On March 12, a red stain aroused suspicion when it was found on the floor of Cherokee’s Middle Gym by a janitor that morning. When police arrived for the investigation, it was confirmed that the stain was blood, but at the time, they were not able to determine whose. This discovery raised a lot of questions as to how that blood got on the floor, because no fights had allegedly been reported the previous day. The staff of the Cherokee Scout is hard on the case, collecting student accounts.
Ava Zink, Class of 25, when asked what she thought the stain was from, answered, “I’m sure it’s those people under the courtyard stealing ketchup again! The red stains are so similar! I can’t believe no one else sees this!” Her statements have yet to be corroborated, yet it’s unlikely the stain is ketchup, as the police already positively identified it as blood.
The real break in the case came from junior MJ McGary when he told us about a rumor that there was a “secret pickleball club after dark” and that “no one knows about it, except those in it; it’s super select and a little terrifying!” He claims his grandmother had let something drop about it, but wouldn’t say anything more. “Ever since then,” he said, “I’ve been keeping an eye out.”
Because of this, members of the Scout, including investigative journalists Lila Zink ‘25 and Leighton Thornton ‘28, set up a stakeout in the Cherokee North parking lot to see if they could spot any nefarious behavior.
They reportedly saw dark figures scaling the sides of Cherokee and disappearing over the roof of the gym, yet they couldn’t risk getting much closer without being seen and blowing their cover.
Over the next couple of days, after attempting to formulate plans as to how to get inside, they ultimately decided to host a new stakeout on the actual roof of the building. What they saw next, Thornton described as “truly shocking,” and called “this decade’s biggest scandal.”
They allegedly saw multiple groups of elderly citizens, in full espionage gear, come up over the walls, skillfully remove the glass of the windows above the North Gym, and slowly lower themselves in. Thornton and Zink couldn’t believe what they were seeing and decided to follow the intruders, who proceeded to the more secluded Middle Gym, which had been completely transformed into what seemed to be a stadium.
“It was insane,” Zink said. “There were nets set up all across the gym, and everyone was gathering into what we assumed were teams. There was even a small crowd and a scoring table; we had never seen anything like it.” As they watched, they saw the groups began to move and that’s when the aim became clear. “They were playing pickleball!” Zink exclaimed. “In the Middle Gym in the middle of the night! Who would have thought?”
But this is only the beginning of the story. Investigators had uncovered an underground pickleball ring, but there was still no answer to the bloodstain on the ground that had been discovered.
To continue the investigation, the Cherokee Scout called in private investigator Evan Scarpulla, ‘25. He is an expert in disguises and undercover work, so he began to formulate his own way into this club.
“It was the only solution I could find. To get answers, you need to go right to the source. So, I needed to get inside,” he told reporters.
After studying the behaviors of the members of this secret club, he managed to build a disguise that he believed would work, and on March 25, he scaled the walls of Cherokee with the rest.
His mission was a surprising success, and he was able to uncover the whole truth of this situation. After playing a couple rounds of pickleball, which he managed to do pretty well at, he began to hear some chatter from the scoring table and the crowd.
“Apparently, there have been bets going on,” Scarpulla claimed. “Each night, the event draws such a crowd because most of these people are banned from the local casinos, and this gives them a place to spend their money! I’m not a gambling man myself, but I’d bet a lot of cash that that bloodstain came from a betting issue.”
CSI’s results on the bloodstain have been able to mostly confirm this story. It was found to be the blood of an elderly citizen, who will remain anonymous. According to casino records, they were thrown out on numerous occasions from numerous casinos for aggressive behavior. That fits right in line with Scarpulla’s story.
The members of the Cherokee Scout handed this evidence to police officials, who were able to infiltrate the event and put a stop to the illegal activities. All those present at the meetings will be put under investigation, and those found to be innocent of all gambling and fights will allegedly be allowed to continue playing in a pickleball league, in the daytime, in a space provided by the township.
