eldest sisters as children. When dad went to our grandparents to tell them, they refused to believe him.
3.
My Great Grandfather was an abusive piece of shit and ended up murdering 3 of my Grand Aunts and wounded another. He then ended up killing himself after a standoff with the police.
4.
My favorite uncle cheated on my auntie. Ended up knocking the woman up. She had the child and my uncle was forced to tell my aunt. Aunt divorced my uncle. He became an alcoholic and I had absolutely no idea. I thought all the times we were going for car rides as a kid, he purposely drove crazy because it was entertaining for me and my cousins but it turned out he was just plastered.
5.
My father had an affair with his brother’s wife so my cousin is also my brother. My cousin doesn’t know though, grandma let this slip whilst wasted.
Laura is a freelance writer for TFLN. She likes to write about what she knows best — dating, sex, and being awkward, but usually in the opposite order. She is the Assistant Editor and videographer for Peach Fuzz, a sex-positive nudie magazine in ATX.
