In medieval folklore, there’s a chilling story about Bluebeard. A respectable baron (incidentally, he has a real-life inspiration – Baron Gilles de Rais, a companion of the French folk heroine Joan of Arc) whose castle always had a locked room. One day, the baron’s new wife finally opened it – and, well, nothing good came of it.
Of course, the story we’ll tell you today, first shared by the user u/ThrowRA13655 a couple of months ago, doesn’t have such a mystical background. But our heroine still found the situation worthy of considering parting ways with her husband. Intrigued yet? Then let’s keep reading!
More info: Reddit
Sometimes our lives look incredibly similar to famous folklore plots – but in fact, real life could be just way more chilling than any fiction
Image credits: Bizon / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post and her husband have one toddler, and the woman is bearing another baby now
Image credits: ThrowRA13655
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The man has a separate room in the house which has a special lock, and once he refused to open the door for his wife while being inside
Image credits: ThrowRA13655
Image credits: pvproductions / Freepik (not the actual photo)
All the woman’s attempts to make him reveal what he was hiding there went absolutely South – and the man even started gaslighting her
Image credits: ThrowRA13655
Now she’s seriously considering separating from her husband, purely out of concern for her safety and the safety of her children
So, the Original Poster (OP) and her husband have a toddler, and the woman is now pregnant with their second child. The couple also has a room in their house where the husband keeps all his personal belongings (allegedly out of fear that the curious toddler would get to them). The door to this room was always locked.
One day, while getting ready to clean the husband’s office, our heroine discovered that it was locked inside. She knocked and literally heard him frantically hiding something from her. He flatly refused to open the door, and when he did, it was perfectly tidy. But suspicions lingered in our heroine’s mind…
Later, she returned to this topic repeatedly in conversations with her spouse, and one day, he admitted that he secretly played Nintendo Switch in the evenings (and even showed her the console). But she no longer actually believed him, and her suspicions were further fueled by her husband’s obvious attempts at gaslighting.
The author reached a point where she seriously considered whether separation would be reasonable for her. In any case, she was considering whether, for her own safety and the safety of her kids, she should move in with her parents. So the original poster decided to take it online, seeking people’s advice.
Image credits: galitskaya / Freepik (not the actual photo)
“The situation described here clearly undermines trust between spouses. After all, if this man truly had nothing to hide, why not reveal everything to his wife?” argues Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda reached out to for a comment here. “For now, it looks as if he decided to ‘sacrifice’ something minor for the sake of greater secrecy.”
According to the expert, mutual trust in married life is literally the cornerstone, so the actions of the original poster’s spouse cannot help but destroy this trust. Especially since any kind of anxiety is generally contraindicated for the moms-to-be.
“As for the idea of separating, that’s definitely an option, but she needs to assess all the circumstances. The availability of alternative housing, sources of income, and support from some close people. If all of this is present, perhaps such an outcome would truly be quite justified,” Irina Matveeva summarizes.
As for the netizens, they mostly advised our heroine to simply leave her husband, because the situation described clearly resembled some true crime plots. Well, and also because the author’s husband’s actions seem manipulative and rather strange in any case. “You can’t trust him. Period,” someone in the comments concluded. So, what’s your opinion on this situation?
Most commenters sided with the author, claiming that her concerns are totally justified and the trust is destroyed here
