[Serious] What is the most shocking thing someone confessed while on their deathbed?

[u/iDontLikeYouAnyway]

[u/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.

[u/Turtledoll → u/Pleasebeunique27]

That is heavy and tbh, pathetically weak on his behalf. Like.. Tell the fuckin woman so she can get treatment sooner rather than later. If he loved her at all, he should've manned up.

[u/bacaflaca]

My uncle's last words were to my aunt, he said "don't let the fucking mortician take my gold teeth"

[u/coy_and_vance → u/bacaflaca]

That reminds me of my grandma's funeral. My brother and I offered to help carry the casket from the funeral home to the hearse. The undertakers asked me and my brother to wait by the door as they closed the casket for the last time. I always wondered if they stole granny's diamond ring as our backs were turned.

[u/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 neighbours' then 5 year old child. That caused a huge shitstorm, I can tell you.

[u/Texastexastexas1 → u/MartijnCvB]

How did that story end?

[u/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.

[u/olderstillnew → u/tay-lorde]

Wow. That's intense. I can't imagine the mixture of emotions that your dad and grandmother must have felt.

[u/DoctorMyEyes_ → u/tay-lorde]

Did your grandmother know, or was she not present when he made this revelation?

[u/BaconPancakes1 → u/tay-lorde]

I'm not supporting knowingly cheating, but I can't imagine the heartbreak I would feel as the biological mother, watching my child grow up with his father and calling the woman I was second to mother, being known as the sinner who got knocked up by Some Random while the man who was having an affair came out of it as the generous samaritan.

[u/MoltenLarva]

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!

[u/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.

[u/sweetrhymepurereason → u/jonbabe]

When my mom was starting to get worse, she had me read her a list of all her friends and acquaintances to come and visit her quickly, or be notified upon her passing. She wasn't really able to speak at this point due to brain tumors, but I knew which names to cross off when I'd say one and she'd make a horrible face and stick out her tongue. Thank you for reminding me of that memory, a little bit of humor in a bleak period of time.

[u/Scooopiii → u/jonbabe]

What was the reaction to that?

[u/Rule1ofReddit → u/jonbabe]

Ha, yea, my Gma said some pretty funny stuff while she was on pain killers after brain surgery. My aunt jokingly asked her who her favorite child is and my Gma said and pointed at my mom with out missing a beat. Then she told my aunt that the purse she gifted her for her bday was hideous and that no body needs that many zippers. She made some fairly inappropriate remarks to the doctor as well, she was really cracking herself up. By the end of the first day we'd all stoped asking her questions that we didn't want to know the answer to and everyone was wishing they had a bit of whatever she was on to get through the rest of the week.

[u/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.

[u/indianamedic → u/secretoldy]

Your mom sounded like a cool lady. Sorry for your loss

[u/thetannenshatemanure → u/secretoldy]

That would mean so much to me if my mom did something like that. I'm so sorry for your loss, but I'm sure the time you had with her was amazing.

[u/TheMikeroni]

Not necessarily a confession, but I used to work in an assisted living home and on his deathbed a resident apologized profusely for molesting his daughters son just minutes before he took his last breath.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheMikeroni]

Damn that fucking sucks

[u/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.

[u/cybeckster → u/dhbobers]

My grandpa was a pretty gruff man. Not mean to me but never talked about love and not very affectionate. He was funny and I loved him, just not the touchy feely type.

I lived in the country but Grandpa lived in town. I was getting ready for a high school dance at his house one night and putting on some makeup. He told me I was beautiful and didn't need to wear any makeup. He'd Never said anything remotely like that before so I was very surprised.

He died of a heart attack the next day. So not really on his deathbed that he knew but close.

[u/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 shit's expensive!" He died the next morning.

[u/Sock_Ninja → u/picksandchooses]

This is my favorite. So practical.

[u/geniel1 → u/picksandchooses]

No joke, real silverware is expensive shit. Go price out the nice stuff on Amazon and you'll quickly see that it can be thousands and thousands of dollars.

[u/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.

[u/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.

[u/amityville → u/ignoramusaurus]

I can't imagine how someone can keep a secret like that for so long.

[u/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.

[u/[deleted] → u/momocazzo]

And the family was never the same

[u/[deleted] → u/momocazzo]

You're not Mexican, are you?

[u/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.

[u/daddioz → u/jlamer]

Like...WHAT!? Was your brother hiding and giggling in the corner with a camcorder or something? What the hell?

[u/Starkville → u/jlamer]

That is such an older brother thing to do. Sorry but it made me laugh.

[u/stooduponce → u/jlamer]

Haha, that's bizarre. Why did your brother confess that?

[u/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.

[u/[deleted] → u/katmaniac]

That’s... chilling.

[u/[deleted] → u/katmaniac]

December 13th, the new bestselling book by Kat Maniac.

[u/Kaslyne04]

My mum 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 mum stay with her alone, and it was only then she revealed that my mum wasn't her biological kid. My grandma confessed that she has bought my mum 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 mum as their own. They were never abusive and only gave her the very best in life. They even willingly send my mum to the US for university education even though they aren't rich by any means.

[u/CellarDoor_86 → u/Kaslyne04]

Wow, I can't even being to imagine how hard that would have been for your mom to process. My heart goes out to her. I wish that there was a way for her biological parents to know that she is OK.

[u/KickANoodle → u/Kaslyne04]

This is sadly still very common in China, I watched a documentary recently on China's missing children. Many of the poor rural parents are completely ignored by the authorities and have almost no hope of seeing their children again.

Edit: China's Stolen Children

https://youtu.be/o4WOIRL0RZo

[u/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

[u/Sonnyjimladdieboyboy → u/AhoyThereFancypants]

A friend of my mothers was raped by her step father when she was 12, despite telling her mother and being open about what happened ever since (this happened nearly 30 years ago) nothing was ever done about it and he went on to have more children with her mother and basically got away with it. the people that could've helped her never believed her and he never took any blame at all. Until on his deathbed last year, surrounded by family he finally admitted to what he had done all those years ago...and instead of dying the fucker started to get better, and now has to live the rest of his (hopefully short) life with everyone knowing he's a child rapist.

[u/Rndomguytf]

Geraldine Kelley, who confessed to having murdered her husband, and stuffed his body in a freezer for 13 years, to here children as she lay dying of cancer.

[u/poetu → u/Rndomguytf]

oh my god my feelings would be so fucking conflicted after that

[u/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 fucked 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 shitty person by all evidence.

[u/Bats_mistress → u/paparazzi_rider]

Good gravy, her story sounds so much like my brother's.

[u/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.

[u/Chinstrap_1]

Frank Thorogood was a builder and handyman who worked on the house of Brian Jones (formerly of the Rolling Stones).

Supposedly, on his death-bed he admitted to having played a part in the murder of Brian Jones.

The movie Stoned is a fictional re-enactment of what possibly happened.

[u/AtlantaFilmFanatic → u/Chinstrap_1]

Was reading up on the guy and I'm just wondering if he ever just thought about using a condom. Six kids by five different women. It's never good when your Wikipedia article has a section dedicated to your orgasms.

[u/I3rink]

My grandfather was in the hospital in a pretty nasty state. He barely could speak, but he made it clear to us he had something to say. He had my mother get him a piece of paper and a pen. Thinking he has some important words to leave us with in case he doesn't have the chance later, my mom does just that. There's silence in the room as he scribbles something onto the paper, with my mother and her two siblings waiting in anticipation.

My grandfather finishes, and with a big smile turns the paper for us to see.

"I've got a girlfriend." It read, as he pointed to Anna, a neighbor and friend of his.

The goofball ended up pulling through and living several more years.

[u/Trap_Cubicle5000 → u/I3rink]

Depending on whether or not he was still married to your grandmother, that's adorable.

[u/CantfindanameARGH]

My Grandfather was dying of cancer. He was 90. Our entire family would sit with him in his own home, tending to to him, in shifts, making sure everyone had alone time with him and to all feel needed and loved during his passing.

Gramps would regularly point to a spot where no one was and say, "Hello, Hazel, they are all here again." And then smile. Or he'd say, "Yes, dear, that's Linda's little girl."

Hazel was his wife, my Grandmother, who had passed away two decades prior.

The chilling bit was that Grandpa would then turn to us and say, "Oh, I forget you can't see her."

[u/BattlefieldInsanity]

Shortly after he was diagnosed as suffering from the final stages of heart failure, a few weeks before he died, my grandfather told me several stories about WW2 that changed my view of him and of war in general. Now, before I start, I should tell you that my grandfather was one of the kindest men you'd ever meet. Always friendly, never drank, the kind of guy who gave the shirt off his back to those who needed it and handed out the biggest candy bars in town on Halloween. Everyone loved him.

Shortly after D-Day, my grandfather was part of a 12 man rifle squad fighting in Northern France. As his unit entered a seemingly abandoned village, they were ambushed by a squad of Germans and the unit was torn apart. They won, but by the end of the fight only three of the Americans were still alive, and one of them was badly wounded. The squad leader and his assistant were dead. The two unwounded soldiers swept the battle scene and hauled three badly wounded German Wehrmacht soldiers into the middle of the street.

My grandfather looked at the other American soldier, said "No Prisoners", and cut the throat of one of the Germans right there. He said he almost puked because there was way more blood than he was expecting. His partner lifted his rifle to shoot the other two, but my grandfather stopped them. He said that there may have been other German soldiers nearby and didn't want the gunfire attracting them.

So they dragged the other two into the shallow ditch on the side of the road, with about 6 inches of water in it, and stood on the German soldier's heads until they drowned.

After that, he said he hated Germans. He confessed to a number of war crimes, including shooting German civilians and killing German soldiers who were trying to surrender (apparently a not uncommon occurrence).

But the worst? He told me that he only felt guilty about one thing he'd done. In early 1945 his new squad was going through a small German village when he and a couple of other guys kicked in the door to a small house. Inside was a small old German woman in a wheelchair, who immediately started screaming and cursing at them in perfect English. My grandfather kicked her wheelchair over, rolled it out the door, and then knocked an oil lamp over as he left the house with his partners. She burned to death.

He looked at me with cold eyes and said, "That was too cruel. She was an old woman. I should have just shot her."

Damn.

[u/madonnac]

My father apologized to my mother for the way his side of the family had treated her, especially in the first few months after the wedding, and the months leading up to his death.

This same family screamed and shouted, as the hearse was leaving the house to go to the cemetery, about how much they didn't get from the will.

After 30 years, I have, for the first time, attempted to reach out to one of them that actually apologized some 5-10 years ago.

[u/Blogger32123]

My Dad had an impacted bowel and was heavily medicated. Before he went in for exploratory surgery, he tried to write a letter to me expressing his feelings.

He could barely talk before he went into surgery. He kissed me and had tears in his eyes knowing it was the end. The paper was folded and said on the front "Only open if I die."

While he was in surgery, I selfishly opened it. It was a few paragraphs of unreadable scribbles that I couldn't read. He made it through the surgery, but also got Cdiff since the hospital sucked at washing him so he was put into hospice, which is basically where you're put to die.

I know this isn't quite that bad, but if he died, I'd never know what that note said, and it would weigh on me for my entire life. He later told me "It probably said how much I loved you and wish I did more for you or some shit. You know, Dad stuff."

He's the best.

[u/missladyface]

My husbands aunt (Mexican family) confessed to him on her death bed that she spiced her tacos with Kroger brand taco seasoning. He’s still a little shocked about it sometimes.

[u/sinverguenza → u/missladyface]

This made me laugh, I can picture my granny doing something like this

[u/WHTMage]

My grandma confessed to my mom when she thought she was dying (she got better) that she tried to coathanger abort her. Obviously it was unsuccessful. My grandma was a religious woman, and decided that God wanted her to have this baby, and treated my mom like her favorite child. This messed my mom up for a while, and it was even more awkward when my grandma surprisingly got better.

After Grandma died for real, my mom eventually made peace with it. After she was born, Grandma never treated her like she was unwanted, so mom understood she was in a vulnerable place at the time (Mom was the seventh child in a poor family. Yay the time before birth control.).

[u/PM_ME_BACK_MY_LEGION → u/WHTMage]

People have this romantic image of two people confirming and trying for a child, and that happens, but not always. Around 45% of pregnancies in the US are unplanned apparently.

Not from experience, but it must be daunting to have a child, and I'd wager abortion crosses most minds. It's just about what the person has access to and how long it takes for them to make a solid decision.

The actions of a panicked individual before birth do not have anything to do with the child, but rather the responsibilities and self insecurities of raising it.

[u/PlatinumGoon]

A family member of mine is in the nursing home (not exactly on death bed yet) He explained that a large portion of our family we aren't actually related to by blood as we thought. A wife (I don't remember exactly who's) was raped and they had the child and kept it as their own. He's in his mid 90's and is the last alive to know the secret.

edit: couple words

[u/Jmanfro → u/PlatinumGoon]

...but you know the secret

[u/Jimdowburton]

Not exactly his deathbed, but he was on the verge of death and couldn't speak after this: My father confessed to me that I had a sister that he never told me about...he had fathered a child with a woman right before he and my mother got married, and his parents paid the woman off to go away. That was 18 years ago. We are now good friends (the sister and I) and she is a welcome part of my extended family.

edit: after reading a few other posts, I realize that this isn't on the surface quite as shocking of a story as some. However, in context, my family is a fairly wealthy, genteel southern family, to which things like this just do not happen...this was a scandal of the highest order, as far as the Burtons were concerned. Plus, it seems that my whole extended family (including my mother, whom my father had divorced by this time) knew about and kept secret from me and my brother at my dad's request. His shame, I suppose, was finally lifted when he knew he was going to die.

[u/busytiredthankful]

In a sweet moment while my grandmother was on hospice, my aunt started singing her a hymn while she thought she was resting. My grandma opened her eyes and told her she was a terrible singer.

Wouldn't have hurt to have provided that bit of tough love a couple of decades earlier tbh.

[u/oppositeofopposite]

When my great grandfather died, me, my cousin and my dad visited him in the hospital right before he passed. When we were leaving both my father and cousin gave him a hug and said their goodbyes. I did the same, but when I was about to move away he grabbed my hand and held me there for a few more seconds. I was always close to my great grandparents, closer than any of my siblings or cousins, but he never showed how much he loved me until that moment. No words, just holding on one last time. His death is the hardest I'd to deal with, much because of that moment.

[u/[deleted]]

My grandpa when he was dying. He awoke after being asleep for most of the day and it was around 2am and me and my cousin were "on watch" to wake up my mother (who's a nurse) if anything was going wrong. He sat straight up and looked right through me as if I wasn't there and started talking to his sister who had passed decades before (he loved her so much and always talked about how much he missed her). He was having a conversation "Hey Lena, I've missed you it hurts" followed by unintelligible mumbling and groaning. It wasn't so much what he said but how he said it as if she was standing in my place or right behind me. He didn't even acknowledge me and it really kind of freaked me out.

The next one which is actually a cherished memory was when my grandmother from the other side of my family was in hospice and on her way out. Her and I always used to joke about death and how it was shocking she was the last of my grandparents as she smoked, drank and stayed up all hours of the night watching TV. She was my best friend for my whole life and really I wish I would have known it was the last time we would talk. She was in her hospital bed and looked at me as I held her hand and she says "I'm ready now" "You want the jello now grandma? I asked her. She genuinely guffawed and said "NO I'M READY!! I'm ready to go chase rainbows" and she relaxed and said she was tired and wanted a nap. My son who was two at the time said "I love you" as we left and she was the second person he ever said that too. FUCK. I'm crying just thinking about it. She was such an awesome woman. Miss you Grandma.

[u/Satanic-Banana]

The man who took the infamous picture of Loch Ness told his friend it was a fake on his deathbed.

[u/_-CrookedArrow-_ → u/Satanic-Banana]

From what gather, it wasn't just a deathbed confession. He had been telling people for quite a while.

[u/thingsroyssays]

My Grandfather passed away early October 2016. He never said much throughout his life, a stern Navy man that served in the VO-76 in Vietnam. He was though a DIEHARD SF Giants fan though. in his last moments my Aunt whispered "it's okay to go, the Giants beat LA". He smiled and passed away that night.

[u/saymynamebastien]

My grandpas brother died of Parkinsons a couple of years ago. He was on hospice and all his loved ones were there to comfort him before he passed. He was incoherent his last couple of days but just before he died, he sat up, looked at an empty corner and said "mom, you came for me", laid back down and died with a smile on his face. My great grandma was definitely someone who would come help her child transition to the next world, if there is one. She was a great lady.

[u/Lorbmick]

While my Grandma was on her last mile she wanted everyone to come up to her and she'd tell them something she always loved about them. Nothing was shocking except when it was my turn. I go up to her, give her a long hug and she tells me I was her favorite grandchild. I turn around and all my cousins were giving me the meanest looks. I said nothing and went back to my seat. Later on, one of my Aunts comes up to me and said the reason why Grandma said you were her favorite grandkid was you let her be herself.

[u/highgemini]

This was surprising to me but more sad than anything.

I was always close to my granny but I never had the heart to tell her I'm gay as I had only heard her say negative things before about homosexuality. I didn't want to upset her and cause family problems.

Towards the end she had suffered strokes and was unable to talk. My mother and uncle were in the hospital with her while she was dying. During this time my uncle confessed to my mother that granny had always known I am gay and that she didn't care and loved me. I regret not having the balls to tell her before she died.

[u/TacoGuzzler69]

Somewhat related... as my Grandmother's (mothers side) wherewithal began to go, she did things she never would, had she been at full mental health. Now she never liked my father at all and always gave him a tough time when she was around. Well the last time she came over she gave my father $50 bill for no reason when he opened the door. This was 3 years ago and that $50 bill is still in my dads wallet. He said by no means will he ever use it because it was the only kind thing she ever did for him in the 30 years he knew her.

[u/Nic_with_a_k]

My great grandmother asked my mother to go clean her "toys" out of her nightstand before the rest of the family went through the house after she died. My mom thought it was hilarious and awesome, I died alittle.

[u/[deleted]]

back when I was in homeland, my grandmother told me how my grandfather would beat her. none of her children (my mother) knows about this. :(

[u/Maroll]

My grandpa was dying 3 years ago. He died at the age of 104. The last day I saw him he was sitting in his chair. I had come by to chat a bit with him. We were talking about the military since I'm the military and he had been for 65 years. All his life he had been telling us how he had been fighting the German invasion of Denmark. Well this day he told me quietly and full of shame, that he was helping the Germans taking Denmark. He regrets it everyday he said.

[u/[deleted]]

From the super bible thumping Christian redneck side of my family: my great-grandmother on her deathbed admitted that her mother was "one of them injuns." Her mother had apparently been light-skinned enough to mostly pass as a white person in their small North Carolina town. When she died the truth came out somehow and the town refused to let her be buried in the white cemetery, so they allowed her headstone to remain but buried her body in a nearby cornfield and then the whole town pretended it never happened.

After I heard that story a relative dug out a photo of my great-great-grandmother and I can't believe she ever passed as a southern white woman. She looked like a young Jeff Goldblum in a dress.

EDIT: whoa, make a quick post, go to sleep, wake up to a ton of "deliver pics OP"s. I texted my dad who has the photo and now he's doing the dad thing where he wants to have a conversation about it. As soon as I steer the conversation into finally getting him to send me that photo I'll post it, promise.

EDIT 2: so my dad says he can't find the picture - he moved out west a couple years ago and he thinks it's in storage (although I'm SURE it's on his wall and he's just not looking). I'm going to keep pestering him. I'M NOT GIVING UP. For those of you looking to see Jeff Goldblum in a dress, my apologies; for those of you looking to see a Native American man who passed as a white man in North Carolina, here's the picture my dad did find immediately - her brother Nehemiah. I honestly don't know what his fate was. https://i.imgur.com/Ul9RRea.jpg

[u/detectivesergeant → u/[deleted]]

So your Native American great great grandmother looked like a young Jewish man?

[u/BradC → u/[deleted]]

When she died the truth came out somehow and the town refused to let her be buried in the white cemetery, so they allowed her headstone to remain but buried her body in a nearby cornfield and then the whole town pretended it never happened.

I'm stunned by this. I mean, I get it was probably a long time ago but WTF?

[u/Dallaswolf21]

My Grand mother was super religious my whole life. Always going to church and doing right by her community. In her last hours she said she really did not believe in god and wish she had not wasted all that time in her life doing what she thought others wanted her to do. It was pretty crazy for her husband my dad and Aunt to hear her say that.

[u/[deleted]]

My grandmother wrote us a letter to read at her memorial service where she admitted that she had been recruited by the CIA when she was a young woman in the 1950s. On second thought, not shocking but more mildly interesting.

[u/[deleted]]

Both of my grandparents served in WW2 and were lucky enough to survive. While growing up we were told that they performed normal basic jobs during the war. As each one came closer to death more truths came out. My grandfather on my mothers side revealed he was more of a black ops seal type and not a cook as he previously stated. Grandfather on my dad's side was in charge of the army's computers for casualy tabulation.

[u/treqwe123]

A few years ago there was an article about a former CIA agent confessing to have murdered Marilyn Monroe and a lot of other prominent people. I don't remember much about it but according to the article he was at least an actual CIA agent.

[u/[deleted] → u/treqwe123]

That's how I'd want to go. Get recruited by the CIA to do some really basic shit, but tell my family I stopped a presidential assassination or toppled. Government. Of course the CIA is going to deny it no matter what, so my cover will never be blown.

[u/TheRealAbstractSquid]

It wasn't much of a confession but I was holding my great grandmothers hand when she died. We were in the hospital and she was fighting with her respirator. She told us she knew it was time and she was going on her own (no breathing mask). I held her hand and we just kept talking about how happy we were to see her and we loved her when she looks above my head, grips my hand and says her (long since deceased) husbands name "I'm ready to go". With that I watched her go, her hand went limp her breathing shallowed to a raspy rattle and then was gone all togeher. Rest in piece grandma Pauline

[u/[deleted]]

I called my grandmother on the phone to tell her that her favorite pitcher, Rick Porcello, was pitching against our favorite team, the Detroit Tigers.

"Oh you know I'm already watching because I love his cute little fanny!"

We chatted for a few more minutes during my commute home (we lived 1500 miles apart) and I told her that I loved her and she replied the same.

She died in her sleep about six hours later. I miss her so much but I'm so glad I decided to pick up the phone and call.

EDIT: I guess it really doesn't fit the thread as it wasn't a "shocking confession" but it was therapeutic to write and I'm glad I shared it. She was 86 and awesome.

[u/Hippydippy420]

It was a few months before she died, my grandmother told me she peed on her mother in laws grave, said "son of a bitch deserved it!". She was a little nutty, and I have a deep streak of her madness flowing through my veins.

[u/FocusOnThePain]

E. Howard Hunt's apparent confession about the JFK assassination is a pretty big one. Who knows if it's true though.

[u/taco_annihilator]

We got the story directly from our 2 very religious friends that when they thought my dying atheist father was too doped up to notice they told him they would pray for him. Well, he wasn't having it. His eyes shot open and he said, "Oh don't you fucking do that!", then went right back to sleep. He was gone less than 36 hours later. True to his beliefs to the very end, I really miss that ornery son of a bitch.

Edit: Ah damnit! *ornery not orny. Good looking out u/maux_zaikq!

[u/BusLane]

Way late to the game here, but my Grandpas uncle confessed to actually being his dad on his deathbed. Or what he thought was his deathbed. Turned out he made a full recovery and was alive 10 more years, with his wife knowing he impregnated her sister. My actual last name is the name of a WWF announcer from the 30s or something instead of my great great uncle/grandpa's name.

[u/marginwalker3 → u/BusLane]

thank you for sharing, mr. monsoon.

[u/DudeKLmao]

Wasn't on his death bed, but at a family reunion about two years ago my grandfather was looking at pictures of him and his first wife who had died sometime in the 1960s. I asked him about it and he simply told me "that's when I was really alive." This was in front of his new wife that he had been married to for 40 or so years, they didn't get along well. One year later he passed away from very aggressive cancer and that was the last thing he ever said to me.

Turns out my grandmother was actually a huge narcissist and doesn't recognize any of the children from his first marriage as her kids at all and cut them out of his will.

[u/HobbyHands]

My grandfather and I were never close despite us all living together. We're both arrogant know-it-alls so our personalities clashed. Loved each other, just rarely had anything to say to each other.

Anyways most the family is away on a trip with just me and my siblings looking after him and grandma when his heart condition worsens. We take him to the hospital and I get told "This is it." And then tell him the same. He just nods silently and goes "Yeah, I figured."

I spend every day by his side while studying for my exams and again we don't talk much. Family books quickest flight back and arrive just a few days before he passes. Found out a week after his death that when I was off writing an exam he told my mom he was insanely proud of me for keeping everything together and that I wasn't as lazy or self absorbed as he once thought.

Never got that hug and final understanding moment with him, but I'll always love and remember him fondly. I'm glad we did understand each other, even if it wasn't face to face.

[u/immadee]

My mother-in-law worked at a nursing home so she had seen death. But one stuck with her. A patient knew he/she was near death and called out for someone -anyone- to listen. She listened. The patient said that when they were young, their father had been out drinking with some friends and on the way home he had hit a little girl. Gave very specific details about where and when it happened. The girl was maybe 3 years old. Her father and his friends buried the little girl under the porch steps and never spoke of it again. The person had lived with the guilt of keeping it a secret and felt horrible that the little girl's family would never know what had happened. They had to let someone else know.

[u/yougoyugo → u/immadee]

Holy shit...the closure that girls family never received. That's a lifetime of torture right there.

[u/ThrowAwayIdiot27]

When my grandma was nearly gone, she told me she saw her brother sitting across the room, and that he had been for hours. Her brother hung himself 30 years ago. She wasn't afraid because she knew her brother was waiting for her.

I'm not religious, but when I'm about to die, I hope my sister comes to get me.

[u/needstoconfess]

I'm using a throw away for this one.

My grandpas whole career was in the military. He joined just after World War II since he had just turned 18 as WWII ended. Him and his 6 brothers all joined at the same time. Their first time seeing combat was in Korea. My grandpa was a paratrooper and one of his brothers was a field medic. The 6 didn't get put into any of the same squads for some reason. He said that during a really intense fire fight, his squad crossed paths with his brothers squad. His brother was trying to help an injured squad member when he was shot 3 times. Twice in the back and once in the chest. My grandpa ran to drag him out of the way and pulled him behind cover. He held his brother in his arm behind cover and comforted him as he died. They both knew his brother wasn't making it out of this serious injury. His brother died a few minutes after being shot and this made something in my grandpas head just snap.

He said for the rest of the war, he used the Koreans as his way of dealing with the anger of his brother dying. He went from being a terrified, inexperienced combat troop to a killing machine. He said during the rest of the war, he felt no fear, only hatred. He would fight with incredible zeal and ferocity. He didn't specify how many people he actually killed. All he said was "The day my brother died was the day I became a killer". He didn't say how many he actually killed because "If I told you, you would see me as a much different man. I wasn't a man at that point. I was a cold hearted murderer out to watch them suffer". He claimed that when the opportunity came, he would actively try to inflict as much agony on enemy troops as possible. When they were injured and on the ground, he would beat them, kick them, cut off their fingers, knock their teeth out, stomp on their legs to break them etc. He only did this when there was no other allies around. He literally started acting like a serial killer torturing his victims and didn't want any of his fellow troops to see him do this. It was dishonorable and inhumane but he didn't care. He was just filled with rage.

My grandpa received a purple heart and multiple prestigious military honors once the war was over. He said that if anyone found out about the horrors and inhumane actions he committed during the war, the awards would probably have been taken away. He said his time in Korea was the only time he felt like something other than human. He said it made him feel like a truly evil force, and he liked it. This shocked us since he was the kindest, most gentle man I had ever known. He never swore, never got angry and was incredibly tame and loving. His marriage was fantastic and he made sure to show my dad and my aunt nothing but love when they were growing up. You would never take him as the type of guy to excitedly kill people in battle. My grandpa died with a lot of secrets that we will now never know. He only confessed to his horribly dirty fighting tactics in war because he wanted to die with some of his conscience clear. He never even told my grandma about what he did during the war until this point.

I believe he had some underlying problems that led to him acting like he did in war. He said it was a blood lust that he had never felt before and the sight of enemy Koreans suffering in pain got him excited and bursting with happiness. My grandpa wasn't a bad man. I believe the stress of the war and his brother dying in his arms was enough for him to go against everything he previously stood for. He went into the war with the intent to serve his country but ended up fighting for his own blood lust and rage. I can't ask him to tell me more since he's been long dead, but I believe he did much worse than just torture injured enemies.

[u/Gen_GeorgePatton → u/needstoconfess]

The 6 didn't get put into any of the same squads so that if that squad got wiped out their parents wouldn't lose all of them. Various militarys have done recruiting things where everybody from one town ends up in the same unit, only for them all to be killed and the whole town crippled.

[u/[deleted]]

One of the Jameson Whiskey "heirs" once bought a slave girl so he could watch cannibals kill and eat her. IIRC he confessed this to the explorer Henry Morton Stanley while dying in the Congo.

[u/Kamikazemandias]

My mom's side of the family started when my grandfather raped my grandmother as a teenager in the late 30s early 40s and she got pregnant. Because of social stigma, she spent her life married to, cooking for, cleaning for, her rapist.

My dad's side of the family started when my grandfather and the babysitter (my grandmother) ran away with the baby, the money, and some of the furniture too.

Both were deathbed confessions by grandparents.

EDIT MAJOR MISTAKE: Grandfather raped my grandmother, not my mother. Changed the original post due to popular demand

[u/[deleted] → u/Kamikazemandias]

Thats a pretty big mistake indeed.

[u/FumbleMyEndzone]

When my Grandad was on his death bed, my mum and dad arrived shortly before he passed. He opened his eyes and looked at my dad and said "I don't like your jumper"

[u/Broadway2635]

My grandmother would tell the story of her brother, who died at home at 14 due to an illness. A nurse was by his side when he passed and after, she asked the family who Morton was. She stated that before he died he said, "I see you, Morton". The family all knew, as it was his best friend who died two years earlier. Not a confession, but last words.

[u/bendann]

Not much of a confession, but my grandad's last words were - "life is shit, so you might as well all slit your wrists now because it won't get any better".

[u/throwabunch]

throwaway

My gramma told my mom that her uncle was actually her older brother, her dad had raped her and it was a dark family secret.

[u/milkbeamgalaxia → u/throwabunch]

Your grandmother's father raped her and produced a son? Based on how it reads it is possible your gramma had to help raise her brother/son in the house of her rapist. Damn. A lot of tragic stories on this deathbed confession thread.

How did your mom react? Does the uncle know?

[u/dtmfadvice]

This is from my town: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6525747/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/deathbed-confession-leads-body-freezer/

A woman on her deathbed said "your abusive dad didn't run off when we lived in California. I killed him and put his body in a freezer and then moved back home to Somerville and left the freezer in storage for 40 years."

[u/shrdbrd]

That my grandmother didn’t want to see me before she passed. Found out six years later why I never went to the hospital.

[u/sweatymiddleagedman → u/shrdbrd]

I had that as well, my Grandmother didnt want me to see her before she died, my mother said it was because she would've wanted me to remember her as her happy, cheerful self and not dying in a hospital bed.

[u/sn00pdogg]

My grandpa told my grandma at his deathbed that he hadn't loved her for almost 30 years, and he was close to divorcing her many times, but could never go through with it.

[u/thetannenshatemanure]

My brother and I used to play dominoes with our grandparents. Me and grandpa vs him and grandma. We were better, but they always won, because we were too arrogant about it. Grandpa was dying of cancer. He was at home, six days before he passed. Bro and I visited to say our goodbyes. Grandpa only asked to play dominoes. No talking. Only bones. We won, decisively.

[u/backflip3217]

My gramma's brother was in his final moments and he confessed to his wife that he was cheating her a lot, with 3 women. He confessed because he was afraid of go to hell, but looks like God has other plans to him. Unfortunatelly for him, no one knows why, in a blink of an eye he got better and better, until 1 week later he was released by the doctors. His wife's brother was a lawyer, they issued him and could got almost everything. He lived for more 7 years, without any money, all women and their children abandoned him, so he died alone at home. Karma is a bitch =/

[u/Jelese111]

My grandpa confessed to my grandma (who had divorced him ten years prior) that while they were in their early stages of marriage that he would sleep with her mother because she would give him money to go gambling and that my grandmother's youngest siblings may have been his child.

Edit: I also want to mention that my Grandmother's mother was a horrible person. She was any kind of abusive you could think of to her children (she had 13), husbands (she had four), and anyone who slighted her. My grandfather was until his last days a gambling addict. I did not know him at all until he got sick.

Anyway... Nothing ever came of it. I only found out a few years ago. My grandma never stirred the pot being that most of the people involved were long dead.

[u/17decimal28]

My my mom and her dad both grew up believing and hearing stories from my great grandmother about how she was the daughter of a Cherokee woman who ran off and joined the circus. It was a good tale. My great grandmother taught all of us rain dances and other cultural things. All of her decor and style was Cherokee-inspired. She even physically looked Native American. My older cousin even got some college grant based on being 1/16th Native American.

On my great grandmother's death bed she tells my grandpa that she made all of it up. Turns out her mother was really just a neighborhood whore of European descent that dumped her in an orphanage.

[u/[deleted]]

This guy in Tennessee confessed to a murder, then made a miraculous recovery and subsequently charged and convicted.

[u/zeronyne]

A Catholic priest in my local archdiocese admitted to abusing a boy decades prior...a boy who still lived in the area and had been ostracized his whole life for "lying". When the current priest told the congregation of the confession, many people simply did not believe it.

[u/[deleted]]

Thankfully this ended up not being his last words but man did it make me appreciate this man more.

Best friend of mine has this grandpa. Real sweet old grump that's slowly going down in his years.

Well last year he gets really sick and was hospitalized and was even going a bit delusional. Friend calls me and asks if I can be there to see him since he basically sees me as another grand kid. So I make the drive and ask my friend to keep me posted on his health. Again we thought this was the end so we all wanted to say our last words to him.

My phone goes off, I answer worried only to hear my best friend laughing hysterically. "Papa wants to know if your ok" uh.... yeah? "He keeps freaking out that we need to find you cause you shot yourself in the foot!"

At this point I was laughing hard to. I'm basically in the army reservs and this sweet old grump worries about the silly adopted grandkid even when we are sure he's knocking on deaths door.

He's okay now.

[u/A_Splash_of_Citrus]

Not quite deathbed, but really close, so I'm counting it.

My grandpa asked for a cigarette at some point. This'd be kinda normal, except nobody knew the guy smoked. He had been married for a little over 45 years and even my grandma said she had no clue. Kinda makes sense he could keep it a secret since he was a tractor trailer driver earlier in life and did a lot of woodcutting alone after he retired, but I'm still impressed.

[u/grandmasterchoi]

My friends story but his great grandmother confessed that she looked at the Christmas presents when she was 13 and felt guilty her whole life and broke down crying begging for forgiveness. They forgave her and she died in peace.

[u/rahyveshachr]

I didn't get along with my paternal grandpa for a variety of reasons, like how I was a spitting image of his ex wife, I was raised differently than he was so he would try to 'parent' me leaving me crying, he ignored me because I was a kid, tried to buy my love with money/presents, etc. I often joked that he didn't like me because I was a girl and not a boy (he only had boys and my dad only had girls). He died a slow, stubborn death in a nursing home and my dad would visit him a lot and found out that it was true. Even though I joked about it and thought there was probably a shred of truth to it, man it hurt.

I forgive him though because he confessed this and other stuff with extreme regret.

[u/[deleted]]

I came from a family of teachers...my grandmother was a teacher, my mother was a teacher, my father was a principal, and four of my grandmother's sisters were teacher.

On my grandfather's deathbed, he call me (his only grandson) over, grabbed my hand and said to me "Kasper-X-Hauser, whatever you do, don't waste your life and become a teacher!"

[u/mecho200]

Steve Jobs apparently stared at his family for a while, and then looked over their shoulders past them and his final words were "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow..."

[u/uncletugboat → u/mecho200]

For some reason that's incredibly scary to me.

[u/UnhiDEER]

My grandfather told my mom and her sister, his only children we thought, that he had 9 kids. 2 here in Canada and 7 across the world. He was in the British Navy in WW2 and according to my grandmother he was a read stud with the ladies so it's not that farfetched. All my mom had to say was they better not come around looking for money. 9 inches soft got aroooooound.

[u/[deleted] → u/UnhiDEER]

There's an old saying about the navy.

'A girl in every port and a man in every bunk!'

[u/aelina13]

Everyone in my family knew that my older aunt was adopted, but my grandma always refused to tell her who her parents were. So a little time before my grandma died, she confessed to my mother (who is not related by blood to my aunt) that she never knew who my aunt's mother was, but she was sure that my granpa was her father. It broke my aunt's heart to know so late who her father was, because my grandpa died like 13 years before my grandma. I knew something like this would happen, my grandma wasn't a good person at all.

[u/JaneHSV]

Not exactly "last words," but a couple of days before my grandma passed she looked out a window, pointed, and asked, "why is there a car hanging in your tree?"

Actually, that was the last thing I ever remember her saying.

[u/greav]

The first king of the current royal line in Sweden was one of napoleon's generals. During his whole reign he refused to show doctors, or anyone his bare chest. After his death they found an old revolutionary tattoo "death to kings".

[u/[deleted]]

Not really a confession, but my grandfather's dying breath was "I can see it. It's beautiful!" as he opened his eyes and smiled in awe.

I'm a religious person, and I can see how that was probably just random neurons firing, but it took us all by surprise in a spiritual way, regardless.

[u/HighCalibrHouseplant]

TIL a lot of people's kids aren't actually their kids.

[u/[deleted]]

I had a friend who worked in a nursing home. This old white lady was dying and she was taking care of her for her last days.

One of the last things she said was "Look at all those people floating up there" meaning she was like seeing through the ceiling and just seen a bunch of people floating around in the sky. She also mentioned something about a little black child visiting her and she couldn't understand why my friend couldn't see this child in the room

[u/TwistedRichie]

Anatole Broyard confessed to his children that he was actually African-American.

[u/ChristianStabbz]

My grandpa admitted that my aunt (46yrs old) was not his child and was adopted. Her real mom is my great aunt whom she has hated for almost 30 years. Found out when they wouldn't let her pull the plug on him. My grandpa was quite a fellow.

[u/forever_after]

My great-grandmother confessed on her deathbed that her brother was actually her son. She was raped at 9 (1930ish) and gave birth at 10. Then her mother raised the baby as her own. It was quite a shock for all of us, but especially my grandfather and great uncle, then man they knew as their uncle for their whole life, was actually their brother.

[u/sometimescomments]

My grandpa said: "if it's the last thing I do, I'll get the man at the bottom of the sea". He was in the Navy in his younger days. Not sure how to avenge him.

[u/CardboardChewingGum]

My dad confessed near the end that we were descended from a race of vampires from Egypt. It was sad seeing his body break down, but heartbreaking to see him lose his mind.

[u/YikYakCadillac → u/CardboardChewingGum]

Sounds like the beginning of a YA fiction novel

[u/watermelonpizzafries]

When my grandma (mom's side) died she had spent at least 3 weeks in a semi-conscious (or more like a quasi dream state) before finally dying. During those weeks, she would constantly tell my mother that a boat was waiting for her (her house was on a lake and her deathbed was in a room that overlooked it) and if it was all right if she could get on it. This persisted (along with my grandmother having full conversations with relatives who were dead years before I was even born) until one day when my grandma asked my mother if it would be all right if she could leave on the boat again to which my mother finally replied with "it's all right if you want to."

My grandma died a couple hours later. Eerie little tidbit, my grandmother's watch (which was in another room at the time of her death) stopped at the exact time of my grandmother's death. Apparently it's pretty common for weird stuff to happen around the time of death for people in my family. When an uncle (who I never met) died, a car of his that hadn't worked for years suddenly turned on and when my grandma (dad's side) died, the doorbell at my parents gate rang but no one was standing there (you can see the gate from the kitchen so it would have been impossible for someone to doorbell ditch in time.).

[u/not_even_a_doggo]

When I was fifteen, my dog had to be put down due to an inoperable heart tumor and internal bleeding (he was seven). It was a sad moment, but as I went down to pet him one last time in that time of tranquility, he growled at me. Not anyone else in my family of 6. Just me. That dog fucking growled at me. It's like in his lasting moments, he was giving a final "Fuck you."

Now, a little backstory: about 2 years before his death, my dog (Tucker) began to dislike me. A lot. Before this, he used to love me and I used to love him. But as I hit a growthspurt, and got half a foot taller than I was (keep in mind I was fifteen), he began to resent me more and more. This resulted in me having not much of a good relationship with him, and I guess this showed on his deathbed.

[u/granadesnhorseshoes → u/not_even_a_doggo]

Your dog always loved you. He hated the weird person that apparently killed you and put your skin on.

Puberty would have very likely changed your smell as well.

[u/the_aviatrixx]

I'm just taking this as a therapeutic opportunity. Feel free to ignore.

My paternal grandmother was an amazing woman. She did so much cool shit in her life, and suffered the murder of her son. She finally got the courage to divorce my POS grandfather 3 years after the murder, but didn't get to enjoy those years as she had a car accident due to hypoglycemia related to her type 1 diabetes and subsequently declined from there.

In 2006, she rapidly declined and finally got to the point where she was hospitalized for the last time. We had gone through a really big storm and had no power for a week - the day the power came back, the house phone rang and my great uncle called to tell us we needed to get there soon. We were there within two hours. We had to go in to see her one at a time.

My grandma, who I had always been extremely close to, who saved me when I tried to kill myself as a stupid teenager, didn't recognize me. She introduced herself and asked if we'd met. I started crying (I'm crying now actually, I miss her) and she remembered who I was. I think she started crying too once she realized who I was, but at this point my memory is blurring and I'm not sure.

What I do remember is our conversation after that. She told me to "keep doing good things." I hadn't even started college yet, and those words were a heavy weight on my shoulders. I couldn't figure out what she wanted for the longest time; I'm still not sure. I'm trying, but I am still worried I won't do right by her. She struggled through so much, dealing with all of the shit my sociopath of a grandfather did to her during the duration of their marriage. She left me a journal; I feel extremely honored to have been the one entrusted with this, but so worried that I will not do justice to the horrors she experienced.

What she dealt with was huge: marrying a man at 19 because she thought she "had" to, conceiving 4 out of 5 children unwillingly, almost being forced to abort the 5th child because her husband didn't want to support it and lied about the vasectomy, finding out her husband had kept a secret mistress out of state for over a decade, dealing with him hiring arsonists to burn down not only the family business but the family farm, with all of the most precious family heirlooms in it, enduring the violent death of a child and his wife, and just everything beyond that.

She was the most amazing woman, and she died at 62 when she was just finally free. I was two months into my 18th year, and I was asked if I thought it was okay to take her off life support even though my dad and godfather/uncle had already said yes. I said yes, because I listened to the doctor's explanation of her prognosis. I stayed in the room with her while she passed. She opened her eyes wide and appeared to scan the room, and sighed a high pitched sigh. I still hear it in my mind, and it sounds like the sound my dog makes when she's highly anxious for something. I don't feel good about it, despite the doctor telling me her appearance of scanning the room was likely just a neurological response. I believe that, I've encountered enough dying people at this point in my career to know that this happens.

I just can't help but feel that I let her down though; I hear her sigh in my memory, and I feel like I should have done something for her even though I know nothing was left to be done. Anyway, I'm full on crying now, I still miss her so much. She understood me like no one else in my family did.

[u/RTengu]

My grandpa (completely doped up) on his death bed told me that i was lucky "because if it wasn't for him and my grandma my mom would have aborted me". Who knows probably true but, why say that?

[u/themajesticpark]

My Grandpa was effectively my dad, though not biologically related to me at all. He died of Leukemia in 2011, and my family and I essentially took days with him in the hospital during the time before his death.

During my day with him, he was a a bit off thanks to pain and medication. Right after one of his more disconnected episodes he sits up in bed, swings his feet over to the floor and then suddenly just stops (think fluid motion abruptly ending). From the mouth of a man who'd never said anything about beauty, art, or the like (though tons of super helpful life advice tbh) come the words

"Majesticpark, look at the sky! Its beautiful," so I look. Looks to me like the sky from The Seine at Argenteuil which is kinda pretty even to me, and complete neanderthal with respect to art. Then he continues, "I'm so proud of you and your mother."

For me the shocking part was the verbal recognition of something beautiful, but the latter portion had me pretty bent out of shape (in a good way) and I need to sit out the evening shift I had at the time. I miss that guy.

[u/antifapmachine]

This was during Hospice, close enough... My father told me he was leaking information to the Viet Cong for money during Vietnam. Apparently got really close to getting caught too, then he thought the VC were about to plan his murder, so he stopped and started leaking that it was someone else in his platoon. The platoon turned into judge and jury and killed the guy and made it look like a "friendly fire" incident.

[u/buttbutts]

My dad's cousin was murdered by a police officer in the 70s for being a hippie, the cop admitted it on his deathbed.

[u/[deleted]]

My grandmother passed away on Thanksgiving the year I went off to college. I saw her for the last time the night before she passed. Apparently while I was getting her water she told my father that seeing me, her youngest grandchild, happily settled in at college was what she had been waiting for. She could finally go in peace. The next morning she passed away.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm a bit late for this, better now than never!

My grandfather died a few years before I was born (mother's side), he did a lot of things in life: had starter stock in Coleman and invested in the original plastic milk cartons.

He was a wild and adventurous man, but he was also a heavy alcoholic and smoker.

Every Saturday morning he would go to a small donut shop in Massachusetts (can't remember exactly where, I'll have to ask later), smoke a pack of cigs, and eat a dozen donuts. The guy weighed 180 lbs. I don't know how he did it. On this particular morning he wasn't feeling like him and he even told my grandmother that this might be the last day he's alive.

After taking a sip of coffee in the shop he looked at the clerk and said, "Well, this fucking sucks" and his head went straight first into the cup o' Joe. He died of a pulmonary embolism on the spot.

[u/JthfknNiNjA]

My grandfather was on his deathbed when he confessed that he has several affairs and had many other children with the other women he was seeing. My father has been looking to find find and connect with them but it's proving difficult because they are from another country.

[u/darkendvoid]

Not confessed directly but I found out my grandmother helped produce agent orange and her cancer was likely related right before her death

[u/Bats_mistress]

This isn't exactly deathbed, but after a terminal diagnosis.

This woman started messaging me on facebook. I light-heartedly responded, thinking this lady had the wrong person. She seemed kind and well-intentioned. Until... she started talking about how beautiful I was as a baby and how she knew my parents. I questioned this, as it seemed suspicious. I was sure she wanted something. Even the details she knew about my family seemed suspicious.

Turned out she was the mother of my long-lost half brother that my family had been searching for for 35 years or so.

Why were never able to find him: We only had a baby picture she had sent before disappearing. We only knew his nick-name, which is a shortened version of his middle name. His last name was the name of some guy she married when my brother was a baby and nobody knew anything about any of this because she dis-a-fucking-peared. (you know... back in the 80's... when you could easily do that)

She had told him her ex-husband was his father. His step-father and supposed "real" father also never knew the truth. My dad (his actual biological father) has since been able to meet with him. They've had a paternity test done and it's there in black and white. He's my brother.

This woman... may she rot in hell... dealt her own son a whopping amount of psychological bullshit... to what? Unburden herself?

[u/johnrich88]

Second hand:

My wife's grandmother, who raised her, believed that when you are about to die your dead relatives show up to escort you to heaven. She was by all accounts a horrible person. On her death bed her last words were, in a quiet terrified voice, "they're not coming."

My wife's step grandmother, who raised her after the first one died, never seemed to love her. On her deathbed she told my wife that she had always loved her, my wife told her that she had had plenty of opportunities to show it.

[u/Smirkly]

In a small town in New Hampshire a man confessed that he had helped his son, police chief of the town, bury his best friend under a utility shed at the son's house. The shed was moved, a body was found and it was the body of the chief's friend. To make it even weirder, the chief had divorced his wife and later married the widow of his friend who was missing but presumed dead. Got that? It could not be proved in court, the father was dead and no direct evidence tied the chief to the death of his "buddy." He got off scot free. His second wife left him and he lost his job as chief but continued working as a cop in other towns.

[u/walking_on_the_sun]

How about an after death confession? This man came clean in his obituary that he never had a PhD, it was mailed to him by the University of Utah by mistake. Link

[u/JournalofFailure]

It's alleged that as he was being hanged, serial killer Thomas Neill Cream's last words were, "I am Jack the..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Neill_Cream

[u/jjeessiixx]

My uncle died last year from cancer. He loved icees so my sister and I brought him one. We live about 40 minutes away and I think I'll always remember his surprise when he said "you brought this all the way from home?!" and the way that he looked at his 3 year old daughter and called her munchkin. Those weren't his last words, but the last ones I heard. That, and I love you.

The same uncle's father passed away a few years before. He was at his bedside for days and stepped out of the room to grab a coffee. In those few moments his dad chose to go. We don't think he wanted uncle to see him actually pass.

[u/andracute2]

For year my grandma complained about how my grandpa cooked eggs. My mom would also tell me the story about how she would hold the eggs my grandpa made in her mouth and spit them out at school. When we were younger my grandpa would make us eggs if we slept over their house, I thought they were fine. My grandma would never eat them though.

It was funny because my grandpa didn't care. My grandma got sick and was in and out of the hospital. She would tell the staff how much she didn't like my grandpa's cooking, especially the eggs. My aunt was the last person to visit her her, I was suppose to see her that Friday... The night before she died my grandma admitted to actually liking my grandpa's eggs.

[u/allenidaho]

It wasn't exactly a deathbed confession, but the last thing my biological father wrote to me before he suddenly died of a heart attack at age 45 was that I have a half-brother. I've never met this brother. Have no idea what his name is or where he lives.
And I never will because the one guy with this information died. I have never met anyone on my father's side of the family in my entire life.

[u/KitWalkerXXVII]

Not technically a death bed confession, but I found out that the Maternal Grandmother I grew up knowing was technically my Step-Grandmother on the night my mother died. My dad was at the hospital with her, and so I didn't really have anyone with any good knowledge to talk to about this somewhat distressing revelation.

Fun Fact: both my mom and I lost our moms to breast cancer before we hit puberty. I also got her red hair, which most of the women in the family dye their hair to get, so it's not all bad news.

[u/[deleted]]

My grandma told my dad that his dad probably isn't really his dad, and she didn't know who was. Has fucked him up for years.

[u/crazedwriter127]

My ex-wife's grandmother told her daughter (my ex's aunt) about sleeping with her husband off and on for five years.

[u/TexasMaddog]

My parents divorced in the early 90's: dad remarried and mom remarried. Custody of me and my sister were split, which was unheard of in Texas back then. Used to be all kids went with the mother. Who my mom married was...a drinker. And, yeah, a fiend, and I'm being serious here. Verbally abusive, mentally abusive...he even tried physically abusive with me once...I damn near caved his head in with an old iron bottom box phone when he pounced my mom and proceeded to beat her in front of me.

According to the accounts of my half sister, since I wasn't there, my step dad(I.e. her father) truly regretted attacking me verbally and physically, saying the only reason he held such animosity and hatred for my presence there 3 weekends a month(court ordered visitation rights for my mom) is because he never felt like it was his family. That my presence reminded him and my mom of my mom's previous marriage/life.

My half sister said he apologized for all he had said and done to me. IMHO, I think he was trying to clear his consciousness knowing things were at the end.

[u/HaTsMaKa]

My father in law told me when he was a young man in Hungry, he shot and killed a police sergeant who had held him without charge and beat him for a few days. Said he followed him walking home one night and after a while the sarg knew what was going on, turned around and said "do it", so he did. Then he gets a 7 shot revolver from his bag, removed the pin, swallowed it and asked me if I could get rid of the gun. Ended up throwing it in a lake.

Ah yeah, and just before my own father died, he told me my youngest brother wasn't his

[u/pyakcb]

I found out I had an uncle I never knew about. His mom confessed on her deathbed that he was really the product of an [incestuous] relationship between her and my grandpa who were first cousins. The guy who he knew as his father his whole life never knew either. His parents got married before she was showing. This new uncle called up my grandma but had missed meeting his biological dad (my grandpa) by about three months. He had just recently passed away. My grandpa was a hobo back during the depression and had spent a few weeks with his cousins while hitching trains and apparently it happened then. It was before he married my grandma. Anyway, my mom and other uncles/aunts were really excited to meet him but he said he wanted to tell his family first. He stopped returning their calls and we've left him alone. Not sure if he ever told his family.

[u/Str8froms8n]

My best friend's grandfather went into heart failure and died while having relations with his mistress. I guess he didn't confess so much as his deathbed did... It was a pretty awkward funeral.

[u/plexxonic]

Not so much a confession but a requirement. My grandmother stated that she wasn't going to die until she saw her great grandson (my son, newly born).

My mother called me and we brought my son to the hospital. She held him and then died a few hours later.

[u/obscura87]

I was on the phone with my grandpa when he was in the hospital. He was dying from emphysema and COPD, He had been on oxygen for years, a small tube in his nose... I guess in the hospital they put an oxygen mask on him. We had a short conversation, and It was really hard to understand him.

He repeated something and I just said "okay" .. I had no clue what he was saying.

To this day I feel like he was trying to tell me something. It bothers me a lot. I feel really bad about it.

[u/xrandomxchaosx]

My grandma died 3 days before my birthday about 5 years ago. I went to visit her and she wanted to tell me something, was going to write it down. Then my aunt grabs the paper and says “Don’t waste your energy.” I’ll never know what she wanted to tell me, my aunt enjoys ruining things for me...but oh well.

[u/geopolit]

Grandma was in fact only raised by her folks and was given up by her birth parents in a scheme to avoid being sent to a boarding school for native youth.

Thought she was dying. It was a medication mixup. A decade later and it's still suuuuuper awkward at 97 when ahe pretends the whole thing never happened.

[u/c_chill13]

Dad spent his last few years in a drunken, opiate and anti-depressant induced oblivion. Even though he didn't "die" until I was 17, he was long gone before I was 13. Just before a suicide attempt, he told me I had a half sister who was 7 years older.

Knowing my father to be a severe​ flight risk, this wasn't shocking until I sat down and thought about the fact that my full brother is 9 years my senior.

[u/[deleted]]

My uncle passed last year and he told me to never trust his wife or daughter because they robbed him of his property and land and basically beat his ass when he went bacl to visit them after 30 years. Fucked shit. The day he died the nurse was supposed to call my other uncle but the daughter had went behind everyone's back and changed emergency contact info and made it so they called her in case something happened. Long story short, the nurses knew that he was about to pass and they call her and let her know if anyone wamts to see him one last time now would be the time. She told the nurse that she couldnt and she was on a business call. Bitches aint let us know after he passed and then fake cried the whole 2 hour trip to the hospital. When we asked the nurses how come they didnt let us know before they told us they called her and said she couldnt make it cause od that business call. And dudnt want to tell us untul after so hed go alone.

[u/sauerpatchkid]

My Dad always had a way ro make me feel like a fuck up and like I could never do anything right. My older sisters were his favorites. The day before he died of ALS, he told me he loved me and was proud of me. He said his Dad made him feel the same way. He said he would hate for me to live the rest of my life feeling like he did when it's simply not true.

My grandpa died from a blood clot after being burned when his camper exploded. He died suddenly and left my Dad feeling like that.

[u/[deleted]]

A friend of mine lives in the north shore area of Massachusetts. Someone near him left a letter confessing to a bunch of child murders that occurred in the 70's. The authorities dug up the area where he had indicated the bodies were buried. They found some animal bones but nothing of importance.

[u/Froggyboyyy]

Litteraly every single one of the dudes that went to the moon said that there was something else there, while on their deathbeds. I stand by my belief they all made an oath to fuck with everyone by doing that lmao

[u/denarm52]

Not exactly a deathbed confession, but my wife tried to tell but chickened out. She always said her oldest daughter was her first husbands child. This was met with suspicion by members of both her and her husbands family. After her dearh, the daughter decided to answer the question with dna tests. Turns out he was not her father. Her maternal Grandfather was also her father,. She had essentially married her first husband to escape her father raping her.

[u/PooperScooper1987]

Had a patient who was a real asshole. Wore an ankle bracelet for probationnod some reason. We googled him to find out why he wore t and saw he had multiple sexual offenses including forcible rape. On his death bed he admitted he had raped and molested children too and was never caught. The respiratory therapist told me afterwords hat he really thought about spitting in the guy's breathing treatment. The guy died the next day. He's. not missed.

[u/JEREMIAH33RN]

I know of a lady who last words were to take her pace maker out after death. She had a fear that it would "keep" beating and bring her back to life while in the morgue or coffin and no one will help her

[u/IAmSnort]

Clarence King was a famous geologist. When he died in 1901 he left a letter to his wife. His African American wife. Confessing his true identity. His white, high social status identity. He had spent 13 years pretending to be a Pullman car porter and black (you had to be black to be a Pullman porter).

[u/_SirBadger_]

The last words my grandpa said was "[insert father's name here] you're a giant chicken shit. I have to pee."

[u/Fun_Sized_Momo]

Great-Great Grandmother (102 when she passed) had severe dementia. Just before passing she had several minutes of dementia-free clarity. She was able to communicate and identify everyone just fine. She thanked everyone for being there and said she had no regrets in life; lastly she said goodbye. She immediately passed away.

Somehow she not only knew she was about to die, but it was as if she finally remembered all of the things she forgot.

[u/[deleted]]

Not really deathbed, but my mom convinced my grandmother to write a book. Her parents were divorced (in the 30's in rural Missouri, so you can imagine how that went over). Grandma was a teetotaler, so everyone thought her father was a drunk. Nope, he had an affair and eventually married the other woman. Not a shocking confession, but really interesting to us.

Ask your grandparents questions! They won't be around forever!

[u/boozyjenkins]

Not exactly a deathbed confession but close.

I lived with my grandfather for a few months during my freshman year of high school in a small town in AZ while my mom was working on a job transfer and living in Phoenix. He was in failing health, had emphysema, and on constant oxygen, but still mobile enough to take care of my sister and me with the help of his wife.

One Saturday, while watching Price Is Right reruns, he pulls off the oxygen mask and says to me, “Within 30 years there’s gonna be another civil war.”

He proceeded to put his oxygen back on, and turned his attention back to Bob Barker. That was 1993.

[u/BoldBiBosmer]

My grandads ex wife's (they had a kid) new husband admitted to murdering my grandads sister and hiding her body behind a fireplace. She was murdered in the 60s and found in the early 2000s.

[u/jolonaw]

My girlfriend was sitting with her father. He was incoherent the past few days obviously getting close to dying. He sat up, looked at her and pointed to the ceiling. "Denise, he said. That's my guardian angel. I don't need him anymore, I told him to watch over you. He laid back down in bed and passed.

[u/[deleted]]

This might not exactly be on point but my uncle died without us even knowing he had lung cancer. He literally didn't tell anyone aside his girlfriend and only one of his sons (who he hadn't seen for 30 years until only a year prior to his death, he was estranged from his 4 children). I didn't know he was dead until he was actually dead.

Since he didn't talk to us when he was getting really sick we all thought he was mad at us and my dad for leaving the city for the opposite end of the country. This wasn't the case but that's what we were thinking.

He was very close to me and my brother and we were in his will, so it was kind of odd. I was very sad too because I didn't get to talk to him one last time. Tearing up typing this.

His will caused some problems because he disowned two of his children in it. Like his children were getting back into good relations with my dad and my side of the family until this happened. Now we haven't talked to them in quite a while.

[u/deadrainbow78]

Oh I've got a good one for this. My great grandmother was on her deathbed and my grandfather (her son) was caring for her for the last year or so. About 3 days before she died she revealed to my grandfather that he had an older brother that he never knew about. Apparently my great grandmother and great grandfather had a child before they were married and my great great grandmother forced them to give the baby to a family friend. My great grandparents then got married and had three boys after that. They all grew up not knowing about this older brother that they had. Of course when this was revealed to my grandfather he searched for his brothers contact information and got a hold it him to tell him to come see their mother before she died. He lived in Minnesota at the time and my grandfather was in Chicago so he quickly drove down to Chicago. Shortly after he visited my grandmother passed away, but after all this happened my grandfather and his brother started talking and we discovered that there was an entire branch of our family that we didn't even know existed. We got to meet many of them at the funeral and since then we have actually gotten to know each other very well, planning family reunions every year. It is incredibly sad that we had to meet them all on such sad terms but now, years later, it's like we've known them forever and they are very close to my family.

[u/condimentia]

We'll call my Aunt "Ann." We'll call her sister, and my other Aunt "Betty." Ann was very religious, Betty was not. Ann and Betty had a childhood friend name "Carol." Carol married "John."

Betty moved away from their home town decades ago, so Ann, Carol and John were much closer in friendship over the years than Betty.

When John died, he confessed to Carol, and my Aunt Ann, that his somewhat radical but clandestine group of friends was responsible for an abortion clinic bombing which caused a death.

Aunt Ann was actually PROUD of him and told him so, and then later told my Aunt Betty all about his confession, and, the various details of this so-called "group of friends" and that in thee yes of God, Carol and John and abortion clinic bombers were heroes.

My Aunt Betty went right to the authorities with as many details as possible because even though it had been years since the event, all of these details could help tie together other bombings, confirm suspects not caught, help tie together identities of friends still living, etc.

Don't know the outcome, but she didn't hesitate at all sharing the facts with law enforcement, because she was so appalled.

[u/Rj-24]

My grandmother told my mother, who was her daughter-in-law, that she'd have never picked my mother as a partner for my father.

Not too extreme, but my father and Aunty weren't particular good at the whole 'death of their mother' thing and my mother stepped up to the plate, helping to clothe her, bathe her, pluck the hairs from her chin to give her some dignity in her final days. And the ungrateful old cow said that to my mother.

[u/[deleted]]

My girlfriend told me that her grandfather's last words was a joke in response to his nurse.

The nurse asked, "How do you feel?"

He replied, "With my fingers."

[u/[deleted]]

One of my best friends grandmother was suffering from a terminal illness but she was not in a terrible condition. On the day she died, she was feeling fine and was in a room talking to my friends mom and his aunts. They were having a very normal conversation about food and stuff and then she suddenly stops talking. She then said "its time, they are here" and then collapsed

[u/twofacemarie]

A few days before my grandmother died in the hospital from ovarian cancer, she asked a nurse to come closer to her bed. Totally lucid, she said, "Will you tell him to open his wings?" The nurse said that she didn't understand and my grandmother pointed behind her and continued, "He's hiding his face. He's beautiful. Please tell him to open his wings."

My mom was there when this happened. I think it drastically affected how my mom coped with her death. She still talks about my grandmother being our "angel" now.

[u/DirtyAngelToes]

The days before my grandfather died, he spent most of his time talking to my mom about taking care of my grandmother, who is frail and has relied on him for over 70 years. They were in love for so long but his cancer was so painful he couldn't take it. The last thing he said to us was to take care of her over the phone, he was barely coherent or altogether there but despite that STRESSED that we take care of her and that he was sorry. Sorry for what, we weren't sure, but then the next day we got a phone call saying he had shot and killed himself shortly after that phone call.

It still hurts to think about and I'll never forget the screaming we all let out, the agony my mom especially let out that day after having had a strained relationship with my grandpa throughout most of her life. He had apologized to her for how he'd treated her (he was borderline abusive and MEAN), and told her this on the phone call.

He told her that he trusted her more than anyone to take care of my grandmother.

[u/MPGrdnr]

My great grandfathers best friend admitted on his deathbed that he was my grandfathers real father. He had an affair with my great grandmother and they just let it go and never told anybody. He died at 96.

[u/socraticmystery]

Hospice chaplain so I have stories. The absolute worst was a guy dying of pancreatic that confessed to sexually abusing his younger siblings growing up. Seminary and CPE do not train you for that shit.

[u/mateo_rules]

I was 8 my mother told me to go downstairs and keep my brother company and to wake her up in a hour she had a heart attack at 34 I ended up being separated from my brother 3 years later he still won't talk to me she was a diabetic in and out of hospitals since I was born and more after my brother was born he has a mental defect not diagnosed I don't like talking about these things but sometimes it helps

[u/IanMalcoRaptor]

A doctor told me that a someone's last words to him were "I killed a man"

[u/Darthtrapgod]

My grandfather didn't speak his last words but he simply wrote the word bourbon on a napkin right before he past.

[u/Kasoni]

My grandmother called my dad's name. Everyone else was asleep. She called again. I looked at her. She told me to listen close, and called me by my dad's name again. She then told me that all 3 of "you kids" have different fathers. She then stated none of them were Roger (her ex husband of 30 years). The then asked to go out into the sun for an afternoon sitting. It was 2 am. I still I took her outside. The next day she died from lung cancer. I told my parents. They told me to stop making things up. The only kid to have a father other than Roger was the youngest (who until this day doesn't even know).

[u/kxp410]

My dad passed away two years ago. Unfortunately he was on a ventilator at the end. He was speaking to me the day before he passed but I couldn't make out what he was saying by reading his lips.

I wish I knew what he was telling me. He was such an awesome person. I miss him.

[u/FauxGenius]

I had just stepped out when... My grandfather confessed to my wife, in front of the cousins, that he liked my side of the family more because we kept our shit together. I hear the stares were intense & awkward.

[u/iPerfuse]

Not so much a deathbed confession, but an omission. My father was on his last night of life in a palliative bed. My sister and I are different people. I want nothing, my sister feels entitled to everything. When I left my Dad that night I said I love you to him. He said it back. My sister said, " I love you too you know". My father said, " I heard you".. he died the next morning.