# What is the strangest thing you've ever found? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293 "2002-06-21T16:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/61 "2002-06-25T06:47:47Z")
count me in with a hairy butt dildo pic, but I am in illinois 😃 ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/62 "2002-06-25T18:56:38Z")
I forgot something. I used to bed way into vintage clothing and bought two WW I Italian artillery officers heavy jackets. They both had tails but I was unaware of the fact that the tails had pockets in them. In one of the jacket pockets I found a personal letter in Italian. I never had it translated and I’m not even sure where it is now, but I thought it was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![robertwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@robertwa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertwa)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/63 "2002-06-26T14:45:07Z")
Leave to someone from **East Lansing** to say something dumb… [Brooke Shields] I farted on the set of Blue Lagoon once… [/BS] :smack: Anyhoo, my weird finds include a used condom that was tied off and _nailed_ to a street sign, and a manual on sheep castration. The gem of knowledge from the latter is that, should you find yourself needing to castrate a sheep without having a sharp blade, you can use your teeth. BLECH! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/64 "2002-06-26T15:08:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor \* > \*\* > > “Bowshot” is an archery term describing the distance traveled by an arrow fired from a bow. > I suspect that it may be a shopping list for an archery buff. > “Roxell”–a target arrow? > “Roxell Bowshot”–a hunting arrow? The term “bowshot” in context could imply long range, hence good for hunting. > > Was there anything odd about the paper? Or was it cardboard? \*\* It was just a little square of pale green notepaper, two edges were the natural cut ones, the other two were neatly torn (so it was once part of a larger sheet). Oddly, I was into archery at the time, but as far as I know, there’s never been a manufacturer of archery equipment called Roxell, neither is it an archery term. If it had said ‘Roxell Bowshot’, I’d have dismissed it almost immediately, but ‘Roxell _Roxell_ Bowshot’… ---
**Author:** ![irkenDoom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@irkenDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irkenDoom)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/65 "2002-06-26T15:26:54Z")
Out by some railroad tracks near my grandmother’s house: a dead dog with a railroad spike jammed in its butt and a screwdriver jammed in its throat. :eek: Traumatized, I was, needless to say, as I was only 7 or 8 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![porkchop\_d\_clown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@porkchop\_d\_clown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porkchop_d_clown)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/66 "2002-06-26T15:29:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Deadly Nightlight \* > \*\*count me in with a hairy butt dildo pic, but I am in illinois 😃 \*\* Am I the only person to ever find a polaroid of a naked _woman_ or is it just too common to remark on? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/67 "2002-06-26T15:40:36Z")
I received a $5 bill in change once that has the first eight numbers of my social security number, in proper order, as it’s serial number. Still have it! I am a poster on [www.wheresgeorge.com](http://www.wheresgeorge.com) and I just got back a $1 bill that I spent several months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/68 "2002-06-26T20:38:52Z")
I once found a very flat, dry, dead mouse under the bathmat in my parents’ bathroom. No idea how it got under there. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/69 "2002-06-26T21:07:11Z")
When I was about 7 years old, I sneezed up a piece of metal. I think it was an earring backing or possibly shrapnel from my tour in 'Nam. The university I attended owns a building that was at one time the state armory. Parts of this building are sealed off, but my friends and I managed to find our way into these closed sections llate at night only to discover rooms that hadn’t been occupied in 30 years. We found assorted office furniture, draft maps, reams of Vietnam-era documents, ammo clips, pins, and a POW card which I still have. I also claimed the “State Quartermaster” sign which hung on my door for a time. It wasn’t strange that we found these things. It was just odd that there was a whole wing of the building that looked exactly as it did 30 years ago. It was like opening a tomb. On a remote mountain summit, I found a sign that said “Calle Enselada” or something like that. I still have no idea what it means. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, my neighbors owned a classic Victorian home with barn and stables. I used to explore the barn and stables regularly. One day in a dusty corner of the loft, I found an original copy of the Fellowship of the Ring. I had never heard of the book before and I had no idea that people actually wrote fantasy novels. It was like finding buried treasure. The house had been owned by the same fmaily for many years and they didn’t know where the book might have come from. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/70 "2002-06-26T21:50:00Z")
Oh and I was re-laying the loft insulation in my previous house (a 1930s Semi-detached in Southampton) and I came across a stack of old 78rpm records. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/71 "2002-06-26T22:09:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Obviously the work of a swallow. What? A swallow carrying a coconut? I worked at a factory where we found several blow-up sex dolls in a vacated locker. No one ever claimed them, so we used a few as decorations around the plant (before the PC patrol made us take them down, damn them!) They were occasionally used to terrify new hires: Welder #1: Hey, Seymore. Billy needs to see you in the break room. Seymore walks into break room. Billy (pants down to ankles, going at doll like there’s no tomorrow): Oh hang on Seymore, I’ll be with you in a minute. Seymore, terrified, runs for his life toward the nearest exit. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/72 "2002-06-26T22:34:28Z")
Once I was digging around in the floorboards in the barn at my parents house, and I found this strange green crystal, which seemed to actually be _calling_ to me… …waitasec - that wasn’t me, that was Superman. 🙂 True story: about seven years ago I was scuba diving in Akumal, Mexico, about 50 feet down by these finger coral structures, on a night dive, and some sort of colorful toy caught my eye under the water, so I went after it…and it was…a Baywatch action figure of David Hasselhoff!! We call him “Mitch” and he goes everywhere with us now, and usually poses with us in our vacation photos, or in his own “action” photos. ---
**Author:** ![Peach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@Peach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peach)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/73 "2002-06-26T22:34:57Z")
I found a film-roll canister filled with pot once. The weird thing was–i had a kind of _sixth-sense_ that i was going to find some pot right before i found it. It was a weird surprise. It was at a park i’ve never been to. ---
**Author:** ![mattcolville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@mattcolville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattcolville)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/74 "2002-06-26T23:14:48Z")
When my mom moved into her current house, she continued to receive mail for the former owners. For about a year we continued to get issues of Lab Animal Monthly, a magazine I never knew existed. In it, you could order all sorts of animals, many came preinfected with the disease of your choice, live and ready to be experimented on. It was pretty disturbing. Lots of cats and dogs and bunnies. Lots of beagles as I recall. For some reason, beagles are big with experimenters. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/75 "2002-06-26T23:59:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robertwa \* > \*\*Anyhoo, my weird finds include a used condom that was tied off and _nailed_ to a street sign, and a manual on sheep castration. The gem of knowledge from the latter is that, should you find yourself needing to castrate a sheep without having a sharp blade, you can use your teeth. BLECH! \*\* Thank you so very much for putting that image in my head. Guess it’s a good thing that I haven’t eaten dinner yet. As for me, I once found a huge grey key in the field of my junior high. I have no idea where it came from, and I had it for several years. I’m not sure where it is now; certainly not in my apartment! It could still be somewhere at my brother’s, but I’m sure I’ll get strange looks from my siblings if I tell them to look for a big grey key in the house! 😃 F\_X ---
**Author:** ![snermy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@snermy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snermy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/76 "2002-06-27T02:07:02Z")
I found a (blank) postcard of one of Richard Nixon’s presidential portraits dated 1972. It was (presumably) being used as a bookmark in a used book I bought. Just a head shot against a lovely yellowish beige background, which is kinda large on a postcard. You can see a bit more of Richard Nixon’s pores than anyone really ought… ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/77 "2002-06-27T02:24:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amp \* > \*\*I didn’t find it but it found me. I was driving down the road when, splat, what appeared to be a used condom landed on my windshield. I studied it for a moment, turned the wipers on to fling it off and went straight to the closest automatic carwash to get my windshield jizz free. \*\* So that’s where that went… j/k. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/78 "2002-06-27T03:52:06Z")
Once, when I was staying at this youth hostel in Nice in 1994 I found this woman. She was pretty weird. But I kind of like interesting things, so I married her. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/79 "2002-06-27T07:12:14Z")
A leaf with the enigmatic word “ENMAR” etched into it somehow. I still have no idea what “ENMAR” means. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293/80 "2002-06-27T13:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Princhester \* > \*\*Once, when I was staying at this youth hostel in Nice in 1994 I found this woman. She was pretty weird. But I kind of like interesting things, so I married her. \*\* Awwww… Wern’t that just too cute! (And it’s only a matter of time that someone says they found Jesus - In their heart!) I failed to mention the cool stuff I once found in my grandad’s barn once. A huge stack of old “Swank” magazines from the 60’s. (the cool part being I was 13 at the time) I also found a dilapidated Sonar drum set. Everything was ruined except for one snare drum. I took it home & eventually had it refurbished. I still have it & it’s still one of the best sounding snares I’ve played. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-strangest-thing-youve-ever-found/115293.md?page=5)