- Every family has their secrets.
Most, like you and I, would be considered normal.
Nothing that anyone would fret about if they found out.
However, there are families out there with secrets
so dark and disturbing that if you knew about them,
they would send chills up your spine.
The following are just those families.
Here are 10 creepy families with scary secrets.
Number 10 is the Phoenix Family.
Joaquin Phoenix's family is most famous for the tragic death
of Joaquin's brother, River.
However, the family had already gone through a dark
and tortured life before River even passed away.
Joaquin and River's parents were members of a cult,
known as the Children of God during the 1970's.
This cult, which currently goes by the name
the Family International, had an apocalyptic view
of the world and a creepy take on the God is love mantra.
The cult used sex to convert people while preaching
that the world was going to end.
And they viewed outsiders as malevolent agents.
Luckily, Joaquin and River's parents managed to escape
the cult and changed the family's name to Phoenix
to symbolize their rebirth into a free society.
Number nine is the Spacey family.
Kevin Spacey once had a highly respected life as a film star
but all of that came crumbling down when accusations emerged
of his abusive behavior.
While in no way an excuse, looking at his family history
provides a glimpse into an upbringing which made
such predatory behavior more likely.
For starters, Kevin Spacey's father
was a self-proclaimed disciple of Adolf Hitler.
Nazism and hatred of all races other than his own
was central to Kevin's dad's lifestyle.
His father also led a secret life as an abuser,
turning his abhorrent attentions to Kevin's brother, Randy.
These allegations were made by Kevin's brother himself,
bringing more credence to them.
Randy claims that Kevin developed a sly personality
to avoid conflict with his father and that this dark
family secret is what led to his own abusive behavior.
Number eight is the Staudte family.
Diane Staudte had a horrendous life from 2012 onwards.
In that same year, her husband died suddenly.
Just five months later, her autistic son developed
seizures and then also passed away.
After that, Diane's daughter Sarah was hospitalized
with a flu-like illness and then developed brain damage.
They say bad luck comes in threes,
but this wasn't bad luck at all.
The Staudte family had a horrifying secret.
Diane had been poisoning her family with antifreeze.
Not only that but she was secretly helped
by her other daughter Rachel.
Diane justifies her actions by saying that her husband
was violent, that her autistic son was too time consuming,
and that her daughter Sarah was a financial drain.
As for Rachel, she helped Diane commit the murders
so that she could have her mother's attention
all to herself.
Number seven is the Howell family.
After an unsuccessful marriage in the 1980's,
UK dentist Colin Howell remarried.
His new wife was called Kyle Jorgensen
and they had happy life together.
Colin became a reputable member of his community
and went on to have children with his wife.
However, both Colin and Kyle had a dark family secret.
Colin confessed to Kyle that he had
murdered his previous wife.
He'd been in an affair at the time and he and his mistress
decided to kill both of their partners
and make it look like an accident.
While Colin wanted to hand himself to the police
out of guilt, Kyle persuaded him that she could keep
his secret safe and that he needed
to stay out of prison for their kids.
10 years later, the guilt became too much for Colin
and he finally confessed to the authorities.
He received a 21 year prison sentence for his crimes.
Number six is the Uden family.
Alice and Gerald Uden were a happily married
couple with children.
In their 70's, they were described by neighbors
as being quiet and courteous.
No one could have known the secrets that they shared.
Alice had been previously married.
Her husband disappeared in 1974 and Gerald had also
been previously married but his wife
and their two children disappeared in 1980.
When Alice and Gerald met, they had a lot in common.
Alice had shot her first husband and buried his body
down an abandoned gold mine.
Gerald had also killed, but his crimes were much worse.
He'd murdered his first wife and their two children,
hiding their bodies in oil drums at the bottom of a lake.
When their crimes finally came to light in 2014,
they were sent to prison.
But despite this, their daughter Erica says
she has no choice but to still love them both.
Number five is the Tetzlaff family.
Victoria Tetzlaff of Argentina grew up believing
that her father was a hero.
She believed that he had dedicated himself to protect
their country from enemies within and with out.
But, Lieutenant Colonel Hernan Tetzlaff
had a secret so cruel and evil that he tried
desperately to keep it from his daughter.
Hernan Tetzlaff was responsible for the theft
of hundreds of babies taken from their families
during the Argentinean dictatorship of 1976.
The children were stolen from those who opposed
the dictatorship and given to other families.
The parents were then often tortured and killed.
Hernan Tetzlaff was responsible for it all.
But adding even more pain to this family revelation
was the fact that his own daughter, Victoria,
was a victim, too.
Hernan had stolen her from a family, had them killed,
then raised her as his own.
Number four is the Aguilar family.
The Aguilar family secret is one
of the darkest on this list.
Veronica Aguilar was 39 years old at the time,
living in Los Angeles with her family.
But what neighbors and her own husband didn't know
was that Veronica had imprisoned her son,
Yonathan, inside a closet.
With her husband, Yonathan's step father, working away
and rarely home, Veronica was able to convince
relatives and friends that Yonathan
had been looked after in an institute.
People had no reason to question this,
as they knew Yonathan had severe autism.
After being kept in the closet for three years,
being sedated most of the time and malnourished
by his own mother, Yonathan passed away.
When Yonathan's step father discovered the truth,
Veronica was arrested and her family
finally learned of her horrific crimes.
Number three is the Brandt family.
Sometimes a creepy family secret is revealed,
but not by someone confessing,
but through a family member's terrifying actions.
That's what occurred in the tragic case
of the Brandt family.
When Michelle Jones of Orlando invited her uncle,
Charlie Brandt, to stay with her in 2004,
she couldn't have foreseen the inevitable.
Charlie arrived with his wife, Terry.
Brandt then stabbed his wife seven times,
beheaded Michelle, and then hanged himself.
No one knew why a man of no history of violence
would do such a terrible thing, that is,
until this family secret was revealed.
Charlie had murdered his own pregnant mother
when he was just 13.
But that secret had been kept from the rest of his family,
including Michelle and Terry.
Perhaps if they had known about his previous crime,
they would never have allowed him into their lives.
But of course, it was much too late.
Number two is the Harrelson family.
Woody Harrelson grew up in the 1960's
with no contact with his real father.
He always wondered why, but when he overheard
a radio broadcast talking about a man with the same name
as his father, the twisted truth was revealed.
Harrelson's father, Charles, was a killer.
He had been found guilty of murder, most notably,
he was responsible for the first assassination
of a US judge in the 20th century.
As it turned out, Charles Harrelson was a hitman.
He had been hired several times to kill people.
But in a bizarre turn of events, he was also present
during the assassination of JFK and told Woody Harrelson
that he was involved.
Photographs show Charles Harrelson dressed as a homeless
person at the scene of JFK's assassination
and many believe that he was the second gunman
that fateful day.
And number one is the Phillips family.
One of the creepiest family secrets has to be that
of the Phillips family.
In 1979, 19 year old Mackenzie Phillips
was on the eve of her wedding day.
That night, Mackenzie's father arrived with the intention
of stopping the wedding from even taking place.
Both Mackenzie and her father were heavy drug users
and while they discussed Mackenzie's upcoming marriage,
they took heroin.
Without getting too far into the horrid details,
Mackenzie claims that her father committed incest
and that this occurred many times for several years.
Her father, John Phillips was the famous musician
at the time and so Mackenzie's horrific experiences
only came known after his death, when she felt comfortable
in telling her story.
Since then, Mackenzie has campaigned on behalf of other
incest survivors, hoping that others will come forward.
(spooky music)