Everyone has secrets. Little ones, big ones, funny ones, and ones that are downright strange, but they’re all personal. PostSecret is about telling those secrets to the world… anonymously.
PostSecret began in 2005 as a blog by creator Frank Warren. It is described on his website as “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.” Senders are encouraged to send in secrets that no one else knows about them, but that will not compromise their identity. Frank never expected the response he received. Over a million secrets have been sent to his home address on postcards, photographs, shoes, t-shirts, anything you can think of really; he’s even received a secret written on a potato and countless wedding rings taped to the postcards. His collection shows the creativity of the senders. Frank keeps every secret he receives; his home is a closet for people’s skeletons.
Every Sunday he chooses ones he finds interesting from the hundreds of postcards he receives and posts them online in his blog; a tradition that has been dubbed “Sunday Secrets.” Every week fans of the project wait anxiously for the site to update with the new week’s secrets. Whether it is the perverse pleasure that the readers get from learning something secret about strangers or seeking reassurance that they are not alone in their feelings or experiences, the project has certainly garnered attention over the years and may have saved some lives.
On August 31, 2013 Frank posted this to his Sunday Secrets:
This secret created a firestorm of activity. Users of Reddit.com jumped into action and were able to identify the location as Jackson Park in Chicago and alerted police to the post. Although police searched the area nothing was found and the secret confession was determined to be a hoax. But really, we don’t know how long ago this supposed crime could have occurred so any immediate evidence of a crime wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye. Who’s to say that a body wasn’t buried there in the 1950’s and then would be undiscoverable without specialized equipment and a much longer and more in-depth exploration of the area than the 3 days that the Chicago P.D. put into investigating the possible crime…
On November 17, 2014 Frank Warren did an IAmA on Reddit.com, you can find the link here.
An IAmA allows Reddit users to ask the person questions about their chosen profession or hobby. Frank was asked by many users if he ever worried about some of the secrets he received, as some over the years have been laced with desperation and thoughts of suicide. Frank’s response to one of the questions was this:
“I do worry about some of the secrets I get but they all come anonymously. Over the ten years of PostSecret the PostSecret community has raised over $1,000,000 for suicide prevention (Thank You!!!) and I tour and speak about secrets and mental wellness at colleges and universities.”
Unfortunately, the anonymity of the project makes it impossible to locate those people who Frank fears may harm themselves or others, but sharing secrets like theirs has created an alliance between PostSecret and IMAlive, a text based suicide prevention hotline, and encouraged members of the PostSecret Community to create the most comprehensive database of suicide prevention hotlines and text-lines here. There are also other wellness resources such as hotlines for eating disorders and various forms of abuse on their PostSecret Community page. It is impossible to know just how many lives have been saved over the years because of this awareness.
PostSecret has given people an outlet to tell their deepest, darkest secrets. It taught people that their weirdness isn’t so weird, and brought tears to the eyes of many. It has connected people through shared experiences and crossed international borders to show us that no matter who we are, where we’re from, how much money we make, that we are all human and every human being has secrets. Some so shocking that they will leave a lifelong impression.
On Sundays, you will often find inspirational postcards from survivors, right there with postcards from people still fighting their own battles; survivors of illnesses, survivors of abuse, survivors of suicide attempts, and survivors of normal everyday life. Some of the postcards are from those left behind.
The best and most heartwarming postcards, in my opinion, are the ones that give credit to the unknowing saviors that give people a reason to keep moving forward.
“Saved by Chocolate and Kindness #PostSecret” was posted to Facebook by Frank Warren on January 13, 2015.
PostSecret proves, time and again, that one person can make a positive impact on other people’s lives, whether they realize it or not. Little things matter. A kind smile, a nice gesture, or a thoughtful word can make someone’s day so much better. It can even save a life when a person is on the edge of giving up.
Frank’s small project has grown monumentally and bred multiple books (which Frank saves the best secrets for), worldwide art exhibitions, and live events that no one with a heart could leave without at least a laugh and a tear. Frank Warren has literally built an empire on secrets and lies, and humanity has benefited because of it. Though PostSecret’s success has not been without a few bumps in the road.
In 2011, Frank released a PostSecret app. It seems it was his intention to make anonymous secret sharing easier and more accessible to everyone, giving them the ability to make and share their secrets all over the world and even share only in their own geographical area. Unfortunately, just like with most good things, a few bad apples ruined it for the rest of us. The app was the perfect breeding ground for inappropriate sexual posts and for internet trolls to bully and abuse others. While it was easy to remove one post, it was difficult for administrators to remove those people who consistently posted inappropriate content due to the basis of the project: anonymity.
Frank cited reasons for the disabling of the app being the posting of malicious, pornographic, gruesome and sometimes threatening material by a small percentage of the app’s users, as well as an inability to contain and ban these types of posts. Frank would have rather seen the app die and take a loss in profit than to watch people be abused (even only online) and not be able to do anything about it. So he did the only thing he could do; he shut it down completely. Regrettably, his attempt at bringing people together also spawned copycat apps like Whisper, Secret, and Yik Yak. PostSecret fans gravitated towards these apps briefly but any reader of PostSecret can tell you that they are simply sub-par recreations of the original that are basically just a sounding board for dumb questions, attempted hook-ups, and general disgusting content. We were not impressed.
In January of 2015, Frank answered fan’s cries for their app back with a new version called The PostSecret Universe. The new app is only available in the Apple app store and now has limited user interface. You can no longer make and post your own secrets to the world in an attempt to avoid the travesties of the original app; however, you are able to make and share your secrets with your friends through email and social media platforms. Additionally, you are able to see hundreds of all new secrets that have not been posted on the PostSecret website or added to the books and search tools that allow you to find secrets centered on particular themes.
The books have the most shocking, frightening, beautiful, sad, and amazing secrets. A secret can leave you aching for the pain the sender must have felt when they created the postcard, like this one from PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives.
Fans have a tendency to leave secrets or encouraging notes on pieces of paper inside PostSecret books on shelves in bookstores. It’s something that connects them in real life; they speak to and help one another in many different ways. This photo was sent to Frank’s Facebook page with these words:
Facebook June 29, 2015 - "I found this secret in a book at the B&N in Waterfront in Pittsburgh. To whoever left it, thank you. It did help, more than you know.”
PostSecret is ultimately about connection. Secrets that we can all relate to in different ways.
Some are funny:
Some are surprising:
Some make you sad:
Some are really, really funny:
Some are uplifting:
Some just floor you and really make you think:
These are real secrets:
From real people:
They are there to unite humanity and start conversations. Share your secret. Someone may really need to hear it:
PostSecret: 13345 Copper Ridge Rd. Germantown, Maryland 20874
