Month: November 2021

As often as we were told not to believe—or spread—them, we tended to love rumors in high school.

Whether it was an overheard tidbit flying around the hallways or some juicy gossip in the lunch room, it wasn’t uncommon to find ourselves bending our ears to hear every eye-widening detail.

Apparently Redditor tall_hopelessromantic was feeling a bit deprived of the tea lately, because they kicked off a thread with the following question:

“What popular rumour in your school turned out to be true?”

Plenty of people, of course, spoke of romantic affairs. 

“Our science teacher was having an affair with our science technician and regularly left the class to have sex with her in the technicians room.”

“That rumour started day 1, then 4 years, 2 divorces and 2 very quick departures later it was confirmed and what was left behind was a technicians daughter in my year whose life had fallen apart.” — Porochaz

Some were quite upsetting. 

“That a 12-year-old 6th grader had gotten pregnant over summer break. Our Los Angeles county suburb (it was a small and far-separated from LA itself, see how large that county actually is on Google if you are unawares)…”

“…was so scandalized by this ‘rumor’ that a newspaper article came out with a cartoon drawing of a pregnant girl in a pretty little girl dress and ribbon in her hair — playing with dolls and kneeling next to a doll-house — accompanied the story about the ‘little girl who got pregnant and planned to keep the baby.’ “

“She was interviewed. I remember her name but it’s unnecessary— the whole damn town knew who it was.”

“What’s wild is that the kids in Jr. High actually had a baby shower for this 7th grader as she got close to full-term, and all brought in packs of diapers and formula for her on a designated day. With the teachers, principal, and probably the school district in support of this. The year was 1984-1985.” — RelentlesslyCrooked

But others were a bit more wholesome.

“In my Catholic (Jesuit) high school, one of the priests and one of the nuns were very close friends. We all loved them, and we could see that they were quite fond of one another (and they made a really nice looking couple).”

“We used to affectionately kid them about ‘meeting in the tunnel’ between the convent and the rectory. A few years after my class graduated, they both left their Orders, got married, and had kids. We’re all happy for them.” — SmokeHimInside

Other rumors hinged on crime and other questionable activities.

“In high school: that the biology teacher was growing weed in the environmental lab. Supposedly he did it for 30 years without anyone noticing. No one could ever prove it though.”

“Later on, I was assigned to be the agent taking care of some of his financial matters, so I went to his house to have him sign some paperwork. He had a hydroponic setup there, so I asked him about the environmental lab. It was like Han Solo in The Force Awakens.”

“ ‘It’s true. All of it.’ Then he offered me a brownie.” — JayMax19

In one case, the truth was stranger than fiction. 

“That one of the students was actually a cop. Turns out he was a cop and busted one of the actual students for selling handguns in school.”

“If you thought 21 jump street was unrealistic think again. Cop was a 33 year old male and undercover for like half the semester.” — AllThotsGo2Heaven2

Then there was the horrifying kind. 

“That one of the seniors in my school wrote all over the men’s room bathroom about bringing a bomb to school.”

“The bomb squad evacuated us all, dogs came and they found one in a random locker. It was absolutely nuts, kid got arrested two seats next to me in english class a couple of days later once they could prove he did it” — Alienexxa227

And of course, more weed. 

“There was always a rumor that the head janitor was a huge pothead and would smoke with students in one of the storage sheds away from the main building.”

“I always figured it was bullsh** until my friend CJ sent me a pic of him and the janitor smoking weed while surrounded by folding chairs.” — apocalypticradish

In one case, the rumor was shownto be true, rather than told. 

“At our school this one kid was rumored to be a son of one of the local gyms amateur boxer teacher. Non of us had no real reason to think twice about it. Once we got to high school this kid started teasing that kid.”

“I had a couple of mutal friends with the bully so I warned the guy he might want to let up on teasing him. A couple days go by the dude didn’t stop. And the boxer’s kid proceeded to give this guy one of the worst one sided fights I have ever seen.”

“The bully learned his lesson and never bullied anyone else for the rest of our high school years. So it turned out to be true.” — gibry12

For one teacher, the scientific method left every door open. 

“Biology teacher decided to use the scientific method to personally prove or disprove to himself that humans could photosynthesize.”

“He did this by laying bare ass naked on his front lawn, landing him a public nudity charge.” — Arikan89

And some were just plain bizarre.

Like this one, which involved an animal.

“this was a roumour that went around my elementary school. basically my school had a lock down but they didn’t tell us what it was for.”

“one kid came in the next day and told us that his sister said it was a cow in the field in between the high school and middle school. so my second grade class went and told everyone else in the school. the next day we had an assembly that confirmed this rumor.” — Ptential_Hedgehog92

Or this one, which also involved an animal. 

“In middle school, there was a rumor my 7th-8th grade Social Studies teacher owned a pet donkey. Turned out to be true. The donkey’s name was Pedro the Donkey.” — MasterAqua2

But no matter how wild or out there these rumors may sound, we can rest assured there plenty more—perhaps wilder—out there as well.

Only you know how your school stacks up .