Hi Bored Panda! I’ve been on a weird little mission to find an old high school friend – and things escalated quickly.

Backstory: In a small town in West Virginia, I went to high school with a guy named John. He was the kind of kid who could make you laugh even when you were feeling like a total misfit. Music nerd. Band guy. One of those people who makes high school bearable. But after graduation, we lost touch. No falling out – just life.

Fast forward to 2025, and I realized… I really missed that connection. I wanted to say thank you.

So I did what any normal person would do first-reached out to other joint friends, even his our own high school band director who John was super tight with.

But when that didn't work, we didn't stop there.

Here's what it looks like when you take a 3 to an 11:

– Nearly 100 posters and flyers plastered around a very small town in Vermont — Hyde Park, population just over 3,000. (Yes, that’s probably including the cows.) Special thanks to the Craigslist guy, Christian, that really went above and beyond to earn that hourly rate and post them all.

– A life-sized cardboard cutout of me, shipped to the school where I think he teaches. No explanation.

– A mysterious website with a countdown: FindTheBandMan.com

– A lightweight "spider bot" script to quietly monitor web traffic and ad activity

– Localized ads on TikTok and Facebook, targeting the area like what I can only assume is a gentle, digital fog

– A small batch of boxed water styled like 90s milk cartons with his face on the side (because of course I did)

People actually started noticing. A few even pulled over their cars to ask about the posters. And the best part? It sparked something kind of sweet. I got all of his old friends to post memories of John and what he meant to them that I can't wait to share with him.

Why did I do it?

Because the world’s heavy sometimes. But a little mystery, a little fun, and a little nostalgia can go a long way. And if John sees this? Hey man – you were the goofy kid who made high school better for me and a lot of us. I hope you're still out there making people smile.

And it’s not over yet:

Over 1,100 mailers are scheduled to land in mailboxes next week, reaching every household in the city. Almost in time for the Fourth of July. Because nothing says “patriotism” like mystery cardboard men and water cartons with missing persons on them.

P.S. If anyone else has stories about reconnecting in bizarre ways, I’d love to hear them.

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