Most people carry around a school memory that has stuck with them forever. For some, those are happy moments, like meeting their lifelong friend or graduating first in their class. For others, they are equally as memorable, but not in a good way.
Netizens in this online thread were recently sharing “the incident” that happened at their school, and boy, do these stories get scandalous. From teacher-and-student flings to calls about bomb threats, they remain etched in people’s brains, living there rent-free.
To find the freshest school gossip that brings us back to the good old days, all you have to do is scroll down!
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with one of the top memory experts in the world and a two-time national memory champion, Ron White, who kindly agreed to tell us more about how negative incidents tend to linger in our minds longer.
#1
It was discovered that my high school principal was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of the students. He was married and his son was also a student at the school which made matters way worse. The principal was arrested and released on bail, but he ended up committing suicide. It was traumatic for the students because we’d always known him as a kind man and respected principal. I felt horrible for his son, who moved away shortly thereafter to escape this nightmare. I wish it was more of a lighthearted incident.
Image credits: Bigroommusic
#2
Nutsack in the yearbook was discovered AFTER 1300 copies were distributed.
Image credits: Earthmang
#3
October 2010, my school had a riot where police came in and arrested a few people and even maced some of us. Not directly, but they sprayed it up in the air and the mist stung our eyes.
Image credits: Safe_Nerve9644
White tells us that negative events have the tendency to be remembered more than positive ones because of the emotion involved. "For example, if you are in a car accident, 10 years later you will be able to give all the details of the accident, from the time of day to the location, without hesitation," he says.
"But you couldn't tell me where you drove last week. Last week had no emotion or action. The car accident does. Another example of emotion impacting what we recall is that humans can get 100 positive comments about something they did, but the brain will focus on the negative because it hurts, it wounds us, and because the negative hurts us more than the positive uplifts us, we will remember it more."
#4
Someone took a s**t in a drinking fountain, security cameras were shortly doubled.
Image credits: headhunterofhell2
#5
A girl stabbed multiple peoples wrists with pencils (including me).
Image credits: NeighborhoodAble306
#6
Ex-art teacher sent a lewd love letter to a high school student. It wasn’t well known because the school kept it very secretive but it was a well known rumor.
Image credits: regarding_my_person
White tells us that there are no particular negative events that get stuck in our memories longer than others. "Any event that gets your emotion will be encoded more. Negative events capture our attention because they shock us. Attention is the first step in memory. The last step of memory is review, and if something negative happens to us or is said to us, we will tell that story over and over. This review locks it into our memory!! Be careful what you give your attention to!"
#7
Some first grader set our WC on fire.
Image credits: Familiar_Guava_9064
#8
13 year old classmate was secretly pregnant & had a baby in 8th grade. We all found out because the principal & vice principal came into our classroom & announced it to the entire class. They didn’t use her name, but it was pretty easy to put 2 & 2 together.Years later I ran into the girl & we talked briefly about what had happened. She told me her mom had just about sued the daylights out of the school admin for what they had done. Never found out what stopped her from suing.
Image credits: 2gecko1983
#9
Someone kept calling in bomb threats every single day when I was in high school. It turned out to be one of the teachers who worked with the mentally handicapped kids at the elementary school. The police caught her because she kept dialing in the threat from the same phone booth.
Image credits: ShadowLiberal
That said, remembering unfortunate incidents can be beneficial to humans. For example, "Our ancestors saw one of their group eaten by a lion. They remember how they escaped or what to avoid. Put your hand on a hot stove. You may do it once, but your memory will prevent you from doing it twice," White explains.
"Remembering negative experiences can save you. You fall victim to a con, and it robs your bank account, and your memory remembers it. The next time you don't fall victim. Our memories will remember negative experiences as a form of protection!"
#10
A kid s**t in the desk of one of the teachers. It was during spring break so we came back to a section of the school shut down.
Image credits: useless_object
#11
The guy who got a B on a test and started pounding his head on the concrete wall like those zombies from the Will Smith movie.
Image credits: DredgenYorMother
#12
In high school a few guys k**led a racoon then got the bright idea to cut it half and put the waist up half in one of their parents' freezer. After it was good and frozen they brought it to school and put it in the lobby trophy case. It looked pretty cool until it thawed out and the guts started oozing out.
Image credits: ThrowRA_CantUnSeeIt
#13
Explain this one before but f**k it... Holiday season of 2003 Someone hacked into the intercom and played p*rn parodies version of Christmas tunes. It caused a lot of students to be sent to the nurse's office, mostly for breathing problems from laughing hard. It turned out, it was rather easy to due into the intercom system because of the wiring system was a standard phonelines. Me and a couple of mates found who was the ring leader, but we didn't snitch because we thought it was one of the funniest things we had to handle. That ring leader now works for some IT company and saw an increase in demands during COVID.
Image credits: MissSara101
#14
So my freshman year our principal got caught sleeping with a junior in his office. Then my senior year the resource officer got caught sleeping with multiple students in his office.
Image credits: Jhon_doe_smokes
#15
Star quarterback got in a fight with the quiet kid, lost. Quiet kid shattered QB's throwing shoulder.
Image credits: headhunterofhell2
#16
Class of 1962. One of my classmates senior year was taking flying lessons. Took off on a solo, disappeared. No trace since then. He was a nice, smart person.
Image credits: BobT21
#17
Girl at my school got arrested for m*rdering her mom. Reporters were all over the school trying to get info on her.
Image credits: Upbeat-Shallot-80085
#18
Group of boys were bullying a kid at the bathrooms and actually drowned him on a toilet, that was horrible.
Image credits: Successful-Cry-8248
#19
Varsity basketball team got into a fight with the varsity football team and it started a riot. The whole school just left for the day.
Image credits: w4rlok94
#20
Our principal had an affair with an English teacher that ended up being outed on social media, only for everyone to learn the principal had done the same at 3 different school districts.
Image credits: FalseReportEXE
#21
There was my class's senior prank. Our school had two activity busses used for driving our athletic teams to their events. Some genius stole them, parked them in the school courtyard next to each other, and then put sugar in the engine writing off the busses. In response our school cancelled all activities using the bus. You should've seen the band kids after the announcement... They were wailing in the courtyard like Nancy Kerrigan after her attack.
Image credits: Mattson
#22
Every year the graduating class did some kind of prank. At the end of the school year. One year they build a maze you had to walk through to he into the school and all dressed up funny and did jump scares. Stuff like that. Then one year one class deciced it would be funny to spray kids with water pistols. Not that funny to sit in class soaked but okay. Year after that they apparently thought we can do better and not only used water pistols but again build a big entryway with plastic walls. And they, out of sight of the teachers. Dumped flour on all the already wet students. Some also brought eggs and the whole thing turned into a massive fight. Other schools got wind and came down to fight. Police had to break it up. That class ruined last day of school for many years to come. Of all the schools, no one expected the wizzkids school to be the one to ruin it lol.
Image credits: ItsmeKristy
#23
In middle school this girl who was a grade above me started acting kinda obsessive about this one teacher. This continued into high school, as this specific teacher taught at both schools depending on the day. This teacher also showed a lot of favoritism, and she was one of those students that he gave special treatment. The entire school picked up on this and started making jokes that they were secretly dating. After she graduated and he retired, a couple people who were close with her started telling people that they actually had been secretly dating, and she had even stayed at his house a couple times when his wife was out of town. The teacher moved away and the girl kinda vanished, so nobody could ever ask her personally if it was true, but I’d be shocked to find out if it wasn’t.
Image credits: someotherguy14
#24
We had a gang fight. Went on lockdown.
Image credits: Your_Freindly_Dragon
#25
Two kids that had a feud over some girl. One kid found the others’ backpack in the hall unattended, took it to the bathroom, s**t in it, and then put it back.
Image credits: FalseReportEXE
#26
This happened after I graduated, but there were rumors about it when I was still there. I thought it was just kids being a******s.Three male teachers in one year got caught doing that thing you're not supposed to do with your underage students.One of them used the following defense: We just kissed and stuff, I waited until she was 18 to have sex with her, so I didn't break the law. The other one used *his school- issued laptop* to contact his victim and beg her not to tell the truth, because it would ruin his livelihood and his kids' lives.
During the aftermath, another teacher came into his classroom and said something to the effect of "If you're wondering why I was absent yesterday, I was being questioned by a few guys in suits." One of the kids asked why, and the teacher pointed right at the victim and said "because of her." Yeah, he pointed her out in front of everyone (supposedly no one knew which girls were involved) and got charged with witness intimidation. His lawyer told the news "hurting someone's feelings isn't a crime."
It used to be considered the "good" school district.
Image credits: realhorrorsh0w
#27
3 HS seniors broke in one night and trashed the resource officers office. A photo of the officers recently deceased son was the main thing destroyed. Students and staff all loved the officer, everyone was upset/devastated. The 3 kids weren't allowed to attend Graduation.
Image credits: anon
#28
Mine is more depressing and disturbing than anything, but we had two teachers get busted for sleeping with their underage students within the same year. Both of these were teachers I had had.
Image credits: Junimo15
#29
Group of kids jacked off on a pizza and then gave it to another kid who didn’t know about it and ate it.#30
A kid held a pencil straight up on another kid's chair when he was standing up and not looking. When he sat down it went through his pants and directly into his a*****e. He had to go to the hospital.#31
The incident that shook our school to its core happened during our annual talent show. As the curtains drew back for the first act, there was a sudden power outage, plunging the auditorium into darkness. Amidst the confusion, someone yelled "fire!" and pandemonium ensued. Students scrambled for the exits, tripping over each other in their frantic attempt to escape. It turned out to be a false alarm, but the chaos left a lasting impact on everyone. The incident prompted a thorough review of our emergency protocols and sparked discussions about safety measures. It taught us the importance of staying calm in emergencies and the need for better preparedness.#32
There was a "tradition" in my high school football team where promising freshmen were chased down, held down, and had a senior's balls rubbed on their forehead. I have no idea why this was a thing, but it happened every year until they got caught.#33
Someone shot a staple with a rubber band and it ended up hitting another kid in the eye. Another time in High school a girl sent another guy a nude and he of course told his friends which got the word out and there was a whole big legal battle.#34
Was a weird kid that got rejected after asking someone out like 5 times, proceeded to chase kids round with a plastic fork.#35
Two boys lit smoke bombs in the cafeteria when I was in elementary school scared everyone half to death also we had to go on lock down because a parent came to school with a gun. We had bomb threats every other day and a teacher fell in the lunch room hit her nose and had blood all over the place.#36
Our math teacher got arrested in the middle of the school day. Detectives walking around the halls, tape, and everything while we went about our day. He was convicted of r*pe or something.#37
University, not high school.My History class did an annual three-day field trip to London for a first-year module. An urban legend was spread around about a student who got so drunk on absinthe that he wrote drunken messages in his own s**t all over the bathroom walls and mirror. The smell of his excrement and the commotion woke up the entire hostel at 4AM and nearly got our entire university barred.
Fast-forward a few years, I start working in a call centre and find out one of the supervisors not only went to my university but also studied History five years prior, went on the same field trip and stayed in the same hostel as I did.
He was in the same dorm as the drunken student and remembered his lecturer waking him up in the early hours...
Image credits: Clbull
#38
A freshman science teacher was notorious during my time at school for being weird with girls in his classes and always bragging about being able to manufacture cocaine because his college professor taught him. Two or three years ago he k**led himself outside of the school in his car because several former students of his, and many of his students at the time, were coming forward with proof of him being inappropriate or even outright sexual with them. He had just gotten married and had a two year old daughter. Good riddance.#39
One of the floor facilitators at my school made the local news for soliciting with an undercover cop thinking he was a gay prostitute. They announced his retirement on the announcements the next day and the entire school teachers included erupted with laughter.
Image credits: EngineerMinded
#40
In 9th grade we had a pep rally turn into a riot and the police had to literally bring in the Calvary to disperse the crowds. The school banned pep rallies indefinitely... They were still banned when I graduated.
Image credits: Mattson
#41
Kid got shanked with a candy cane.#42
A girl who had been out of school for a couple of years due to medical issues came back for senior year at 19, and got together with a teacher. Teacher was pretty young, like fresh out of his degree and was a long term sub for someone who had a baby.It wasn’t illegal, and they were “age appropriate” for each other, but it was obviously a massive ethics violation and he was let go.
Image credits: FluffyProphet
#43
Back in the late 90s I was supposed to go to this one particular high school that was notoriously bad for various reasons. My mom did not want me to go there and put me in the lottery for a better school. Luckily, I "won" or whatever and went to the better school. Not long after I started my freshman year, some poor kid got m*rdered at the high school I was originally supposed to attend. He was bludgeoned to death and they never found out who did it.
Image credits: kgkglunasol
#44
Hijacked the private bus and rammed it into a house.#45
Freshmen and sophmore years we had race riots. Multiple trashcans were on fire, walking around campus felt like we had an ongoing MMA clinic. All the kids that were taking part were like 30 years old and definitely didnt even go to the school. Junior year a random d**g dealer ( who also didn't attend the school ) got thrown off the second story balcony onto a lawn area by a dude who was essentially the school candy dealer but had a soft spot for the spanish teacher that kicked the druggy kid out.
Image credits: DredgenYorMother
#46
One high school had a classmate took his desk outdoors on a beautiful spring day to finish his English test. It really made the entire class jealous & the teacher allowed it because he just wanted it to be his legacy!#47
Kid took acid at a pink floyd show and jumped into a lake. In winter. Died of hypothermia.Suddenly every girl pretended he was their ex to ride the sympathy train, and all the papers said he was a good kid with straight A's who never did d***s before....but the truth was he was about to flunk out, and nobody ever talked to him except to buy the d***s he was dealing.
Showed me that people prefer a story over the truth
#48
Chronically bullied kid shot himself in the head after pointing the gun at one of his bullies. Happened while I was at lunch one day. A crowd of screaming students came running into the cafeteria all of a sudden and one of my friends that had been down the hall from it, sat there panicking and hyper ventilating and told me what had just happened. We got released early that day and it was all over the news the next day. His name was Brian Head btw. Poor kid. Back then school shootings weren't really a common news occurrence.#49
Someone pooped without flushing the day before summer break and locked the door from the outside.
Image credits: birbking
#50
Riot.There was a vacant lot across the street from my high school that was used as an unofficial parking lot by the students. It being the 70s, many students would toke up before class. That evolved into people dealing.
One morning, the police descended on the place in force - surrounded the field, helicopter, etc. Some of the students fought back throwing rocks and bottles. Tear gas was deployed.
End result was one guy (who I don't think was a student) being charged with riot, many people popped for possession, and a destroyed police car.
#51
The basketball coach at my school, who was also an alumnus of one of the first graduating classes in the 1970s, groomed and sexually abused multiple female students in the late 1990s. Several women came forward in 2020 to the local paper after looking him up online and seeing that he'd been fired from a Catholic school near Atlanta for sending inappropriate messages to students. He had a LinkedIn profile listing him as the executive director of an organization for adolescent mental health.He left my school very abruptly over the summer in 2000, and the rumor was he'd gotten a girl in my class pregnant. We were freshmen. I had health class with him and remember he was obsessed with Freud.
#52
Chicken milk bomb in the senior lounge drop ceiling.
Image credits: cletusvanderbiltII
#53
My high school used to have a mathematics teacher who was excellent at explaining, but had significant mental health issues. For a while, he was under control with his medications, but then, he stopped taking them. During a staff meeting, the principal observed the teacher acting in an unusual manner, so she put him on administrative leave, to be replaced by a substitute. A month and a half later, the teacher wanted to return to school, so attended another meeting with the principal. This time, the teacher threatened to k*ll the principal (*in response to her taking away his job*). After the meeting ended, the teacher tried to return to his old classroom, and students heard him using profanity, taking items off the wall, and acting irrationally. The principal put the entire school under a lockdown until the police arrived. The police then escorted the teacher off the school campus, and put him in jail. Once the teacher was safely away from the campus, the lockdown ended. At the time, I was in a science class (*just one floor below the incident!*), so had not heard about any of this until the lockdown started. That was a scary day.#54
There was a history/theater teacher who was very well liked. Girl wasn't happy that he gave her a bad grade or a detention or something (this was years ago so my memory is foggy), so she falsely accused him of r*pe. He lost his job, his wife left him, totally ruined his life. This girl's brother was valedictorian a couple years prior, so everyone believed her. This went on for about a year or so before the girl graduated, admitted it was a false accusation, then moved across the country and deleted all her social media accounts. Nobody knows what happened to the teacher, but it's widely believed that he may have k*lled himself.#55
There were multiple that I can remember. - 3 weeks into my sophomore year of high school, someone had posted a shooting threat online, saying that they were tired of being bullied and that at the end of the day, they would start shooting before killing themselves. Everyone was scared sh**less and most people went home early. But later on, we found out that the threat was actually fake, so we could return the next day. The student was caught and was facing a felony. Don't know what happened to them since. - A senior basketball player was shot dead after school a couple of months after the shooting threat. Many people in the community paid tribute to him, and suspects were arrested. - In my junior year, someone called in a bombing threat. Students had to be evacuated out of the building and into the football field before being sent home. That turned out to be fake as well. What pisses me off is that our whole day got wasted, and some of us had forgotten our stuff. And the worst part is that it happened again a few days later.#56
The great skunk of 2018. Longs story short, middle school, dead skunk under industrial shipping container where we store equipment, improper disposal of said skunk, found in trash can by the track by some middle schoolers, bag is torn open by said middle schoolers and thrown into the track. I was present and everyone in the immediate 10 ft vicinity of the bag threw up or severely gagged (including me) and the entire school smelled of dead skunk because of course it sticks to clothes.Still smells to this day
