People Confess Massive Secrets They Learned About Their Deceased Loved Ones
It's fairly common for people to take secrets to their graves, but that doesn't mean those secrets won't get discovered by the people left behind. These Redditors got together to discuss the biggest secrets they learned about a loved one after they passed.
- 1370 VOTES
They Found Laundry Baskets Full Of Money
From Redditor u/snowwhite88:
My great-uncle Ray and great-aunt Ann lived in a little house on the outer edge of town. Never had children or pets. Their house was always in some disarray; the roof needed to be repaired or siding falling off. When Uncle Ray's truck broke down, he didn't get it fixed, he just rode a bicycle around town. He always wore Levi's blue jeans and a white cotton T-shirt. He would mow lawns for some extra money, and he was a car salesman back in the day.
Ray and Ann [passed] three hours apart, in different facilities. Ann first, then Ray.
Since Ray was the last one living, they contacted his next of kin, which was my mom. She got a call from a lawyer and was scared to call him back because she thought they were going to make her pay for the funerals. Lawyer says no, no, you just need to come in and talk to me.
Stacks and stacks of CDs and bonds, laundry basket filled with cash (covered in clothes), cash rolled up under kitchen sink, some here, some there... Multiple bank accounts.. Ended up being close to two million dollars.
The only bill my mom had to pay in Ray's name after he passed was his electric bill... $37.
- 2392 VOTES
They Discovered A Scary Family Secret
From Redditor u/spud_simon_salem:
In India, January 2013, both of my grandparents [passed] just hours apart. At the time, my mother and I were told that my grandfather [passed] of a brain hemorrhage and my grandmother [passed] in her sleep. My aunt and uncle flew from England (where they reside) to India when they heard my grandfather was [asleep] from the hemorrhage.
This year, my mother began talking to a man in India who was one of my grandfather's best friends. This man was with my aunt and uncle during the time of their [passing].
According to this man, my aunt and uncle woke up and found my grandmother [deceased] in her bed and just left her there. They didn't do anything about her dead body for hours - they just left it in her bed. While my grandmother's corpse was still in her bed, my aunt and uncle went to the hospital to see my grandfather. The doctor said my grandfather would come out of the [sleep state] soon and would be fine. But my aunt and uncle decided to pull the plug on him anyways.
They went back to the house, and one of the housemaids showed my aunt that my grandmother's dead body was foaming at the mouth. My aunt took her scarf, wiped away the foam, and kept the scarf there to prevent anyone from seeing the foaming.
So basically, my aunt and uncle [slayed] my grandparents.
- 3320 VOTES
Their Uncle Was A Member Of The Syndicate
From Redditor u/pigsfly1133:
A couple years ago, my great uncle passed. When he [passed], in addition to a mansion in Chicago, he left $15 million for his children to split up ($3 million each). As it turns out, he used to be only two steps below kingpin of a large Chicago [syndicate]. He took some money and left for good after getting [hurt] and realizing that he didn't want his children to grow up without a father. Also, his wife had owned two wh*rehouses before selling them and marrying him.
- 4326 VOTES
They Found A Secret Savings Account
From Redditor u/Back2Bach:
My grandmother was a lovely lady - she had little money, and lived simply. We loved each other, and it was a special relationship.
When she [passed], I was very surprised to discover that she had quietly scrimped and saved over the years, and left enough money for me in her will to pay for my college education. That was her dream - and I had no idea, as she never said even one word about it.
- 5268 VOTES
She Had A Secret Half-Sister
From Redditor u/salty_bananas:
The day my mother [passed] suddenly, I found out that both she and my dad had been married before. On top of this, the "cousin" that used to come visit us when I was a child was actually my half-sister! She had stopped coming around, but I always liked her and wished she would come back. Sad part is, even my father had lost track of his own daughter (long story involving the secret they were keeping from me, a marriage and subsequent move and then divorce of my half-sister), and he hadn't able to locate her for years. Happy ending - 18 years after my mom's [passing], my sister contacts me out of the blue, we meet up for a tearful reunion, and shortly afterwards, father and daughter are reunited at last! We all love each other dearly and love to get together (we each live in different states).
- 6284 VOTES
They Discovered Their Father's Unsettling Past
From Redditor u/fretman124:
After my dad passed, I found out he had run a flamethrower for three months digging the Japanese out of the caves in the Philippines.
My dad didn't talk about the [conflict] much. He never mentioned this part. Found out from Mom he had terrible nightmares all his life about it.
- 7231 VOTES
Their Father Was A Getaway Driver
From a deleted Reddit user:
My father, in the late '50s, helped rob a bank in New York. He drove the getaway car.
He did the full five years he was sentenced to because every time he got asked about the guys he worked with, he said nothing.
- 8286 VOTES
They Found Photos Of A Mysterious Man
From Redditor u/emjaybe:
After my husband's grandmother [passed] in January, they found a photo from the 1940s of a handsome man in uniform amongst her things: the back read something along the lines of "With my deepest love and devotion, Terry." But it wasn't her husband (who she was married to during the [conflict]), and no one had ever heard her mention him before. He must've meant something to her, to hold on to that photo for 70 plus years.
- 9283 VOTES
They Finally Got Closure On Their Father's Passing
From Redditor u/imminent_riot:
My father [passed] when I was 12. The night before he [passed], I was staying the night with my cousins. I wanted to go home really bad because they were older than me and were all watching scary movies, and I didn't want to but didn't want to go to bed super early, either. I called home and begged to come home, but he wouldn't let me. I yelled, "I HATE YOU!" and hung up the phone. Yeah, so those were my last words to Dad. I spent almost 15 years thinking he had [passed] angry with me. One day a few years ago, I was talking to my mother and mentioned how heavy that weighed on me. She shocked me by busting out laughing her a** off. She said after he hung up the phone, he cracked up because he definitely didn't want me home. They were about to have [relations]. So yeah, he didn't [pass] angry with me, he was just boning my mom.
- 10241 VOTES
Their Grandmother Was A Successful Gambler
From Redditor u/NoahtheRed:
My grandmother [passed] rather quickly. She got sick with pneumonia between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she [passed] just before Valentine's Day. It was very tough on my grandfather, especially as they'd been married for over 40 years and both of them had lead exciting lives together. It was several years before my grandfather packed her clothes and belongings away, and naturally, he asked for his kids (my mom and uncles) to help, since it was tough. When they checked her coat for anything that may need to be packed separately, they found dozens of horse racing betting slips. In fact, it was hundreds of dollars worth of bets, all of them relatively recent to her [passing]. Her purse also contained as many, if not more, betting slips. What was even more interesting was that she was REALLY good at it. As in, she was going to the track and coming back hundreds of dollars richer.
My grandfather said he knew she liked to go to the horse races, and knew she occasionally gambled, but had no idea that she was as good at it as she was. We all laughed about it because, frankly, it was just one facet of a very amazing and accomplished woman.
- 11267 VOTES
Their Grandmother Lied About Her Age
From Redditor u/chirpyderp:
My great-great-grandmother met my great-great-grandfather on Ellis Island when immigrating to the US. She was 16, and he was 17, or so everyone believed. When she [passed] just after her alleged 97th birthday, my family discovered from immigration logs she was actually 100, and had lied about her age because it wouldn't have been acceptable in society to a) be single at 19 and b) marry a younger man.
- 12203 VOTES
Their Grandfather Took Out A Dangerous Loan
From Redditor u/muckinaball:
My grandfather used [syndicate] "loan" money to start his business. Found this out when a retired [wiseguy] showed up at his funeral reception.
Edit: I know he at least laundered and/or hid money, besides that I don't know. His brother also had a very successful real estate business. Their parents (my great-grandparents) had a small farm, they did not come from any money. It was the Italian [syndicate] in the Bay Area.
- 13215 VOTES
They Found A Bunch Of Saved Poems
From Redditor u/Stevenasauraus:
My best friend since kindergarten Cheryl was [taken] by a drunk driver along with her father. Since the seventh grade, I wrote her a poem every month and mailed it to her (They weren't Maya Angelou quality, but it's the thought that counts, right?). I pretty much thought she would just throw them around after reading them a few times, but I discovered she had a shoebox under her bed with all 37 poems from seventh grade when I started writing them to ninth grade when she was [slain].
- 14200 VOTES
Their Grandfather Had An Early Pair Of False Teeth
From Redditor u/joannagoanna:
I wasn't particularly close with my grandfather, I was young when he [passed], but as he was well... dying, he had to have a breathing tube put in. After he [passed], the doctors presented my grandmother with his false teeth.
Apparently, when he was 21, as a birthday present, his father had taken him to the dentist to have all his teeth pulled and have false ones put in. No one knew, including his wife and all his kids. Apparently, this was common practice.
