Patricia Grisafi
It’s always a sting when a loved one passes away. There’s grief and remembrance as you and family members and friends tell stories about their time with the deceased. Some of those stories are probably familiar and comforting, but have you ever learned something about a dead loved one that just totally blew your mind—and changed your entire perception of their life?
On Reddit, people are sharing the shocking things they discovered after the death of a loved one.
A few crazy tidbits? Secret family members, unpleasant secrets, and mom’s robust love life.
1. Four Of Mom’s Boyfriends
“I met all 4 of my mom’s boyfriends at her funeral. It was a surprise to them and myself.” — trashpanda4811
2. Angry Suicide Letter
“KMy great uncle shot himself in the head with a hunting rifle right before his kids walked in the door from school. His suicide letter said he wanted them to find him so they could know how much they ruined his life. They were very young at the time he died and no one knew about the letter until our great aunt died many, many years later. It was a whole new layer of hurt for the kids to find the letter.” — Intrepid-Lynx
3. Secret Child
“My great aunt and uncle never had kids so they treated me and my siblings like their grandkids. My aunt died ten years ago this year. So I was looking up her grave site so I can visit and saw a suggested link to a page about the grave of her child. I was very confused because I always just assumed they didn’t want kids. Turns out they had a son who only lived to be a few months old. Made me sad to think that they did want kids and either couldn’t or wouldn’t after their son died.” — happyharborgirl
4. “Run Out Of Town”
“My great-grandfather had not, in fact, been eaten by a bear on Mt. Rainier (he was a park ranger). Instead, he’d been cheating on my great-grandmother and was summarily run out of town by her brothers. He moved to Alaska and nobody knew what had become of him until we located his grave, many decades later.” — The_Mouse_That_Jumps
5. Half Brother
“My wife’s dad passed away over 10 years ago. Growing up she had two half brothers (her mom had been married twice before she married my wife’s dad). Last year during all the initial COVID lockdown she decided to finally go through all the family photos that she had gotten from her parents over the years (her mom was moved into a memory care unit for dementia a couple of years ago). She’s identifying family members and reaching out to them on Facebook offering them copies of photos they are in if they want them. But there’s one picture of her and a boy who appears to be a couple of years older that she can’t identify. So she starts asking the various relatives that she’s contacted. One of them tells her that he’s her half brother. A half brother she had no idea that she had until that very moment when she instantly remembered a comment her dad had made when she was very very young. Turns out he lives 20 minutes away from us. She found him on Facebook and reached out to him. They spent several days texting back and forth. Turns out his mother wanted nothing to do with my wife’s dad after they were divorced and didn’t want him around his son. Rather than fight her, my wife’s dad just stopped seeing his boy. After corresponding for a couple of weeks, he and his son stopped by our house to say hello. We all get along very well. He and I text pretty often because we both have ordered Bronco’s that we are waiting for. My wife and him text at least weekly as well. We’ve been out to dinner with them and are talking about going on a trip together soon.” — fluffy_butternut
6. Sacrificed Opportunities
“My dad gave up a 100% fellowship for a math PhD in order to work to provide for an unanticipated pregnancy (me). He really wanted to teach and he was a natural. In the 60 years I knew him, he never mentioned the PhD or fellowship opportunity. Not once. I found out going through his papers after his death.” — mel_cache
7. Suicide
“My grandmother committed suicide when my dad was a kid. I found out when I saw her death certificate years after when I was in high school.” — human-foie-gras
8. Animal Lover
“This isn’t shocking, more cute. My grandad was a farmer his whole life. Ever animal loved him. We’d go to a new place and dogs would be coming straight to him, horses would cuddle with him. He just had a charm with them. When cleaning out his closet and digging in his pockets to make sure nothing of value was thrown in the wash, we found grains, bits of dried meats, dog treats, bits of old carrot (for the horses). Man’s been bribing animals with food all this his life.” — MikeBsleepy
9. “She Tried To Give Me Away”
“My mom didn’t want me after I was born. She tried to give me away to my aunt, the only person she trusted with me. My grandfather told me that, the night after her funeral that morning. My aunt confirmed a few days later.” — domestic_omnom
10. Secret Agent
“My Uncle Jack was a quiet mild mannered man, with a good sense of humor. He looked like a slightly shorter, slightly slimmer Burl Ives. He was a successful psychiatrist, highly respected in his field. Turns out he was also an OSS Agent during WW2. He never told anyone anything about what he did in the war. His two sons, an attorney and an Army ranger both asked him about it and he wouldn’t tell them a word.” — Adddicus