There's something frightening about rumors that I just can't seem to fathom. They usually start off simple like a whisper slowly slipping from different lips until they leap into conversations spreading like wildfire ever growing, creating a scene of destruction along their path and ruining the images of their hapless victims without a trace of truth to the entire story. The worst part of it all is that people believe them without any doubt just like the Gospel and don't even try to inquire if they are true or not. I guess people just want to believe in the worst of others to feel good about themselves. I never really gave much thought to rumors until I got in contact with a victim of its lies and how it almost ruined his life.
When I was still in high school, there was a name that struck fear into the hearts of every young lad within area and beyond. Nobody knew his real name and very few what he looked like but he was called Walisco. Now Walisco was the leader of a boy's scout (or was it a Boy's Brigade I can't really remember) at an all boys public school in Niger state, he was tall, dark, always left his hair busy and had an ugly looking scar just under his left eye. There was just something about him that made people keep their distance and he did not care either as he was a man of few words. But despite his reserved personality, there was a nasty rumor about him that every body especially the boys seemed to believe without question and it was that - Walisco molested boys. The rumor was so popular that it became our own version of a boogeyman story. Whenever boys older than my age grade wanted us frightened, they would concoct a scenario of how they will sneak us off to Walisco to ruin our buttocks and it worked every time.
The final nail on the coffin was when my best friend in school told me that he knows a guy whose cousin was sexually molested by Walisco until he fainted and had to be rushed down to the hospital. The story felt so real as my friend gave me livid descriptions as if he was an eye witness even going as far as mentioning the perpetrator's signature tool Petroleum Jellywhich he used for smooth sailing. Still curious about the whole thing I begged my friend to take me to the guy and since we were both jobless, we ran all the way to his house that very instant. When we got there, I did not even hesitate, immediately we were done with pleasantries I started asking him questions but for some reason he neither confirmed or denied the story which only skyrocketed my beliefs. Unable to get a satisfactory answer, I asked my friend why the local authorities won't detain such a menace but his response was that Walisco had strong connections and that he will be released on the very same day he was arrested as it has happened before.
I soon met Walisco for the first time while I was in the market with that same fried a few weeks later. We had gone to get cardboard for an arts assignment and as fate would have it, he was also buying from that very shop. After purchasing what brought us to the market, my friend told me that Walisco touched his butt in a funny way more than once while we were waiting for change. He told me that now that we both confirmed who he truly is, we should avoid him at all cost and silly me agreed with him without any form of doubt.
The rumor of Walisco continued to spread until people openly insulted him in public. Unable to defend himself continuously, Walisco gradually reduced his public presence , quit his Boy scout gig and went completely MIA. It got so bad that people completely forgot about his existence and so did we. At around July last year I was stranded in abuja, my phone and money gone to pickpockets and guess who came to my rescue Walisco. He now owns a car and was doing very well for himself, he did not forget my face as he even told me he knows my parents and was present at my naming ceremony. He picked me off and offered to drop me off somewhere close to home before going his merry way. Stunned by this shocking event I decided to test if the rumors about him were true or not just to solve a childhood mystery. I told him about the stories we heard about him growing up and how many victims we were told was he has in his arsenal, he gave out a surprising laugh before telling me the real deal. Walisco was never a child molester but he was a chronic womanizer, the rumor was actually a product from his 5th wife in her own attempt to ward people off and deter him from getting another wife. I could not believe what I just heard, so this man was going through all this because he was a polygamist??. He told me he had to leave the area because he was already getting death threats from people for a rumor they did not even care to validate before almost buring him to the stake..... Omo words get power. After dropping me off at my junction, he gave me some cash, wished me well and that was the last time I ever saw him again.
The power of the tongue should never be underestimated, before you start saying stuff about people you know are not true or lack empirical evidence to back your claim please keep it to yourself before ruining someone's life over nothing.