The "dish." The "scoop." The "4-1-1." Small towns are full of gossip, thanks to all the people knowing literally everyone else. It's hard not to be in each other's business, like walking down a hallway full of cobwebs. Sometimes, though, that gossip turns out true and we've got a full blown scandal on our hands.
Reddit user, u/SY81, wanted the juiciest bits when they asked:
Redditors from small towns, what was your town's big scandal/dirty secret?
Because, Why Not?
A girl I went to school with got knocked up by a fellow student at the age of fourteen.
Because fourteen year olds are known for making exceptionally good decisions (see the previous sentence), she decided to name it... Harley Davidson.
Because why not.
Something So Bad It Became A Law
The little town in Oregon I used to live in we had a state rep and state senator who were married and been in their office for 10-15 years (lifers) so it was rare anyone ran against them. Their last election they registered to run and then 15 minutes before the deadline they announced they were dropping out and their friends announced they were running.....effectively ensuring that no one else had a chance to get on the ballot.
The reps "claimed" they had no idea....but that state passed the law named after them called the "Whitsett Law" that if a sitting official stepped down it extended the period others could enter to prevent this.
Not Kept To Just One Small Town
Heroin is a bigger problem here than a lot of people realize.
It's hitting small towns in the north east bad.
A Teacher Switch-Up
GiphyMy school promised our science teacher a certain amount of money but when pay day came they didn't pay her the amount that was promised so she left our school and we had no science teacher, just other teachers with science degrees. So an English teacher was put to science, a History teacher was put to English, a Spanish teacher was put to History, and Spanish was now being taught online which must've been HELL for that class
"Ice" Knowing Ya'
Several dozen tourists parked their cars on the frozen lake when it wasnt adequately thick ice. Their cars went for an unexpected dip in the lake.
The whole town was talking about it but everyone was split between sympathy for the people and those who thought it was funny that the tourists hadn't thought their parking choice through or bothered to ask a local about the ice.
It actually made the town a little tense for a while with half the people thinking It was sh-tty that some locals thought it was funny, which is fair, and the other group thinking it's okay to laugh at the city folk being a bit naive, which is kinda fair too.
Nothing Positive
5 students and a teacher committed suicide all within a week of each other. The youngest was 8 years old. All cases were unrelated and murders and suicides are very common in my town so our 5,000+ population keeps dropping
Super. Serious.
Some dude didn't pay his grazing fees for like 30 years and had a standoff with the BLM and the FBI.
What is a grazing fee?
I believe it's a fee for animals to graze on public land. Im not 100% on this tho.
A Confession To Never Forget
An ex- friend of mine from high school beat his nonverbal autistic 5 year old son to death and hid the body. It will be a year next month and they still haven't found his body.
Whaaaaat? If they didn't find the body how do they know? Did he admit to it? What about the child's mother?
How utterly dreadful.
He confessed during an interrogation. He recanted his statement later, but he still hasn't been to trial. The mother was there and she might have done it, but he was the one who confessed so he was charged with murder. She was charged with felony neglect and child endangerment.
Such A Poor Boy...?
I remember that one of my old primary schoolmates came out as gay and everybody was shocked- the way my grandma told me that was literally like: "oh poor x he was such a good boy with such a bright future..."
I was like: "Wait did he die and I didn't know? Did I miss the funeral what?" and she goes: "He chose to be with a boy instead of a girl when there are so many lovely single young ladies out and about in this town."
Class Was Always Full
We had a Zumba studio that ended up being a front for a prostitution ring
People Still Live There?
I live about 10 minutes from Berchtesgaden, where Hitler spent the majority of his time and lived during WW2 in his compound Eagles Nest.
Beautiful town but obviously a horribly dark past.
Benefiting Off Of Drug Money
So about a decade ago my town was booming with business. Tourism was/is the main driver down here but for a hot while we had more stuff going on, you know? Anyways, apparently all of the stability and business opportunities were credited to the major doing an awesome job and whatever but as it turns out the dude was actually lending a close-by port to a drug cartel and all of the money and a LOT of the businesses were cartel-related fronts and stuff like that.
So yeah, for a bit there we were running on cartel money lol
Not The Homecoming He Wanted
A high school basketball star from my hometown went on to play college ball at a notable University and later to become the lead coach for that University for about a year before getting caught banging one of the cheerleaders and developing pill addiction.
Now he's back in our hometown and barely leaves his parents house.
A Rough Couple Of Years
All within a few years a city councilman was arrested for drug possession, another one committed suicide (he had been arrested for domestic violence accusations), and another one was shot and killed in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
A Tortured Existence
A mother and her boyfriend starved her son to death. She even told his teachers at school not to feed him if he asked for food. All 3 were Polish also and she didn't even teach him basic English before moving to England.
After his death, the body showed that he was beaten and tortured also.
Stop Going To The Pond
GiphyI don't live there, but my family has a lake house near a town of ~1000 people and I think the biggest scandal is that kids keep dying in the Quarry Pond.
Just Do It Hard Enough, It'll Work
My town was infamous for the parents that didn't treat their daughter's diabetes with anything other than prayer. Unfortunately, she passed away.
Years later I saw the mother at the airport checking in puppies she bred as air freight to go to their new owners. She had all proper medical documents and vaccinations. I was furious seeing that she could take dogs to the vet for treatment but not her own child to the doctor.
Something That Never Stuck
This is really late, but in my hometown(population around 1,500)we had an ex-cop who was accused of shooting and killing his children and his wife. He was tried three times, convicted twice then those convictions were appealed and subsequently reversed, then his third trial resulted in an acquittal.
This was before we moved there so I don't know all the details, but my youth football coach was the prosecutor in the case. A lot of people in town and in the general area still think he's guilty as well. It ended up getting a lot of National attention and he has since gotten involved in the Innocence Project.
Exactly Where She Was
Some lawyer's wife went missing, there was a big search effort to find her including air force jets flying over the surrounding woods to find recently disturbed ground (indicating a possible burial). They couldn't find her for days until finally a neighbor went to the media to point out the lawyer had remodelled the sitting area in his garden recently including pouring himself a nice big concrete slab right outside his back door the day before he reported his wife missing.
Sure enough, they dug up that area and found her body.
What was really stupid is the neighbor told this information to the police as soon as he heard the wife was missing, then again two days later, and they did nothing with it until he went to the press.
Nothing But Publicity
There's a girl from my town that was kidnapped and found 29 days later. Kidnapped by three men who did some horrible sh-t to her. Her mom has really tried to push it for publicity, and she is going to be on the Dr. Phil show soon.
She goes to my high school, and she always looks so sad. The sad thing is because her parent is using her for publicity, she will never have a normal life without people knowing who she is. I feel so bad for her, she's such a sweet girl who has gone through too much.
Live in a small town and got the gossip to share? Tell us all about it!
- People From Small Towns Share Their Weirdest Unsolved Mysteries - George Takei ›
- People Explain What Their Hometown Is Most Famous For - George Takei ›
- People From Small Towns Divulge Their Biggest Current Local Scandals - George Takei ›
- People Explain Which Massive Scandals Most Folks Seem To Have Completely Forgotten - George Takei ›
- People Divulge The Most Famous Person From Their Hometown - George Takei ›
- People Confess The Juicy Gossip They've Learned In Their Personal Life - George Takei ›
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.