Wednesday One-Shot: Middle-School Imposter

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Speaker 1 Welcome to Wednesday One Shots, the bi-weekly show where we share a bonus story with you to help you get through the week nice and creeped out.

Speaker 1 This week we have a story from an author named Young Live420.

Speaker 1 I forgot about this whole ordeal, but after I started becoming an avid listener of the podcast, I realized I had a story of my own to to share.

Speaker 1 I am a 28-year-old woman from the Seattle area, and this happened when I was in seventh grade. I had two teachers, both of whom were some of the best teachers I ever had in general.

Speaker 1 One day, this guy who was dressed up in a full military outfit with a giant knife dangling off of his vest came into our classroom.

Speaker 1 He claimed to be a former student who was now a successful military man.

Speaker 1 He said he wanted to talk to the students to inspire us or something like that.

Speaker 1 My teachers were confused, as there was no scheduled speaker expected to come to our classes, but they reluctantly allowed him to speak to all of us.

Speaker 1 He went on about his military career and shared stories of his time in war.

Speaker 1 He also went into details about how he had shot and killed children, which was very shocking for a classroom full of children to hear.

Speaker 1 He also said that he was fluent in Japanese. One of my classmates happened to speak Japanese as well, so she began to speak with him.

Speaker 1 He responded, but judging by the confused expression on her face, it didn't seem like he replied in Japanese at all.

Speaker 1 After a while, my teachers started to feel weird about the situation, so they sent a student to escort this man to the front office to get a visitor's pass since he didn't have one.

Speaker 1 This decision is what later got my teachers suspended for the rest of the year.

Speaker 1 There was a police investigation following this situation, and it turned out this man was not an active member of the military. He had never been military personnel at all.

Speaker 1 He was just some fraudulent 20-year-old guy.

Speaker 1 When his car was searched by the police, he had a whole bunch of costumes in there. There were police uniforms, various military garb, and security guard uniforms.

Speaker 1 He had a prior record and had been previously arrested for impersonating a police officer as well.

Speaker 1 Since my teachers didn't send him to the office immediately, they were both suspended.

Speaker 1 They likely got into additional trouble since they had a student escort him to the office, which inadvertently, albeit effectively, put them in danger.

Speaker 1 My class then had a substitute teacher for the rest of the year. It was all over the local news, since it was such a strange thing to happen.

Speaker 1 I'm not sure why this guy was doing this. He had nothing to gain.
Nobody was paying him for speaking or anything.

Speaker 1 So what compelled him to walk into a middle school and come speak to a bunch of kids with a bunch of fake, graphic details about his life?

Speaker 1 Was it some ego thing? Did he just get off on presenting himself as somebody who is powerful?

Speaker 1 All I know is that in today's world, this guy probably wouldn't have made it through the front door without being questioned.

Speaker 1 This happened just before schools started bulking up on security due to nationwide school shootings.

Speaker 1 In any case, whatever this deal was, to the weird, fake military man who had a giant knife dangling from his vest, Let's Not Meet.

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening and thanks to the author for submitting their story. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not MeetStories at gmail.com.

Speaker 1 Be sure to subscribe if you're new here to check out our full-length episodes released every Sunday night.

Speaker 1 And be sure to sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast if you want to get ad-free versions of all of the episodes at a higher bit rate, plus weekly bonus content with stories you won't hear anywhere else.

Speaker 1 We'll see you guys this weekend, everybody. Stay safe.

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Speaker 2 Sucks. The new musical has made Tony award-winning history on Broadway.
We demand to be home. Winner, best score.
We demand to be seen. Winner, best book.
We demand to be quality.

Speaker 2 It's a theatrical masterpiece that's thrilling, inspiring, dazzlingly entertaining, and unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical this season. Suffs.

Speaker 2 Playing the Orpheum Theater, October 22nd through November 9th. Tickets at BroadwaySF.com.

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