Without fail, everyone who’s attended high school can tell you about “the incident” or “the scandal” or “the event” that rocked their small academic world in their time. Some of these are unimaginably dark and tragic, others are more just…weird. Or hilarious. Or quirky. Or deserving of a movie adaptation.
A thread of countless such examples appeared on Twitter when writer/producer Alison Bennett tweeted the following:
I’ve been collecting these on Instagram today and it’s way too fun: what was the biggest scandal at your high school?
— Alison Bennett (@bennettleigh) May 25, 2020
It’s truly a treasure trove of insanity and we could be here all day parsing out the stories that ensued. But just to give you a taste, here are 15 of the best responses.
15. Ice ice baby
But…why?
The time all the girls in the homecoming court got 2nd-3rd degree burns on their butts from sitting on dry ice at a pep rally
— Rock ‘n’ Roll Smoothie Bowl (@innermostpro) May 25, 2020
14. Vandals
This reads like a mad lib.
Some football players broke into our school farm to vandalize it, but accidentally gave a llama a heart attack. The llama died and PETA got involved.
— Tori Burns (@tarheeltori) May 25, 2020
13. Bad motivation
As OP points out in a reply, this was also apparently a favorite tactic of cult leader Jim Jones. So. There’s that.
Football coach paid a guy to walk into practice and shoot him with blanks in front of team as a motivational tactic before the playoffs. Kids called 911 before the coach could explain it wasn’t real.
— Smoketypething (@Smoketypething) May 25, 2020
12. Condom-nation
OK but why would this be a scandal? You think they’re not gonna have sex? Grow up.
Someone took school stationary and sent condoms and an official sounding letter to all the kids’ homes who had bought prom tickets. It made national news and the school threatened to press charges.
— Daniel Freimark (@Danfreimark) May 25, 2020
11. Number 2 most wanted
He probably started for the thrill and then continued for the notoriety.
I went to a small school so not a lot happened but one time a kid kept smearing poop on the boys bathroom wall & we called them The Poopy Bandit
— Charlie Saxton (@charliesaxton) May 25, 2020
10. Double assassination
Dude, Lincoln has been through enough at this point.
For a senior prank, a group of kids in my grade moved a life-size statue of Abraham Lincoln across the school and into the auditorium. They tried lowering the statue from the second floor to the first by tying a rope around its neck. When they did, poor Abe’s head popped off.
— AJB (@AJBinNYC) May 25, 2020
9. I’m lovin’ it
Ah yes, corporations profiting off childhood obesity. What fun!
they built a brand new McDonalds two blocks from the school, parents not happy, then burger king built a location across the street from the school.
this was war ?
— linus van pelterbomb ??? (@lvpelt) May 25, 2020
8. Snipe war
But how much did it go for?
A kid sold the school on Ebay
— Toast Malone (@The_Toasted_One) May 25, 2020
7. On the line
The fact that she wasn’t straight up forced to go home means your school was way more laid back than mine.
All girls suburban catholic high school, but pretty liberal all things considered. Alt/Goth girl a year below me brought her prom date on a leash. Could only enter/get pics taken once he was unleashed.
— Meghan Maguire (@meghative) May 25, 2020
6. Gone to pot
Always make sure you bring enough for everyone.
A kid gave out pot brownies in class. The teacher asked for one and he panicked and gave it to her. She thought she was dying a called 911. He got kicked out.
— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) May 25, 2020
5. Orchestrated crime
THIS is the movie I want to see the most.
Our orchestra teacher was engaged in an instrument theft ring with two of his counterparts at suburban schools. They would take the instruments from kids at one school and then sell them to students at the other schools. Got busted after he sold a kid his own clarinet.
— Chris Rummel (@rummeltime) May 25, 2020
4. Double standards
Clearly they had all the proof they needed.
Principal said “booze at Prom =can’t walk at graduation”all her faves had booze at Prom and non popular kids voted to not let them walk at graduation & she lectured us.
— kristi bjork (@kristibjork) May 25, 2020
3. Story killer
Alright, ya show-off.
I went to high school with the Menendez bros. (mic drop)
— Jamie Mayer (@heavymeta3000) May 25, 2020
2. Chain of evidence
Absolutely brutal.
My gym teacher murdered his wife. The kid who worked at the town garbage dump took the front page perp walk photo from all the discarded newspapers and made a daisy chain of the bad guy handcuffed to himself and posted it around the cafeteria.
— NEIL MAHONEY (@NEILMAHONEY) May 25, 2020
1. Wool over your eyes
I had to read this one three times before I even understood what it was saying.
a kid shot a local farmer’s sheep for no reason in the same week that he won $600 on a scratch ticket but then our history teacher turned him in for scratching it on the clock (he worked at the store where he bought it) so he couldn’t use the $ to pay the fine for the sheep
— kate (@notkatie__) May 25, 2020
I think most of us can agree that we’re perfectly happy to leave high school behind, even if it did provide us with a few wild tales. I’ll keep the stories, the rest of that crap can stay in the past.
What was the big scandal at YOUR high school?
Dish it out in the comments.