What is the "Thing we don't talk about" in your family?

My uncle. He died in a motorcycle accident in the 80s, about 5 years before I was born. He was never brought up, and outside of his name, I still know next to nothing about him.

After 25 years, my father (it was my mother’s brother) let it slip that he had hung himself at home. As I never knew my uncle, I don’t think my father expected me to make any connections. My uncle had never lived on his own; his bedroom was in the basement of my grandmothers.

Growing up my cousins and I always had weird feeling, and did not like spending any time in that bedroom, quite often daring each other to go inside. The entire basement had an eerie feel to it, and my cousins and I would frequency tell our parents that the basement was creepy and gave us a weird feeling. (This despite the fact that it was a perfectly normal, finished basement— if a little out dated)

Linking it together and knowing what I know now, I can’t even imagine how they felt.

/r/AskReddit Thread