Every good story starts with an “it’s true what they say.”
Every good story can be even better when it is 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 are sharing stories of local rumors that 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.
#21
There was a taco truck in town that sold w**d if you asked for a side of lettuce.
82points
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.
#22
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.
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81points
#23
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.
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77points
#24
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
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74points
It also goes without saying that keeping the list of accomplices to 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.
#25
One of the teachers in my school got pregnant by a student but they didn't know which one (she had slept with 7).
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69points
#26
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 k***ed them both. Damnedest thing, they had already left his property before he caught up to them, and he k***ed them on public land. I'm pretty sure he died in prison a few years ago.
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65points
#27
Everyone at my school knew someone who knew someone who told them that this one house just down the road from the school was owned by a locally known drug dealer and it was his emergency hide out house. Years later I was driving past and laughed at how ridiculous the story was. 2 weeks after that the house was on the news with armed police surrounding it. Turns out it really was this drug hideout and the guy was involved in way more stuff than just that. They found drugs, weapons and evidence of a human trafficking ring in there. The house got mysteriously burned down while his court case was going on and has been a burned out empty lot ever since.
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64points
Obligatory PSA: keep in mind that spreading rumors is frowned upon and in some cases can be very, very illegal, 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.
#28
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.
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63points
#29
A kid at my school who’s mom disappeared when he was a baby was rumored that she was k***ed by Ted Bundy. Decades later researchers think it’s true.
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63points
#30
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.
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61points
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 some conspiracy theories people actually believe in, despite them being over the top ridiculous!
#31
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.
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58points
#32
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.
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54points
#33
I’ve heard about two different teachers at my highschool being creepy and they both have been fired for inappropriate contact with students
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52points
#34
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.
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52points
#35
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
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52points
#36
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.
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50points
#37
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.
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50points
#38
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.
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47points
#39
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.
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47points
#40
As a kid, I heard rumors about a hidden treasure in the nearby woods. Years later, during a construction project, they unearthed a time capsule, proving the rumor had some truth to it!
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46points
