Nicholas Childers, a teacher at Wilminton Friends School, reportedly vanished on Monday morning, March 1st, 2026.
Childers, an avid runner, goes on a run every morning around 4 am. He grabs his jacket and hat and heads out the door into the dark morning. He says, “My favorite time to run is early in the morning because it allows me to think about the day ahead, and process my thoughts.” He says that even in cold weather, it is very peaceful because there are not many people up yet. He adds, “It also is one of the only times I can run during the day between teaching and spending time with my family.”
Childers has missed a day or two of work before to care for his family when they were sick, but he never forgets to email his students. Normally, these emails include what they’ll be doing in class that day, and instructions to be respectful to the substitute teacher. However, on Monday, the 1st of March, there was no email or any sign that he wouldn’t be at school.
Eris Connor ‘28 said, “Mr. Childers always sends messages when he is going to be absent.” Dylan Legum ‘28 added, “This is very out of the ordinary. I don’t think he’s ever not sent a message.” It is apparent that Mr. Childers’ students were all very concerned for him after his disappearance.
The following Monday, Mr. Childers came back to school. All of his students were eager to discover what happened to him. They asked, “Were your daughters sick?” “Is your wife okay?” “Did you go on vacation?” But Mr. Childers refused to answer their questions. He said, “Friends, nothing interesting happened. Now, let’s get back to work.”
Although Mr. Childers denies that anything happened while he was away, his students have noticed a change in his behavior. Gianna Rivera ‘28 says, “He’s been acting really weird lately.” “I think something happened, for sure.” Julia Provo ‘28 says, “I’m in Mr. Schropp’s history class, but I heard Mr. Childer’s been kidnapped and I’m really worried. This past fall in study hall, he was a super nice teacher.”
Although there is no information to suggest whether something happened or didn’t happen, there are definite signs that Mr. Childers is not the same as before his disappearance. One of his students in 9th grade, Ginger Wehler ‘29, theorizes that, “Mr. Childers definitely found a U.F.O. or some Alien thing and got sent to Area 51!” While this theory is way out there, it is very plausible that something strange happened to Mr. Childers.
It is believed that Childers disappeared during his run near Springfield High School on Saxer Avenue, around 4:30 am. He says, “I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary. I went on my normal 4 am run and came back to get ready for work.” “And here I am.” He adds, clearly unaware that an entire week has passed between his run and when he arrived at school. Carlos Phillips ‘28 says, “This morning our class had to wait outside his room for 20 minutes because he thought he had a free class period. I don’t think he knows his schedule.”
WFS Staff ask that students give Mr. Childers space until he is back to normal, and do not make a big deal of him being late to a class or two. There is not enough information to confirm whether something happened to the beloved teacher, but people will believe what they want to.
