What's a dumb local rumor you heard as a kid that turned out to be true?

The US Midwest. Rumor has it that up the old road out of town, somewhere in the woods,

was a satanic cult that held seances and other mystical rituals by firelight. It scared the

willies out of us kids and our parents wouldn't let us ride our bikes anywhere on that road.

Decades later, I was working on a commissioned history project for the town and talked

to the old man who owned the oldest homestead in the country, way back in the woods along

that road.

While photographing the creek that ran through the stone foundation basement of the home,

which the settlers used for water generations ago, I noted the burnt-out tea candles everywhere.

Guy lit up and said, yeah, back in his younger days, he and his wife used to host elaborate

costume parties at the property, often by candlelight for the fun of it. He'd heard rumors of the

satanic cult and thought it was hilarious. So he and his friends ran with it and held parties in

monks robes and had bonfires and lived it up. He still laughed about it and now so can I.

This older kid had this lightning streak scar all over one side of his neck and down his body.

The rumor was he was throwing stuff at the power lines behind our neighbourhood. Turns out he was.

He was throwing copper wire at them and it arced.

He's lucky to be alive.

A vagrant-looking man used to collect cans from local parks and what not.

Imagine someone pushing a shopping cart in tattered clothing.

Rumor was that he was generationally wealthy, and when he passed away, he left a fortune

to the Parks and Rec Department to update facilities. We used to have a local homeless lady,

supposedly a Vietnam Army nurse. Her experiences there ruined her, and she refused help from her

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