13 Deathbed Confessions That Revealed Something Truly Unexpected To Their Loved Ones
Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community members to tell us the wildest thing they learned about their family or a family member when someone was on their deathbed. And, of course, people had some interesting stories to share!
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So without further ado, here are the intriguing deathbed confessions people made to their family members:
1.
" My great-grandfather revealed that my grandmother was not his only child. In the 1930s, when his longtime best friend was unable to impregnate his wife, my great-grandfather spent a week in a remote cabin in the Ozarks having sex with the woman in order to give them a child. It worked and she became pregnant. The couple then moved away to start a new life as a family. The only correspondence my great-grandfather received from them afterward was a loving letter bearing confirmation the child was born a healthy female. He never saw his friend again."
—Anonymous
2.
"My uncle who had been a bachelor his whole life only gifted his three nieces $5 every Christmas. Every year $5. After he died not only did we find out he was a millionaire, but that he also had a secret daughter he never told anyone about and that he had been supporting her for over 50 years. She inherited everything."
—Anonymous
3.
"This is a light-hearted one: When my great-grandmother was dying, she told my mom that she’d been using a fake name since she was 13. There’s no big, exciting reason for it. She just thought that her original name was ugly and old-fashioned, so when she left home to work in another town, she decided to reinvent herself with a trendier, more stylish name: Ethel."
4.
"So, this may or may not be wild to anyone else but for me it was, and it was also hilarious. So, when I was born my grandfather on my mom's side named my first and middle. Well, no problem whatsoever; however, my mom's mom didn't really like it as I grew up and never knew why that was — so I didn't like her either.
Well, I found out when my grandfather was on his deathbed and revealed where he had gotten my name from. My name isn't exactly popular nor is it a rare name either. He turned to my 14-year-old self and stated: 'I am so happy I named you after the love of my life. I hope I see her in heaven.' Ummm, yeah, LOL. My grandfather named me after an ex-love whom he was still in love with and admitted he didn't stand his wife."
—Anonymous
5.
"My grandfather admitted he purposely pitted my two uncles against each other, though I didn’t learn this until after his passing. Now I understand why my uncles passionately hate one another."
6.
"My mother confessed to my sister and I that if she could live her life over she wouldn't have children. WHAT? Thanks, mom!"
—Anonymous
7.
"I learned that I was not raised by my mother from birth until I was old enough to go to school. When I was conceived my parents were going through a divorce and she was not happy about being pregnant. Which made sense, because in all of my core memories, she isn't involved."
—Anonymous
8.
"My paternal grandfather revealed that two of the children he raised with his wife were not his biologically. My father and his younger sister were the results of two of my grandmother's many affairs. To make it worse, my grandfather would not name the biological fathers."
—Anonymous
9.
"Knowing the end was near, my father unburdened himself with this. While serving in the Marines he was stationed at Atsugi Naval Air Base in Japan, where he befriended fellow soldier Lee Harvey Oswald. They were known to play cards together, eat their meals together, go see movies, etc.
After the assassination and knowing that all Oswald’s 'friends' were being rounded up and interviewed (and some of their names dragged through the mud) he never openly spoke of it. He said he waited for that inevitable knock at the door from the FBI to interview him, but it never came. My Father’s most revealing comment? Oswald was not the 'communist loving loner' he was portrayed as being."
—Anonymous
10.
"My mother told me that she was a lesbian. It was not allowed in her time. She married my father so she wouldn't be considered an old maid. She never wanted children."
—Anonymous
11.
"Other way around...when my grandfather was on his deathbed, when I was alone with him for a second, I whispered that I'm bisexual and happy. Don't know if he was conscious during those last two days, so I'll never know if he heard me. But he was the one person in my family who ever spoke about queer people with love, so I hope that he heard me and it was one last good thing before he passed."
—Anonymous
12.
"I am the oldest, now 67, of six kids, our father told my sisters and I that I was planned and the rest of my siblings were mistakes. And we might have a brother or sister in Korea."
13.
"My uncommon family name was changed back in the late 1920s to a very generic surname. Only three people knew why and they were sworn to secrecy. The last survivor finally fessed up LITERALLY hours before he passed away. A family member had planned to marry the daughter of a high-ranking Chicago crime family member. The capo of the crime family not only objected (my family is not white, and not Italian, and mixed marriages were not acceptable), but threatened the ENTIRE family if the wedding (or an elopement) occurred.
As a matter of survival, my people changed their name and moved to Wisconsin in the middle of the night hoping to disappear. The wedding never happened, but my ancestor was terrified of either the crime boss or his spurned daughter locating the family. It was a sort of rudimentary witness protection plan."
—Anonymous
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
