This 83-year-old man got the fright of his life last week.
While cleaning out the attic, he found a half-decayed box filled with photos.
All were photos from when he himself was a little kid.
But one of the photos was different.
He saw his father, mother, and also himself as a little baby.
But who was the little girl next to him in the photo?
Grandpa (83) discovers old family photo.
When he looks closer, he gets the fright of his life when he discovers who she is.
He realizes that his whole life had been a lie.
William Van Pelt couldn’t believe his eyes.
Had his parents been lying to him all this time? After all, ever since William could remember, he had always been his parents’ only child.
They spoiled him a lot and gave him everything he ever wanted.
But maybe that was all a trick to keep this big secret from him.
He couldn’t remember anything about this girl.
But it seemed like back then she was still an important part of the family.
William could not just let this go and decided to start investigating.
And investigate he did.
This man did not stop until he had all the answers.
Both of William’s parents were no longer alive, so unfortunately he couldn’t ask them directly.
But thankfully, he had other family members with whom he had always maintained a good relationship.
Some were younger, but some were slightly older than himself.
So perhaps this meant that they still had memories of the girl in the picture—even though he didn’t.
He knocked first on his niece’s door.
She was two years older than William and would have been about three when the photo had been taken all those years back.
But strangely, she had also never seen this girl before.
“As far as I know, you have always been an only child,” she confirmed.
But then, who was this girl?
This was starting to get a bit strange.
His niece Claudia visited his parents regularly in her younger years.
His father and mother were even her babysitters until she became a teenager.
So the fact that she had never seen this girl before was almost impossible.
The plot thickened, and William even suspected her of lying for a few moments.
Was there something Claudia didn’t tell him? Or were his parents hiding this girl from the world? And if so, where was she now?
Something felt off, and William had to find out what it was.
His investigation led him to the core of that question.
When he finally found out who it was, he had a hard time holding back his tears.
He visited several relatives during the following days.
But not one single person knew anything.
No one seemed to know the girl.
She was one big mystery.
Even his other relatives had now become curious as to who she was.
It really seemed like it would remain a secret forever.
William had almost given up his search.
Until he arrived at his last visit—the last family member he hadn’t asked yet.
When he arrived at his Aunt Ina’s house and asked her if she knew who the girl was, Ina accidentally spoke her mind.
These words provided a sad answer to his burning question.
William had not told her why he was stopping by, hoping to surprise the 95-year-old woman.
“The less time I give her to prepare for this, the more likely she won’t lie to me,” William thought.
And this reasoning turned out to work very well.
He drove his car up to her house and locked the door.
Nerves were running through his body as he walked up to the front door and rang the bell.
His plan to surprise her worked perfectly.
Because when he sat down without speaking in front of his ancient aunt with mild dementia, she accidentally slipped up.
He silently placed the photo in front of her and pointed to the girl.
“Hey, that’s Olga,” the old woman said out loud.
Then, realizing what she had done, her eyes lit up instantly after she said that.
She put both hands in front of her mouth.
“How can I be so sloppy? I was quiet for all those years,” she said.
She wanted to take her words back, but it was already too late.
“Who is Olga and why is she in the family photo with me and my parents? And more importantly, why does nobody seem to know her?” William asked her with a serious look on his face.
The old lady began to cry silently and then whispered to herself.
“I had so promised never to talk about this.” She looked at William with her watery eyes and explained that they had kept this secret all these years to protect him.
“Protect me? Protect me from what?” William asked her.
“That is not for me to tell you,” she added.
“I advise you not to go looking for this woman because it will only hurt you,” she told him.
“But if you really want answers and my words do not stop you from looking, you will find them in the regional archives here in town.”
Completely confused, he walked away from his aunt Ina.
“The regional archives—what would I find there?” She had accidentally shared the name of the girl in the photo but had left him with even more questions than he had before.
He forgave her for being silent for years.
But couldn’t let his search end here.
So he went to the regional archives and started searching through the books there, trying to find out who this girl was.
What he discovered there about her—and thus about himself—gave him the shock of his life.
“Now I know that my whole life has been a lie, and it is time that I start living the truth,” he later told the media.
William spent hours visiting the archives and found a lot of information about his family and also about himself.
His entire family tree seemed to be here in these papers.
He saw his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and the names of both of his parents.
It was helpful to have his entire family tree together like this.
“This could surely provide answers,” he thought.
But he ended up getting a lot more questions than answers when he continued reading the files.
As he looked further down the family tree, he got startled when he saw the following thing.
Among his parents’ names, he should be listed as their only son.
But his name wasn’t even mentioned.
For under his parents’ names was their date of death and then also the words “no children.”
How could that be? Surely he was their son.
It seemed like this book was telling him that he was never born—at least not as the son of who he thought were his parents.
But that was impossible.
He had to come from somewhere, right? Who was he?
He picked up the box in which all the family trees had been collected and tossed it upside down on the table.
Books that had details of every branch of his family spilled out.
But his name—or that of the girl in the picture—was nowhere to be seen.
Until he saw two pieces of paper sticking out of one of the books.
On the first document, he could just barely read the name he had been looking for all this time: Olga Poock.
And her name was not the only one he found.
For under her document he found a name that was all too familiar to him: Wilhelm Poock.
Born February 3rd, 1939.
Adopted April 18th, 1940.
“Wilhelm” was the name his mother occasionally would give him by mistake.
Will then always thought she was speaking out of turn.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
So his real name was Wilhelm—and he was adopted.
How come his so-called parents had never told anything about this? Not even when he was old enough to understand what it all meant? And not only that—because that meant that this girl was his sister.
So who were his biological parents? And where was his sister now? Questions that would soon be answered.
Because not much later he received an unexpected phone call—a phone call that would change his life forever.
It was his aunt Ina, who had already guessed that he was going to search the regional archives.
“I assume that by now you know who the girl in the picture is, don’t you?”
William was startled when his aunt called out that name through the phone.
He hadn’t gotten quite used to it himself.
But now was curious as to why she was calling him.
The old woman explained that she had been thinking about the whole situation.
And that maybe it was time to tell him the whole story after all this time.
She asked if William would like to come to her house with the documents he had gathered.
She promised she would finally tell him everything she knew.
William once again arrived at his aunt’s house.
When he parked his car, she was already there at the front door to escort him inside.
She immediately apologized for all the secrecy.
But she repeated again that they always thought it was better to keep quiet about the truth.
William joined her at the table and once again put the family photo in front of her.
He told her that he now knew this was his sister and that her name was Olga Poock.
His aunt confirmed this discovery and then told the sad truth.
His aunt started talking about his past.
“You and your sister Olga are indeed both adopted.
You come from a Polish family and they were very close friends with your parents.
But about a year after you were born, your parents died in a tragic car accident.
Your new parents, Judy and James, then took you in and eventually adopted you.
The picture you put in front of me now was taken on the day you were both adopted years back.
You are about one year old here, and Olga was three.”
“But then why can’t I remember anything about her?” asked William.
Ina told William that he and Olga lived together with his adoptive parents for about a year.
But the tragic event of his biological parents’ passing posed a noticeable problem in their upbringing.
The two children were very emotional.
It seemed that they were only reinforcing the negative feelings with each other.
“You were both too young to really understand what had happened.
Yet something clashed that could not be explained.
But it wasn’t healthy for the both of you.
That’s why Judy and James decided to separate you from each other, so that you both could have the best possible upbringing—although this meant you weren’t together all the time.”
“But now it’s time for you to hear who Olga really is.
Because you actually know her better than you think.
You have secretly known about her all your life.”
“Do I know her?” William asked in surprise.
“Yes, you do,” said his aunt with a weary smile on her face.
“I even heard from sources that you spoke to her today.”
William looked at his aunt and then glanced, confused, at the picture that was in front of him on the table.
He didn’t understand anything about what was going on.
He thought about everyone he had spoken to today.
He had been at the regional archives, but other than the man at the desk, he had been alone there.
He had actually been alone almost all day anyway.
The only one with whom he had spoken for ten minutes at most was… ten minutes on the phone with her?
“Aunt, do you mean to say that…?”
“Yes, indeed, that is what I’m trying to say.
Just as ‘Wilhelm’ is no longer your current name, neither is ‘Olga’ her real name.
We call her quite differently these days.
In fact, we thought it would be wise to give you a completely new life—separate from each other and separate from the family tragedy that happened to you both.
However, we did not want to completely remove her from your life.
Therefore we gave Olga to your aunt and uncle.
They, on their behalf, avoided contact with your parents for the first five years of your upbringing.
When you first saw each other again, you did not remember that you were actually brother and sister.
I know it sounds hard to believe.
And then the both of you became good friends again—and of course cousins.
You now know her as Claudia.”
William could not believe what he had just heard.
His cousin Claudia, whom he had good contact with on a weekly basis, was actually his sister Olga.
How could this be possible? How was it possible neither he nor she could remember anything?
He asked his aunt if Claudia already knew about this incredible news.
But she told him this was still a big secret for Claudia.
“Maybe you should be the one to tell her,” Aunt Ina said.
William nodded happily “yes” to this.
He thanked his aunt for this wonderful news and got into his car toward Claudia’s house.
What happened next is heartwarming.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
He immediately told her the news and explained the whole situation to her.
The 85-year-old woman looked at William with wide eyes and obviously didn’t know what to say at first.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Finally, she spoke her first words as his rediscovered sister.
And the moment that followed was heartwarming.
“It may sound strange, but somehow I’ve always known.
Of course I did not know I was your sister.
But I always felt we had a special bond.”
Claudia got up from her chair and gave her brother a big hug.
Are you also curious how these two are doing now, one year later? The bond between Claudia and William—or should we say Olga and Wilhelm—is better than ever before.
They see each other almost every day now.
William has even moved into a home that is within walking distance of his dear sister, just so he could see her as much as possible.
Their bond had always been special.
But it is even more special now.
Last week, they had their first annual brother-and-sister day—and it was great.
They knew each other for a long time, of course, but they still have a lot to catch up on.
Because being a brother and sister is a lot different than being niece and nephew.
Fortunately, they are both still young at heart, so that will work out just fine.
