Does this question ring a bell with you? Did you perhaps see something when you were a little kid but you didn’t realize it was incredibly messed up until later in life?
AskReddit users shared their stories…if you have a similar tale, tell us about it in the comments.
1. Terrifying.
“When I was about 4 I was grocery shopping with my grandpa. I somehow got separated from him and was wandering around lost asking people where my grandpa was. Some guy said “ your grandpa is outside, I will take you to him”.
So I follow him outside, he tells me my grandpa is in his truck so he is opening the door for me to get in. Next thing I know, the guy gets thrown up against his truck, I look over and there is my grandpa strangling the guy. He called him a sick f*ck and said if he ever sees him around town again he will kill him. I was that close to putting the lotion on my skin.”
2. That is scary.
“When I was a kid my friend told me his dad would put cigarettes out on his arm as punishment – showed me a sh^t load of burns/scars he had as a result.”
3. Creeper.
“Went to the recycling centre with my mum and brother when I was about 5-6 years old. We were mid way through sorting out and recycling when my mum suddenly told us to get in the car and we drove off quite abruptly.
My mum told us that there was a naked man in the bushes watching us, and at the time I just thought it was quite weird/funny.”
4. Bad behavior.
“When i was in the fifth grade my mother was dating this drug addict. He went on to steal all our savings and left my mother. One day in the winter I stayed home from school, i heard a struggle going on and my mom saying ‘no’ ‘no’ when i came out of my room my moms boyfriend was on top of her with a knife to her throat.
They both looked at me and my mom starts yelling telling me to go back to bed, so i do. I called my dad and told him that they were having a fight again and mentioned a knife. My dad got there in record time, never seen him move so fast he ended up throwing the boyfriend down the stairs and i went to my grammys house for a couple weeks.”
5. Get back inside!
“Quick backstory: I was about 5 years old and the year prior my mother had contracted West Nile, due to severe encephalitis her optic nerves were crushed and she was left blind.
One evening I was trying to find my mom so she could tuck me into bed, but she was no where to be found. For some reason I had the idea to check outside. I saw her about 2 blocks away standing in the middle of the street without her cane. I was very confused so I ran inside to get dad. When He came out and ran to her he looked like he was having a really hard time convincing her to come to him. He also yelled at me to go back inside.
It wasn’t until about 16 or 17 did I realize what had really happened that evening. My mother was attempting to get hit by a car to try to kill herself.
She is much happier now and has accepted what life flung at her. She’s a very happy women (most days) and I hope one day she will be able to see again.”
6. An awful memory.
“I guess I was as much a part of this as I was a witness. When I was maybe 8 years old I was in Cub Scouts for a short while. On a camping trip in the middle of the night, one of the adult leaders pulled me and another boy out of our tents to go to the campground showers. I remember being confused since I didn’t think I had gotten that dirty, and it was a weird time and place to be taking a shower as it was something I only ever did at home.
At the showers I went down to my underwear, but was too shy to take it all off. I think the other boy did the same but I honestly don’t remember what the adult did (maybe I didn’t want to look). As far as I remember, I got back to the tent without much else happening, but I don’t know about the other boy.
This was in the early ’90s, and I didn’t think much about this event until like a few years ago.”
7. Drugstore cowboy.
“My buddy’s mom worked at a drs office and as part of her job would frequently call in prescriptions to the pharmacy under dr’s orders. Well, some time later, when her own kids got sick, rather then taking them to the dr to get the proper treatment, she’d just call in an antibiotic to the pharmacy under the guise of her former position at the dr office.”
8. Just sleeping…
“Watching my mom’s friend OD and her boyfriend telling us she’s just sleeping and having a bad dream. She later in the evening died on the couch and we had the cops and firetruck and ambulance at our house in the middle of the night. Because this dude was to scared to take her to the hospital.”
9. Oh boy…
“3 or 4. Lived in Iceland.
Had a babysitter, she was nice enough.
One day had a bunch of her “friends” over, like 3 dudes. She said if I stayed in my room all day she would take me to Wendy’s or some sh^t (probably, I’d do anything for Wendy’s).
Didn’t think much of it. Never saw her again after that day
Find out later from my parents that they got home early one day to find my babysitter in their bed with a bunch of dudes. Straight up gangbang.
So yeah that was interesting to recall when I found out.”
10. Yikes.
“Just the living conditions of the homes my childhood friends lived in. As a child, you’re so innocent, and COMPLETELY oblivious to any obvious, overt drug usage/abuse, shady people, ect. Never witnessed anything too crazy, but still looking back now I’m like, ‘yikes’ lol.”
11. A witness to a tragedy.
“My mom, dad, younger sister and myself (I was probably 6-7, my sister being 4-5) were driving across a bridge. I saw a lady with her legs hanging off the bridge, just sitting and looking around. Then I saw her jump. I told my parents what I saw, I don’t remember what happened after that.
But I do remember listening (don’t think they knew I could hear them) to my parents talking later on at home about how they found the lady’s body, dead in the river. So I saw someone commit suicide when I was 6.”
12. Still looking for answers.
“When I was really young (elementary school) me and my sister got our own cameras. Mine was loony tunes themed and said things like ‘what’s up, doc?’ When you pushed the button to take a picture, and my sister had a Barbie one that said things like ‘let’s go shopping!’
We’d had them for a full year before the Barbie camera went missing. My sister didn’t know where it was for at least a full summer. We find it again one day in her closet. It was spring, I remember because my walks from the bus stop to the house were pleasant and it was the first year I was allowed to take the walk by myself!
The film for the Barbie camera was processed and a week later my parents sit me and my sister down for a serious talk. The camera had developed and some of the pictures on it were being called into question. We were explained that the police were going to be at our house the following day to talk to us about them. I was so scared, I remember crying on the bus on the way home.
They found various pictures of 2 little girls, from the shoulders down, wearing nothing but underwear. I still have no idea how these pictures were taken. My sister claims she has no idea either, but we ended up telling the police that we had taken them ourselves after they pressured us about it. I wasn’t even old enough to wear bras yet and didn’t recognize the ones worn in the photos.
I was never abused as a child, and as far as I know neither was my sister. Sometimes I think about it and I can’t figure out wtf happened. Where was the camera for so long? Who were the girls in the pictures? Who took the pictures? Did I black something out of my memories (I doubt this) or is there something my sister isn’t telling me? I’m 25 now, but I don’t think I’m ever going to get any answers.”
13. Flat-out wrong.
“When I was in second grade some girl I barely knew invited all the girls in our class to her birthday pool party and the invitation said to bring a swimsuit to change into, so I did of course. When it was time to swim her dad told everybody to change in her bedroom because it would be faster.
So all 4 of us she didn’t have much friends so nobody really showed up walked into her room and pulled out our swimsuits, but me being self conscious and shy refused to change in front of the other girls so I opened the door of her room to go to the bathroom across the hall when I literally ran into her dad, he was standing outside her room watching all the girls undress.
He smiled really widely and was rubbing his crotch from outside of his jeans and asked me if I needed help but I just shook me head and ran to the bathroom.
I later asked her why he was watching us and she said he always does that and he usually helps her get dressed every morning for school. It wasn’t until waaayyy later that I suddenly remembered all of this and I really regret not realising how wrong that was at the time or saying anything.”
14. Ignored.
“I thought it was perfectly normal for mothers to ignore their kids for weeks at a time.
This lasted until my father drove across country in a busted up Toyota he bought when my mother dumped me at her grandparents while she moved to Hawaii with her boyfriend who was a fan of beating the sh^t out of her.
She tried to reconnect a decade after the fact but I had since replaced her with my paternal grandmother.”
15. Ugh!
“My sister’s boyfriend volunteered to give me a ride to school when I was about 8. He decided to “treat me” by taking me to breakfast first.
During the meal he proceeded to tell me how badly he wished I was older because he wanted to be with me.”
Wow, that’s some disturbing stuff, right? Just that story of the dad and the bathing suits… I need a shower. Or maybe not. I’m so confused!
And what kind of mother would just ignore their kids for week’s at a time?
Alright, we’re not going to ask you to share any disturbing stories… but which one of these did you find MOST disturbing? Let us know in the comments!