Here’s the adjusted version with that change made:
I can share this story as someone who witnessed the very beginning—the first reported sighting of the person who quickly became known as “Pizza Face.” It happened during the school year, likely in the fall of 1984, in our small rural town.
I lived close to the community centre park, so that’s where my friends and I usually spent our time. One evening, two younger kids I knew came running up to me, shaken and terrified, claiming they’d seen a creepy figure in the nearby woods. When I asked what he looked like, one of them said he had a “pizza face.” I assumed they meant pockmarked or badly pimply skin—kids describe things literally, and that seemed like the most obvious interpretation.
These two, I’m fairly sure they were brothers, panicked and ran home to tell their parents. I, being more curious than cautious, decided I wanted to see this “pizza face” myself. I remember standing behind the community centre in the darkness just after dusk, calling out and trying to coax whoever it was to show himself. Nobody ever appeared.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The boys’ parents reported the incident to the police, and by the next day the story had spread across town. Adults were on edge, warning kids not to walk anywhere alone—not even in their own yards. A tale told by two, in hindsight, not-so-reliable eyewitnesses had suddenly thrown the whole community into a panic.
A few days later, during recess, someone—though I never learned who—claimed they’d spotted a “man with a pizza face” hiding in the bushes at the far end of the soccer fields. The police were called again, and again, no one was found.
Rumours and fear lingered for weeks, but in the end no suspect was ever identified, and no evidence ever surfaced to support any of the sightings. Was this person a real stalker targeting children? Some kind of stranger passing through town? Or something more supernatural lurking in the woods? We’ll probably never know.
Although no credible eyewitness accounts were ever confirmed, the panic it caused cemented the story of “Pizza Face” into our local lore.
I can share this story as someone who witnessed the very beginning—the first reported sighting of the person who quickly became known as “Pizza Face.” It happened during the school year, likely in the fall of 1984, in our small rural town.
I lived close to the community centre park, so that’s where my friends and I usually spent our time. One evening, two younger kids I knew came running up to me, shaken and terrified, claiming they’d seen a creepy figure in the nearby woods. When I asked what he looked like, one of them said he had a “pizza face.” I assumed they meant pockmarked or badly pimply skin—kids describe things literally, and that seemed like the most obvious interpretation.
These two, I’m fairly sure they were brothers, panicked and ran home to tell their parents. I, being more curious than cautious, decided I wanted to see this “pizza face” myself. I remember standing behind the community centre in the darkness just after dusk, calling out and trying to coax whoever it was to show himself. Nobody ever appeared.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The boys’ parents reported the incident to the police, and by the next day the story had spread across town. Adults were on edge, warning kids not to walk anywhere alone—not even in their own yards. A tale told by two, in hindsight, not-so-reliable eyewitnesses had suddenly thrown the whole community into a panic.
A few days later, during recess, someone—though I never learned who—claimed they’d spotted a “man with a pizza face” hiding in the bushes at the far end of the soccer fields. The police were called again, and again, no one was found.
Rumours and fear lingered for weeks, but in the end no suspect was ever identified, and no evidence ever surfaced to support any of the sightings. Was this person a real stalker targeting children? Some kind of stranger passing through town? Or something more supernatural lurking in the woods? We’ll probably never know.
Although no credible eyewitness accounts were ever confirmed, the panic it caused cemented the story of “Pizza Face” into our local lore.