9 of the Weirdest Lost-and-found Items Around the World

When you lose something, you can count on the lost-and-found desk to locate it for you at least some of the time. Yet some lost-and-found stories are stranger than fiction. Here, we’ll cover nine of the world’s weirdest, most out-there lost-and-found stories.

A Pair of Skulls In a Bag

Casually walking the streets of London in 2005, a pair of police officers noticed a bag set aside on the street. It looked like something anyone might be carrying, but on opening the top of the bag, the police officers were surprised to find a pair of skulls staring back at them.

After some investigation, they found the bag’s owner was a local university professor. The teacher used the skulls as teaching tools in a course he was giving and was terribly distraught after losing the skulls. It was not the grisly find the police officers initially thought it was.

A Wedding Dress and Matching Shoes

Within Paris is the Bureau of Found Objects, where Parisians can drop off things they’ve found on the city streets so others can claim it. Within its halls of collected returns is a wedding dress and pair of shoes, still in a garment bag and possibly never worn.

While there are many rumors about what this collection says, the actual story might be more common than most people would think. The dress and shoes were found in the back of a cab and probably resulted from a quarrel before the wedding could take place.

Fighter Jet Guidance Missile Gear

Airports worldwide usually have a huge pile of lost items, some of which are returns and some of which just remain. In Scottsboro, Alabama, the local airport has seen its fair share of goodies come through, including a space shuttle camera, which they returned to NASA.

Yet, this find tops that. Inside a suitcase, the baggage handlers unpacked a fully functional missile guidance system intended for a fighter jet. Once the handlers realized it was real, they called in the Air Force to claim the guidance system.

A Samurai Sword

Traveling London’s underground system lets one appreciate the wide range of people in the city. Yet, now and again, something strange pops up in the Transport for London offices. In this case, it was a perfectly crafted, genuine Samurai sword.

While it’s not certain who the sword’s owner is (since it has never been claimed), it raises many questions. Who carries around a samurai sword on public transport? Who forgets the samurai sword they’re carrying on public transportation? The owner’s Daimyo would be ashamed.

A 5.8 Carat Diamond Ring

Finding strange things in unclaimed baggage isn’t anything new. Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage Center is one of the state’s top tourist attractions. People routinely check out the stuff they find there, but no one ever expects to find something as stunning and expensive as a 5.8-carat diamond ring.

Deep inside an unclaimed suitcase, wrapped in a pair of old socks, the diamond lay undiscovered until someone popped open the suitcase to check. Without someone checking the luggage, the diamond ring would remain undisturbed, potentially forever. The value of the ring is still undetermined.

A Human-Sized Heart (But Maybe Not Human?)

Soapy’s Car Wash, in Paw Paw, Michigan, was the spot where someone found a human-sized heart. Now, according to the finders, the heart may not be human but is the same size as a human’s heart. The car wash owners found the heart lying in one of their wash bays, much to their surprise.

Doctors visiting the car wash mentioned the heart might have been based on the size. However, the owners opted to get the heart checked out by registered veterinarians, hoping it was from some animal. Even veterinarians could not determine whether the heart was human or not, leaving it a mystery.

A Complete Rabbi Costume

The Hyatt Regency tends to have its share of eccentric visitors, some of whom leave behind their belongings, which inevitably end up in the lost-and-found bin. Despite the strange costumes out there, along with identification badges that might cause real-world trouble, this one tops the list.

In the Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel and Spa, a complete rabbinical costume with a fake beard and hat holds pride of place at the lost-and-found desk. Unsurprisingly, the owner of the kit never showed up to claim it, leaving hotel staff to wonder what it was for and why it was abandoned.

50 Vacuum-Packed Frogs

Keeping things fresh usually requires vacuum packing them. The Baggage Claim Center in Alabama once came across one of the weirdest vacuum-packed items they’d ever seen – fifty frogs in a container, sealed for freshness. Naturally, it stoked the curiosity of the staff.

Wildlife isn’t typically allowed into the state unchecked, but as the frogs were sealed, it’s assumed that they were no longer alive. However, the next question about why someone would need fifty vacuum-packed frogs comes to mind and is one that still remains unanswered to this day, as the owner never came forward to claim their package.

A Live Lobster

Uber drivers have a long list of weird things abandoned in their cars. Some of them are typical, like umbrellas or wristwatches. Yet, once in a while, there’s one that is truly strange. Imagine opening the back door of your Uber and coming face to face with an abandoned lobster.

Luckily, the owner of the lobster realized it was missing before long and contacted the driver. Usually, when objects are left in Uber cabs, owners can claim them from the company’s website. Despite this, many Uber finds remain unclaimed for years.

What’s In Your Local Lost-and-Found?

When you lose something, you can sometimes relocate it through the lost-and-found. Additionally, there are a lot of stories about social media helping people recover lost items through networking. Even so, there’s always going to be a place for the local lost-and-found.

From hotels to train stations and airports, lost and found desks can be lifesavers. Yet the people who work in there sometimes encounter some of the strangest finds they could imagine. What’s the weirdest thing you found and turned into a lost-and-found desk?