I can tell this story to you as someone who was there at the initial incident, the reported sighting of a supposed man who would be quickly known as “Pizza Face”. It was during school days, perhaps in autumn, I believe around 1984, in the small town of Chesley, Ontario, that the tale begins.
I lived nearby the community center park, so I often found myself hanging out down there with my teenage friends. One evening a couple kids I knew came running up to me terrorized by a creepy person in the woods. When I asked them to describe what he looked like one of them said he had a “pizza face”, which I took to mean a pock marked or pimpled face, as these were kids and that seemed like a reasonable interpretation at the time.
The two kids, I think they were brothers if I recall, were freaking out and ran home to tell their parents. I, on the other hand, being the inquisitive type, wanted to see this “pizza face” for myself. I remember standing behind the community center in the post-dusk darkness calling out baiting this guy to appear. He never did.
Well, the tale did not end there. The parents of the kids called the police and the next day rumours about the events of the night before had spread throughout town. The adults were on alert and cautioning kids to not be alone walking home or playing in their own yards. This story, told by two, I would say today less than credible eyewitnesses, was now terrorizing a town.
A few days later we were out on the playground at school and someone, though I never found out who, claimed to see a ‘man with a pizza face” lurking in the bushes on the far side of the soccer fields. The police were, again, called to the scene but, again, no one was found in the area.
I think the gossip mill fueled the fear for at least a few weeks but by the end of it no suspect was ever identified or found for the alleged incident. Was this man a stalker looking to cause harm to children? Was it a paranormal entity that had manifested in the creepy woods? We will probably never know the facts.
The story of “Pizza Face” has never been officially confirmed by solid eyewitness accounts, however, because the incident terrorized a small community for several weeks it makes it into our local legends and folklore listing.
I lived nearby the community center park, so I often found myself hanging out down there with my teenage friends. One evening a couple kids I knew came running up to me terrorized by a creepy person in the woods. When I asked them to describe what he looked like one of them said he had a “pizza face”, which I took to mean a pock marked or pimpled face, as these were kids and that seemed like a reasonable interpretation at the time.
The two kids, I think they were brothers if I recall, were freaking out and ran home to tell their parents. I, on the other hand, being the inquisitive type, wanted to see this “pizza face” for myself. I remember standing behind the community center in the post-dusk darkness calling out baiting this guy to appear. He never did.
Well, the tale did not end there. The parents of the kids called the police and the next day rumours about the events of the night before had spread throughout town. The adults were on alert and cautioning kids to not be alone walking home or playing in their own yards. This story, told by two, I would say today less than credible eyewitnesses, was now terrorizing a town.
A few days later we were out on the playground at school and someone, though I never found out who, claimed to see a ‘man with a pizza face” lurking in the bushes on the far side of the soccer fields. The police were, again, called to the scene but, again, no one was found in the area.
I think the gossip mill fueled the fear for at least a few weeks but by the end of it no suspect was ever identified or found for the alleged incident. Was this man a stalker looking to cause harm to children? Was it a paranormal entity that had manifested in the creepy woods? We will probably never know the facts.
The story of “Pizza Face” has never been officially confirmed by solid eyewitness accounts, however, because the incident terrorized a small community for several weeks it makes it into our local legends and folklore listing.