35 Horror Stories From People Who Took A DNA Test And Probably Regretted It

My grandfather did not die when my dad was 4 like we always thought. Instead, he faked his death, walked 1500km to the other end of the country, married a sixteen old girl and had 7 more children.

All the while leaving my grandmother to bring up the 6 children he had with her and his 2 children from an earlier marriage. Worst part was that he used the same names for the second batch of kids as his first lot.

Well, it's not *my* horror story. But ... police arrested the guy who murdered my mother--decades ago--because someone in the killer's family used one of those tests.

The submitted DNA allowed them to get a match on a grandparent... and a couple of years later, when they subpoena'd his DNA to corroborate their other police-work, he confessed.

It took 40 years, but I imagine this is a hell of a horror story for him. He wasn't ever a suspect before the DNA match.

My parents and I all did dna tests and I manage their profiles- theirs were done before mine was available. They each got a panicked message from a woman on the other side of the world who had matched as their daughter. She was distraught, thinking her parents had lied to her for her entire life.

When I logged in to my account, it showed that I had no dna matches with my parents which I knew to be wrong, plus the fact my mum was a young child when this woman was born made it clear the company had swapped our results. Customer service just said ‘oh well’ and offered a new test. My family found it funny but that poor woman who had spent several days freaking out thinking her life was a lie before I got her messages and responded.

About three years ago, I took a 23andMe test because I always had suspected (or maybe hoped) that my sister’s dad was also my dad—he was in my life from the beginning because my “bio” dad was a piece of work.

Well he isn’t my father, and neither is the man who I grew up believing was my dad. My sister in law did some digging and found my real biological father. He’s the one who reached out; did a dna test, wanted to meet me and my children and introduce me to my siblings.

For a while I held off because it was such a shock and I felt like it was moving really quickly. 4 months after we had first started talking, we met and I was welcome with open arms by EVERYONE. And even though it was still a little weird and I was super nervous, I am glad I took the chance to meet him.

He died from covid complications just 8 months after we found out he was my real dad.

My cousin trying to scam the government claiming minuscule percentage Native American submitted a sample. What did happen was four children he fathered with four women other than current wives found him.

My father is from a country that is literally split in half. Half the country is ethnically Greek and the other half is ethnically Turkish. There is a long history of bad blood and our capital is split down the middle. We are culturally Greek but thanks to my brother's impulse-decision DNA test, we learned that we are ethnically more Turkish. Not really a horror story, but goes to show how stupid war is.

The wife and I both got tested. She had an incredible background. North American First Nations. South American. Portugal and all over Europe. It was so cool!

When I got mine back it said.

You’re Scottish mate.

EDIT: in no way did I mean to imply I was unhappy with my results. I just found it hilarious if you compared the findings.

I did ancestry dna a few years ago. Found out my father sexually assaulted over 50 women.

My sweetie's mother had an affair after kid #2 and ended up pregnant with #3. His dad (mother's husband) didn't bond with him the way he did with the older siblings (or the three from his previous relationship) for that reason. It was quite obvious as he got older, too, being blonde, blue eyed, skinny, and a high academic achiever vs. being overweight with dark hair, brown eyes, and not-so-academic like his five older siblings.

"Dad" died fifteen years ago and never had a good relationship with my hubby because he didn't care to invest much in a kid that wasn't his. Last December during my pregnancy, we decided it was time for him to do 23andMe so he could have some proof in hand before connecting with his mother's AP, alleged bio-dad.

And it's a damn good thing he did. Turns out that his siblings' dad was actually his real dad this whole time. Genetics are just kind of a crapshoot sometime, and the affair was total a red herring.

I actually found out I have the cancer gene from one of these tests (BRCA1) and my whole family was tested as well - my sister, brother and dad all have it too. We now get preventative cancer testing but who knows it could have very well saved one of our lives down the road - not really horror story overall, but when I first found out it was extremely scary as I was just expecting to get some entertaining report back and instead found out I had a serious health condition

My kid took the test, and 8 years later, introduced me to a half-sister I never knew I had. My father had remarried and had a son I knew about, but this younger sister took us both by surprise. And the father in all this has passed on, so... I got a sister now!

I worked in healthcare. I have heard so many NPE stories (non-parental events; basically discovering unexpected parents and/or relatives in your family tree).

A protip for parents and/or family who are still hiding genetic secrets: the era of being able to hide these things has been over for a very, very long time. I strongly suggest you come clean on your own terms before your child or relatives inevitably find out through a DNA test -- and nowadays it's not a matter of if, it's when. 🤷

Found out my Dad isn’t my biological father. My Dad’s sister gave me a DNA test for the holidays. I ended up taking it and discovered I wasn’t related to my aunt, aka not related to my Dad. But I have 10+ half-siblings with whoever my sperm donor dad is. They gaslit me for months saying the results were inaccurate, called me a liar to my sister, all this garbage. Then finally admitted it was true after 6+ months of lying. We now have a terrible relationship.

I'm adopted and was hoping to find out family info and hopefully who my birth parents were.

Found out my birth father sexually abused the kids of one of his girlfriends and is currently serving 45 years. Also he committed multiple armed robberies in the past. On top of that he's into a bunch of weird Africans are the real native americans beliefs that's he's using to try and get out of prison. Not sure he actually believes all of it but he did a DNA test in the first place to try and claim to be native.

That whole side of my gene pool is into weird religious stuff. Plus the guy he thought was his father isn't. His mom had an affair and his real dad/my grandfather had recently also just got out of prison for attempted murder then died from covid. Pretty sure he was in the drug trade in Miami in the 80s as well.

Safe to say I want zero contact from anyone on that side.

My other half is native and the horror stories are just all the teams they went through in residential schools and literally being moved to Indian territory and being given the last name orphan because all their family died.

Also my birth mother was basically stolen from her family and given to a white family and none of her siblings even know she exists.

I am beyond lucky I didn't have to grow up in any of that environment.

My birth mom banged out six more kids after she abandoned me and LEFT ONE OF THEM to DIE in the desert alone at 10. ( She made it and got fostered where we learned about each other) Stop having and abandoning kids. F**k you lady.

one of my best friends called me one day in a panic. she did one with her father for fun. he is not her father. turns out mummy has many skeletons in the closet. bio dad never knew she existed and was SO happy to find her. we now doubt her sister’s father is her father. just a gigantic domino effect of not good.

Not a horror story, but certainly unexpected…

My sister did 23andme and matched with a niece. Apparently my brother 40m, unbeknownst to him, has a daughter. From her age we can tell she must’ve been born when my brother was in was in high school. The bio mom must’ve given her up for adoption without telling my brother. No bad feelings, they would’ve been so young (like 15 years old), so it was for the best.

not me but my coworker found out his bio dad was not who he thought he was. turns out he is one of the many many children of fertility doctor Donald Cline (there’s a Netflix doc about him if you’ve never heard about him)

Summary: Got their parents arrested for murder.

It's not my story but one known around Ireland. In the 1980s, a dead baby was found on a beach in South Kerry. It had been stabbed many, many times. A massive investigation occurred, and there were appeals for the mother to come forward. In Ireland's dark past, we have treated women and especially unmarried mothers terribly. A woman on the opposite side of the county was wrongly accused of killing the baby and dumping it 3 hours away. She had given birth to a baby who was stillborn, which they buried on their farmland. Her family was coerced into signing false confessions by our police force that she had killed the baby in South Kerry, even though she did not.

Fast forward to 2022, there was suddenly a middle-aged married couple from South Kerry who were arrested on suspicion of killing the baby. Their child, who was in their 20s, submitted their DNA to an ancestory site. They got hits, and one of them was for murdered baby found on the beach. They haven't been convicted the trial hasn't happened yet.

One of my great-uncles got contacted by a woman who said he was her father, after she took a test through one of those sites. He denied it vehemently, and it caused some strife in the family until it was revealed that it was actually his older brother who was the father. Turns out he was kind of a cad in his youth, and never found out until now.