What is the strangest place you have ever been?

1989 I was a high school senior working at an iconic Chicago area pizza place with my best friend Paul and his girlfriend Amy.

Our manager Greg, and his partner, were hosting a party and we were asked to attend after work. Paul was able to leave early so he went to the party while Amy and I helped to close the restaurant.

Amy and I didn't make it to the party until about 2:30-3:00am so, as you can imagine, the party was in full swing when we arrived.

We walked in the fron door to the sight of a group of people who were watching a vhs of a movie called "Mr. PeePee's Big Adventure." It featured puppets and some dude's clothed, hog with a face painted on it. So far, no big deal though Amy was displeased. We set about the task of looking for Paul. Amy was immediately put off by the first people to talk to us. A very talk person in drag who was leading a mustachioed man dressed in leather chaps, leather hat, and leather vest (no other clothes) who had a night stick and handcuffs on his belt, and a riding crop in his hand. The drag queen said "the real party's in the basement." The kitchen was full of drinks and people doing lines of coke. It seemed like we both began to actually see the people in the room. There's an orgy scene in The Shining ( I think) where everybody seems to stop and look at the camera at the same time. A strange crowd with people in odd, flamboyant costumes doing whatever the mood dictated. There was a lot of "dictating." Amy squeezed my hand and said "get me out of here!)

I told her that we needed to get Paul and then we'd leave. We got to the basement entrance and we could see the smoke wafting through purple light. The techno music was so loud that we couldn't hear much of anything else. (Think Buffalo Bob's basement) Amy froze at the top of the stairs and refused to move. She agreed to wait for Paul but demanded to stand by the front door and wouldn't let me leave her side. We asked somebody to go downstairs and ask Paul to come upstairs. He said that he could tell by looking at us who we were looking for.

Paul came upstairs, beer in hand, and hugged Amy and tried to lead her by the hand to the basement. He said "you've got to see this, the weird stuff's in the basement." She wouldn't budge. She demanded that we all leave. He refused. He just lived a block over and had left his van at the house. She walked out so I told him that I'd make sure that she got home.

According to Paul, the basement was full of straight and lgbt exhibitionists who decided to seize the opportunity to share their passions with the crowd. Apparently there was audience participation and people throughout the room were inspired to put on their own shows. He didn't understand why a 17 year old girl didn't want to be there. I'm sure that festivities began in a much more reserved fashion and that he acclimated to the party as it progressed but that's not what Amy and I experienced.