# Strange things found in second hand books (and other items) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852 "2015-10-07T19:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/41 "2015-10-08T16:54:09Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Bought a wrecked car at an impound auction. Found a very petrified human finger laying on the floor next the the gas pedal. I’m guessing it belonged to the last person the drive the car, the dash was jammed up against the steering wheel. The county coroner’s office took it off my hands. > > Also found a 10,000 peso bill from a Central American country that escapes my mind right now. It was worth about $4 American. > [@lieu](#): > > Please please let it have been the middle finger. Isn’t it sufficient that **racer72** gave the coroner the finger? 😃 FIGHT THE POWER! ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/42 "2015-10-08T17:30:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I bought a copy of a not-unfamous volume of litcrit, dedicated by the critic to a not-unfamous author. It was just on the shelf in an undistinguished used book store. > > I had occasion to twit him (the critic-author) about it a few times. [pendantic] If you are using the term “twit” to convey that you used twitter to communicate with the author then one should know the proper term is “tweet” [/pendantic] About the only thing of interest I have found are bookmarks. One was a furry monkey and had little arms and legs dangling off of it. I still have it and it’s my favorite bookmark. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/43 "2015-10-08T17:34:26Z")
I bought a used house. Behind one of the drywall panels in the garage, my electrician found a rusting machete. Yikes! In books, I have found sales receipts, post-it notes, bookmarks, and popsicle stick. Orange by the look of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/44 "2015-10-08T17:42:52Z")
Soon after I broke my right leg, I bought a very rusty and clapped-out car from a colleague. I needed a car with an automatic transmission. (I drove it using my left leg.) After my leg healed, I took the car to a wand wash to clean it up before unloading it, and while vacuuming the rear seat found a nearly empty vile of hash oil stuffed between the back of the seat and the seat cushion. I’ve twice had cars gone over by border agents, once on the U.S. side and once when I returned to Canada. Though I wouldn’t have driven that piece of junk anywhere outside the city, never mind to the border, I swore I’d do my own inspection the next time I bought a used car. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/45 "2015-10-08T18:06:20Z")
This thread reminds me of something mom told us kids a few years back: “After I’m gone and you’re cleaning the place out, don’t throw out any books without going through them first.” Apparently she has some cash stashed away in various books. Of course, my sister and her boys have probably gone through them all by now. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/46 "2015-10-08T18:40:27Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Though I wouldn’t have driven that piece of junk anywhere outside the city, never mind to the border, I swore I’d do my own inspection the next time I bought a used car. The first chapter of Keith Richards’ recent autobiography would seem to suggest that someone out there got a car stuffed full of drugs that they were forced to leave behind. I suppose it happens. Happens to the OMG THOSE AREN’T MINE! side as often as the JACKPOT! side… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/47 "2015-10-08T18:44:31Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > [pendantic] If you are using the term “twit” to convey that you used twitter to communicate with the author then one should know the proper term is “tweet” [/pendantic] To be pedantic, it’s “pedantic.” And as I don’t have a Twitter account, the word was the archaic “to make gentle fun of” twit, not an eldster misspelling of either the verb “to use Twitter to communicate,” or the equally eldster noun for people who use Twitter. All of which apparently threw the kidz here for a loop. _Sigh._ ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/48 "2015-10-08T19:44:59Z")
Mistermage and I went to a garage sale because it had a pinball machine listed. He bought that and I bought a very old pre-pinball machine. I’m not sure just what they call it other than a gambling machine. It has the plunger but no flippers. Sadly most of the “guts” were gone. But the backglass is still quite pretty (horses racing), the board is still pretty nice. Basically you pulled the plunger, the ball would roll around until it fell in any one of several holes or fall down the middle. It ran on a bank of lantern batteries. Anyway, it is a conversation piece. And one night we were conversating (heh) and I happened to notice a small set of lines on one side of the machine. Upon pushing it it opened up as a cup holder or ashtray does in a car today. It was a shallow bowl that held 8 tokens that say “good for 20 free games”. One of these days I would like to get the machine restored… it came with 1 Ash tree leg so I would need 3 more made. And though it will never “run” again I would like to at least get the lights up and running. [Sunshine Derby](http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2425) would look neat next to Happy Daze and Pat Hand. Pix: [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin1.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin1.jpg) this and the next photo also show the head to the skeeball machine [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin2.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin2.jpg) [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin3.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin3.jpg) interior shot (red box holds some parts and some of the coins) [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin5.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin5.jpg) tokens ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/49 "2015-10-08T20:20:08Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > To be pedantic, it’s “pedantic.” And as I don’t have a Twitter account, the word was the archaic “to make gentle fun of” twit, not an eldster misspelling of either the verb “to use Twitter to communicate,” or the equally eldster noun for people who use Twitter. > > All of which apparently threw the kidz here for a loop. _Sigh._ My apologies, Good Sir, for not knowing such whimsical words from the 1600s. I shall enhance my vocabulary in hopes of being a great trencherman like thyself. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/50 "2015-10-08T20:22:28Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > Pix: > [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin1.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin1.jpg) this and the next photo also show the head to the skeeball machine > [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin2.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin2.jpg) > > [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin3.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin3.jpg) interior shot (red box holds some parts and some of the coins) > [http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin5.jpg](http://mistymage.com/Family/pinball/pin5.jpg) tokens That’s pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/51 "2015-10-08T20:29:41Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > My apologies, Good Sir, for not knowing such whimsical words from the 1600s. I shall enhance my vocabulary in hopes of being a great trencherman like thyself. [“Twit”](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=twit&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctwit%3B%2Cc0) was in fairly common and rising use before Twitter rather cluelessly displaced the word family. Sorry it never showed up in your Dr. Seuss books. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/52 "2015-10-08T20:46:05Z")
I like to collect old books from the early 20th century and earlier. The best thing I’ve found is notes written on the endpages indicating that the books were gifts, occasionally with brief notes. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/53 "2015-10-08T20:51:09Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > My apologies, Good Sir, for not knowing such whimsical words from the 1600s. You’ve never heard of “twit.” Are you [**upper class**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqObJtGrKaA)? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/54 "2015-10-08T20:52:53Z")
I bought a zombie novel at Half Price Books, and found [Ryan Dancey’s business card inside…](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Dancey) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/55 "2015-10-08T21:52:57Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > You put on the ski mask for protection, line them up along the blade of the machete jusssst soooooo, and do a Bruce Lee 1-inch punch at them wearing the brassies. > > Duh. > > 😃 Well now you tell me ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/56 "2015-10-09T02:32:18Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > [“Twit”](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=twit&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctwit%3B%2Cc0) was in fairly common and rising use before Twitter rather cluelessly displaced the word family. Sorry it never showed up in your Dr. Seuss books. To be not-unfair to Theodore Geisel, he never wrought such horror upon not-uninnocent litotes, either. A “not-unfamous volume” dedicated to a “not-unfamous author” in the same sentence is not-unbad writing. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/57 "2015-10-09T03:41:58Z")
> [@Orange\_Skinner](#): > > Not a separate item, but I once stumbled upon a copy of _Hamlet_ at a church book sell in which the previous owner had used a pen to change “Hamlet” to “Omelet” throughout the text. I think **Mudshark** ultimately purchased it and still has it lying around somewhere. My sister ultimately ended up with it. She said it was nearly impossible to read. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/58 "2015-10-09T04:04:18Z")
I love the crazy coincidence ones, like **Lacunae Matata’s** childhood neighbor’s recipe book, and the D&D postcard. I’ve never had someone like that happen to me. Great stuff, everybody! ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/59 "2015-10-09T04:39:32Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > That’s pretty neat. The cool thing about is… back in the day “pinball machines” were gambling machines. In shady places one could make money off of them. And the name is from the “pins” that kept the ball from falling right into the hole. A really old SD column: [Did they used to make flipperless pinball machines? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/279/did-they-used-to-make-flipperless-pinball-machines) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852/60 "2015-10-09T04:46:17Z")
Many years ago, there was a man who would read a lot of the same library books as me, before me. How did I know this? He would make little pencil notations on just about every.single.page of the book; probably 99% of them were illegible, and on the back page, he would write an essay whose only readable words were “As a gay man…” IDK if they ever figured out who was doing this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-found-in-second-hand-books-and-other-items/733852.md?page=4)