That's Strange!

Debi

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"What's the strangest thing you've ever found, and where?"
 
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The most unusual find I've made rather shocked me in the "where" I made the find. Had an 82 year old resident at our facility who was moving to her daughter's in another state. In order to get some of her possessions to that state, we took our resident to the UPS store with 3 huge garbage bag full loads of things that needed to be packed. It was me, the resident and a social worker I'm good friends with. Each thing had to be taken out of the garbage bag and noted to be packed by the UPS guy in the boxes.

So...twenty nightgowns. Check. 4 pairs of slacks. Check. 12 pairs of shoes. Check. One pink pistol fully loaded safety off. I guess our faces showed a bit of panic cuz our resident just sat there and cackled at us!

The unnerving part was the fact this all came from her closet at the facility!
 
We used to compare notes on things we found in hotel rooms while traveling on business. The best places to look were between the mattress and box spring, and behind pictures/wall hangings. Porn, undergarments, and marital aids were fairly common, drugs (pills and roaches, usually) a little less so. Strangest thing in a hotel room was a pair of panties stuffed into a tiny coffee pot of the in-room coffee service. Thankfully, it was a second pot in a dresser drawer, not the pot then in service with the coffee maker.

A month or two after 9/11, I found an unattended O2 tank stuffed behind a plant in a local mall. It was enclosed in a soft covering, and was in what looked like sling you'd use for a broken arm. I brought it to the attention of mall security, who called the police. As we all stood around looking at it, with the responding police officer getting ready to call EOD, a little old lady came out of one of the large anchor stores, walked over to the plant, and picked up the bottle. Long story short, she told the cop it was none of his business where she put her O2 bottle and she walked out with it.
 
We used to compare notes on things we found in hotel rooms while traveling on business. The best places to look were between the mattress and box spring, and behind pictures/wall hangings. Porn, undergarments, and marital aids were fairly common, drugs (pills and roaches, usually) a little less so. Strangest thing in a hotel room was a pair of panties stuffed into a tiny coffee pot of the in-room coffee service. Thankfully, it was a second pot in a dresser drawer, not the pot then in service with the coffee maker.

A month or two after 9/11, I found an unattended O2 tank stuffed behind a plant in a local mall. It was enclosed in a soft covering, and was in what looked like sling you'd use for a broken arm. I brought it to the attention of mall security, who called the police. As we all stood around looking at it, with the responding police officer getting ready to call EOD, a little old lady came out of one of the large anchor stores, walked over to the plant, and picked up the bottle. Long story short, she told the cop it was none of his business where she put her O2 bottle and she walked out with it.
Those are the mini canisters and you carry them in a sling. Had one for a bit but they don't last very long at the liter rate I use. The coverings are normally blue.
 
The strangest thing I found was a mongoose bailed up by my three cats. I heard a ruckus one night in the old gold mining town I lived in. My cats had a strange animal bailed up, which I thought was a possum. I was surprised to see a mongoose which broke away and ran up the road. Just recently I discovered that these animals had been released in the late 1800's to control snakes and rabbits. The releases were thought to have died out and failed to survive but here was one in my front yard. I'm the only person I've heard that has seen one of the survivors.
 
The strangest thing I ever found was my hand inside a live 3-phase distribution panel, touching the 'blue' phase :tearsofjoy:

Long story short, when I was an electrical apprentice back in the late 80s, and health and safety being a LOT different back then, we use to do a lot of commercial and industrial electrics which had to be done 'live' on some sites as production lines could not be shut down.

We were working in a textile factory in Peterborough one day and I had to do some work on the 3-pase (415V) dissie board. There was some racking in front of the panel that I had to get on to get into the electrics. As the racking had wooden boards that I was kneeling on, and wood being an insulator, I was not too worried about it. Unfortunately for me, like a dingbat I rested my chin on the METAL framework of the racking, just before I reached into the electric board and just glanced my right hand on the 'blue' phase busbar.

Didn't half make my teeth chatter as 240V went through my hand, up my arm and to the metal framework via my jaw.

Sooooo funny now looking backl :mask:
 
Titch, hiya. Welcome aboard.
Shocking story.
One day last summer I was looking for another rock to finish off a border on a gardening project. Had a bunch in the back and picked out a rock with tons of dirt on it so I proceeded to clean it.
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I was hoping it was a fossilized dinosaur brain but it's really a piece of coral. Right on que, Lynne found Casper the Friendly Ghost living in it.
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The strangest thing I ever found was my hand inside a live 3-phase distribution panel, touching the 'blue' phase :tearsofjoy:

Long story short, when I was an electrical apprentice back in the late 80s, and health and safety being a LOT different back then, we use to do a lot of commercial and industrial electrics which had to be done 'live' on some sites as production lines could not be shut down.

We were working in a textile factory in Peterborough one day and I had to do some work on the 3-pase (415V) dissie board. There was some racking in front of the panel that I had to get on to get into the electrics. As the racking had wooden boards that I was kneeling on, and wood being an insulator, I was not too worried about it. Unfortunately for me, like a dingbat I rested my chin on the METAL framework of the racking, just before I reached into the electric board and just glanced my right hand on the 'blue' phase busbar.

Didn't half make my teeth chatter as 240V went through my hand, up my arm and to the metal framework via my jaw.

Sooooo funny now looking backl :mask:
When I was about 12-13 my family had just moved. The previous owner of our new home had, for some bizzare reason I still don't know, taken all the light switch covers with them when they moved out. There was not a single switch in the entire house that had a cover on it. We didn't think much of it other than it was kind of a jerk thing to do and that we would need to make a trip to the hardware store.

That first night I woke up around 2:00-3:00 in the morning and was making my way through the dark. In my half asleep state I forgot for a moment that it was a new house. It's not until I got into the hallway that I realized I wasn't sure which way I was supposed to be going. I started feeling along parts of the wall where I thought a light switch would be and wound up grabbing the switch itself with my thumb and fingers touching the terminals on either side. I felt the jolt go through my hand and up my arm followed by the thud of my back and head hitting the opposite wall as I jumped backwards. I don't recommend it but if you're tired or groggy that will definitely wake you right up!
 
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