We all have to come from somewhere, but some of us are more willing to go back to visit our hometowns than others.
In all honesty, it's easier to put the past behind us than to reminisce.
Redditor drax3012 asked:
"What is your town infamous for?"
Segregated Schools
"Being one of the last cities in Texas to desegregate schools (1995). We also have a big bike race."
- Pie_Investor
101 Dalmatians Reference
"Mine has the largest working fire hydrant in Texas, but it is also a gift from the '101st Dalmation' movie being released."
- Inevitable_Cook2294
Rampant Racism
"The town I grew up in was infamous as the town the farthest north with an active KKK chapter. Secondary claims to fame: About 70% Polish immigrants and the fact that the leader of the American Nazi party was the Republican nominee for the house a few years ago."
"Those last two are kind of paradoxical if you think about the irony of Polish immigrants mainly supporting the Nazi party."
- pesky-pretzel
Trending Debt
"Being the first major metropolitan city to go into bankruptcy and receivership."
"Oh, and for a mayor who stole money from the taxpayers, cheated on his wife with strippers, and may have also killed a stripper."
"Oh, and we are also infamous for eight-mile, AKA the street that now has a bunch of weed dispensaries on it."
- BumpyDenny93
Terrible Traffic
"Infamous? It's generally thought of as racist with really bad traffic and hot weather."
"But in reality, it's not that racist, and the weather is OK, but yeah, the traffic is actually even worse than people think."
- Slimetusk
Those Fall Parties
"Oktoberfest... the Canadian version."
- HampsterGriffin
How Tragic
"A big ship that sank on her first go out."
- punkerster101
Myths Born Overnight
"Drunk hillbillies having a gunfight with aliens."
"No, seriously."
"I don't really have an inside scoop. It was 13 years before I was born, and 30 years before I lived here."
"Locally, it seems to be a humorously shameful anecdote. There is a 'festival' every year, but it serves as a showcase for small businesses/gospel singers/politicians/etc from the area."
"Personally, I'm a big fan of all things supernatural and cryptid. And I probably believe more than the average person... but this story."
"Probably horned owls and moonshine."
- darthjenkins
Random Shoes
"Well, not just the place I'm from, but random feet in sneakers washing up on shore. Has been happening for decades now."
"Thought to be a result of people who died in the ocean, their bodies eventually coming apart, and the buoyant sneakers keeping their feet afloat to wash up, but there are of course some much creepier theories."
- Youpunyhumans
Somewhere in the Midwest
"More cows than people."
- sleepyJoesBidet
An Introvert's Nightmare
"The happiest place on earth that packs you in like sardines."
- boopcorgi
An Extrovert's Nightmare
"It's so boring, even introverts are moving away."
- Omasrealaccount
About That...
"We kinda started the Civil War…"
- JDubya_Rx
A Haunting Education
"Our schools(allegedly) were modeled off of prisons in the 1960s, and a lot of ghost stories. So many that a book was made just listing all of them."
- Global_Box_7935
Dark Days
"Largest mass execution in US history."
- universeforinfinity3
Not every town has the darkest history, but it must be rough to have grown up in a town with an infamous past.
At least those who are aware of the history will be less likely to repeat it.
We knew them when.
Famous people have to be from somewhere.
It feels like they're aliens and are unreachable.
But they're real and they have origins in some unlikely places.
Most towns, schools, etc, have a few people they can say... walked these streets.
Redditor VirindiPuppetDT wanted to hear about who is your town's claim to fame.
"Who is the most famous person from your hometown?"
I'm not sure who is from my humble beginnings. Just me.
Purple Neighbor
Prince GIFGiphy"Prince."
PowerfulSeat7975
"My dad used to live in Carver. I didn't find out until he moved how close he lived to Paisley Park."
Wax_Mommy
The Neighborhood
"I'll just go with two of my favorites. Michael Keaton and Fred Rogers. I lived a couple of miles from his house and went to high school next door to WGED (where he taped)."
"Our smoking area was on QED's side of the school and he'd come over and chat with us sometimes."
"It was embarrassing standing there with a cigarette in my hand while talking to him. (It didn't bother any of us to smoke in front of the Brothers) I still live in the same neighborhood and it's a catholic school, hence the Brothers."
citsonga_cixelsyd
Walk On
"I’m from NYC, so about a million people. But for my neighborhood, it’s 100% Christopher Walken."
DrVonPretzel
"The King of New York."
Demitrius
"Never knew he was a professional tap dancer!"
catincal
"Could've knocked me over with a feather when someone told me that after I saw some video short he was in dancing and then the movie America's Sweethearts."
LadyBug_0570
The Writer
"Stephen King."
Cockatiel_Animations
"Says he's from Portland, ME... pretty sure Bangor is known for him though. Especially since Derry is based off the city. I'm technically not from Bangor either, I'm from Clifton, ME."
Cockatiel_Animations
"Bangor represent!"
Junior-Lie4342
Normies
John Waters Smile GIF by Locarno Film FestivalGiphy"Michael Phelps for the normies, John Waters for everyone else."
sanibelle98
"John Waters is the best. Dude donated to a museum and asked them to name the bathrooms after him."
dismayhurta
John Waters. Saint. I want a bathroom named after me.
From Nowhere
Oh Yeah Lol GIF by Focus FeaturesGiphy"Brad Pitt. Springfield MO."
NitramXb
"I always wondered how somebody from the middle of nowhere ends up a Hollywood movie star. There's literally zero opportunities for that so how the hell."
PlzRemasterSOCOM2
Just Smile
"Michael J Fox, Burnaby BC. I grew up in Vancouver and heard many stories from friends, back in the day, of him being drinking in clubs, sitting alone, with a dumb happy smile on his face. I never ran into him, but was always on the look-out! lol. I've always had a special spot in my heart for him."
Ubba-Ga
Love Her
"Carrie from Portlandia went to my high school but there’s like 4 towns that claim her because her family moved around the local area a few times."
MadisonPearGarden
"I went to a barbecue at her house in Portland once. It was before Portlandia when she was that woman from Sleater Kinney."
mackelnuts
"I love she is known more for Portlandia than her music. Oddly, I think she might appreciate this."
TheDeadlySquid
On a brighter note...
"Jerry Springer…was our mayor…"
vajayjaybird
"He actually paid a sex worker with a bad check, and she took him to court for the bad check. He was RE-elected after this happened. I feel sad for all of us. On a brighter note... Sarah Jessica Parker, born near, but lived here for her school years George Clooney, which is not true he was actually raised in Kentucky. But his father was a newscaster in Cincinnati which is why he gets tied here."
"Nick Lachey. Doris Day. Steven Spielberg, moved from here when he was very little."
KPinCVG
In the Zone
Season 3 Episode 24 GIF by Paramount+Giphy"Rod Serling. The dude who created that odd show called Twilight Zone. A character mentions the name of my hometown in one of the episodes."
Love Him
"Martin Short."
GloomyCamel6050
Have you seen his Larry David? I thought this was the man himself for over half a decade, and finally looked at the comment section. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PbZdhl5NI6Y"
doned_mest_up
"Or Eugene Levy. The community centre my grandparents would go to would have a contest for a date with Eugene Levy."
Gaslitfromwithin
The VP
"Mike Pence. My dad 'borrowed' his car when he was a teenager. Not much to tell. My dad was friends with one of Mike's younger brothers and used to take it on joyrides in the middle of the night. One night Mikes brother didn't wanna go so my dad went anyway and got caught."
Bucketofbolts559
Breaker High
"Ryan Gosling."
cjpotter82
"My friend went to high school with him in Burlington. Was annoyed about how the teachers bent over backwards to accommodate his Breaker High shooting schedule and to this day will not watch a film he is in lol."
1_art_please
"I grew up near Burlington and would see him and his Breaker High friends at the theatre often. My friend had a crush on him. Another friend of mine helped her dad paint Ryan's bedroom as a kid too."
TheDrunkyBrewster
Bad Religion
stan marsh pictures GIF by South Park Giphy"L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately."
BadDiscoJanet
"Agreed. He brought a horrible plague with Scientology. However, Battlefield Earth was an incredible novel. One of my favorites, in fact."
JonSmith12345
Founders
"Probably Les Schwab, the founder of Les Schwab Tires. It's a large chain in the western states, started in tiny little Prineville, OR."
rock-hound
"They would do February Beef Month (?) when I was growing up and in Eugene there was a local bicycle shop that would do February Tofu Month with a purchase of new wheels. Always loved it."
weareborgunicons
"I work for the company and the new owners have left us alone for the most part on the store level. Store quality really depends on the management team that's running it. I've seen clean orderly stores that put a big emphasis on customer service & quality of work and others that are just shit shows."
_lentes
Lead me back...
"Taylor Dayne? She sat in front of me in French class."
M_Looka
"Man her songs were so underrated."
Fomalhot
"I'd forgotten about her! To the YouTube."
LaComtesseGonflable
Creepy
Crow Killer Blues GIF by Rob ZombieGiphy"Rob Zombie."
drycleaningisntdry
"The 1st time I ever heard him talk he was faking a trash English accent and for the next 10 years I thought he was British."
Fomalhot
For the Music
"Cliff Burton is probably the most famous. The high school even has a music scholarship which his parents fund with then royalties they receive in his name."
leftshoesnug
"As a newborn until age 5 I lived in Castro Valley, from 60-65, and my parents had friends named Burton. I just wrote my sister to see if they were the same Burtons. I’m not a big Metallica fan, and never realized he was from there."
Emergency_Market_324
People come from everywhere. Good to know anyone, from anywhere can be anything.
Do any celebrities come from where you grew up? Let us know in the comments below.
As Adele sings it... "In my hometown..." we appreciate our towns more.
I grew up in New York City so small town USA is not my wheelhouse.
But I've been told plenty of tales, stories, and scandals that come out of the heartland.
(Mostly thanks to Dateline NBC)
Much of the craziest in life happens in towns with only a handful of stoplights.
Let's hear some...
Redditor jvniper666wanted to hear all the mess and drama about small town USA. So they asked:
"What’s your small town drama?"
When I was growing up in Astoria one summer. We had a kidnapper on the loose. That was intense.
"Trips"
gay men GIFGiphy"Several prominent men were caught having gay orgies during 'hunting trips.'"
Drained
"I lived in a smallish town (about 5000) in the 90s. We had one of those big water towers in the middle of town. Sometime in the 80s a town worker, who was unsatisfied with his job and life, decided to take his own life. One May night he jimmied himself up to the ladder that was 12 ft from the ground, climbed to the top, unscrewed the man hole at the top, and jumped in."
"Subsequently he drowned and wasn’t found for a few months. I wasn’t living in the town during the event, so I don’t know of any funny tasting or discoloured water from the taps, but the town assures the people that the filtration system had down its job and very minimal human waste made it through the filters. Everything was drained and disinfected."
dazedNdizorientated
Punched
"In the span of 4 months in a town of 800 someone was murdered and someone broke into the undersheriff’s house (presumably to rob the place) but his daughter was home the guy punched her in the face and ran. According to his daughter the guy 'punched like a little *itch."
birdofswag2
Rich Kid
"Rich kid son of local Chamber of Commerce president tries to burn down a homeless encampment, fire ends up burning right up to an expensive neighborhood. Gets arrested, released on bail, charges brought for trying to kill homeless, charges dropped, charged again with lesser crimes, eventually judge gently slaps his wrist and says he isn’t a criminal because he is mentally ill. Whole community is miffed, but not enough to get out pitchforks because only homeless people got hurt."
ThisIsDen
And Recliners?
Season 17 Television GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"The city government is trying to outlaw burning couches on your front lawn. I didn’t know this happened often enough to be an issue, but it’s getting a ton of push back."
handsthefram
Burning couches. That has to have an even more interesting story.
Manhunt
money run GIF by Juan BillyGiphy"I also should probably mention in the city, there’s a guy stealing catalytic converters all over the city and it’s having a city wide manhunt for this man that’s just ripping them off of anything he can get away with."
Link_hunter9
Crazy Year
"Our mayor got killed and it's possible to hear the gunshots on a local radio recording. He was being interviewed on that radio, left to his car and got shot seconds after leaving, it seems that he owed a lot of money to someone and got killed, it became news on the whole country, that was a crazy year."
Regular-Attorney-310
Vote on It
"City had a vote on whether to change the school mascot (a Native American with headdress). People who wanted to keep it rallied behind the son of the Native American man who initially created the mascot years ago. Then census evidence came out casting doubt on whether that guy was actually Native American."
scrotdust
The Spiller
"At one point in my hometown a Domino's manager was arrested for arson after burning down a Papa John's in an attempt to increase revenue."
Realistic-Cheetah-14
Rivals
Angela Bassett Burn GIFGiphy"At one point in my hometown, a Domino's manager was arrested for arson after burning down a Papa John's in an attempt to increase revenue."
Grentain
Any place you live holds secrets. And you place you live (big or small) has history. So embrace it all and spill that tea.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
There's always something inherently charming about where we grew up. The memories, the family, the old haunts- visiting is just so special. But there's always that one thing that our hometowns are known for, for better or for worse. Here are a few examples from the kind people over at Reddit.
u/reva_r asked: Without naming it, what is your hometown known for?
Stereotypes suck.
Crime, unfortunately.
That's what it's known for on TV and movies and video games but it is so much more than that. It's amazing communities and small businesses and sh*tty roads and a lot of diversity ... I just love it so much and it makes me cringe every time I hear a flippant joke about my beloved home.
I guess if you're not from here you probably don't notice it, but we're the butt of a LOT of jokes.
Yikes.
Hitler was born there.
Sorta similar, but my town is known for the "Hitler Dad".
https://www.nj.com/news/2008/12/child_named_after_adolf_hitler.html
Atlanta?
Coca-Cola.
I think I had a layover there once.
I thought the joke was if you ever flew in the US you had a layover there.
Sounds delicious.
GiphyA plate of food that one would think was the hot item at a raccoon restaurant.
Long shot but Rochester? I'm thinking of the garbage plate.
Honestly, this could be a lot of places.
Chlamydia and Ice.
Sounds like most of rural Australia.
Australia's koalas have taken additional steps to cope with the bushfires.
How wholesome!
Jelly Belly Factory!
I got to go there in 2005! I was disappointed we didn't get to see the jellybeans actually being made, though. Just a tram tour around the perimeter of a warehouse.
I just recently found an old jellybean container full of dried-out jelly husks, it was the most fascinating thing. I'd never seen a jellybean rot and leave this porous exoskeleton behind.
Houston!
GiphyWe're the place you call in the cliche when you say "we have a problem".
I love calling my dad (ex Mission Control) every so often and saying this.
What a kind city.
Helping people who Come From Away when they're stranded.
Gander! The whole world owes you a debt of gratitude.
What's going on in Milwaukee?
Two girls stabbing a third girl because they wanted to meet Slenderman...
Greater Milwaukee area. Also home to the Making a Murderer guy and Gypsy Rose's boyfriend.
Every community has its secrets––and its tragedies.
Today's burning question came from Redditor VanillaPeppermintTea, who asked the online community: "What was your hometown tragedy?"
Warning, sensitive material head.
"A couple years ago someone was backing out of their driveway..."
A couple years ago someone was backing out of their driveway and ran over the neighbor's 2 year old, killing the child. This horrible tragedy was almost overshadowed by the bitter divide the town had over who was to blame, the driver for not looking or the child's parents for not supervising.
It was becoming bad, until the local paper did a piece about car blind spots. They took a Ford Explorer and had pictures from the driver's seat of the rear and side mirrors. Then a picture from further away where you could see the SIXTY (60) kindergarteners that were sitting on the ground behind the car, invisible to the driver. Things calmed down after that.
"There was a hunting accident..."
There was a hunting accident that occurred in my township when I was a kid. This boy and his dad (and some others, I think his uncle and a few of his dad's friends) went hunting, the kid's gun misfired, and his dad wound up dead. It was really f---ed up, and I still feel for that guy. After he graduated, he moved out of town and I don't even blame him.
"A boy I grew up with named Tommy..."
A boy I grew up with named Tommy was found dead in his house with his video game paused, stabbed dozens of times. His family's housekeeper was also killed.
For five years there were no leads and no indication of a motive. Then a married couple was killed in a similar manner and investigators realized there was a connection. The husband had worked with Tommy's parents at a hospital and they'd fired a man named Anthony Garcia years ago. He ended up committing the four murders as an act of revenge.
"The tornado in 2011."
The tornado in 2011. The high-school had its graduation that day, and only a little while later, it killed families and new graduates. One kid was sucked out of his car's sunroof. Then, on top of everything, we all held out hope that we would find this woman's baby. We prayed and somehow convinced ourselves that for sure there'd be a miracle, but the baby was found floating in a pond on the other side of town. It was hard for everyone. I remember the smell of fire and rain as I stood on my grandma's porch and stared at how much nothing there was. The tornado killed over 100 people. We still haven't recovered as a town - there are memorials everywhere, we all talk about it every day.
"It ended up..."
GiphyA guy that graduated 3 years ahead of me went hiking with his girlfriend (some mountain in South America). On the hike up the girlfriend walked to close to the edge of a cliff , the earth gave way and she fell off the cliff. The boyfriend could see her at the bottom still moving but could not get down to her, so in a panic ran to get help. He reached the ranger station and he led the rescue team back up the mountain. It ended up he forgot how to get back to the spot the girlfriend fell and it took multiple hours for them to find her. By the time they did she had died. The worst part was the boyfriend had planned this trip as a surprise proposal and had the ring in his pocket ready to propose at the summit.
"A bunch of high school kids got some booze..."
A bunch of high school kids got some booze and stole their parents' boat. One kid realized that his girlfriend was cheating on him with another guy and proceeded to throw the dude into the water and run him over. Happened a while ago, but my town is suuuuuper strict with underage drinking ever since
"7 years ago, it was raining super hard..."
7 years ago, it was raining super hard, and visibility was very low.
Around 3 in the afternoon a 4 year old little girl was struck by a car and killed. She was supposed to be watched by her grandmother, but old grandma was too busy ignoring her grandchild by locking herself in her room, she had no idea what happened until the police were banging on her front door.
Apparently, she neglected the little girl every time she would babysit, and very rarely supervise her outside, even though her house is right by a busy street. She went to prison.
I was neighbors with the family who lost the little girl, it was heartbreaking hearing the mother scream in pure sorrow when the police told her what happened.
That little girl would be 11 now.
"After a few years, it started to take off..."
When I was in High School, our school had started doing those "Project Proms" things, where they'd rent out a fitness club and bring the students there so they weren't going to parties getting drunk.
After a few years, it started to take off, and they were getting good attendance. One year, a girl was in the hot tub at the club, dunked herself underwater. Her leg got caught on the filter drain, and the suction kept her underwater, drowning her.
Big deal obviously because a student died. It wasn't lost on anybody that these things were being held to keep students safe.
"So he and his buddies picked up their farming tools..."
An entire orphanage was slaughtered during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. It has been a long time since I was in the hometown (and I have only spoken about it with some elderly neighbors when I was ten)...but they've told me that when the Republicans took control of Sevilla (and sparked multiple uprisings across the region), a farmer somehow got the idea that a local orphanage was full of children of 'Communist Reds' and that they had to be wiped out while they were still 'maggots'.
So he and his buddies picked up their farming tools, made their way into town and killed all of the kids (there were a couple of nuns who tried to stop them. They wound up also killed). So many people were horrified when it happened (especially since it was a small town. Everybody knew everyone, so I could only imagine what it must've been like to see people like that covered in blood). When Franco took control--those farmers got off without a single arrest.
The farmer who started the killing lived well (while bragging that no one could touch him), up until 1976 when it was discovered that Franco had died (and we entered a democratic system instead of continuing with the old fascist one). That was when he started to live his life in fear (and by the time I was ten years old in the 90s, he was still trying to call the authorities and write letters about his 'situation', and would tell anyone who looked sympathetic that 'people were out to get him' and that he 'desperately' needed a policeman or a bodyguard to stay with him at home. Assh*le probably lived the end of his days terrified that someone was going to kill him for what he did.
"Some girl from one of the middle schools..."
Some girl from one of the middle schools in our town (we had two) killed herself. The middle school she went to was filled with people who would harass her and faculty that never cared or did anything to help.
Also had a teenage girl who took lsd and was driving, because apparently none of her friends thought that was a bad idea, and wrapped her car around a tree.
"My entire town..."
My entire town (it's small and surrounded by forests) was consumed by a massive wildfire a few years ago. The entire town had to be evacuated. Nobody died but entire neighborhoods were destroyed and thousands were permanently displaced. The other nearby towns were overcrowded with evacuees and lots of people ran out of gas on the highway to the nearest big city. We're still rebuilding in some spots today.
"There were a few deaths in my district recently..."
There were a few deaths in my district recently, but this one affected me most. Many years before the other incidents, my elementary school art teacher died of an unexpected heart attack. She left behind two teenagers and her husband. She was so loved by everyone in the school. I think that was the first time I saw a teacher cry. A few lessons before she died, I told her she was the best art teacher in the whole world. She was the sweetest person I've ever met, and I still cry about it sometimes. I'll never forget you Mrs. Newfield, rest in peace.
"Last class of the day..."
Last class of the day and the announcements come on. Principal announces a kid in my grade has died. Everyone hears the name and their jaws drop open. We don't live in a dangerous area at all and this kid had a great reputation. I didn't really know him personally, but I knew him as a classmate. On the friend group chat and everyone is freaking out when some says that the whole family is gone. His dad and his little sister, their mom is devestated. Here's what happened:
Both of them were at their dad's house (who apparently had a drinking problem) and he waited until they were both asleep. Then, he shot both kids in their rooms in their sleep and then shot himself. Kids didn't come to school so their mother was called. She freaked out and tried calling the dad's house, but then ended up calling the cops. They found all of them.
This happened last September and honestly, I still don't really know what to think of it.
"In 2017 cyclone Debbie..."
In 2017 cyclone Debbie dumped an unprecedented amount of rain on our region. Our town has a major river running through it. The flood breached the levies and around 7 people in the region died, houses decimated ect.
The tragedy that occurred a few days later still haunts me. A mother and her three children were driving home, the road they were on had been reopened but was still slick with flood mud. The car slid into the river and one child escaped, the rest passed away. The father was at work and suddenly he went from a father of a family of 5 to just him and his daughter. Absolutely heartbreaking.
"A man..."
A man killed his girlfriend a couple houses down from my house. Happened earlier this year, I'm pretty sure the man was an abusive drunk and he hit her so hard that she died.
"Earlier this year..."
Earlier this year two girls from my high school were hit by a car while crossing the street to go to school. The driver of the car was actually a teacher from the same school. I witnessed the whole thing happen while getting dropped off. One of the girls was able to recover in a few days, while the other was in a medically induced coma for several months. She was given a 10 % chance of waking up, and just last month she did. She is in rehab now. I never knew the girls, but word around the school is that they are great people. I hope all goes well in their recovery. The teacher still works at the school btw.
"We've had a few."
We've had a few. Our most major was back in 2015/16. We'll call him MJ. Mj. was a junior at our high school and was adored by everybody. My brother used to do soccer with him back in travel so he was a close friend. He had done high school football and was pointing that towards his career. We have this big park with base ball fields, tracks, playgrounds, and a man made pond. Next to that pond was a volleyball court which meant the balls would fall into the pond a lot. Many people swam in to get the balls and no incidents ever happened when swimming in it even though you weren't aloud to. One morning, a few friends bet MJ to swim across the whole thing (about a football field length) for some money. He didn't think much of it, but also wasn't a strong swimmer. So he jumped in and started swimming across this pond. Soon enough pumps started going through to drain excess water in the pond from rain. This caused current to occur and he went under. The police were called in a matter of minutes and the other friends went in after him. Police came in 3 minutes time and went on a search for him. He was found dead soon after. This hit our town hard and we made a memorial for him. A few other incidents that have occurred was: a soccer friend, who's father was shot and robbed, a drowning of a four year old, a suicide of a man who jumped off a cell tower, and a girl who was kidnapped after meeting a guy online. (She is safe now but was really scary).
"There was..."
There was a serial killer in my area. One day he just snapped and burned his house down with his wife in it. Before hiding in the woods for several days, he killed a couple in their car. He went missing for several weeks and he was found in the woods in our district. They showcased his arrest on the news and our school stopped classes briefly to watch it on the projector.
"One of my best friends..."
One of my best friends when I was about seven had an unscrupulous exterminator treat his home for mice. The exterminator's methods ended up outright killing two of my friend's sisters. The house was empty for a long time after that; my friend moved out, and everyone talked about the incident in hushed voices for years.