Teachers And Students Recall Their Strange Encounters With The "Weird Kid" At School

Everyone knows a "weird kid" from school; a black sheep who just didn't seem to fit in anywhere. Perhaps they had unique interests or exhibited odd behaviors. Regardless of what made them weird, one thing is for certain—they were surely memorable.

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#1 Anything For Attention

She would constantly cough in band class. First, it would be small, unnoticeable coughs and the class would ignore her. Then she'd cough louder and louder and still no attention, so she'd start loudly apologizing for her coughing even though no one said anything. Finally, she would have loud coughing fits and yell, "OH MY GOD, I AM SO SORRY, I CANNOT STOP COUGHING!" and the teacher would sigh and ask her if she wanted to go get a drink of water so she'd go get one. Repeat several times a period, every single day. The teacher told her multiple times that she could go get a drink of water whenever she wanted if she was coughing, but she'd just constantly loudly apologize and interrupt band practice every two minutes.

#2 "But I'm A Dirtbike, Mom!"

He truly thought he was a dirtbike. He would run through the halls jumping off of lockers and make the shifting gears noises with his mouth. Absolute mad lad. Odd but funny in elementary school. Really odd and slightly worrisome in middle school. Super freaking odd but hilarious in high school. You'll have to ask his prison buddies what they think of it now.

#3 On A Hair-Trigger

He was on a hair-trigger. He would snap and threaten people, which caused him to be suspended multiple times. Two memorable incidents were when we freaked out at an art teacher, went to his locker and came back with a whip. He made that thing SNAP and sent everyone running. She barricaded herself in the supply room. Another time, someone made the mistake of teasing him about something and everyone laughed. He pulled a sharp object and screamed, "Who wants to be first?" He was expelled and I'm not sure what became of him.

#4 The Silence Game

There was a kid at my high school who never talked. It wasn't that he couldn't speak, or that he only spoke to his close friends, he just wouldn't speak to anyone. Teachers didn't call on him because they knew he didn't talk. When a substitute would come in and try to call on him, there was always some kid who would have to explain, "Ricky doesn't talk."

If you asked him a question, he would just look at you. It was weird and some people would take offense to his silence. But eventually, everyone realized that was just his thing and rolled with it. The only time he spoke was when we had to present individually in class. On those days, people would get really excited if they had a class with him because hearing him talk was like seeing a unicorn.

#5 Late Bloomer

He didn't talk to anyone, starting in elementary school, all the way through high school. A year or so after high school graduation, I was visiting some other friends, and it turns out he hangs out with them. He was now super-talkative. Totally nice, a friendly guy. It was kind of bizarre, almost uncomfortable at first, having a conversation with him after all these years. It was like talking to a stranger, but at the same time, talking to someone I'd known for a long time. I had always figured he had a speech impediment or something that he was shy about. Nope. He just didn't talk for 10+ years.

#6 Figure 8 Man

#7 All The Blessings

Tourettes Syndrome. He was loud, swore uncontrollably at times and had the oddest thought processes and associations. He voiced them often. He was teased mercilessly and almost ended himself three times. That boy was me. Life is much better now. I like myself and have a family that loves me for who I am. I have been blessed.

#8 Train Boy

I was in the 10th grade when he came up from primary school. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he'd always pretend to be a train and chug along through the quad. People would chuckle as he went by but he didn't care, he and his other weird mate would just scoot on by minding their own business. When I was in the 11th grade, one of the scatter kids (a proper mong, through and through) blocked his tracks. A group of us shoved him out of the way and berated him for it. We encouraged the train boy to go on his way. Ours wasn't the best school in the district but man, at least the trains ran on time.

#9 A Misunderstood Genius?

His go-to excuse for not having homework finished was that he was "traveling" (even though he was at every class), and he never paid attention to anything but his fidget spinner unless he was talking. The way he spoke, he knew everything there was to know about creative writing, yet his submissions consisted of plots ripped off directly from anime. This was in a college class.

#10 A Hissy Fit

I had a girl hiss at me in 5th grade. I hadn't seen her in about 16 years. Then, recently I went to a party she was attending and she asked if I remembered her. I said, "BOY HOWDY!?" and then she hissed again. I always knew she was weird. I probably said that thinking I would somehow break the weird connection they had because of the whole hiss thing... But it just made her want to hiss again.

#11 Teen Wolf

I went to high school with the wolf kid from the meme, "On all levels except physical, I am a wolf." He called himself wolfie. So I would say that guy. He was about two grades behind me and we were a part of two different social cliques (he hung out with the overly-enthusiastic-about-Naruto group). He always wore that blue jacket and sweater year-round and just generally acted like a wolf the best he could. The only trouble I know he got in was when teachers tried to force him to stop pretending to be a wolf, which upset him.

#12 Mustard Boy

Mustard Boy. I’ll never forget him. He would cover his lunch tray in mustard. Chicken nuggets? Mustard. Mexican pizza? Mustard. Breakfast for lunch? Mustard. It didn’t matter what it was, he would drench it in mustard. He wasn’t doing it to just to make a mess of his lunch tray, he always finished his mustard food. By the way, Mexican pizza was a hexagon-shaped pizza with sausage and shredded taco-seasoned cheese on top. It wasn’t at all Mexican, but that’s what it was called.

#13 Vampire Kids

They thought they were an immortal vampire and walked around talking and acting the part. Oh man, being in high school and all those dang Twilight Vampire kids. I never was into the books or the movies. I had a boyfriend who was really into them. He bit me hard one day and made me bleed. I smacked the heck out of him and broke up with him. My dad threatened to end him after seeing the cut and bruise.

#14 Spidey Fantasy

Yeah... I knew a homeschool kid who was convinced he was Spiderman. Like he'd try to climb up walls and flick his wrists to fling web. If you didn't play along he would run crying to his mom. My mom was casual friends with his mom, so that's how we met. I vaguely remember other experiences with this kid. I didn't get along with him (that's putting it nicely, we basically hated each other), but my mom forced me to go to his birthday party. we had to play hide-and-seek but were told by his mom that we had to purposefully let him find us...

#15 Two Weirdos

We had like, two weird kids. The first one was a guy that I saw pour an entire bottle of water onto a sandwich and then eat the sloppy mess, making weirdly appreciative noises. He's the one that ended up coming to school with a suspicious object, but according to our school, he handed himself in to the police. The second was some kid that never showered, but apparently had a Russian girlfriend who was pregnant? He had no evidence of this girlfriend. He had some weird obsession with making stabby things out of anything.

#16 Just Like Pizza

He ate playground gravel and used the urinal with his pants AND underpants all the way down. He ate the gravel because apparently, he thought it tasted like pizza. I distinctly remember one time when a bunch of other kids was huddled around the bathroom door watching him do his business. I just remember that bare bum and how weird it was that someone would use the urinal like that.

#17 It Gets Better

His dad started a house fire as part of an insurance scam and died in the fire. This was around sixth grade... That messed him up a bit. The kid would tap his feet and hands uncontrollably and he talked about ending people. But by the end of high school, he had a group of friends finally. After high school, he joined the military. Not sure where his life went after that. Hopefully, he is successful and healthy.

#18 No Judgment

Looking back... now that we know what it is, most of the weird kids I knew growing up probably had depression, were abused, or were autistic. The one I remember was autistic. This was 30 years ago and autism wasn't a thing when I went to school like it is now. I didn't know about autism back then, but just looking back at his behavior and mannerisms made me realize he was autistic.

#19 Mario Stan

There was a kid in my school who was obsessed with Mario. He had Mario sweatshirts, notebooks, and a Mario backpack. Well, someone figured out that if you told him “Mario is dead,” he’d flip. He got in trouble multiple times for attacking kids who said anything about Mario dying (even if they were talking about in the context of Smash Bros. or something). This happened 8th and 10th grade, then I never saw him again.

#20 Cultural Appreciation

One was OBSESSED with all Asian culture (kind of random since we lived in a very rural community in Canada with little connection to the outside world, let alone to Asia) and she would lose her mind if anyone said anything remotely negative about it. It started out as mainly just a fixation on Pokemon, anime, and K-pop, but quickly branched out to all things Asian. She once hit me with a textbook because we were discussing M.Butterfly in class and I said that I didn't like it. This was at age 16.

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#21 Deny, Deny, Deny

This kid used to pick his nose until it bled, then go home because he had a nosebleed. He would also eat the boogers. We were all surprisingly chill about that part of his personality. The thing we all hated most about this kid is that he would lie about the most random stuff. Like, he would deny that he got hit when playing dodgeball. One time, my neighbor made me a little inukshuk glued to a piece of driftwood and I brought it to school to show the class. This kid picked it up in front of everyone, immediately dropped and broke it, and then denied that it was him that broke it, even though we had all literally watched him do it. He cried when we continuously called him out on it.

#22 A Living Meme

The kid in the vine who goes “I have the power of God and anime on my side” and screams as a banshee went to my middle school. He was maybe four grade behind me but his weirdness turned him into one of the most popular kids in his grade. It was probably satire, him being funny and dumb about it is probably what made him popular. Quite literally a living meme.

#23 Anime Obsessed

In high school, he wore a tail and an anime hat. Sometimes on the way up from the gym, he'd clutch his chest as if he'd been hurt in anime warfare and collapse somewhere down the hallway as if he'd been ended in battle. It would happen just out of nowhere. I'd be walking behind him and BAM, surprise anime scene with groaning and all.

#24 Zoot Suit Riot

The kid ALWAYS wore a zoot suit. Every day. Not that weird I guess. But back in high school, it was weird as heck. These were not Salvation Army hand-me-downs. This kid wore nothing but high-quality zoot suits, with a chain and nice shoes to match. Every once in awhile, he had a chrome-tipped, black cane. He had bright colored ones, pinstriped ones, dark blue ones, and pure black ones. I didn't see him with the hat very often though.

#25 Cheesy Broccoli

When I was in kindergarten, I brought cheesy broccoli in for show and tell. It was my favorite thing that my mom made to eat and I wanted to share it with everyone. I was really excited too and helped her prepare it the morning before school and thought everyone would think it was cool I brought something everyone could eat instead of something like a toy like most people.

The rest of the class was not as excited as me and no one, except the teacher and I think maybe my friend Nick, ate any of it. I was a bit disappointed that nobody liked it, but at the same time, I was happy because it meant more for me.

From that day on I was the weird kid that brought vegetables to show and tell. Luckily, my friend Nick was also weird and so was Juan that came to our class the next year, because although we were the weird kids of the class we weren't alone.

#26 Hopeless Romantic

Not exactly the "weird" kid but definitely the kid not many people wanted to interact with. He was very pushy and generally awkward. Also, he often tried being all cool by using big words but failed miserably. But the thing that took the cake was when he confessed his love to this girl he had a crush on by basically bombarding her with awkward love notes. One time, the teacher caught him in the middle of writing one and forced him to read it to the class. Awkward.

#27 Geez, Robby

This kid literally acted like a robot and everyone hyped him up for being that weird. It was so awkward. He would solve these average math problems in a basic math class and everyone thought he was a genius because he was taking all AP classes. He would literally sit in class and bite his thumb when he was confused, then yell out when he was angry like an infant. And oh, the stench... Someone never taught him about BO... God, Robby if you're ever reading this, I hope you made something of yourself in college.

#28 Standing Out

The kid smelled like he bathed in cat litter every day. He hissed at anyone who came near him. He used to run through the hallways from class to class. He threatened to end me in a computer lab because I used Internet Explorer instead of Firefox. I know these seem like such menial things, but in high school, he really stood out with these behaviors.

#29 Good Looking Out

He was caught eating berries off of a tree branch in a compost trash can in 5th grade. He'd act feral around everyone else, but if you got to know the kid, he was actually pretty down to earth and cool. In middle school, around 6th grade, I tried getting to know him better and found out he might have had some kind of multiple personality disorder. He was grateful for me because I was someone who didn't judge him that much (I'd try my best to not get him to do stupid stuff).

#30 Best Friends Forever

She wore long, multi-colored, mismatched socks pulled up to her knees. She didn't so much as sit in chairs as perch in them, knees to chest kind of thing. She dressed and looked like a boy at an all-girls' school. She had that "I don't give a heck what you think of me; here, let me prove it by doing something really strange" kind of attitude. Loud, kind of crazy, unashamedly loved anime and metal music and did the whole goth thing as best one could with a school uniform. She frequently reminded everyone at a Catholic school that she was atheist and proud of it. She caused several fights between her and the theology teachers. She's weird as heck but she's one of my best friends. I think I'm seeing her on Sunday.

#31 The Shmobli Language

There was a girl in Grade 5 who created her own language called Shmolbi. She'd sit in the corner and whisper to herself in it. People also used to tell her there were spiders on her hair. She'd get mad at them and scratch their faces (She purposely grew out the nails on her index, middle and ring fingers and filed them into sharp claws). To be fair, telling someone who is clearly not completely all there that they've got spiders in their hair is probably not going to end well for you. She ended up leaving the school in Grade 6.

#32 The Odd Valedictorian

He ended up being the valedictorian for my graduating class, but his refusal to use a locker and carry all of his textbooks in his backpack led to severe back issues resulting in him wearing a backplate throughout high school. I believe he also has Aspergers so he wasn't social either. Still, he was a cool guy and he deserves all the success he's experiencing.

#33 Separate Reality

I didn't talk to a whole lot of people in high school, so I usually just people watched with my friends. The weirdest kid had to be the guy who looked like fat Thor. He wasn't muscular, he just looked like him. He always had a dead look in his eyes and walked around slouched over. He wouldn't really bother about personal space either; he was just there and if he got close to you, then he got close to you. There wasn't really anything you could do about it. Honestly, it was almost like he was on another plane of existence.

#34 Everyone's Weird

One kid walked around in high school with a stuffed possum and made it talk in class. Also, she went on a rant during a class debate about how much she hated Australia because a classmate from there rejected her. It had nothing to do with the debate topic. Another kid claimed she was the CEO of her dad’s company and made 1 million a year at 16. She also said she was the granddaughter of the king of Norway. She’s not from Norway.  Somehow, I got classified as weird, but I’m really not sure why when I think about how many other weird kids went to my school.

#35 The Stereotypical Victim

Imagine the stereotypical kid being bullied in every American high school film ever and how they act all dejected and like everyone's out to get them, except the guy wasn't bullied and everyone tried to make an effort to talk to him when near him. I'm not exactly much of a social person myself, but I heard the guy mumble one word in the whole three years I went to school with him. Any attempt to speak to him would be met by his best attempt at some kind of death stare to try and actively discourage conversation.

#36 All An Act

A kid in my class got salt in his eye from a pretzel. The next day, he came in with sunglasses on and claimed that he had to wear them because of what happened the day before. They were clearly McDonald's sunglasses. They had the logo on the side and everything. The same kid tried to fight a girl because her hand went on his side of the desk.

#37 Environmentally Conscious

We had a guy our freshman year that would talk in a very high-pitched voice in order to “conserve air.” I assumed that he was trying to conserve oxygen as an environmental deal..? Perhaps he was conserving oxygen in his lungs just in case he had to attack... He wore camouflage every day and drove a green Jeep. I always tried to be nice to him since we were all pretty sure he would be that kid... if you know what I mean.

#38 Temper Tantrums

He used to have really bad temper tantrums where he would start shaking, throwing things and rolling his eyes to the back of his head. This was during middle school so everyone always got a good kick out of it, but looking back... it makes me sad because I wonder what was going on at home or what his relationships were like at home for him to react like that.

#39 The Annoyingly Snoopy

He would go through girl's purses, without permission, in front of them. He did this to me once and said he was allowed to because the strap on my purse was on his desk. Needless to say, I called him a lot of nasty words in front of the entire class and disrupted the lesson for at least 10 minutes. Luckily, the professor sided with me. People like me don't get taken advantage of.

#40 Surprise, Surprise

He always carried around a briefcase, but never opened it. He sat on the briefcase during lunch, classes, etc. It was like the nuclear football, always in his hand or he was sitting on it. He carried it onto the stage during graduation. He got his diploma, then right as he was leaving the stage, he opened it up and dumped a bunch of confetti on the principal. I guess it was the long con? No one questioned why he was carrying it on stage.

#41 Minecraft Addict

There is a kid at my school and he can't put his laptop down. While eating lunch, he'd be on his laptop. As soon as he finished a test, he'd be on his laptop. And we were all wondering what he would put his laptop down for. So one kid asked him. He was designing Minecraft skins and watching Minecraft videos. Honestly, I support him. A future CEO for sure.

#42 Horrible Kids

I was the weird kid. In 4th and 5th grade, I was so obsessed with cats, I'd wear ears and a tail to school and pretend to be a cat all day. I grew out of that eventually, but I never lived down the cat girl stigma. I remember we played this dating game in the gym class for some reason. The girls were hiding behind a curtain and the boys would ask us questions. I got asked what my favorite animal was, and I legit froze and couldn't think of anything. All I could think was, "Don't say anything cat related." So I said "Lion." Like an idiot. The boy on the other end was like, "Ew, that's Feorana, don't freaking pick her." ...that was pretty mortifying.

#43 Just Go With It

There was this boy in my class that we all knew had mild Asperger's ( his mom, a teacher, would never say it even though his auntie told my father that he did). He had a male foot fetish that he wasn't ashamed of. Long story short, he would ask people in our grade for feet pictures in exchange for money (his family is extremely wealthy). We made over a grand off him and others in my grade as well. We even send him pictures of all our feet together on Snapchat. He would screenshot it and thank us. He's weird, but we never make fun of him for it. We just play along and make easy cash.

#44 The Good Old '90s

I grew up in the '90s, so at the height of the popularity of boy bands. There was this one kid, who was pretty good looking, kind of resembled Justin Timberlake and he used to staple things to his nipples. I went to an arts high school where about half of the kids were gay. A lot of the kids were some version of goth and the kids who wore Abercrombie clothes and hair gel and tucked in the front part of their shirt only were a bit ostracized because they just didn't fit in very much there. It was a good place.

#45 Walking B.O.

The dude was really big and smelled like straight-up farts. He would freak out and throw things even for the smallest inconveniences. One time, we had to do a survey and the teacher reiterated multiple times that it wasn’t a test, but the dude came late and started having a full-blown meltdown thinking that we were taking a test. He had to be taken away by security. I was forced to sit next to him once and I think I almost died from the scent. I had to move my chair outside of the desk to be able to breathe.

#46 The Packet Kid

This kid at my school would walk around with a fanny pack full of condiments and start throwing the packets at random people. Other times, he would simply eat the packets. This kid would also randomly go into classrooms and ask for chocolate bars in the middle of class or just stand there until someone would acknowledge him.

#47 A Wholesome Story

I went to a big school with a handful of special ed kids. One of them who had down syndrome was weird in that he had a tendency to just walk up to random people and ask their life story, and tell them his. Way more personal details than you'd expect from a random person but he seemed happy to share and liked talking with people. Everybody liked him and he won homecoming king senior year.

#48 That's So Raven

Raven. Dear lord. She would hiss at people, claim she had three boyfriends, hide in trees at lunch, and would just... scream sometimes. She had conversations with her sweatshirt. I think she got expelled for attacking a student but I can’t fully remember. We felt bad because she was obviously mentally ill but it was definitely... memorable.

#49 If I Only Knew

In elementary, there was a kid that wore the same GAP sweatshirt every day. Everyone would make fun of him because of this and lack of good hygiene. Looking back, I should have stood up to the bullies because that's all his family could afford but I just didn't realize it back then. If I knew better back then, I would have been a better friend to him.

#50 Foreshadowing

He always talked to himself. He would laugh like he heard a funny joke. He would constantly mumble and it seemed like he was debating himself, just way out there, yet was an absolute genius in class. Way too much more than that, that’s just off the top of my head. His name? James Holmes, of the theatre incident.