What is the most exciting thing that has ever happened in your village or small town?

[Puffinshop]

Obviously when you live in a big city, newsworthy stuff is happening all the time. If you've lived in small towns you know that it's often slim pickings for the local papers and it can be quite exciting when something happens close to you. What's the biggest local news story you remember from your town?

The most dramatic thing that ever happened where I live now (in my memory) is the body of a whale washed up on the beach. Sadly it was already dead so there was no rescue possible but so many people went to see it - quite a grisly and depressing sight but also impressive to see an animal of that size I suppose. I didn't go, partly because I had the kids with me and I didn't think a dead animal was something they'd enjoy (or me tbh) but loads of people took their kids It was certainly quite an event and everyone was talking about it.

In my childhood village there was once a man running round at night dressed in a gimp suit and frightening the villagers.

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Way before we lived here but about 1990 a local man went on a rampage with a gun and shot 16 people and killed one.

A lovely thatched cottage in our village turned out to be a brothel, complete with swimming pool which apparently was all part of the service. Several lady "social workers" lived there.

Most interesting thing to ever happen- the scene of a bloody battle hundreds of years ago.
Most interesting thing more recently - an international occult group with 20k+ members was founded and was headquarters here well into my lifetime.

The (infamous) naked rambler went in to our village Post Office.

Ed Sheeran wrote a song about the place, and sometimes drinks in the local.

A peadophile ring unfortunately, we found out when the case came to court that one of the main offenders lived 5 doors down from us. The police had to remove them that night as the whole street was out in force, most have kids who play in the street so were understandably upset.

President JFK visited in June 1963, 5 months before he was assassinated. He and Jackie were staying with Harold MacMillan and his wife in their country house and they attended a service at the Catholic Church in the village.

Somewhat before my time, but the Dissolution of the Monasteries was big news. There used to be an abbey but nothing left now.

Whale washed up local here too a few years ago. A famous female artist lives up the road. Serial killer buried body's in a garden local to me. Loads of Hollywood actor's seen locally all the time.

Three villages over Keanu Reeves was staying in a posh hotel there and even attended a local couples wedding.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11148777/Keanu-Reeves-leaves-British-couple-thrilled-crashes-wedding-reception.html

George Michael lived and died in my village

Where I grew up (town, pop circa 50k), in the 1970s - when I was a teenager - someone on my street was doing renovations to their basement and found a body in the walls. It turned out to be the missing business partner of the previous owner.

More a hamlet than a village but I'm really struggling to think of a thing of note that has happened here. The place is stuffed full of characters but I can't really think of an incident. There's plenty of gossip though, obviously.

I moved away a long time ago but in my rural area in the 90s a lad in the year below me was caught accessing porn on the newly installed internet in the school library and it made the front page of the local paper!

A group of French blokes came over to my town specifically to pick a fight with a group of English blokes. The ring leader of the French blokes was a right bastard. The fight was massive, in all the papers, etc. One of the English blokes suffered a really nasty facial injury.

Sadly it was the murder of a schoolboy, about 20 years ago.
When the man convicted of the crime was released from jail part of his conditions he must not move back to the council District. He returned and lived at the very edge of the boundary line. What an absolute piece of human waste.

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Name changed, just in case anyone guesses where I live.

The most exciting/strange thing that happened recently. Last Christmas, sometime between Xmas Day and New Year, we went into our local Budgens for supplies. A car in the middle of the car park, with cars parked either side, had somehow crashed into several cars all around it. It had caused a lot of damage.

No one in the shop had any idea what had happened and there was nothing on the Facebook page, which was very uncharacteristic. I still have no idea what on earth happened.

Small earthquake over 20years ago, I thought it was a particularly heavy lorry going past!

"My SIL lives in a town where the local paper once printed a 2 page obituary of a horse. It had colour photos and a poem and heartfelt comments from people who knew the horse"

@Puffinshop Was it Lil' Sebastian? (One for the Parks and Rec fans)

I came out of a shop in the high street one day to see the Queen going past.

There’s actually been quite a few here. The biggest ones were a young child fell off the jetty and got swept away by the tide, and walkers found his body a few days later

and a man went missing after a night out, no trace of him found for months until fishermen found his body washed up on mudflats about a mile out from the beach

both really sad and there are annual remembrance events for them both

I live in Streatham so take your pick...

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