When someone knows they're about to die, it's not uncommon for them to drop a bomb of truth on loved ones. Sometimes it's a petty or funny confession, while other times it's a dark secret that was kept sealed up for years.
While receiving an emotional bomb on top of grief itself can feel overwhelming for those left behind, it makes sense for the dying to feel at peace with unleashing their mess.
They don't have to worry about answering tough questions or getting emotionally reamed when they're dead, so why not let one final cat out of the bag, consequences for the living be damned?!
In a popular Reddit thread, people shared the most shocking deathbed confessions they've witnessed, and it's further proof that you never truly know what someone is capable of.
1. From Pleasebeunique27:
I'm a medical student and I had a female patient who was new to our practice who was HIV positive. I needed to ask her how she got the virus i.e Sexual or IV drugs. She tells me it was sexually transmitted, and the only reason she got tested was because her partner of 3 years last words to her as he was dying in hospice was "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you; forgive me." Heavy stuff.
Edit: to be clear he died of cancer and not of AIDS. Some people believe it was AIDS that killed him and my patient should have already known at this point, this was not the case. Another Edit: she has been positive for 20 years, no symptoms, and is undetectable all her number are great! Medicine has come a long way and HIV does not equal a death sentence in most patients.
2. From bacaflaca:
My uncle's last words were to my aunt, he said "don't let the f*cking mortician take my gold teeth."
3. From MartijnCvB:
I have a good and a bad story for this thread. I'll start with the good.
It's not exactly on the death bed, but as close as she was able to at the time. My aunt had cancer. She knew she was going to die and she knew it would probably be in less than a week. She couldn't eat and drinking was hard. She wanted to be sedated heavily (kept asleep permanently, essentially) for the last few days because "this whole dying thing sucks and I've had more than enough".
So fair enough, a doctor is called up, a plan is made and carried out. The last thing my aunt said before going under for the rest of her life was "Ah, I see the stars, they're sweet and run carefree. Gather them up..." and that's when she went under. She died 3 days later.
Nobody knows what she meant. But somehow, those last words fit her, so my uncle (her husband) got them tattooed on his chest, over his heart.
The bad:
My other uncle had been in a car accident. It was bad. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, he said "tell my wife that Wendy is my daughter and I love her" (name changed for privacy). He died a few minutes later because of internal bleeding.
Wendy was the neighbors' then 5 year old child. That caused a huge sh*tstorm, I can tell you.
4. From tay-lorde:
My dad was adopted from a woman who went to my grandparent's church and got pregnant out of wedlock. My grandpa confessed on his deathbed that he had actually had an affair with that woman and he was my dad's real father, which was why he suggested adopting him in the first place.
5. From MoltenLarv:
I was told by my father that in addition to 2 other kids he had that I knew of, there were more children of his out there. Also that only 2 if his kids were with the same woman.
4 of them showed up at his service (in addition to the other 2), making it 7 of us present.
We also found out that he may have had other kids elsewhere but my family kept really poor records of things, so I have never found out who they are. Most of that was word of mouth from old friends of his.
Weird note, but all of us got together and now stay in contact. We had a good amount in common and see each other when we can!
6. From burlinbert:
I had an old uncle who refused to die until his life long mistress came to see him. When he was young he was in a new country and met an amazing woman, but when he went home to visit an arranged marriage was set for him, and his father was ill so he ended up staying and having kids. He later immigrated back with his new family and found his old love had never moved on. He never stopped loving her either.
They got back together. Both women knew of each other but never met. His kids called her aunty and knew of her but never met her. On his deathbed he kept on fighting to live, his son asked him do want to see aunty, he eyes grew tired as he tried to communicate. The son called aunty to let her know my uncle was dying. She said she knew, and was waiting in her car out in the parking lot. Aunty came to see him and within 5 minutes he passed away in her arms.
7. From jonbabe:
My mother died when I was 11 of stage 4 cancer. While she was on hospice at home, my grandmother (on my dad's side) was standing by the bed. She woke up, heavily medicated, pointed and said "What are you doing here, I never liked you."
Not especially "shocking" but hilarious. It sounds heartless, but my grandmother gave my mom hell when she was alive. My other grandmother (mom's mom) tried to hold in laughter as she told her she taught her better than that.
8. From secretoldy:
As my mother lay in her hospice bed dying of cancer she beckoned me closer to her and said "I've hidden the money...I've hidden the money in the..." she was having trouble speaking and getting breath and her voice was cracking. She tried one last time "The money's in the..." She closed her eyes, her breath stopped and her head slumped to one side. A few seconds later she burst out laughing. She was pranking me. She died three days later.
9. From dhbobers:
My grandpa told my dad he loved him for the first time when he was dying from cancer. Grandpa was a drunk all throughout my dad's childhood and had a strained relationship with the family. So this was pretty surprising to hear from him.
10. From picksandchooses:
My mom told me about the death of her father, my grandfather, and his last words to her. She said he was on his deathbed and it was obvious he was nearing the end. He motioned her over to tell her something. She went over, leaned in close, expecting some declaration of his love for her or some deeply insightful.
He said "The good family silverware is hidden in the ventilation system about 15 feet out from the furnace." She looked at him like he was crazy. He said "What!! We travel a lot and that's where I hid it. That sh*t's expensive!" He died the next morning.
11. From cerem86:
My mom's aunt, when she was dying, revealed she'd had the hots for my dad for years. He claimed to be mad he never married her after divorcing my mom since she had some money to her name.
12. From ignoramusaurus:
I met a lady on a train to Edinburgh who was really nervous because she was on the way to meet her brother for the first time in 70 years. Her parents had told her that he died when he was one, but they'd given him away because they couldn't afford so many kids. She didn't find out he was still alive until her Mother confessed it on her deathbed.
13. From momocazzo:
Me and all of my cousins were gathered around my grandfathers hospice bed as he laid dying. Each and every one of my cousins (there's a lot of us) gave him a kiss and tried to talk to him/said they loved him, etc. But he wouldn't respond to any of them, just stared.
Until I came up. I sat on the edge of his bed, holding his hand. Everyone was watching us. He looked at me and said, "I don't like Mexican food."
And that was it.
14. From jlamer:
I have a great aunt that passed away when I was 17. Just before she did my older brother confessed to her that I was gay. She called me in and explained how our family has been through so much and that she was willing to totally accept me for who I am. I think that is great of her to be that open minded. Only one problem - I'm not gay. She never believed me because my brother had "confessed" it.
15. From katmaniac:
I had a hospice patient who asked everybody, "Is it December 13th?" Since mid-November she had been asking this. We'd hear this question multiple times every day and just assumed it was a family member's birthday or something.
December 13 finally rolls around, and that's the day she dies.
16. From Kaslyne04:
My mom was from China though we are now happily residing in an European country. We went back to China for my grandmother's last few weeks as she was dying from terminal cancer.
On my grandma's last days, she requested that mom stay with her alone, and it was only then she revealed that my mom wasn't her biological kid. My grandma confessed that she has bought my m0m from a child trafficking ring (which was common in China), because she had tried for many years and still couldn't get pregnant.
My mother cried a lot, not only for the unimaginable pain that her biological parents likely went through in losing a baby, but also for the fact that my grandparents have went beyond to treat my mum as their little princess. They literally did treat my mom as their own. They were never abusive and only gave her the very best in life. They even willingly send my mom to the US for university education even though they aren't rich by any means.
17. From AhoyThereFancypants:
In Norway in 2005, a man asked his nurses to invite the police over to his room, and he then confessed to raping and killing two girls almost 30 years earlier. Not only that, but another man had been convicted of both crimes and spent 18 years in prison.
Wikipedia article about the innocent man who was convicted of the crimes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Moen
18. From Rndomguytf:
Geraldine Kelley, who confessed to having murdered her husband, and stuffed his body in a freezer for 13 years, to her children as she lay dying of cancer.
19. From paparazzi_rider:
Well, it was intended to be a deathbed confession, but she pulled through. My GF's mom told my GF her birth father's name after saying she didn't know, she was whoring around and couldn't remember. It was Orange County in the 80's and apparently my future mother in law f*cked and did drugs with most of the lowlifes in Southern California.
But she did know who my GF's dad was and finally told her after 30+ years. Turns out he now lived less than three blocks away in our small town in the Mohave desert. His kids look exactly like my GF did at their age. We didn't make contact, as his criminal record is a mile long and he's a sh*tty person by all evidence.
20. From NinjaDK:
My mother worked as a nurse in the biggest hospital in Copenhagen. A dude is terminally ill with cancer, has his wife, children and entire family next to him. He decides before he dies that he was gonna phone the girl he was cheating with on his wife, to meet up at the hospital when the entire family was there. My mother had to move the entire family into another room when she showed up, because of massive shouting and hysteria. What a selfish prick he was.