ON THE LIBRARY’S BAD DATE NIGHT: Lawrenceville resident, novelist and playwright John Calu reading from a play that involved “an especially painful encounter.” Also at the Bad Date Story Slam last Thursday in Princeton Public Library’s Community Room, Mr. Calu’s “Trenton” co-author Dave Hart had a tale to tell, about his brother-in-law. (Photo by Janie Hermann)

Only the luckiest have escaped the misery of a bad date. There is nothing quite like the feeling of captivity that comes from being stuck, for a few hours at least, with someone unbearable.

Stories of some appalling dates were shared at a lively Story Slam last Thursday in Princeton Public Library’s Community Room. While only a few were willing to tell their tales, more than 50 people turned out to groan in sympathy at the details of these recalled encounters.

“If you look through the windows to your right at the people sitting at those tables at the Witherspoon Grill, I can guarantee you there is at least one bad date happening right now,” said Dave Hart, an author whose involved tale of his brother-in-law’s awful date opened the program. Neither Mr. Hart nor John Calu, with whom he wrote the book Trenton, could recall bad dates of their own. So Mr. Hart relayed his relative’s story, and Mr. Calu chose to read from a play he has written that has a scene involving an especially painful encounter.

A more personal account came from Janie Hermann, the PPL’s public programming librarian, who told of a fourth date with a man who turned out to be not at all what she thought. During a drive back from a pleasant day spent at an upstate New York winery, Ms. Hermann happened to bring up the subject of television star Ellen DeGeneres and the way she handled her decision to come out as a lesbian.

This set off a tirade from a “historical revisionist nutcase,” who “hated gays, was a racist, and said the Holocaust was a hoax,” Ms. Hermann recalled, to gasps of horror, and laughter, from the audience. She said the experience made her realize it was time to leave her job as an academic librarian in upstate New York, which resulted in her move to Princeton [she is now married and a mother].

Alex Adams told of a date in the early 1980s with Lola, a French chef who wanted to cook him dinner and then see the erotic movie, In the Realm of the Senses. Mr. Adams thought he had died and gone to heaven until his date showed off her knife-throwing skills by hurling a knife across the room into the wall, saying, “The way to a man’s stomach is through his heart.” He made a quick escape after the movie, during which she’d become even more bizarre.

A young woman named Melissa relayed the story of her date, at age 17, with a handsome teenaged football player whose mother shadowed them, even on their tenth date. While this was annoying, she was grateful on the night they had gone for a walk in a park, followed by a kiss. “I must be a really good kisser, because he fainted,” she recalled. Mom emerged from her hiding place in the parking lot to take care of her boy.

One participant told the story of a college date with a beautiful girl in his English course. He was a freshman, and she was an older woman — a junior. They went to see a particularly bad school production of Julius Caesar, during which she suddenly stood up and yelled, “I can’t stand this anymore!” and stormed out.

PPL librarian Kristin Friberg had the audience laughing with her tale of a blind date through the Eharmony website. The man in question had a strong, unpleasant odor, picked up from riding on his motorcyle behind a garbage truck to meet her in Princeton.

At the end of the evening, one man in the audience who was too shy to read the story he had written applauded those who had more nerve. “They should do this again,” he said. “This was a great idea.”

The proceedings were moderated by online market strategist Don Lafferty, who provides social media training and consulting for businesses, media companies, non-profits, publishers and authors.