I feel a little foolish, dirty trick

[fatelk]

What would you do if you found a severed body part in something you bought?

I bought a nice tool chest off of Craigslist for cheap, didn't look through it thoroughly before loading it up and hauling it home. At home in my garage I see something rolling around in one of the drawers, pick it up and promptly drop it- a severed human toe! OK, so I'm a bit squeamish. Growing up on a farm you'd think I wouldn't be, but I am. Can't help it.

I called my wife out to see if she thinks it's real or fake. She worked in the medical field for many years and is considerably less squeamish. She's pretty certain it's real. I called a buddy of mine who's a county deputy in a different part of the state, as well as an experienced paramedic. Of course he laughed and said call a tow truck, but then seriously said have a cop come out and look at it.

A city cop came out, looked at it close, poked it a little, put it in a baggy and took it with him. My wife and I were creeped out all day, thinking maybe there was an axe murderer out there somewhere searching for his lost souvenir. I just heard back from the cop that it fooled several of them until they poked and squeezed it, and it's just a really good fake, a Halloween gag!

What a dirty trick to play on a random stranger, putting something like that in something you're selling. I feel foolish, but at least not creeped out now.

[TXGunNut]

Oh, well. I can bet those cops will have a good time with it.

[btroj]

Did you pay extra for the toe? If not, think of it as a bonus!

[waynem34]

Nice did you get the toe back?

[nicholst55]

I can see that fake toe turning up in some cop's coffee cup...

[Bzcraig]

I'm thinking it's now up to you to keep the tradition going.

[scaevola]

Idea filed away for possible future use.

[joesig]

And you didn't call the seller back and ask ***?

[fatelk]

Nice did you get the toe back?

Nope, didn't even ask. Not interested, they are most welcome to keep it. It might be a funny joke on a friend or acquaintance, but it really wasn't funny at all coming from a stranger. It really creeped us out.

The more I think about it though, the dumber I feel for being fooled. What are the odds of something like that being real, compared to it being fake? I let my imagination carry me away. I was too squeamish to pick the darn thing up and feel it to realize it was fake. I wasn't the only one though. I guess that's the success of something like that- who wants to touch something so revolting?

[runfiverun]

woulda went in a jar and on the shelf.
if the dude wanted his Toe back, he would have called looking for it.

[Col4570]

I am glad they NAILED it down to a fake.

[coloraydo]

Cop said call a tow truck, eh? Good one.:awesome:

[BruceB]

"Truth is stranger than fiction."

There was a saloon in Yukon Territory (likely Dawson City, but my memory may be faulty on that) where they kept a genuine human toe in a jar of alcohol on the back bar.

Every once in a while, some brave soul would order their "Sour-Toe Cocktail".... its name being a take-off on "sourdough", of course.

The drink was a FIERCE concoction of various boozes, and filled a large tumbler. The human toe was removed from its storage jar and placed in the drink.

The drinker, to avoid the cost of this expensive drink, was required to chug the evil brew in one long inhale, until the toe hit his lips. At that point, he was to blow the thing back into the glass, and accept the congrats of all his inebriated pals.

This all worked fairly well for many years.... until one drinker, perhaps enjoying the festivities a little too much.... SWALLOWED THE TOE.

History does not report his reaction, nor the flavor.

[groovy mike]

wow what great lab procedures from the PD! I'm guessing that's exactly how they would treat a real body part before sending it in to test for crime scene DNA etc.....stay classy!

[fatelk]

wow what great lab procedures from the PD! I'm guessing that's exactly how they would treat a real body part before sending it in to test for crime scene DNA etc.....stay classy!

I guess when I said "poked and squeezed", that's not really fair to the cops- my words (and assumption) not his. He said "on closer examination they determined it to be rubber".

The officer that came out seemed like a really good guy. I just hope they don't think that I was trying to prank them.

[freebullet]

What a nailbiter!

[LUBEDUDE]

"Truth is stranger than fiction."

There was a saloon in Yukon Territory (likely Dawson City, but my memory may be faulty on that) where they kept a genuine human toe in a jar of alcohol on the back bar.

Every once in a while, some brave soul would order their "Sour-Toe Cocktail".... its name being a take-off on "sourdough", of course.

The drink was a FIERCE concoction of various boozes, and filled a large tumbler. The human toe was removed from its storage jar and placed in the drink.

The drinker, to avoid the cost of this expensive drink, was required to chug the evil brew in one long inhale, until the toe hit his lips. At that point, he was to blow the thing back into the glass, and accept the congrats of all his inebriated pals.

This all worked fairly well for many years.... until one drinker, perhaps enjoying the festivities a little too much.... SWALLOWED THE TOE.

History does not report his reaction, nor the flavor.

I saw that, or something close to it in a movie. I can't recall the movie right now.

I'm not calling you out Bruce, the movie just probably stuck that in there because it was too good. :)

[blackthorn]

In the 1950's my Ex's mother found the first joint and nail from a human finger in a can of Libby's pork and beans. The company offered her a bunch of product and she told them where to shove that! I don't think she ever ate canned beans again!

[BruceB]

I'm not calling you out Bruce, the movie just probably stuck that in there because it was too good. :)

The story is pretty well-known in the North. The population is very thin, and oral history percolates through the citizenry very well, in spite of the vast distances involved.

As Robert Service famously wrote,

"There are strange things done

'Neath the the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold...."

There certainly, are, and that still holds true today. I mined gold in the far North for over 35 years, and I experienced some "strange things" myself.

The story of the "sour-toe cocktail'" dates as late as the 1980s, and that toe was in the saloon for decades.

[parson48]

Man! The ideas that one can pick up around here! (evil grin).

[catmandu]

It's a good thing you didn't buy the tool box from Loraina Bobbet.
But then it really would be a "tool" box. :groner:

[TXGunNut]

Anybody want to honcho a GB? Shouldn't be too hard to find someone to make a few dozen rubber toes.

[Minerat]

I'm in. Make mine a left big toe.

[BrassMagnet]

When I was a restaurant cook we had an incident where a relief cook was called in due to a cook cutting his finger. The relief cook arrived and tried to stop the cut cook from cleaning the cook station. Chuck said, "you need to go to the hospital! I'll clean up!"
I said, "I have to find my finger!"
Chuck said, "Send back that last Chef Salad!"

This is not a joke. It took too long from the injury to the hospital sewing it back on. It didn't heal so my finger print in funny looking. I lost about 1/8" off the end of my left ring finger.

[sawzall]

When I was a restaurant cook we had an incident where a relief cook was called in due to a cook cutting his finger. The relief cook arrived and tried to stop the cut cook from cleaning the cook station. Chuck said, "you need to go to the hospital! I'll clean up!"
I said, "I have to find my finger!"
Chuck said, "Send back that last Chef Salad!"

This is not a joke. It took too long from the injury to the hospital sewing it back on. It didn't heal so my finger print in funny looking. I lost about 1/8" off the end of my left ring finger.
So was it actually in the salad?

[Multigunner]

Some kids told me they found a dead body buried in a vacant lot. I went with them to investigate and saw what looked like a decomsing arm sticking up from a fresh shallow grave.
On closer examination it was an large very old plastic dinosaur toy, the plastic sun faded to the color of decomoposing flesh. The long neck looked like a small woman's arm.

[oscarflytyer]

Sorry, but that is WAY damn funny! Wonder how long the sellor took to stop laughing? Me, I would have wanted to be there when you found it - yeah I am that sick guy!

[Blacksmith]

Robert Service, my favorite poet, wrote "The Ballad of the Ice-Worm Cocktail" not quite a "sour toe" but close.
http://worlds-poetry.com/robert_service/the_ballad_of_the_ice-worm_cocktail

[DIRT Farmer]

There are some very realistic body parts for medical training.
EMS personel have two much spare time on theit hands.

It leads to some intersting situtations.

[Bob in Revelstoke]

The "sour toe cocktail" is real, Google sour toe cocktail.