# POLL: Weird things seen on the side of the road **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588 "2004-10-11T05:43:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/21 "2004-10-11T16:08:24Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > I scanned the newspapers and watched the news for days afterword, but never heard anything about it. I never realized how many dead guys show up on any given day in Tucson until Mr. 'addi and I saw one on the side of the road, just ahead of the fire engines and police cars. There must have been 4 other dead guys in the newspaper the next day, but not one of them was in the right location. ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/22 "2004-10-11T18:56:07Z")
While waiting to get on the freeway one day I noticed a half-used blister pack of birth control pills sitting in the gutter on the onramp. I would really like to know the story behind it winding up there. Another time I had gotten off of 280 onto Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, CA, and came up behind a line of cars. I figured there had been an accident or something, as there isn’t really a reason for traffic to back up at that point. It was better than an accident. A bit ahead, at the side of the road, was a stunningly beautiful woman in an itty bitty string bikini (I thought she was naked at first glance) leaning over a fence to pet the head of a horse. The really weird thing about that was it was a crappy day out. It was cold and gray and had either just rained or was about to, possibly both. Definitely not drive around in a skimpy bathing suit weather. Not that I had a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/23 "2004-10-11T19:18:43Z")
I remember crossing Kansas on my way back to NC. On the eastbound side of the interstate was a standard big-ass billboard. Only this one said, “Outpatient vasectomy reversals.” Who was this intended for? Impulse buyers? I have a strange feeling that there was a billboard for westbound traffic advertising vasectomies and that this was a way of catching the “buyers’ remorse.” ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/24 "2004-10-11T19:36:59Z")
Once on the way to my parent’s house I saw gallon jug half-full of piss–it was just sitting on the off ramp. And, two weeks later it was still sitting there. More recently I saw a broken easy chair on the side of the road. I’m assuming it fell off a truck or something. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/25 "2004-10-11T20:24:37Z")
**Indygrrl** , how did you know it was piss? ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/26 "2004-10-11T20:32:06Z")
My dad once found a drunk man lying in the ditch next to the driveway using the roadside as a pillow. When my dad asked him what he was doing he said he was “taking a nap”. My dad got him up, helped him into the truck and drove him to the nearby gas station. My friend’s father has an unusual hobby of picking up things off the side of the road and then fixing them and using them. The oddest thing I think I ever saw him pick up was a steel fork and spoon. He took them home, washed them and put them in the silverware drawer. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/27 "2004-10-11T20:51:12Z")
Yesterday, while we were taking a spin in the country, we saw a dark heap in the shade by the side of the road. We got quite close before we could make it out - it was two half-grown wild boar piglets which had been struck by a car. Even though the hills around here are infested with these critters, it was the first time ever we had seen any as roadkill. They were each about the size of a beagle. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/28 "2004-10-11T20:52:47Z")
> [@gum](#): > > **Indygrrl** , how did you know it was piss? Heh, I guess I didn’t know for sure. It just looked like piss, so I assumed it was. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/29 "2004-10-11T21:41:50Z")
I was probably most surprised to see a condom. Lying on the side of the road, on I-95 in Ft. Lauderdale, just south of the Broward Blvd exit. I was stuck in a traffic jam, creeping along (took me two hours to get from St. Rd. 84 to Broward) when I spotted it. And figured it got there the same way I spotted it… There was a traffic jam and… The weirdest thing I ever saw was an ostrich in a field, standing next to I-85 in South Carolina. Turns out, somewhere around exit 5 or so, there’s a huge ostrich and llama farm near the freeway. It was a shock to discover at 80 mph. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/30 "2004-10-11T22:00:56Z")
Years ago there was the pig just standing in the middle of I-29 in the middle of the night, just south of Omaha. I think it probably wound up on the side of the road after it met the front bumper of my 1958 Chevy Biscayne. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/31 "2004-10-11T22:01:24Z")
One time, I saw an engine block. And another time, I saw a distributor. ---
**Author:** ![Elvez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@Elvez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvez)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/32 "2004-10-11T22:02:46Z")
They’re not really in the spirit of what the OP was asking, but here in N. Idaho we’ve got two pretty odd-ball signs next to highways that I drive fairly regularly. I’v esubmitted pictures of both to [I Love Bacon](http://www.ilovebacon.com): There’s an antique/junkyard on along hwy 12 near Kamiah (middle o’ nowhere, essentially) that has a big sign stating “SPINAL ADJUSTMENTS $27” Further along, a farmer got bored and took all the bumpers off the many dead vehicles on his property and “planted” them by burying one end a couple feet into the dirt. He put a sign next to them that said [Look, it’s a bumper crop! Beats raisin’ lentils…](http://www.wetleather.com/events/CtS/2004/html/H0002.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/33 "2004-10-11T22:05:18Z")
i saw a dead body lying half in/half out of the road in rural illinois. i wasn’t sure it was a body at first, but apparently i saw the news the next day, and a man had escaped from the nearby prison and broken into someones house trying to steal/hurt someone. he picked the wrong house because he was shot in the chest point blank with a shotgun by the homeowner. he made it to the road. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/34 "2004-10-11T23:26:00Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Heh, I guess I didn’t know for sure. It just looked like piss, so I assumed it was. “Piss bottles” have become a significant problem around here. Full bladder + traffic jam = “I gotta go NOW! - Gimme that soda bottle!” followed by “Ewww! I don’t want to take that nasty stuff home so I can flush it - I’ll just chuck it out the window onto the shoulder.” Problem is, it’s legally classified as medical waste, and has to be left for the moon suit crew to pick up. Very expensive… As for less icky things I’ve seen roadside, a week ago, I saw a driveshaft on the freeway, and now and then, I’ve seen worn-out brake pads on city streets. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/35 "2004-10-11T23:35:08Z")
On the back country road I had to take to get from my farm into town, a once beautiful, now smashed (from falling from a vehicle) ornate upright piano, c 1880s. Every time I drove past, there was less of it there, and I found out people were scavenging the ivory keys and ornate carvings, &c. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/36 "2004-10-11T23:35:58Z")
The best I can do right now is (and this was more ‘typical’ than ‘weird’) was a sign saying ‘no dumping’ surrounded by rubbish. The rest of the verge was completely spotless. On a side note I’ve seen a sign sticking out of a deep part of the sea saying ‘dogs must be kept on a leash’ ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/37 "2004-10-12T01:14:39Z")
Found on the side of the road _in front of my house_: two vibrating dildoes. One was white, one was violently day-glo green. I put a plastic bag over my hand and got them both (they still had working batteries in them) and disposed of them because I didn’t want the 12 year old living next door to see them. :o I have no idea what the circumstances of their arrival in front of my house might be. Funny thing, **Indygrrl** , as I was driving home today from Philly I saw a large Evian bottle by the side of the highway full of a liquid that was definitely too yellow to be spring water… I guess the piss bottle is a common phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/38 "2004-10-12T02:10:03Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I remember crossing Kansas on my way back to NC. On the eastbound side of the interstate was a standard big-ass billboard. Only this one said, “Outpatient vasectomy reversals.” Who was this intended for? Impulse buyers? I have a strange feeling that there was a billboard for westbound traffic advertising vasectomies and that this was a way of catching the “buyers’ remorse.” Wow, I can’t find the “1-800-REVERSE” doc anywhere on the net! Back in the Nineties, a urologist in Houston decided to specialize in vasectomy reversal. He rented billboards out in the sticks and put up ads saying: **VASECTOMY REVERSAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE CALL 1-800-REVERSE**. IMHO, it was a heckuva business plan. The people who needed his services only needed to see the ad once; everyone remembered both the weird billboard that they saw in the middle of nowhere and the phone number on it, and the money back guarantee probably saved him a malpractice complaint or two. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/39 "2004-10-12T02:14:54Z")
Oh, and the weirdest thing I’ve seen on the edge of the road was probably a herd of smallish pigs, about the size of javalenas, that I saw while driving through Memorial Park in the middle of Houston. My mom was in the passenger seat and saw them as well. ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588/40 "2004-10-12T02:37:14Z")
Several years ago, I was out biking in rural PA (Duffield, if that means anything to anyone) near some farms. I stopped to drink some water and saw the skeletal remains of what I assume to be a cow off the shoulder of the road. Of course, I moved on before taking my water break. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-things-seen-on-the-side-of-the-road/268588.md?page=3)