Odd encounters when a teenager

Beechwoodspark · 14-10-2020 3:58pm #1

An issue earlier brought some memories back to me

I and some of my school peers had decidedly wierd encounters with a “theatre director” when I was aged around 16 which I’ve never forgotten.

this particular man I encountered did not seem to have an official organization he was attached to.

He handed out flyers outside our school and he managed to give a talk in the school to 4th and 5th years on drama and acting and then our school encouraged us to attend a local hall where he ran an “acting class” in the evenings.

Almost all the classes he was the only adult there but a few times he had other men there who were introduced as friends or “important theatre directors” etc.

These classes became a weekly and twice weekly thing with wkend classes also. He also had plans for wkends away in cork etc but that never happened.

There was a bit of acting practice at the start of the evenings. Also wierd role plays. I remember one was someone pretending to be a dog and someone else a cat stuff like that. Also a lot of what seemed aimless chit chat and messing.

Lots of ppl dropped out but he lavished praise on “some” of us (maybe 10 in all) and promised us that we’d be major stars in Hollywood with his training and contacts in acting.

He’d say things like “Leo di caprio is gorgeous and so are you so you are definitely going to be a huge star”.

I also clearly remember him advising us not to talk to “outsiders” on the classes.

This same man “hung out” at the local cafes where the teenagers would go.

Even though he was mid 50s, and fairly imposing figure physically. So easily stood out.

He had a certain table in a cafe where “his gang” could sit and he’d recite poetry and plays etc and basically try and get a position of trust with us.

Looking back it’s arguably grooming he was at.

few years ago I met some of my friends from the time and we were just in disbelief about this guys access to us. Just FYI he’s since passed away.

Just interested, did you ever have any odd/dodgy experiences with adults as a teenager?

What was your attitude at the time and what is your hindsight view on it now?

Beechwoodspark · 14-10-2020 4:41pm

I think what really looks mad now is this fella just rocked up outside the school and gave out flyers etc then was invited to give a talk in the school...

corner of hells · 14-10-2020 4:43pm

Out of your group of friends, were you the ugly kid ?

AdrianBalboa · 14-10-2020 5:05pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

An issue earlier brought some memories back to me

I and some of my school peers had decidedly wierd encounters with a “theatre director” when I was aged around 16 which I’ve never forgotten.

this particular man I encountered did not seem to have an official organization he was attached to.

He handed out flyers outside our school and he managed to give a talk in the school to 4th and 5th years on drama and acting and then our school encouraged us to attend a local hall where he ran an “acting class” in the evenings.

Almost all the classes he was the only adult there but a few times he had other men there who were introduced as friends or “important theatre directors” etc.

These classes became a weekly and twice weekly thing with wkend classes also. He also had plans for wkends away in cork etc but that never happened.

There was a bit of acting practice at the start of the evenings. Also wierd role plays. I remember one was someone pretending to be a dog and someone else a cat stuff like that. Also a lot of what seemed aimless chit chat and messing.

Lots of ppl dropped out but he lavished praise on “some” of us (maybe 10 in all) and promised us that we’d be major stars in Hollywood with his training and contacts in acting.

He’d say things like “Leo di caprio is gorgeous and so are you so you are definitely going to be a huge star”.

I also clearly remember him advising us not to talk to “outsiders” on the classes.

This same man “hung out” at the local cafes where the teenagers would go.

Even though he was mid 50s, and fairly imposing figure physically. So easily stood out.

He had a certain table in a cafe where “his gang” could sit and he’d recite poetry and plays etc and basically try and get a position of trust with us.

Looking back it’s arguably grooming he was at.

few years ago I met some of my friends from the time and we were just in disbelief about this guys access to us. Just FYI he’s since passed away.

Just interested, did you ever have any odd/dodgy experiences with adults as a teenager?

What was your attitude at the time and what is your hindsight view on it now?

“Arguably?”

Feisar · 14-10-2020 5:22pm

An older Polish lady used to blow me when I was seventeen. Does that count?

Beechwoodspark · 14-10-2020 6:55pm

Once it was consensual?!

suicide_circus · 14-10-2020 7:00pm

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

Cee-Jay-Cee · 14-10-2020 7:10pm

When I was about 15/16 in the mid 80's I used to 'thumb' everywhere and once got a lift from a priest. He started the usual chit-chat but then asked me if I went to confession and I answered 'no, I haven't been in years' and he asked me if I wanted to confess to him there and then. We were just approaching my house so I said no that this was where he could let me out and he said 'sure we'll drive on a bit, you can give your confession and i'll drop you back afterwards' Me being naïve and young said ok and so he said whatever prayer thing they say and he asked me to confess my sins. Like the one or two previous times Id been at confession, I said I swore/cursed, disobeyed my parents, fought with my sisters/brothers type stuff and said that's it. He then asked me if I masturbated and how often and what did I think about when doing it. We were about 5 or 6 miles past my house at this stage and I asked him to turn around as I had to get home. I didn't answer any more of his questions and he turned the car. I never told anyone about it and to be honest, I never gave it a moments thought after that until years later and the whole catholic church scandals were coming to light and I remembered the incident and thought that dirty old fúcker probably had a hard-on asking me those questions. Gives me the shivers now when I think about it!

santana75 · 14-10-2020 7:19pm

Was at a b'day party one night. I was about 17 at the time and had a couple of beers, which I know was illegal. Anyway at some point I decided to head home as we were in a hotel not that far away but there was no public transport and had to get a taxi. I started walking and found myself on a country road with a very narrow path. I stuck out the lamh and luckily a cab came by and I got in. There was the usual chit chat with the driver, "Where were you tonight" and all that. But then he asks me if I had been "With the girlfriend tonight?" I wasnt hammered drunk, but not sober either, even so an alarm bell went off. I said yes, she'd been at the party with me(I was single at the time but felt I needed to give the impression I wasnt). There was a few moments of silence, then he says to me "Did you and the girlfriend have sex earlier?" The alarm bell became a klaxon.......I tried to make a joke out of things and I said: "No......that comes when I see her later". He laughed, I laughed, the tension seemed to have dissipated. Then he turns and looks at me and says: "What about fellas, do you like to have sex with fellas?" And this was the moment when I realised there was no meter in the car and no identity badge hanging from the dash.......In my inebriated state I'd gotten into some random perverts car. I was scared sh1tless but I said to him that I wanted to get out right now and that he'd better pull the Fck over.
In fairness there was no argument from him and he let me out. The irony is that by the time all of that happened I was almost back at the gaff, so got a free lift home! But the whole experience makes my skin crawl to even think about, there was such a bad vibe in that car, I felt it from the moment I got in that night. I have friends who've had similar experiences when they were kids too, these creepy dudes are everywhere.

Mad_maxx · 14-10-2020 7:20pm

Feisar wrote: »

An older Polish lady used to blow me when I was seventeen. Does that count?

older as in over seventy ?

Feisar · 14-10-2020 7:25pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

older as in over seventy ?

No, late twenties. ‘‘Twas big news back in the day though.

Mad_maxx · 14-10-2020 7:27pm

Feisar wrote: »

No, late twenties. ‘‘Twas big news back in the day though.

thats good too

Mister Vain · 14-10-2020 7:32pm

I'm pretty sure my biology teacher fancied me. She was always complimenting me and wiping the chalk stains off my trousers.

uch · 15-10-2020 12:41am

Lads I don't get to say tthis enough these days but, I Love Cake

Immortal Starlight · 15-10-2020 1:56am

There’s an encounter back about 30 years ago that always strikes me as odd. One summer evening around 9pm I was at the supermarket in the town I grew up in. The shop was closing as I left and there was hardly anybody around. I was in a hurry going home because a tv show I wanted to watch was about to start when I heard a woman calling me from across the street.
She was sitting in the front of a two seater white van that had no windows in the back. She told me she was working for the local radio station and was doing a survey and would I be interested in answering a few questions. I said no and began to walk away. She then got out of the van and started calling after me that it would really only take a minute and I should sit into the van with her while I did the survey. There was nobody else around at this stage and I felt more than a bit uneasy because she was being so insistent that I get into the van. I just walked away and reached my house soon after.
Something about the woman’s insistence that I sit in the van to answer the survey questions always struck me as odd. It was around that time that a lot of girls went missing in Ireland and I often think about that van with no windows in the back and shudder. Maybe my imagination might be running away with me but it was a plain white van and if she was working for a radio station surely there would have been a logo on the van. It was probably nothing but I still think of that evening and wonder.

Justin Credible Darts · 15-10-2020 2:02am

I grew up in the 70s....everything was weird,

by the time i was a teenage in the 80s, I think I became weird.:D

Hangdogroad · 15-10-2020 8:58am

I had one of those weird thumbing experiences aged about 21. Got a lift from a well spoken middle aged man. His conversation started taking a bit of an odd turn and then he said out of the blue "have you ever seen two donkeys at it?".

Beechwoodspark · 27-02-2021 6:45pm

Just in the wake of the Terenure college horrific abuse case I thought id bump this thread

Despite plenty of idiotic moments in my teenage years I just thank whoever is looking out for me up above that I had some sort of cop on and kept away from the odd creepy character I know think was trying to groom me and my friends.

Rodney Bathgate · 27-02-2021 6:51pm

Is the opening post a thinly veiled ‘I’ve been told I look like DiCaprio’ boast?

Beechwoodspark · 27-02-2021 6:55pm

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

Is the opening post a thinly veiled ‘I’ve been told I look like DiCaprio’ boast?

Haha. No. He did actually say that though.

And he said to me once I should ask for a leo di caprio hair style next time I got my haircut

I should add he had a camp manner and accent. And seemed to just sit in cafes/local library all day around teenagers trying to ingratiate himself with them. Just creepy af.

Unbelievable the kind of access this guy had to us - with zero qualifications as far as I can see

Rodney Bathgate · 27-02-2021 7:00pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Haha. No. He did actually say that though.

And he said to me once I should ask for a leo di caprio hair style next time I got my haircut

I should add he had a camp manner and accent. And seemed to just sit in cafes/local library all day around teenagers trying to ingratiate himself with them. Just creepy af.

Unbelievable the kind of access this guy had to us - with zero qualifications as far as I can see

I was only kidding.

I went through primary school in the 80’s, I found out years later that the school principal had banned a local priest from school property. No prizes for guessing why.

fryup · 27-02-2021 9:30pm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

cause he use to steal the chalk?

Rodney Bathgate · 27-02-2021 9:31pm

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

cause he use to steal the chalk?

Seems plausible.

shreko · 27-02-2021 11:17pm

When I was in school there was a pay phone right across the road and there would always be loads of us hanging around there after school. One day it rang and I picked it up to a man pretending he thought he had rang a local hotel. He appeared flustered at first asking me did I know the hotel or the correct number and then started asking me other questions about the locality and generally engaging me in conversation. Like I fool I kept going. He asked me about good night clubs to go to in limerick ( I was about 14 and sounded every bit of it I’m sure) then asking me would I shift guys at these clubs. I started feeling uneasy about the whole thing and then he asked me what kind of underwear I was wearing. I just hung up the phone at that point. I was totally creeped out. I told a few girls the next day in school and one or two more had the same experience. So this creep was actively calling a pay phone outside a girls school trying to engage them in seedy conversation to get his kicks. Still gives me the creeps today. Pervert.

fryup · 28-02-2021 10:54am

should have told the guards, they might have traced the call - or is that only in the movies?

Fuascailteoir · 28-02-2021 11:14am

fryup wrote: »

should have told the guards, they might have traced the call - or is that only in the movies?

If it was in the 70s or 80s, the call was probably originating from the garda station

Ash.J.Williams · 28-02-2021 11:19am

Feisar wrote: »

An older Polish lady used to blow me when I was seventeen. Does that count?

Niiiice

fryup · 28-02-2021 11:20am

Fuascailteoir wrote: »

If it was in the 70s or 80s, the call was probably originating from the garda station

bored out of their tree :P

Balmed Out · 28-02-2021 11:24am

"I had one of those weird thumbing experiences aged about 21. Got a lift from a well spoken middle aged man. His conversation started taking a bit of an odd turn and then he said out of the blue "have you ever seen two donkeys at it?".

One thing that always struck me when thumbing was the massively high percentage of weirdos who picked you up. Generally just people who desperately wanted to talk at someone but so often a bit on the weird side.

grassylawn · 28-02-2021 11:25am

A Hare Krishna came up to me and asked me how old I was. I said I was 16. He went away.
In adult hindsight, Hare Krishnas follow guidelines about not trying to introduce their beliefs to people under 18.

The mother of a girl I worked with came into the amusement arcade where I worked a lot. She paid a lot of attention to me and brought me sandwiches and things. She repeatedly invited me to my house for a pool party.One time she had her very meek husband in tow and didn't behave differently. Her daughter said her mother was into me. Several other people said she was trying to bang me. In adult hindsight she was trying to bang me and her husband basically accepted or enjoyed her banging [legal] teenage boys. She was ok-looking, but had a sense of desperation about her that didn't go well with being older. At the time I found the whole thing a bit hard to get my head around in any case.

dazberry · 28-02-2021 12:05pm

In 5th and 6th class (early 80s) in primary school our teacher hated P.E., so seldom bothered bringing us down to the hall. The head master found out and every now and again would take the class instead.

One day he got everyone to lie down face up, arms by side in two lines in rows, one boys and one girls, and got the person at the end to roll themselves over all the other kids in their respective line. I was third from the top of the boys line, so after the first 2 lads rolled over me I got up and said I couldn't do it - I don't recall what he said to me - but I had to stand beside him as he watched all the young fellas rolling around in shorts - the dirty fecker.

The thing is everyone seemed to enjoy it - except me - I was the weird kid - in hindsight I'm glad I was the weird kid...

Odd encounters when a teenager

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