MetaChat - What was the strangest thing you've ever seen on the side of the road?

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31 October 2007

What was the strangest thing you've ever seen on the side of the road? →[More:]I was inspired by a topic brought up on a radio show. I'm not talking about old shoes, but instead really weird stuff. Here's mine: some years ago, while driving home from picking my kids up at daycare, I saw a skinned carcass on the side of the road. It freaked me out so much, because at first glance it looked almost human! It was still half wrapped in a tarp, no head, no legs (well, only half legs). I still don't know if it was a pig, a deer, or a sheep. So, tell me bunnies, what was your strangest roadside sight?

post by: redvixen at: 18:47 | 26 comments

Flaming car shooting off the interstate merge.

Well, the only one i can mention in mixed company.

posted by ethylene 31 October | 18:56

An upright piano (that was upside down).

posted by BoringPostcards 31 October | 18:58

Dale Chihuly.

posted by bmarkey 31 October | 18:59

1. a dildo
2. a couple screwing
(no, not the same events)

posted by plinth 31 October | 19:13

My own body, laying face up and devoid of life except for one arm, which was slowly waving at me.

posted by Eideteker 31 October | 19:18

Maybe ten or possible more Musk_oxs hanging around like right next to the road. close enough to stick your hand out and pet them (which made our tiny Peugeot feel even tinier). Me and the driver stopped talking and only said something maybe fifteen minutes later....Which was "What the heck was that...?"

posted by dabitch 31 October | 20:03

A roadrunner, and then a coyote.

Kid you not.

posted by WolfDaddy 31 October | 20:14

A very large torch thingy, which had just been fucked out of the Police car in front (lonely country road 4 am) and which rolled down the embankment, getting itself trapped under our front wheels. We nearly missed a flight, but the cops came back to help. Professed themselves amazed at the thing, despite it having a clear police ID number written into the side!

we were not amused.

posted by Wilder 31 October | 20:27

A man masturbating.

That was horrifying. I was probably 15 at the time.

The most memorable thing I've seen is a massive bald eagle standing on the side of I-4 in a downpour. It was beautiful.

posted by LoriFLA 31 October | 20:56

Complete set of tires for a monster truck

a living room set, badly damaged, and arranged into a conversational grouping.

A fight between straightedge hardcore kids and drag queens

But what I wonder about the most are single shoes.

posted by kellydamnit 31 October | 21:26

But what I wonder about the most are single shoes

Same here. The other day I say a perfectly nice brown oxford on the street at a busy intersection. I see lone shoes often.

posted by LoriFLA 31 October | 21:32

I saw a blue heron once last year, near some scrawny wetlands we have.

posted by interrobang 31 October | 21:59

This past Sunday, on the way back from one of the local museums, the SO and I were stopped at a red light. There was a car waiting next to us, out of which a random girl popped out of the passenger seat and promptly walked right in front of our car and puked in the bushes.

It was all of the following: funny. sick. weird. random. and funny.

posted by ufez 31 October | 22:17

A massively bloated tits up cow with a dog staring at it.

posted by arse_hat 31 October | 22:21

I saw a bloated beaver carcass explode in the summer heat.

I saw a fifteen foot tall T Rex made out of bales of hay.

I saw a woman walking a monkey.

posted by BitterOldPunk 31 October | 22:51

Tonight I saw a young woman in a Richard Simmons costume (sparklies, tight body suit, the whole bit) running rather frantically up the hill towards me.

When she got to me, it became clear it wasn't a costume- she just dresses that way to run.

Yay Berkeley!

posted by small_ruminant 31 October | 23:26

Oh, and there was the time I saw a nekit woman throwing shoes at a hastily departing dude in a truck.

posted by arse_hat 31 October | 23:32

A sloth. To this day I have no freaking idea why there was a sloth at the side of the road at road level in Arlington, TX but there was. (This would have been in the early 90s.) I made myself turn around three times to make sure I wasn't losing my mind/seeing things.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 01 November | 02:57

Prostitutes.

In rural Catalonia, there are lovely young women sitting by the side of the road. They sit under umbrellas, sipping cocktails, dressed in very little. You can pay them to have sex with you.

Not that I did.

posted by chuckdarwin 01 November | 04:54

Last week I saw a replica of the Jodrell Bank telescope array made of straw.

posted by altolinguistic 01 November | 04:57

AU$28,000 in a lunchbox in a plastic bag. I was 7. My father insisted we hand it in to the police, but that money should have been mine dammit! It would have been at least a quarter of a mill by the time I was 18.

I also once found a dead, shaved cat in a plastic bag. One whole side of it was shaved, which was very weird.

I do like seeing those bizarre roadside places that have meaning only to the local people. We had one in NSW known as Pooh's Corner - a small cave by the side of the road, in the middle of the bush, with cat's eyes at the back to reflect headlights - and there would be bottles of wine,food and small gifts left for 'Pooh' at the entrance. Very strange if you don't know what it is!

posted by goo 01 November | 05:46

The Oscar Meyer hotdogmobile, broken down. I was high as a kite and thought I was hallucinating, but there it was in all it's pinkish glory.

posted by tr33hggr 01 November | 08:01

goo: There was $30,000 in that box when I lost it! I'll e-mail you my address so you can send me the missing 2 Grand.

posted by Atom Eyes 01 November | 09:57

I was thirteen when this happened, and I still can't forget it. We were driving down a street in our neighborhood, and there was an older, sort of rotund man walking down the street wearing an undershirt, a pair of tightie whities, black socks, and black oxfords.

posted by brina 01 November | 12:13

Banana peels. Not very unusual at first glance, but there was a new one in the same spot every day. This spot was not a bus stop, there wasn't even a sidewalk. It was along the side of the highway exit ramp that I used to take when going to my last job. Someone probably threw them out the car window, but to get it on the same spot every day regardless of traffic, weather or the timing of the stoplight was amazing to me. They were in various states of decay, but a new one (or two) appeared every day. I mentioned it to a guy that took the same exit ramp and they had been appearing there for ten years!!!! Even stranger: one day, they were just gone and no more appeared...

posted by youngergirl44 01 November | 14:43

Not on the side, but in the middle of I-10 West heading into New Orleans, I saw just the head of a large dog. Just sitting there, looking into traffic, almost as if a live dog had been buried to his neck. It was quite upsetting.

posted by thebrokedown 02 November | 21:21

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