Beach Tourist Assaulted and Kidnapped by Fish in Florida
On Sunday, October 8, 2023, a boy from Ringgold, Georgia, was attacked and kidnapped by fish in Manasota Key, Florida. At around two in the afternoon on that fateful day, Caleb Peponis was swimming at the beach, when a swarm of bluegills surrounded him and attacked him. He was then kidnapped by the school of fish while trying to escape. He escaped and returned to the beach condo later that day.
Peponis and his family had been hanging out at the beach throughout the day and had been swimming in deeper water when the brutal attack happened. He first felt the fish bumping into him, but was not quite sure of what it was. “I looked down and saw some small fish darting through the water and accidentally bumping into me,” he later said. “I looked towards the oncoming wave, and upon seeing that it was swarming with fish, I ran—or swam, I guess.” Peponis ran towards the shore, but was apprehended by the fish and kidnapped. They dragged him underwater, and the unfortunate Peponis was forced to hold his breath for a prolonged period of time. “I didn’t even know I could hold my breath that long. I guess I unlocked a part of my brain that most people don’t have,” Peponis said.
The fish took him to their lair underwater and started to prepare dinner. Peponis, confused (and also hungry), asked what they were having for dinner. The fish then laughed at him and told him that they planned on getting revenge on humans for eating fish by eating a human. Peponis then explained that he would never eat fish because seafood in general tastes gross. The fish then cast him out of their lair, and he was then stranded in the middle of the ocean. “We decided to let him go, partially because he doesn’t eat seafood,” the bluegill leader reported, “but also because we did not want to deal with him after he said we taste gross.” A local dolphin saw Peponis and decided to give him a ride back to the shore. Peponis was safely returned to his frantic family and was able to enjoy the rest of his vacation.
During the vacation, Peponis was later visited by the friendly dolphin who saved him, but was also attacked by a crab that happened to be a bird. There was also an offering, however we are not sure to whom. Manasota Key has become a ghost town after such sightings, and the wildlife there has completely taken over the city. (Caleb Peponis)
Innocent Teenager Gets Possessed by Frat Boy
It was the 2023 week of Homecoming at Heritage High School and two friends, freshmen Kinsley Cheatham and Spencer Cordle, decided to do Rhyme Without Reason which is where multiple students dress up as words that rhyme that have nothing else in common besides rhyming. The pair went as ‘Dad’ and ‘Chad.’ However, things took a turn when Cheatham got possessed by a frat boy.
“I was completely fine until she had put on the backwards cap for her costume.” Throughout the entire day, she had been heard referring to anything she was doing in third person. “It was like I was an entirely different person. Chad had his own likes and dislikes, and even a specific college he had gone to. I wasn’t myself whatsoever,” Cheatham said. Friends of Cheatham talked about their experiences with the frat boy persona. Aiden Tipton thought that, “It was great. Chad was really funny, “ he said. “ I miss that guy.” Several other friends went on to say how Chad was incredibly funny to interact with, and that they really miss the frat boy. Several things that Chad had apparently talked about included his favorite music artist Travis Scott, his car, and Greek life. “The Chad persona was certainly very fun to create,” Cheatham said. “I asked my friends to ask me questions they wanted to know about Chad, and I’d come up with the answer on the spot, so he was a very sporadic and messy character but really fun. We didn’t get any work done in fourth block though.”
All in all, Rhyme Without Reason was a success, and Chad was a major hit throughout the day. The people certainly miss the party boy and wish him well wherever he may be. (Kinsley Cheatham)
Heritage High School Cheerleaders Make School History at 2023 State Competition
The Heritage High School cheerleaders traveled to Macon, Georgia, in November of 2023 to compete at the state competition. Facing off against 15 other teams, the Heritage cheerleaders tied for 3rd and placed 4th overall—which is the highest they have placed in Heritage history.
It all started on a normal Thursday. 16 girls had been ecstatic all season and were ready for this moment of competing at State. While heading down to Macon on a very tightly packed bus, these girls were more ready than ever to crush it like never before. After arriving in Macon the coaches decided that they would stop at Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then head back to their hotel to be ready for the next day ahead of them. The girls and coaches had a pajama party in the hotel lobby and took lots of pictures together, hung out, and some of them went back to their rooms. But they were just trying to make the best of their night before the coaches said it was time to go to their rooms and try to sleep. Waking up, all the girls were ready and couldn’t wait to show everyone what they could do. The girls arrived at the Macon Centerplex Coliseum and Convention Center, and after getting checked in, they sat in their designated section and waited to be called back for warmups. Warmups went smoothly, and they were ready to take the mat at 3:32 p.m. The girls went out, performed, and felt better than ever about it coming off the mat. Even the coaches said that was easily one of the best performances of the season. Their performance was top notch. After watching the rest of the teams compete, they waited for final results and listened to see who made the top six. The girls and their parents were overjoyed that Heritage got called, and the girls made their way down to the mat to hear the final standings. Once all 6 teams made their way to the mat, the announcer announced fourth place all the way to first place.
The Heritage High School cheerleaders ended up having a three way tie for third, placing fourth overall, scoring a 91.5. One of the cheerleaders, Chloe Kirby said, “I was very nervous at first but I was also excited, and my favorite part was the bus ride down there.” Kaylee Brown also said, “I was definitely nervous but I was also excited, and my favorite part was either the bus ride down there or hanging out at the hotel with everyone before heading to the convention center. I really liked the pajama party at the hotel or just hanging out with all the girls. Especially the people in my hotel room.” She also added, “I think I speak for everyone on this team when I say that we all loved each other so very much and wouldn’t trade this team, this year for anything. Building unbreakable bonds and becoming so close with each other was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole season.” (Kaylee Brown)
A Kitchen Fiasco Creates the Biggest Cake Fail of 2023
On December 30th, 2023, the most tragic cake making fail took place in a local high schooler’s kitchen after seeing viral TikTok videos of people creating funny cakes that looked like “The Lorax” from the Dr. Seuss movie.
Molly Churchwell, a Sophomore at Heritage High School, was accompanied by her best friends Riley Greven and Chloe Fowler. That very night, the friends decided to put their own spin on this cake. The girls were having a sleepover at Churchwell’s house. All of them were ecstatic for this well awaited—yet soon to be tragic night.
After the girls got back from watching extravagant New Years firework shows, they hung out in the kitchen. Whilst raiding the pantry for snacks, Churchwell stumbled upon a box of Betty Crocker cake mix. With all three of the girls having a sweet tooth, they quickly decided to make a cake. After the fact, Churchwell said, “Once we gathered our ingredients, I remembered the Tik-Tok I had seen early. I asked my friends if they wanted to make ‘a Lorrax cake.’” The friends instantly agreed to the idea. A problem showed itself as it grew later into the night. Churchwell’s parents headed off to bed; in which the trio did not have a good track record of keeping quiet at night. As the cake was in the oven the girls listened to their favorite music at a low volume, chatting and dancing. To decorate the cake they googled an “icing” recipe, and put the liquidly sugar in Ziploc bags. They watched their timer without a single hint of their impending doom.
Once the girls pulled their cake out of the oven they were eager to take it out of the pan. “I was so ready to start decorating the cake as soon as the timer went off. Fowler said, “It was late at night, around one in the morning. I wasn’t thinking about how we needed to let the cake cool.” Fowler tipped over the pan hitting it on the counter. Once the cake was revealed, it was broken in many pieces. The girls laughed at their minor fail. Churchwell said, “I spontaneously came up with the thought to make cake pops. I just knew that our original plan was not going to work.” The girls had already produced enough dishes to sink a battleship. Greven poured all the white frosting—more like a glaze—in with the cake. Greven said, “The cake felt like play dough. It was kinda fun to play with if you didn’t think about what it was.” The girls mushed and squeezed it with their hands. At this point Churchwell, who’s a massive clean freak, forgot her parents were asleep. She was nearly shouting at her friends about the mess they had produced. She was on the verge of tears as she looked around at the kitchen. Churchwell said, “An atomic bomb could’ve gone off in there, and the mess would have been the same.” The air felt sticky; the mess was inescapable. Fowler and Greven were both joking around, daring each other to mash their faces in the nasty gloop. Soon after making that stupid decision, Fowler ended up throwing up, and Greven got it stuck in her nose.
Finally, at a whomping two in the morning, they started cleaning up. Churchwell was having a heart attack trying to get the dishes done before her parents walked in on the mess. At this point, the “cake” was on the walls and cabinets. Her friends were still laughing hysterically at the situation. As soon as Churchwell finally broke and joined her friends in laughter, Churchwell’s Dad yelled from his bedroom: “Molly!” Churchwell said, “My heart literally hit the floor! If my parents saw the mess, I would probably be banned from ever stepping foot in the kitchen again.” The girls went quiet, completely frozen in place. Then all at once they started cleaning like their life depended on it. Scrubbing the floor, and the dishes at an unnatural high speed. They poured the mush into a trash bag, then hung it on the door planning to take it outside at first light.
That next morning, around ten, Churchwell woke up. She didn’t even remember falling asleep. She walked out of her room to see her friends dead asleep in the guest room. Churchwell walked into the kitchen scared of what she was going to see. She did not want to relive what happened hours prior. Unsurprisingly, the kitchen was just as they left it. She took it upon herself to take out the trash bag of cake. She also wiped down the whole kitchen with Clorox wipes. Before Fowler and Greven woke up that next morning, Churchwell had the kitchen shining again. Although the kitchen is now clean, the friends will always remember the rollercoaster of events that took place that night. (Molly Churchwell)
Teenage Girl on Summer Vacation Attacked by Jellyfish in Turkey
One sunny summer day in 2023 a teenage girl named Sofiia Haidar was in Turkey on her summer vacation. Everything was great the first couple days: she was enjoying the sunny weather and the warm sea. Everything was pretty good, until the moment she got stung by jellyfish.
The most exciting part for Sofiia about every vacation was always swimming in the sea, ocean or even pool, and it never carried any kind of danger, because what could be dangerous about just swimming somewhere in the sea? But as we already know something definitely happened there. So this one beautiful day when nothing was foreshadowing trouble, Sofiia decided to go swim early in the afternoon. It was already so hot outside, so she needed to cool down somehow, so swimming was the best decision at that time. So she walked to the beach, lied down for a little, and finally went to swim. The first 20 minutes went great: she was enjoying the warm water and beautiful views around. When it’s already been 30 minutes since she was swimming she decided to get out of the water and just lay on a beach before going back to the hotel. So she was swimming back to the beach, and suddenly she felt something burning in her hand. She screamed, because she was scared of something happening to her. She stood up really quickly and just ran to the beach as fast as she could. She looked at her hand and on it was a big red, burning stain from something she didn’t know. Later she figured out that she got stung by a jellyfish. She ran to her hotel room, to get some ointment from burns, because she was feeling like she was going to die, that’s how bad her hand was burning. While she was running, she said, “I am never going to swim again, EVER.”
After this vacation she is always going to swim with a big caution whenever she is going to swim, because of that jellyfish. (Sofiia Haidar)
Young Boy Attempts to Take Sword from Knight and Gets Beat Up
A young boy stole a knight’s weapon and attempted to flee on foot in order to steal it. Star knight did not let that happen.
On October 25, 2023 an amazing, powerful king attended a church event accompanied by his knights, Peyton Kincaid and Chris Williams. He went to this event with the intention of it being a social gathering. The king’s name was Rayce Mackey, and he was the best king of all time. He was tall in stature, big and jacked, and had perfect control over his knights. Kincaid and Williams were also socializing with the other pedestrians at the event. Suddenly, a young child came up to Kincaid and stole his sword. Kincaid quickly took William’s sword and chased the young boy as he ran away. Being the great king he is, Mackey started to record the entire thing. Kincaid swiftly took William’s sword and followed the young boy in pursuit. He followed the boy as fast as possible, and while Kincaid was gaining, the boy’s head start was too vast and he couldn’t manage to catch up. Using his supreme intelligence, Kincaid then hurled his sword at the young boy, knocking him down. Kincaid stood over the young boy while sheathing his sword. He looked down on the boy disappointingly then returned to his awesome king. (Rayce Mackey)
Girl Gets Stuck Bringing Infuriating Date to Homecoming
Benae Pederson, a junior at Heritage High School, had Homecoming right around the corner. With that the nightmares of being dateless started. She would be the outcast with no one to take pictures with, or dance with, or drive with. She was so afraid of having no one the thought of not liking her date didn’t even occur. Sure enough this is exactly what happened. The stress of being alone she called upon her friend to find her someone. An anonymous date was found; little did Benae know he and she did not get along.
Upon the first meeting at a mutual football game with friends, Benae Pederson was not attracted to this guy, but she was looking for a good personality. He was loud and crazy right off the bat, which usually does not bother Benae, but something was different with him. His humor was being mean, which Benae Pederson did not appreciate. She wanted a nice guy, but this was obviously not what he was. Benae says about the situation, “Being mean isn’t being fun, maybe learn some respect.”
She did not see him again until the day of the dance a week later. But this time he was quiet and awkward. He did act like a gentleman in the beginning, opening her car door and holding her purse. This quickly took a turn for the worst. He got by his friends again, and all of a sudden the sound of his voice made her want to scream. Benae just had to make it through the dance then she would never have to see this anonymous guy again. Texting her friends saying, “I hate this boy!” Benae knew she just needed to deal with it.
Once at the dance the guy kept trying to grab her and touch up on her. She did not like this and proceeded to stay in the bathroom throughout the dance. She sat in there contemplating life. Benae Pederson’s junior year Homecoming was full of lots of memories. The best memory was parting ways from her anonymous date. (Benae Pederson)
Armature Candy Thief Pulls Uno-Reverse Card on Victim
On October 31st, 2023, around 10:30 pm, 14-year-old Kyla Smith came to a near death experience due to a bag of candy.
On Halloween 2023, two teenage girls, Kyla Smith and Taelor Snyder, roamed the White Oak Plantation neighborhood in Ringgold, Georgia, in search of candy. After running into their fellow classmate, Rayce Mackey, and three other guys, Smith stole their candy and ran away but was soon pushed to the ground by Mackey. “After being pushed down, I came to the quick conclusion that I would never mess with Rayce’s candy ever again,” Smith said. “She deserved it,” Mackey replied.
Soon after Smith was pushed to the ground, Rayce’s mom came over. Mackey’s mom saw Smith on the ground and asked what had happened. Mackey claimed he did it because Smith took his candy and ran off with it, but he didn’t know she had done it as a joke. After his mom heard that, she was mad. “I didn’t know my mom was there watching or I wouldn’t have done it,” Mackey claimed. His punishment for pushing Smith down was getting yanked at the ear by his mom and saying sorry to Smith and giving her his pillowcase full of candy. After all of that happened, Smith was limping the rest of the night.
When all the lights went off in the neighborhood of White Oak Plantation, Smith and Snyder left and went to see another one of their classmates in Rolling Hills Ringgold, Georgia with a bag full of candy. (Kyla Smith)
Internet-Addicted Girl Goes to a Ghost Town Without Service
On September 9, 2023, Natalyn McCormack, a local teenage girl, was forced to visit a scary and abandoned town with family where she couldn’t contact anyone.
McCormack spent the seven-hour car ride with her cousin, her aunt, her uncle, and her great grandmother. They didn’t talk much besides pointing out scenery. The whole duration of the trip, she was texting her friends and family back at home about things she saw along the way. McCormack said, “I saw a bunch of weird billboards and abandoned buildings on the road trip that I just had to tell everyone about. But, I noticed something that made me more appalled than anything.” About halfway through the car ride, when she tried to join her favorite game, Roblox, McCormack was unable to connect to the server. She was immediately horrified when she saw that none of her texts were delivering either. “I thought I was going to die,” McCormack commented. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me.” There was no service in Iron City, nor was there any service for at least two hours away from it. All that she did until she got to Iron City was sleep and take a few pictures of the view (which was just corn fields and valleys).
When McCormack finally arrived in the town, it was abandoned and very run down. “I was terrified to get out of the car. I was surrounded by several unfamiliar old people that I was apparently related to,” she shared. To escape awkward interactions with the elders, McCormack and her cousin ventured into the woods to find something even remotely interesting in this ghostly town. In the process, they got poison ivy and bug bites all over them, which made her eager to get home.
Eventually, it was time to return to Georgia and McCormack was ecstatic. “My time at Iron City was short, but I will never willingly return there again,” she confesses. She had to endure the lack of internet connection for hours before she could share her awful experience with everyone. According to McCormack, “It felt like a very weird fever dream.” (Natalyn McCormack)
Rabid Cat Hospitalizes Teen
On an afternoon in August, a diseased cat terrorized and attacked a local teenage girl. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon when Hannah Karson was taken by surprise, she spotted an ambery colored stray cat in her garage. Since she was an animal lover, she tried to find its owner. The cat followed her around her street for over a half an hour with no luck finding its owner.
During that time the cat was very affectionate and would not leave her side. Karson, disappointed, headed back to her house, and the cat followed close behind. Hannah was about to enter her house, but as her hand reached towards the doorknob, the cat launched at her and bit her on the top of her foot.
Karson, in shock, started to sprint out of her garage. Unfortunately for Hannah, the cat started sprinting behind her chasing her through her front yard. Hannah hopped the fence to her backyard and dashed up the stairs to her back porch. Karson stated, “My heart was pounding and all I could think about was getting out of the cat’s grasp”. She ran to the door only to find that it was locked; she was home alone and locked out of the house with the only unlocked door to her house being guarded by a menace of a cat. She started sobbing uncontrollably and praying for a miracle that the door would open.
It was over 45 minutes before her parents came home to save her from being trapped by the cat. Karson’s mother stated, “I walked through the door and found her on the back porch looking terrified”. Eyes bloodshot and puffy with tears rolling down her face, she explained what had happened. She was fearful she had caught some sort of disease from the cat so her parents brought her to the hospital. After over an hour laying impatiently in the hospital bed, she was prescribed medicine in case she contracted a disease. Luckily, Hannah pulled through…although a few months later she heard loud meowing and screaming coming from outside. She went to bed and tried to ignore the feeling, but it’s screeches still haunt her to this day. (Hannah Karson)
Three Teenage Girls Have the Time of Their Life on the Tennessee River
This past summer, three freshman girls named Taelor Snyder, Brylee Pritchett, and Bre Roberts traveled to the Tennessee River in Harrison, Tennessee, to hang out on the boat for a rollercoaster of an adventure. But, they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.
On a hot summer Sunday in July, they got all their things together and traveled on up to the dock. They stopped to grab a pizza and ate it on the way. It was a beautiful day to be on the lake. Everyone got their things out of the truck and set out to the boat. When they got there, everything was going smoothly until they got out on the tube. “I was a little nervous going out on the water with waves as big as they were!” Snyder exclaimed. The girls sat on the boat and talked for a little until they decided they got to a calm part of the waters to start tubing. They just started going out on the tube, until suddenly all the girls were in the air flying. The girls have never experienced waves like this before. “All I can remember is being shot 20 feet up in the air!” Roberts said. Pritchett added “I thought I was gonna die when we first started going.” They didn’t know what to do until things finally started to get better. They got off the tube and rode on the boat for a little until Pritchett shouted, “There’s a cliff to jump off of and rope to swing into the water.” They climbed up the cliff and they didn’t realize how high the cliff was until the girls got up on top of it. But, there was no backing out now, there was no way to get down but jumping. The girls counted to three, and jumped. They got back out on the tube until Taelor flew off the tube, but luckily she didn’t fly off fully. “All of sudden I was in the air, and I got the chance to grab back on.” Snyder said. The girls all agreed it was a memorable experience and hope to do something similar in the future. (Taelor Snyder)
Girl Kills Opossum, Impacting Both Human and Opossum Community
Lily Marshall, a teenager from Ringgold, Georgia, was lost on her way home when she killed a baby possum on Boynton Drive after getting off at the wrong exit.
According to Lily, she was on her way home from a swim meet at Calhoun High school when she took the wrong exit. While Lily usually takes Exit 350 at Battlefield Pkwy, she instead used Exit 345 at Ringgold. This confusion caused Lily to become lost, as she has never taken 345 and she is a new driver, having turned 16 in August. Lily eventually wound up on Emberson Drive, which led her to Lafayette Street, where she was able to determine where she was based on her surroundings.
From there, Lily knew how to get herself home and managed herself to Boynton Drive, only a few miles away from her house. As she passes Bookout Road she turns her bright lights off as there was an oncoming car, when she sees something small and blurry sprint into the road. This startles Lily and she hesitates, she saw a small blob with a pinkish tail in front of her car and slamed on breaks but was unable to swerve because of an oncoming car.
This leaves her with no other choice but to keep going to prevent the car crash that would happen had she swerved. Lily ends up running over this small blob, feeling the lump underneath her gas and break pedals. She said, “It was the saddest thing I’ve ever had to do, and the tinny screams he made as he was hit still haunt me ‘till this day.”
After the commotion was over and the car’s wheels where no longer on top of the victim, Lily was so spooked by the event she begins to cry and has to pull the car into a nearby neighborhood to calm herself down. After five minutes, she regains her mental sanity and begins the rest of the drive back to her house.
The commotion of her tires screeching and her screams causes nearby residents to come outside and see what the cause of the noise is when they saw the gruesome crime scene consisting of the possum’s pitiful lifeless body surrounded by blood and other unknown substances.
Statements from the local residents include an comment from an local homeowner Randy Johnson, “I hear an commotion and tires screeching so I run outside to see what’s goin’ on when I see this little guy and the scene around him.” A statement from the lady whose house was directly in front of the scene, Rhonda Kane, says, “I’m just sorry that poor innocent guys family and my condolences go out to the possum community.” These statements included many others from eyewitnesses including different forms of condolences sent to the possum, his family, or the possum community.
Overall this tragedy has affected not only the victims, his family, his community, but also the human community, leaving a sad feeling for all impacted. (Lily Marshall)
