Family secrets are hit or miss. You can either discover something super rad about the people you see during Christmas and Thanksgiving or realize that they really are horrible people deep down. When you’re a kid, every piece of new information you learn about your extended family feels like a long-hidden family secret. Even if this is not true by definition, I believe that anything once unknown to you that you learn about your family counts as a family secret. My grandma worked for a TV station and had to chase a monkey around the studio that got loose. Isn’t that a far more fun family secret than learning about a family member’s infidelity or health issues?

Unfortunately, wholesome family secrets are not all that interesting unless you’ve got family members as cool as my grandma. Often, it’s far more exciting to read illicit family secrets from families other than yours. If you’re looking for an escape from your own family’s drama this holiday season, the following family secrets might be just the stuff.