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The All-Time Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries

People From Small Towns Divulge Their Biggest Current Local Scandals

People From Small Towns Divulge Their Biggest Current Local Scandals

There is anonymity in privacy, which is why I'm a big fan of living in a large city (and am perfectly okay with it remaining that way). It's easy to keep people out of your business when you're surrounded by millions of other people.

That's not true in small towns, where even the most innocuous personal drama can be distorted. So when scandals happen (and trust that they do) they tend to captivate the local imagination in ways not seen in big cities.

People told us all about the latest drama in their neck of the woods after Redditor Pessimistic_Soviet asked the online community,

"Those of you who live in small towns, what is the current local controversy all about?"

"Dogs are now getting sick..."

"Thousands of crabs washed ashore dead but nobody really knows why; I think they blamed wind turbines at one point. Dogs are now getting really sick and there are warnings for people to stay away from the beach but nobody knows why it’s happening."

MariahCareyButt

It sounds like algae toxins, which wouldn't surprise me.

"The problem with that is..."

"While fleeing another hit and run, and possible DUI, some dude tried to go full speed directly thru the middle of our town square. The problem with that is we have a big historic fountain there. Traffic is usually supposed to swerve arround the fountain, he did not."

"This dude in a white SUV ramps into our fountain, and smashes into the center pillar. Thankfully the fountain was off for the winter, so there was less damage, but they still have no clue how, and how much money it's gonna take to fix this mess."

"The car was removed, but the fountain is still wrapped up in its tarp a month later. There's security cam footage of the ramp and its all anyone could talk about for a few weeks."

raven_1313

It sounds like that fountain is the town's pride and joy so it makes sense that everyone is a bit bent out of shape about it.

"A woman knows..."

"A woman known as a pretty awful person disappeared. 'Everyone' knows it was probably her husband, but the family owns over 10,000 acres and no body has been found. The rest of her family is ramping up an awareness campaign so should be interesting to see where this all goes."

Ordo501

I expect the Lifetime movie to drop any day now.

"A guy wanted to bury his parents..."

"A guy wanted to bury his parents on their (parents’) slightly rural, totally out of the way, virtually-no-neighbors property, but the village said no way. We don’t do that here. We’re classy."

"So he went to the state for permission to build a funeral home/crematorium instead, and he built a giant mausoleum with both their caskets right on the corner of the property where everyone and their grandma can see it when they drive by!"

"And he has zero plans to actually turn this into a functioning business. It’s about half done, no landscaping, and construction vehicles parked all over the place. Gotta hand it to him!"

Axel0812

Okay, this is petty (and brilliant) as all hell and I am LIVING for it.

"A couple promised..."

"A couple promised a lot of cakes and fancy breads to the local festival and didn't deliver. Everyone has been mad at them for the last two weeks."

ChangeWinter4443

I mean... wouldn't you be? We're talking about cakes AND fancy breads here.

"The girl's volleyball coach..."

"Town of about 1800. The girl's volleyball coach got a DWI. The school's principal went to pick her up from jail, and was arrested for DWI himself. Somehow it got out that these two (both married) were having an affair."

stickshaker73

In a small town how did they think they'd be able to keep any of that secret?

"Two places..."

"Two places make dill dip. One accused the other of stealing the recipe."

duckswithbanjos

This is the sort of drama that I can see being developed into an award-winning indie film.

"People here..."

"People here in my town of 396 are still upset that the local Christmas tree was taken down and thrown away with all the lights still on it."

Onlykitten

I mean... I get it. Sounds like a total waste.

"The woman who just got elected..."

"The woman who just got elected mayor owns most of the property downtown, and all the open seats on city council went to her employees. Can’t wait to see the corruption in action."

Blanchypants

Ha, how convenient. I wonder what her explanation for this was. Probably nothing satisfactory.

"Swans..."

"Swans in the local rivers/lakes have been dying from avian flu and we’ve all been warned to keep our dogs away from sick or dead swans in case infection spreads to humans."

allywillow

Need I remind you that we are in the middle of a global pandemic so I hope people do manage to keep their dogs away, just to be on the safe side!

There's something to be said about small towns – they somehow never fail to entertain us with all their drama.

It's fun to hear about it – definitely not as fun to live it.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!

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small towns

Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

secret

Historical Events So Ridiculous They Sound Made Up

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

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history

The Most Embarrassing Things People Have Ever Googled

woman in black long sleeve shirt covering her face
Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

I freely admit I'm of a certain age where my primary education occurred before the age of the internet—when our questions were answered with conversations with experts, encyclopedias or knowing how to use card catalogs.

My knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System is largely useless today.

Research is drastically different now—sorry Melvil Dewey. Internet search engines quickly became the difference between occasionally finding an outdated version of the information we were looking for and rarely not finding current information on the most obscure of topics.

Unless your Google game is super weak, you're likely to find what you're looking for or something close to it unlike the good old days when our chances were hit or mis—with lots of misses.

So what do we use this amazing, life-changing tool for?

Well...

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