In the present day’s high-tech world of SnapChat, Messenger, Skype, email, and more, nobody considers the snail mail important. But do you know the snail mail has been used to send many strange and shocking things and many such things can be sent via the US mail even today? Let us not waste time, and get to discover 10 such things.
10. A Tree Trunk
In 2013 and 2014 Ripley’s Believe It Or Not conducted a Strange Mail competition. In 2014, the winner of the contest was a tree stump that Pat Moser of King, North Carolina had sent. A storm knocked down this tree and Moser discovered a horseshoe inside it when he began cutting it up to attain firewood.
9. Potatoes
It is completely legal to mail potatoes and there, in fact, are services that specialize in the same. Mailaspud.com will readily send a potato to whosoever you want, but they recommend the recipient should not consume this potato.
There also other services including Anonymous Potato, Potato In The Post, Mystery Potato, and Potato Parcel that helps you mail potatoes. Potato Parcel packs the potatoes in a nice way so not only can you send it, it also can be consumed. Other food items that have been mailed unwrapped include limes and coconut.
8. Snow
Do you have a dear friend living in a warm climate but does not like it? Does he/she yearn for snow? Do they really desire to make snowmen or just play with some snow? If you really love this dear friend of yours and want to bring a big smile on their face then you can send them real snow no matter where they stay in the US.
Ship Snow, Yo is a mailing service that will pack real snow for you into a Styrofoam cooler and then ship it through FedEx Express. The snow will be sourced from Snowy places like Colorado, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
7. Scorpions
How badly you may want to mail it to play a prank that is not possible. However, if the reason is the creation of antivenin or some medical research then according to the rules of USPS, scorpions can be mailed. What is more interesting is that these scorpions do not have to be dead, yes, you can mail living scorpions only if it is for the reasons mentioned above.
6. Cats
Though you cannot technically mail cats through USPS nowadays. But way back in 1897 a black cat was mailed in the New York City through the pneumatic tube system. The pneumatic tube system launched in 1897 itself and its operators wanted to check what is all that they could send. As per an article in The Atlantic, they sent a Bible wrapped in a flag, a fake peach, President McKinley’s inaugural speech copy and many other things. However, the cat still remains the most unusual and shocking one.
5. Live Bees
Mailing live bees do not really seem to be of much fun, though it sounds strange for sure. However, as the USPS states in 526.21 – queen honeybees and honeybees can be shipped. This would be of help to those places where there is a shortage of honeybees and they would create safe homes for them. The honeybees that will be shipped have to be free of any diseases, and the queens can be sent via air transportation, while the drones need to go surface.
4. Baby Chicks
As per USPS’ Mailable Live Animals, section 526.3, it is possible to ship many day-old animals of the poultry type. Quails, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, partridges, and guinea birds can be shipped anywhere between April and August. However, there are some conditions. The baby birds that will be mailed cannot be over 24-hours old. And, also need to be mailed from their hatchery of origin in an unopened hatchery box. The packaging must be properly ventilated. And the chick must be mailed as early as possible in the week so that it can reach an office before a Sunday or national holiday, and so that it can be delivered within 72-hours of the bird being hatched.
3. Trypophobia
A service, known as Ship Your Enemies Trypophobia, can ship your chosen 5 trypophobic photographs to your enemy for a very low price – just $9.90. If you are wondering what is trypophobia? Then as per one article published by Popular Science, it is the fear of clustered holes. If you are now thinking what is the big deal about it. Well, the author of the article says that the cluster of holes can attract reaction like panic, itches, and nausea.
2. Children
Just like cats, it is not really legal to mail children! But, people have indeed done this. In the year 1913, when the Parcel Post was first introduced by the Post Office, people residing in rural areas suddenly had opportunities that they never so long had. This perhaps drove them a little crazy and which is perhaps why Mathilda and Jess Beagle mailed their 8-month-old kid James to his grandmother who lived just a few miles away.
James weighed less than 11 pounds. It cost just 15 cents to send him via mail, and he got insured for only 50 cents. This adventure of baby James found a way to the papers and then other parents did the same thing.
1. Poop
There indeed is a service known as PoopSenders that will readily mail cow poop, elephant poop, or gorilla poop, or even a combination of these to your chosen recipient for just $16, while also maintaining your anonymity. It is mentioned on their FAQ page that they have a mad scientist who mixes the ‘smelly stuff’ and then it reaches your chosen victim. They have mailed poop-like substances (as they never tell you if it is real poop) since 2007. If it is all in good fun, it is perfectly fine. However, if you trying to harass someone, then it can invite trouble.
You surely must never have thought in your wildest dreams that mailing such items is actually possible. Shocking yet true, people do come up with weird ideas, and there are strange mail senders that help make their weird ideas turn into reality.