The crushing and bizarre things people found while cleaning a dead relative's home.

Redditors have revealed the unusual things and the most heartbreaking secrets they’ve discovered while cleaning out a deceased relative’s home, and oh lord, are they varied.

Architrexx wrote that his mother was killed by her ex-husband. When the family began to pack up her home, they found telltale signs of the abuse she had endured for years, that ultimately led to her death.

“When we were taking things down, like pictures and such, we would find things hidden behind them. Items such as check books to hidden bank accounts from him, or even worse, notebooks full of dates and accounts of events where he would engage her (she had a restraining order on him).”

The mother had kept all of this secret from the family, and Architrexx believes that if she had told them she might still be alive today.

When Mexmom's great grandmother died, they found a letter that revealed that her grandmother had been adopted from Europe in secret.

"Adoption was a big taboo at the time, so no one ever knew about it. The story they told was that she had gotten pregnant during their trip and had given birth to the baby in Europe. They brought her back to Mexico and registered her as a new born, even though she was already several years old."

Another Reddit user shared that they had lived in their uncle's home after he had committed suicide, and found pieces of his suicide note all over the place - in his books, in his desk, under his mattress.

On a lighter note, HomemadeJambalaya struck gold while going through her grandmother's estate.

"My grandma's house had money EVERYWHERE. Every purse had at least $100 cash. Suitcases had a few hundred more. Every coffee can or other container in her kitchen had rolls of money. There were even bags of frozen veggies in the freezer that had been split open and money hidden inside. And her bank accounts...thousands upon thousands of dollars," she wrote.

The seven stages of grief on The Well. 

HomemadeJambalaya explained that no one in her family had any idea that her grandmother was stockpiling so much cash, as she lived really simply and never spent money on anything unnecessary.

Another Redditor revealed that she found a copy of Kama Sutra alongside an etiquette manual for ladies on their wedding night in her grandmother's belongings.

"We also found a copy of my grandparents' wedding invitation addressed to my grandfather with a handwritten note reading 'You'd better not miss it!'"

While joey130312 found 20 wrapped presents and envelopes full of money, addressed to all their family members, when they cleaned out their grandmother's house.

"They were for the big occasions that she knew she wouldn't live to see us have. Before she had died, she had organised 21st birthday presents for those of us who weren't yet 21, engagement presents, and wedding presents, each with a card written by hand."

Have you ever found something unexpected when cleaning out a loved one's home?