Secrets secrets are no fun, secrets secrets hurt someone. That is, unless they are kept for very good reasons, and unleashing the dark truth will hurt more than help.

A secret can be as harmless as silently hating someone's new hair cut, or as insidious as knowing your married coworker's giving birth to her side-guy's baby. Being asked to keep someone else's secret can be both an honor and a burden.

Sometimes, there are ethical questions surrounding a secret, and one is saddled with the question of whether or not it's your responsibility to tell people implicated in the secret. Other times, a secret is so dark and heavy it's tempting to get your friend help, even if that means breaking their trust.

In a recent Reddit thread, people shared the most disturbing secrets they've been told, and you'll quickly understand why they were secret in the first place.

1. Sandpaper_Pants mother carried a traumatizing secret.

"When I was about 10 years old, my mom told me that when she was 12 years old, she was in bed at night (she lived in Puerto Rico). She heard her mom and dad arguing in the kitchen. Her dad might have been drunk, I don't recall if my mom said. She heard her mom screaming and then go silent. Her dad had stabbed her mom to death. He went to prison. My mom and her siblings got adopted out to other families."

2. ignoremsmedia knows too much about their coworker.

"A co-worker told me her 2nd child wasn't her husbands.

Did not need that information."

3. DarkSideOfLife500 was the last person who talked to an acquaintance.

"Girl I knew had just gotten fired from her job and was planning on jumping off a bridge. The job meant everything to her. I talked to her over 4 hours on the phone pleading with her and she eventually decided not to jump.

So she went home and shot herself instead."

4. Wrong_Answer_Willie had to keep their dad's affair a secret.

"Dad introduced me to his girlfriend when I was 15 years old.

"Now, don't tell your Mama."

5. Bluffss has to protect their friend by keeping mum about an Olympian.

"As a young teenager one of my closest female friend was raped by her cousin (who was the same age as her) multiple times over the course of 3 years. Eventually her father found out about this and a trial happened. That cousin ended up having nothing much more than a fine and kind of a "warning we watch over you now".

"This guy is now on the run to compete in the next Olympic Games, and my friend is fucking broken from the inside and barely able to trust males. I'm one of the few persons outside of the family who knows."

6. justusethatname got confided in about a childhood death.

"In 1994 a now retired judge told me he and two childhood friends were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate down by a creek where they were playing one day. He had pretty much kept it to himself for a lifetime."

7. Augusta13 may have hooked up with a murderer.

"A guy I hooked up with in college had a breakdown when we were black out drunk and essentially admitted to killing a guy who had taken advantage of his little sister and burying the body. He was a total wiener of a guy who was always trying to hype himself up and exaggerate to be a bigger, better, “manlier” person so I didn’t think much of it at the time."

"The timing would have made him a teenager and the man a full fledged adult. It just felt like another bullshit story he was always telling. But sometimes I think back and wonder if there’s any truth to it."

8. Whispers8764's aunt put them in danger.

"My aunt (who I don't speak to anymore) was talking to me about my granddad who died when I was 2, saying how he loved taking me to the park and hanging out with me and stuff like that when she was babysitting me. My mum then explained to me a few years later that he was a pedophile and had done stuff to all of his kids and my aunt's daughter, but that he wasn't ever allowed near me."

"So basically, my aunt used to let my granddad who was a pedophile hang out and let me stay with him for a day without my parents ever knowing."

"Edit: I just wanted to add on and answer some questions:

I haven't told my mum-But I've debated it sometimes. I realized that she had a fear that something, like she'd experienced, would happen to me and she said that it would destroy her because she said that she would basically become her mother, by letting it happen without her knowing."

"I don't really know for sure why my aunt allowed it to happen but she told me that she suffered from MPD and sees a therapist because of what happened to her, but when she moved out she forced herself to forget I guess and denied what my mum and another aunt were saying. My mum told me that she thinks that she still loved their dad and kept him in her life was because she thought that he loved her because of what he'd done. Bit creepy though."

"I don't know If anything ever happened to me because I was too young to remember (between being born and 2 years old) and I don't know how I'd know if I want to know. I've been through lots slightly similar situations (basically sexual assault) and that's already messed me up mentally quite a bit, so I dunno If I found out that something actually did happen."

"Thanks guy's for the comments, I didn't actually think that anyone would actually read it let alone comment. I've never spoken to anyone about what happened/could've happened and I think I've relieved the tension slightly that it's caused me, but I'm confident now that my grandmother and aunt are batshit fucking crazy"

9. WolfeS93's classmate opened up about a really scary bipolar episode.

"My classmate in high school, I thought he was pretty weird but also a nice guy. Turned out he’s bipolar and he manages it with medication. But one time he was off it and he lost control in an argument with his little brother. He ended up beating the living crap out of the poor kid. Once he regained his senses and realized what he did, he tried to kill himself. I’m not sure how, he didn’t specify. His dad was also an abusive drunk douchebag, who occasionally beat him up. He told the story pretty calmly. I really hope he’s doing much better now."

10. ariannegreyjoy's friend dated a guy who had sex with his cousin.

"My friend was telling me about how jealous she was of her boyfriend spending time with one of his female cousins instead of her."

"Me: “I mean, that’s his family though, don’t you think you’re being a bit psycho getting jealous of him spending time with his own cousin?”

"Her: “Well he fucked his other one!”

Me: “............I’m sorry, WHAT??!”

"Turns out he’d lost his virginity to a different female cousin when they were teenagers 💀"

11. SpiderSmoothie's sister married into a very questionable family.

"My sister is married to a man that had two daughters by one of his cousins. One of the children, she thinks, was conceived during a threesome between them."

Yeah. Bad part is that my niece and nephew know that their cousins are their sisters also. It's really messed up. Also, fun fact that I find absolutely hilarious considering the current memes going around, guess where my brother-in-law is from?

12. sleepdaddy knows a horrible family secret.

"I found it out myself. My immediate older sister is cheating on her husband with my oldest sister's husband. Both the couple seem to be in a happy and healthy marriage with kids. Wtf!"

"Edit : Sorry for keeping you guys hanging. Now to answer your questions - No they do not know that i know. And yes we do see them on family occasions."

"My cheating sister is always on her phone, doesn't attend late night family meetings between cousins and one night i saw her chatting. It was really late. So next day i check her phone (i wish i didn't) and BAM! Wall of romantic and intimate texts. Seems like they masturbate on video calls and exchange pictures and videos. Cant say for sure if they have slept yet but my sister is very eager to."

"I just told my younger brother and my fiancée only; was almost about to spill it out to my mom but didn't wanna ruin two families. Also my sister acts like a saint in front of us. Also the cheating brother in law is kinda asshole to us so we(me my brother and my cousins) don't like him, cheating sister pretends to dislike him in front if us but the chat says otherwise."

13. ailatesor worked with a full on arsonist.

"This girl I worked with over the summer told me how she burnt down her highschool.

And we worked at a summer camp. None of the parents knew the girl watching their kids was a fucking arsonist"

14. CoffeeInBot survived evening news hell.

"It was in 6th grade, and I was about 11 years old at the time. A girl in my class had been missing from school for quite a while. We asked our teacher what the problem was, but she refused to answer. We then kind of just let it slide and didn't think about it anymore. A few weeks later, there was a story in the news about a 12 year old girl, who had been impregnated by a 39 year old man."

"We joked around saying that it was probably her, until she finally came to class one morning and told everyone that it was true. I have literally never seen a classroom that silent before in my life."

15. skeletorsleftlung's coworker accidentally had a Game of Thrones style love affair.

"I've told the story on here before, but a girl I worked with once told me about her first love. They dated for a while, fell madly in love and lost their virginities to each other. Her family situation was weird. Her parents weren't married, but when her dad was in town, her parents were a couple and when he wasn't they weren't. Well one of the times that he was in town, she introduced him to her boyfriend."

"They got along and got to talking and he asked about the kids family. After the kid went home, her dad told her she couldn't see him anymore. Turns out he was the kid's father. She'd unknowingly fallen in love with and lost her virginity to her half brother. And yes, I know this also happened on an episode of House. I was told this story back in '99 before that show was a thing."

16. thisiscreative2020's ex had specific desires.

"My ex-girlfriend told me that she was into macrophilia, like she wanted to be a giant and shit and for me to be small and shove me into her snatch. it always freaked me out when she brought it up. I haven’t told anyone except you fine people of reddit."

17. canadadryistheshit knows about their aunt's painful past.

"I always thought my Aunt who suffers from a bit of depression and anxiety never had children because of depression and anxiety. However, I managed to piece some things together. I was with her last month and we were talking about life and catching up. I'm finally an adult so we talked more about life in general, got onto the topic of religion. She had later revealed to me that she was gang raped by a few catholic boys at her church, which is why she left religion. I later asked my mother (her sister) about it and I come to find out a really morbid story."

"It's a long story but I will tl;dr it."

"My aunt was raped at night in a park. She was pregnant and sent off to another state by my grandparents for her senior year of high school. She had the child but a family adopted the child. My aunt returned to her home state. 6 years later my mom was sitting at the bar my Aunt was bar-tending at, noticed my aunt was off. My Aunt received a letter from the adopted child's family notifying her that her child was killed in a car accident that day. Only my mother, my aunt and my grandparents were aware of this as they kept it under the radar from the entire family. Now I know and honestly wish I hadn't."

"I always thought my aunt was moody but now I can understand why. I wish I could do something for her."

"Edit: This was over 30 years ago. Which is why I say, "I wish I could do something for her." - She didn't tell me details past the rape story. My mother told me the rest. So clearly she has been holding this in for almost her entire life and doesn't want people to know. I live extremely far away from my aunt as well. It's not like I can just show up at her doorstep. This is something where I told myself to tread lightly. I see her once every few years. While I am close with her, I'm in no position to help with her grievance process other than to see her every couple of years."

"I lost two of my good friends from high school and I prefer to never be asked about it because I've accepted the way I handle those losses years later. Obviously, if she was having life threatening issues over this I would intervene but my aunt is stable. Thank you for your concerns everyone, I wish she could see the comments and support but I think I'd be opening a can of worms that would cause a family meltdown. - Some things are better left unsaid and untouched. She does not know that I know."

18. Marmite_and_icecream has to watch their daughter like a hawk.

"My next door neighbour has recently been arrested and charged with historic child sex offences and is awaiting trial, but because he has not gone to trial yet we cannot do anything about it since innocent until proven guilty even though we have a 7 year old daughter that he has shown a keen interest in (we thought he was just a lonely old man trying to be nice)."

"So now we have a few months wait to see what is going to happen. Have to resist the urge to tell anyone in the area and even though it makes me sick, legally if I do anything I will end up in jail myself, So we have to just be very vigilant where he is concerned and keep him at arms length without letting on to our girl that he may be a 'bad man'."

19. Olderthanrock got the insider scoop on how ACAB.

"Chicago detective told me how they would wrap a dry cleaner bag over someone’s face to get them to sign a confession."

20. PaterMcKinley's wife has a cousin who was purchased.

"My wife told me that one of her cousins is actually a baby bought from another family member who was "too young" to keep the baby."

20 people share the most disturbing secrets they've ever been told. The cousin is the daddy.