Every good story starts with an “it’s true what they say.”Every good story can be even better whenitis a long-considered local rumor that everyone wrote off as being just that—a rumor and nothing more—but many,many, years later it turns out that it was actually true. With mixed results.Folks on Reddit aresharing stories of local rumorsthat may or may not have sent chills down their spines, but ones that definitely maybe sent some chills after finding out that the rumor was definitely a thing.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Every good story starts with an “it’s true what they say.”
Every good story can be even better whenitis a long-considered local rumor that everyone wrote off as being just that—a rumor and nothing more—but many,many, years later it turns out that it was actually true. With mixed results.
Folks on Reddit aresharing stories of local rumorsthat may or may not have sent chills down their spines, but ones that definitely maybe sent some chills after finding out that the rumor was definitely a thing.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Grew up in a rural area of the southwest in the 80’s. There was an older woman with a thick European accent, she lived alone in a small house and was always nice to us kids. She was the only person who gave out full size candy bars during Halloween (that was a big deal back in the 80’s). But she also drank…heavily, like crashed her car a few times around town but not at fast speed (an old huge Ford LTD and not at fast speeds), and the sheriff’s always just took her home.Rumors spread amongst us kids that it was strange the way our parents/ adults acted around her. One day in the small local store I was standing in line with my dad and she was standing behind us, I was about 8, I looked back and said to my Dad “that’s the lady that gives out full size Hersey candy bars on Halloween!” She smiled, my father turned and thanked her and looked at her arm, he looked spooked, then he quickly offered her to go ahead of us in line thanking her again. Side note my family’s Catholic.When we got in the car I asked him about the woman, he then explained “those numbers tattooed on her arm,” he paused “what have you learned about WWII?” He then tried the entire ride home and later at home to explain the horrors of the holocaust to a 8 year old kid. It made sense why all the adults always treated her with a different type of respect. Even the Sheriffs, I always thought it was cool. Later I remembered people would volunteer to help her with her yard work, drop off groceries, get her packages, etc. me and my friend would mow her yard for free.
Rumour about a local businessman who tried to end it all and was rescued. Some weeks later he ran into a burning building and rescued two young children, sustaining severe burns in the process.A few months ago I saw him in the pub on the green, all of the skin in his face and hands had melted and he had skin grafted everywhere.Happiest man in the pub. What a hero.
A netizen who identifies as the only carpenter recently asked AskReddit about local rumors that Redditors have heard as kids, but it turned out to be real.
I grew up where there were some signs of Native Americans. I started believing that this one particularly beautiful spot had to be sacred, and probably was a burial ground. I’d convince my friends to hold hands in a circle and try to commune with the dead. After I got a bit older I was super embarrassed that I’d ever done such things.A few years later a Native American came but and told us how sacred the land was that we owned, and asked permission to hold peyote rituals with his tribe and others on our land. To this day they still come out and set up a teepee and drum all night, absolutely flying on hallucinogenics.Turns out I was right
kid in my third grade class was ALWAYS late to school. i’m talking he once showed up to school 5 minutes before classes were released to go home. the rumor among parents & teachers was that his mom was an alcoholic & the dad lived a couple towns over so he often had to wait for his dad to take him or take care of his mom until she was well enough to drive (this was a private school with no bus). she died of liver failure a few months ago according to facebook. makes it so much more f****d up that everyone knew, including the teacher, and didn’t have any sympathy for him. i distinctly remember the teacher telling him on multiple occasions that it was “his responsibility to show up on time.” he was 8, was he supposed to drive himself??? makes me so sad & i hope he’s doing okay now.
This is a little more lighthearted. But when I was in elementary school. Probably like 3rd grade? All the kids in my class would joke about how our primary teacher and our Spanish teacher “liked” each other. We were all little kids, so of course it was just dumb little kids joking about around.That is, until a few years later when I was in middle school and I found out my old teacher and Spanish teacher recently got married.
Because chaos is a natural part of life, it’s only appropriate to learn something out of the ordinary about rumors, and that ishow to start one.First up is crafting a compelling rumor. Figure out what you want to achieve with this rumor. Classics include humiliating someone to deflate their ego or exact karma for being a jerk, but it can be more elaborate, like breaking up a couple.
Because chaos is a natural part of life, it’s only appropriate to learn something out of the ordinary about rumors, and that ishow to start one.
First up is crafting a compelling rumor. Figure out what you want to achieve with this rumor. Classics include humiliating someone to deflate their ego or exact karma for being a jerk, but it can be more elaborate, like breaking up a couple.
The local homeless guy who was always friendly and happy was actually a super successful lawyer. The truth was that he was a successful lawyer but one day cracked under the pressure, sold all his things and just started living the vagabond life. He said he was happier looking for where his next meal was coming from than money ever made him. I think it was the first seed planted in my brain of “don’t k**l yourself for a company”. I don’t remember his name, but I hope he’s still happy.
When I was a little kid like 7 and roaming around the neighborhood with my gang of little rascals (this was in the 50’s when kids could safely play outside all day with their pals without parental worry) there was a rumor that in the house two doors over from mine that the parents had locked their mentally handicapped kid in the attic and that he was one of my gang friend’s older brothers. We played with him, but he always denied that he had any siblings. We were never allowed to enter his house which was strange because we were always stopping at our other pals homes during our days roaming to drink water or use the bathroom. About 2 years later the boy and his family moved away never to be seen again, but when they moved it was discovered that, yes, an older brother did exist and that he was kept locked away in the attic. It was a very creepy discovery! Mental health awareness and acceptance was in the dark ages in the 1950’s.
This older kid had this lightning streak scar all over one side of his neck and down his body. The rumor was he was throwing stuff at the power lines behind our neighborhood.Turns out he was. He was throwing copper wire at it, and it arced. He’s lucky to be alive.
It helps to also identify some emotional triggers that you can use to your advantage. You know, stir some panic and anxiety in the individual. Or individuals.So, focus on a topic that would be relatable and would hit close to home. Topics like money help a lot, like winning the lottery, and it helps to include details that would please a crowd, like maybe choosing a controversial decision.
It helps to also identify some emotional triggers that you can use to your advantage. You know, stir some panic and anxiety in the individual. Or individuals.
So, focus on a topic that would be relatable and would hit close to home. Topics like money help a lot, like winning the lottery, and it helps to include details that would please a crowd, like maybe choosing a controversial decision.
When I was a child shakes cane we had the legend of The Baroness. Supposedly, she lived in a haunted house and drove around a pink hearse! When I was old enough to drive and explore on my own, I finally saw her! In her pink hearse! She also did live in a house that would have coded as spooky or haunted to a small child. It was just an old house with neat architecture.
The community I grew up in had an abandoned hospital in it. The place was spooky as hell. The story was that the hospital had a maternity ward where they would steal babies from Indigenous women and then make the mothers disappear. They also said they would experiment on people and perform surgeries with no anesthetic.Turned out it was true!They say that place is crawling with ghosts and you could see the ghosts of the women walking around the hallways looking for their babies. I can not confirm that one. I always stayed away from that place it was too creepy.They ended up trying to redevelop the building into condos and holy s**t you could not pay me enough to ever live in there.
Always heard rumours that this kid who I rode bmx with, his dad was a high ranking member of the Hells. One day we’re over there, years later, chatting st around the fire in his backyard and about 70 patched members arrived at the house for a meeting. They bought us a stload of beer and told us to find a park to drink it in for a few hours while they had their meeting.
Needless to say, the rumors have to be simple and believable, so making all the details overly complicated and the multitude to which the rumor extends beyond the immediate reality is not a good idea. Keep it grounded.Once all that is sorted out, start spreading. And it’s not just talking about—it’s convincing others to spread it too. Hire all the bigmouths to do the job.
Needless to say, the rumors have to be simple and believable, so making all the details overly complicated and the multitude to which the rumor extends beyond the immediate reality is not a good idea. Keep it grounded.
Once all that is sorted out, start spreading. And it’s not just talking about—it’s convincing others to spread it too. Hire all the bigmouths to do the job.
There was a rumor at my high school that that the building down the way was a cult. It wasn’t unheard of to dare people to go over there and then you’d end up being followed or sometimes invited to dinner.Turns out, it was the HQ of the cult the Duggars were in, IBLP. I was watching that documentary and my mind was blown, because all the high school rumors had been true!!
The park we used to play football at used to be a cemetery, they exhumed all the coffins and moved them years before I was born. We’d freak each other out especially at night saying there were still bodies buried there. One day we were playing and they were doing some grounds keeping work and they found a coffin, the state came out and found 30 more. We were actually playing on top of hallowed ground.
In middle school there was an urban legend one of the teachers was in playboy. She was very attractive and every 12 yr old hetero boys fantasy.One day a friend down the street found a huge stash of his dad’s old playboys from the 60 and 70s. He started going through them all until he hit one issue from the 70s. It was a compilation piece on college women. To his surprise, and the rest of us when he confirmed with our little group, it was our teacher. No one believed it but it was her name, college and face.The good thing was we agreed to never show, nor tell, anyone else in our class. Though it was very tempting to tell her a*****e son who was in our grade that we knew the truth.
Social media and the internet in general might prove to be very helpful with the level of anonymity that it provides. Fake accounts will be your best friend, both as a means of spreading and as a means of leaving deliberate evidence around. You know, breadcrumbs that make the whole thing sound legit. But don’t go overboard as it should also keep your tracks hidden.
We had a rumor about there being a white horse in the woods behind the movie theater in our town. There were a couple homeless people living there though, so no one went and checked it out. Well, before seeing a movie one day, me and a couple of friends decided to make the trek. We stumbled passed the makeshift camp, and found a small path that led to a fence. We stood there for a couple seconds, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a majestic white steed came trotting towards us. We snapped a quick pic on an early 2000’s cell phone of our friend and the horse, and got the hell outta there. The pic looked absolutely fake, and no one believes us about it to this day.
When I was in jr high in the early 2000s there was a rumour about one of my female classmates and the male gym teacher. Of course we all thought it was a rumour but a few years later it came out that he was sleeping with multiple students. Watching everyone’s face as they realized the rumours we heard were true was pretty wild. That girl also ended up just disappearing after it all came out, probably dropped out or moved schools, I feel bad for her, she was a victim but no one talked about her like she was.
There was a taco truck in town that sold w**d if you asked for a side of lettuce.
Speaking of which, covering your tracks is a huge part of spreading rumors.So, make the rumor hard to disprove. Include details that are impossible to track down, like someone making a mistake and it affecting someone who nobody knows about and can’t find to confirm it.
Speaking of which, covering your tracks is a huge part of spreading rumors.
So, make the rumor hard to disprove. Include details that are impossible to track down, like someone making a mistake and it affecting someone who nobody knows about and can’t find to confirm it.
One grade school teacher (m) had married another (f). Did not last, think weeks not months or years. Rumours were 1) he was gay. 2) he threw up on the wedding night in the middle of the attempted consummation.Both turned out true.
A vagrant looking man used to collect cans from local parks and whatnot (imagine someone pushing a shopping cart in tattered clothing). Rumor was he was generationally wealthy and when he passed away he left a fortune to the park and rec department to update facilities. Apparently this happens in a lot of places which is awesome to hear. His name was Nick and this was in Wisconsin back in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.
When I was a kid (in the late 70’s) there was a rumor that an old weird family were retired circus folk and kept an elephant in their barn, we all thought it was just an urban legend, until one day there was news reporters and all kinds of police activity at the residence and the elephant was taken away in a truck lol
It also goes without saying that keeping the list ofaccomplicesto a minimum is an advantage because that would also minimize the chances of the rumor leading back to you. It also helps to make sure that whatever that you’re spreading a rumor about doesn’t automatically leave you as the only suspect, i.e. if you’ve been entrusted with a secret and you’re the only one who knows about it.
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That if you rode bikes or four-wheelers down this certain trail an old man would come after you and attack you. A few years later, some kids were riding four-wheelers down that trail and an old guy shot and ked them both. Damnedest thing, they had already left his property before he caught up to them, and he ked them on public land. I’m pretty sure he died in prison a few years ago.
Obligatory PSA: keep in mind that spreading rumors is frowned upon and in some cases can be very,veryillegal, so proceed at your own risk, i.e. keep it harmless and fun. Or, if anything, to teach someone a lesson about spreading rumors and ruining people’s lives because humans can be cruel sometimes.
One persistent rumor that went around during highschool was that one of our biology teachers was having sex with students. We all thought it was a joke because the guy was rather ugly looking and we all knew his wife (a fellow teacher) was always around.Years pass and I find out that the male teacher was found having several relationships with underaged students. He got arrested, divorced, put on the SO registration, and lost custody of his kids.
Doctor in town (who was a huge football booster) gave prescription painkillers to high school kids.He passed away before it all came to light so he never saw justice.Lots and lots of kids through the years unsurprisingly became addicted.
So, heard any juicy rumors lately that you wish becomes true? Why not share them in the comment section below!But if that’s not something you’d be into, then mayhaps take your virtual self to check out someconspiracy theories people actually believe in, despite them being over the top ridiculous!
So, heard any juicy rumors lately that you wish becomes true? Why not share them in the comment section below!
But if that’s not something you’d be into, then mayhaps take your virtual self to check out someconspiracy theories people actually believe in, despite them being over the top ridiculous!
It was a local urban legend that this huge, old, and abandoned house was haunted because like a century ago there was a m****r there. Kids would freak each other out over it, tell ghost stories, sneak onto the property, whatever. I thought it was just that, an urban legend about an abandoned house. Nope - in the early 1900s the husband and wife were found dead in the house, it was never solved, but the son was suspected because he was missing and never found. No one moved into it after that and it’s sat empty since. I only found out because they planned to tear it down to build apartments on the property 2 years ago but the local community rallied to preserve it.
Our local China Buffet was using illegal immigrants as wait staff and then trafficking them across town to a massage parlor they owned that gave the ol rub n tug. Huge scandel when it happened but it was hushed up pretty quickly. The restaurant reopened some months after under new management.
I’ve heard about two different teachers at my highschool being creepy and they both have been fired for inappropriate contact with students
There were rumors that there were bodies that were dumped into a pond at a park. Turns out it was true. They drained the pond to clean it and found over 30 bodies. I used to run right next to there for Cross Country.
Back in the late 80’s, a local Principal and his wife went out fishing. There was a storm and she fell out of the boat and sank before he could grab her. The story always seemed odd. 20 years later on his deathbed, he finally confessed that he did m****r her and dumped the body out of the boat
Girl in my high school was rumored to have been dating one of the teachers who was married.This was probably true because after graduation, the teacher had retired, divorced his wife and married the girl.
The two women (in their late 40’s) were actually homosexual, everybody on our street believed them when they told everybody that they were sisters. I used to run errands for them maybe 3 times a week and they always gave me a shilling every time.
A priest was rumored to be way too friendly with some of the girls in our grade school. It came out years later in an investigation that he had in fact gotten a teenager pregnant.
That our neighbor was a p**o. Married with kids. One day, he drops dead of a heart attack. When the family started going through his stuff, they were so disgusted apparently just sold the house as-is with the furniture and everything.
That tight biking turn at the bottom of the hill everyone called, ‘dead mans curve’ because someone died there?Someone did, indeed, die there.
There was this ae in my junior high gym class, real bully type. And when he would act out everyone would ridicule him for his mother being a ck we and we would laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh. Well, it turned out it was true - there was a public confirmation in the paper, and his bullying made a lot more sense bc it turned out his home life was what you would expect from someone having a ck we mother, and no one talked about it anymore, and we did not laugh so much anymore. Ironically, I think he felt so ashamed when everyone found out, that he actually stopped being such a d*k head.
Wasn’t a kid and nobody will believe this, but I have friends in production that told me about Kevin Spacey at least 6 months before the allegations went public.
There was a teacher who was rumored to walk a great distance to and from work each day due to prior cardiac issues that stemmed from weight.Years later, while at work, I saw that teacher walking home each day, and the time I saw that teacher coincided with the time they would’ve left school and started walking.Blew my mind!
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