Secrets are funny things because they are so fragile, and you can take them to your grave, accidentally blurt them out after two drinks, or spend years wondering what would happen if you finally confessed. Some secrets are harmless little mysteries, deeply embarrassing, others are the kind of information that could make an entire room go silent if they ever came to light.
Everyone has probably had at least one moment when they thought nobody would ever find out. And while some secrets are best left safely locked away, others are simply too fascinating not to wonder about. So when someone asked people to share the secrets they know they’ll take to the grave, netizens delivered a collection of confessions that go from hilarious and unexpected to downright unbelievable.
More info: Reddit
#1
II was the GED teacher at the county jail in my city. Most of the guys were there for a short time; others were waiting to be shipped off to prison, sometimes for a very, very long time.
One of my students was headed to prison for life without the possibility of parole. I know it sounds crazy, but he was a genuinely nice guy to me and to the other students. Unfortunately, he had gotten mixed up in gang life, but on a day-to-day basis, he was funny, interesting, and incredibly likable.
When you take the GED test, you have three opportunities to pass it. This guy had already taken it twice and failed both times. Every time he failed, he was absolutely crushed.
I was known for having little celebrations for students who passed. They were kind of like mini graduations. The students could pick songs to play on the radio, and I would give a little speech about them. Sometimes their friends would come up and say a few words, too. This particular student really wanted to have a ceremony. I’m guessing that, in his entire life, no one had ever really celebrated him or encouraged him. Maybe he just needed to know that, at least once, someone believed in him and was proud of him.
He took the GED for the third and final time just a few days before he was going to be shipped off to prison for the rest of his life. The results came back. He had failed again (but just barely). Couldn’t look at him. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t look at him and tell him that he had failed for the third time, knowing he was about to spend the rest of his life in prison. So I didn’t.
I told him he passed. I figured, what did it really matter? He was never going to get out. He probably wasn’t going to have much opportunity to use a GED in prison. And I seriously doubted the teachers there were going to throw him a graduation party if he ever did pass.
So I told him he passed.and we had the party. He was over the moon. He was so proud of himself and so incredibly happy.
Was it the right thing to do? I don’t know. But I do know that, for one afternoon, that man got to feel proud of himself. He got to be celebrated. He got to hear people tell him that he had done something good.
Image source: nina2137, KimSunHo
#2
While working in banking I broke rules.
I forged an older guys signature once. He was around 80 and wanted his mortgage to be on auto pay. Our stupid system needed a physical papwerwork to be mailed, signed, mailed back, then scanned into a workflow. By that time he’d be late and he was freaking out about it.
So I found his signature copied it onto the form, and uploaded it.
I released a hold on a woman’s account because their debit card was overdreafted by a merchant error. Their paycheck had a hold on it because it was sent in early (holiday weekend). I released the hold so they could get groceries.
Image source: hobbes8889, Drazen Zigic
#3
I will not take this to *my* grave necessarily, but definitely someone else’s.
I paid for 8 months of assisted living for my grandfather a few years ago when his care needs became too much for my mom to handle and we were waiting for his house to sell (he has virtually no retirement savings due to raising 6 kids as a single parent and various other circumstances, some based on poor decision making and some just due to being a passive, gentle person who was taken advantage of). He told me at the outset that once his house sold I had to take what he owed me out of the house sale to pay me back (I am his Financial POA so I have access to his accounts to pay his various bills and monitor his funds), he even had a repayment agreement drafted up which we both signed and sent to a lawyer.
He currently loses ~2k a month out of his total savings because the cheapest assisted living place we could get him that can meet his needs far exceeds what he gets each month. I am never taking back what he owes me because if I did he would already be out on the streets, or in a hellhole of a facility. So I told him, and any of my family that knew about it, that I already took the money back from him. And if he ends up running out of money, I will end up footing the bill silently because if he knew he’d never forgive himself.
Edit: Thank you so much, everyone. I don’t think I’m doing anything you all wouldn’t do if you were in my position, but I feel the love and I am happy to have had the privilege of sharing a small piece of myself with you!
Image source: AnUnConcerndCitizen, magnific
People rarely keep secrets for just one reason. As Science Insights explains, secrecy can be a form of self-protection, especially when someone expects judgment, shame, conflict, rejection, or damage to an important relationship. A person might hide something to protect their reputation, preserve a relationship, spare someone else’s feelings, or maintain control over their own story.
That can make even an ordinary mistake feel like something that absolutely cannot be revealed. The problem is that the danger someone anticipates is not always as severe as they imagine, meaning the secret can sometimes become more powerful in their mind than the consequences of actually telling it.
#4
I took something from a school bully. I hid it behind one toilet, inside a bag to preserve it from humidity, because I knew they weren’t gonna clean well enough to find it. When they searched all of us, I acted so offended about them even considering it might be me and got an apology.
Never returned it, not gonna say what it was. Nobody knows it was me. The bully deserved it.
Image source: neinneinballons, magnific
#5
When i was young and struggling the person that owned the 3 family house I was living in sent me an eviction notice and then sold the house. The new owner was in real estate and came from a very rich family.
My girlfriend was pregnant and we couldn’t afford heat in the winter, so we were staying with my sister.
The new owner not only did not send me his own eviction notice, but did not even honor the one the previous owners sent me. He just changed the locks on the house and I couldn’t get in.
I talked with him and he told me if I wanted my stuff I needed to show up during the day while workmen were there to get my stuff. I couldn’t take time off from work during the day i was so broke.
He waited about 2 days and then pulled a dumpster in the driveway and threw out everything I owned. All we had is what we had brought to my sisters.
He called the cops because I was almost breaking his door down I was banging so hard. The cops came and ended up telling me I had to leave the property or I would be arrested. I remember hearing the snotty rich guy tell the cop hey, just let us fight it out in court. He ended up living on the top floor and using the bottom floor as his real estate office.
I left. I came back one evening and made multiple trips to the little corner store. For about 8 gallons of milk. Took me a few trips. I got in a lower floor window and poured all the milk anywhere I could find a hole in a wall. I had heard someone talk about something similar, and I knew the milk would freeze.
The next year they had to knock the house down and sell the property. I can’t imagine what the smell was like. This was back in the early 80s. I know i can’t get in trouble for it now, but to this day I never told a single person about it.
Image source: PlayerTwoHasDied, koldunova_anna
#6
I got fired almost 10 years ago from Walmart for stealing food while on shift in the deli. Took an Alford Plea, swore I didn’t steal, and went through a huge ordeal over it. Finally got it off my record and even the original firing team believes I didn’t do. But I did. It was food to be thrown away anyways due to time but was perfectly fine to eat. Don’t feel sorry I took it but I am sorry that everyone now believes Walmart fired me unjustly for a few items.
Image source: ADWinri, javi_indy
That fear can also explain why certain secrets seem to follow people around long after the original event has passed. Psychology Today has highlighted research suggesting that the psychological burden often comes from repeatedly thinking about the secret rather than simply having to keep it hidden.
Intrusive thoughts, guilt, shame, and anxiety can make the information feel increasingly difficult to manage, while worrying about what would happen if it were discovered can create another layer of stress. Over time, this can even affect how connected or authentic someone feels around the people they are keeping the secret from.
#7
My Mom left me her writings when we lost her. When going through an old laptop I found a journal which her therapist was having her keep. It detailed my Mom coming to the realization that she was trans and how she was coming to terms with it and her plans for the future and how scared she was to come out and whether family would accept her or not. The journal ended right around when she got her cancer diagnosis, which she would eventually succumb to a little over five years later. She never mentioned this to anyone (at least according to the journal) and it doesn’t feel like my place to share it with anyone else.
EDIT: Wow, was not expecting this. Just to answer a few things that popped up… It was my biological mother who only ever existed to me in life as Mom/she/her. It doesn’t feel like my place to refer to her as the name she chose or by he/him since she never came out to me directly or gave consent for me to do so. She had metastatic colorectal cancer. Her personality never changed from who she always was… a sweet, loving, mild-mannered, creative, and passionate person who everyone loved. We all would have accepted her and I wish there was the chance before she passed to be able to share her truth and live it openly.
Image source: closetothesilence, The Yuri Arcurs Collection
#8
Not a secret I need to keep from everyone, but certainly my father’s side of the family, and definitely from my Father.
When I was around 17, my grandmother on my fathers side fell ill. My Father, not being someone to ever really confront emotions on any serious level, didn’t give me much of a heads up aside from “Your grandmother’s sick”. I was in another room when my Father walked in and handed me his phone, saying, “Here. Talk to your grandmother, she’s d***g.”, before he promptly left the room to call for takeout.
What followed was about five straight minutes of my grandmother sobbing and begging me to save her. To not let her d*e. Saying she was so afraid, not to put her in the ground where she’d be “cold forever.” Begging me by name to do something, anything to not let it happen.
My father just sort of came and took the phone back at some point, and told me to “move my a*s and get my shoes on” so we could pick up dinner. I don’t know how much of her condition he was aware of, or if he was even listening to her, but that stuck with me.
EDIT: Spelling.
EDIT 2: Look at me go, bringing everyone down 😅. I promise, I am doing just fine at this point. I genuinely appreciate all the well wishes from all of you ❤️.
Image source: WellWornSword, wavebreakmedia_micro
#9
One of my cousins left their mom’s ashes in a bowling ball bag in the trunk of their car for 6 months because they forgot to put them away.
Image source: Squirrelman2712, VisualCreative1
Of course, not every secret feels equally risky, and Greater Good points to several reasons why some information can seem especially dangerous to reveal. People may anticipate losing someone’s respect, damaging an important relationship, facing embarrassment, or suffering practical consequences.
Past experiences can make those fears even stronger, while secrets involving moral wrongdoing, family expectations, unequal power, or relationships that matter deeply can carry an especially heavy emotional weight. In other words, the more someone believes they have to lose, the easier it becomes to understand why they might decide that silence is safer than confession.
#10
My best friends dad slid into my DMs saying he was attracted to me and wanted to share numbers. I would never tell her. I cussed him out- we have been friends since I was 14 and would sleep over her house and grew up together.
Image source: sindecirtenada, pozdnikovklinker-1
#11
My parents have been happily married from 37 years.
One of them has an ongoing affair since 15 years and another kid.
I’m the only one who knows.
Image source: Imaginary_Fox3222, magnific
#12
I have a room filled with star wars collectibles. I dont even really like star wars that much. My mom had mental issues and when I was younger she just decided I like star wars. She would get me something every year. Other people just assumed I collected stuff and I went along with it. My moms passed now and I think of her when I see it all. Ill never admit it to anyone because I feel a bit of her when I get a new star wars thing.
Image source: RemoteIcy3579, soapinthepeehole
There is also an important difference between keeping something private and deliberately keeping someone in the dark. Therapy Changes explains that privacy can be a healthy way of protecting personal boundaries and autonomy, whereas secrecy becomes more complicated when the information could reasonably affect another person’s rights, safety, or ability to make important decisions.
The intention matters, too: choosing not to share something because it belongs to your private life is different from hiding it simply to avoid accountability or discomfort. That distinction is worth keeping in mind when considering the secrets people are determined to carry with them, because sometimes keeping something to yourself is simply a boundary, while other times it can leave a much heavier burden behind.
#13
When i was a private in the Army, i worked with other branches of service. Well, there was this petty officer 3rd class that myself and the entire shop hated. Well, one day he took my hat and playfully hid it from me. For some reason despite it being a playful joke, i was mad because it was HIM if all people pulling a joke on me.
Well, we used to have bags to put paperwork in that would be put in an incinerator because we didn’t have shredders. On/off for 3 weeks I’d take his hat and throw it in the incinerator just because.
The whole team got called in and a very HARSH talking to by our superior officer over it. Everyone thought it was objectively funny because again, nobody liked him.
Man, i incinerated like 6 of those things. 13 years later i wonder how he’s doing.
Image source: TheeJinxx, magnific
#14
I took a long bus ride when I was in my 30s. They’re was a kid on the bus, maybe 10, running from his seat to the front of the bus to annoy a little girl about the same age. Hair pulling, that kind of stuff. After a while she was almost in tears. The next time he ran by, I just stuck out my foot.
He really faceplanted, and I was worried he was really hurt. He was OK, looked all around, but couldn’t fathom that a grown adult would do something like that. The girl and her friends laughed loudly.
It was a very satisfying moment.
Image source: ozarkhawk59, dusanpetkovic
#15
I worked at a dermatologist office and a patient came in, asking to speak to the doctors nurse without any background. This could go any way but I pulled him and wife into a room and asked what was up. He said his skin was flaring, his insurance company dropped him and he couldn’t afford his biologic. I excused myself and looked up his dosing, gave him samples for several months I stuffed in my shirt and spent hours on the phone with insurance (between patients and lunch) and got him set up for an assistance program with heavily discounted medication.
Image source: Live-Response7012, pressfoto
Keeping certain things hidden isn’t always about being mysterious. It can be about protecting relationships, avoiding unnecessary drama, or simply deciding that some information is better left untouched. Whether it’s a harmless personal story, an awkward mistake, or a revelation that could turn someone’s world upside down, these confessions show just how much people can carry without ever saying a word.
However, not every secret is created equal. Some are funny enough to become a great dinner-party story, while others are the kind of information that could cause serious fallout if revealed. So, how would you handle a secret that could change everything? Would you take it to your grave, or would the temptation to finally tell someone be too strong? Let us know in the comments!
#16
My homie gave me a $25 gift card at the restaurant we were at to pay for their food, I entered the card when I was paying and it had like $0.60 on it, I just covered their portion and will never mention it again.
Image source: StrikingPrimary1314, SpotOn
#17
My brothers epilepsy and subsequent rough life is the result of my mother being an overwhelmed fifteen year old mom left completely alone with an infant for months(dad was in bootcamp), she shook the s**t out of him one night when he wouldn’t stop crying.
Brother still lives with mom in his 50’s, and she still babies him like he’s 5. She used to cry to me telling me there are just things no one would ever understand and one night a few years ago she finally just went into hysterics and came completely clean about it.
Image source: Then-Roll-1992, Getty Images
#18
My friends think that another friend of ours just had parents who were small kids in N**i Germany and were in the Hitler Youth. What they don’t know is that both of her grandfathers were SS officers.
Image source: BigGrayBeast, Getty Images
#19
I have a secret code phrase in my head, that ive never said out loud. That way, if someone says it to me, i know magic or time travel or SOMETHING is real.
A much more light hearted secret lol.
Image source: SusieQ314, QuantumEdge
#20
I used to be obsessed with the show FRIENDS but the catch is that I never actually saw a full episode on it. I could never find access to watch a full episode and wished that I had. I could just watch clips on yt. I watched many clips of it and my favorite character was Chandler. I managed to tell most of my friends about the show and they all ended up watching it and loved it. One day my friend (who became obsessed with friends bc of me) found this free site that had full FRIENDS episodes. I got so excited and watched it. I hated it.. most importantly, I hated Chandler the most, I found him to be so annoying. I never told anyone tho, they all still think that I like it.
Image source: AnxiousClothes182, Getty Images
#21
I went to pee behind a tree at a house party in high school, I was so drunk and was pushing hard and sharted on his lawn. Luckily it was dark and I was kinda away from everyone. Later I saw a bunch of people over in that area and barefoot. I was horrified.
Image source: Character_Emu_9772, Racoolstory
#22
I paid my grandparents mortgage off after my grandad d**d. No-one was all that bothered about him d***g: all they cared about was that my grandma was going to be homeless because she wouldn’t be able to pay anything due to being housebound.
At the time, I was for the first time in my life earning good money and I was financially secure, again for the first time ever. I decided to pay the mortgage off because although many members of my family are real pieces of work, my grandad wasn’t, and not helping someone out when it was easily within my ability to do so, is something I couldn’t live with.
As far as they are concerned, they think either the magic mortgage fairy waved a wand, or the bank decided to write it off.
Either way, they aren’t going to find out from me what really occurred. It would really get their backs up if they ever found out: particularly as they would feel beholden to the grandchild who was a ‘traitor to his class.’.
Image source: UncleHeavy, magnific
#23
I think I found a mafia owned cemetery when doing findagrave. Creepy stuff. I just try to forget about it.
Image source: Ragnarok7771, findagrave.com
#24
I have a secret half sister.
Image source: No_Net4683, magnific
#25
Our entire class got detention because someone farted. I’m the one who farted.
Image source: ddddyyylllaaannn, magnific
#26
My uncle was part of a motorcycle club. I think they did some illegal things, but I don’t think they were an organized crime organization. Mostly guys that were immature and loved bikes.
My uncle d**d in a bar fight about 30 years ago. Apparently he was trying to stop a fight, but idk the details.
After his funeral was over, a bunch of his biker friends asked if they could stay behind to honor him in some traditional biker way.
I went back because I thought I dropped something and saw them doing their “ritual”.
They were all surrounding his grave and wetting on it simultaneously. Never told any family member or friend about it.
Image source: adamsauce, Maxim Simonov
#27
I’m homeless now. If I ever get out of this situation I will never tell this to anyone, specially my family.
Image source: Exiledbrazillian, magnific
#28
I was a respiratory therapist and I worked for thus company that dealt in all things respiratory care. From asthma to end of life care to lung cancer breathing help with liquid O2.
This was before the ACA when HMOs were rampant and they would just tell people to f**k off and d*e.
Anyway, I was heading to a family where a young kid (like 3 years old or something) needed a nebulizer and the like. I already picked up her meds and was going to her house to set up the equipment.
I get a call on the radio and they tell me that I cannot give the kid the medicine (which was already paid for and was to be thrown away if it doesnt go to the patient). And they also tell me that I am to leave to premises and not set the family up with the machines.
For context, the little girl, if she didnt get the medicine, she would have had severe complications with the worst case being that she would d*e. This company was notorious for throwing away equipment because they got paid thru Medicare and Medicaid.
Anyway, I give the kid the meds, set the family up and also give them backups of the nebulizer and other equipment just in case. Told no one and they didnt even notice the equipment deficit because they throw away so much brand new stuff so they could charge the government more.
Image source: Ambitious-Pirate-505, magnific
#29
I saw my mother d***g i front of me, she was on her last stage of cancer on her bed in the room at 5 a.m, i was the only one with her at the time, and when the family came and found her d**d i said she d**d in her sleep peacefully, but i saw the last breath and her eyes fixed in the ceiling as if she was watching the angel of d***h taking her soul, will never forget that moment
We don’t belong to this earth for sure.
Image source: OldSpark1447, dragonimages
#30
In high school our principal accused me of something I didn’t do and made me go to summer school for failing “conduct”. he d**d of a heart attack a week later. Never went.
Image source: kneel23, Jomkwan
#31
About 13 years ago, when I was a Petty Officer 3rd Class, I worked in a shop with people from a few different branches of the military.
There was this one Army private who absolutely hated me. Honestly, I don’t think most of the shop liked me much.
One day, messing around, I took his hat and hid it from him. He got weirdly pissed off about it, but I thought nothing of it.
Then my hats started disappearing.
Over the next three weeks I somehow went through about six of them. Eventually our superior called the whole shop in and absolutely tore everyone a new one over whoever kept taking them. Nobody confessed, and everyone else seemed to find the situation way funnier than I did.
To this day, I never found out what happened to those hats.
What that private never knew was that, at the same time, I was banging his wife.
Now he will never know I guess.
Image source: Many-Storm-6294
#32
Years after my best friend’s dad k****d himself I randomly logged into Facebook and found out he had been trying to reach me before it happened. Messenger messages I never saw. A few Facebook video call attempts too. I just sat there staring at it like what the f**k. This was not some random guy either. I grew up around this family. Me and his son have been best friends for decades, they basically treated me like another son. And near the end he was trying to call me. I still dont know why. The part that really f***s with me is my friend doesnt know any of this. And I will never tell him. Imagine telling someone “hey, about the worst moment of your entire life, your dad was trying to reach me right before it happened.”
Then what?
Why you? Why not me? What did he want? Did he say anything? Could something have changed?
I would basically be handing him 20 new questions that have no answers and he would probably carry them until he dies. So no. People can say he deserves to know. Maybe he does. But sometimes we’re sitting there drinking, laughing about old s**t, whatever, and I remember those missed video calls sitting on that screen and I feel f*****g sick for a second. He has no idea I’m carrying this. And I think thats how its gonna stay. Some things dont need to be confessed just because they’re true.
This one dies with me.
Image source: rahpexphon
#33
My uncle never worked at Nintendo.
Image source: imadragonyouguys
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