What is the most gruesome thing you bought or saw for sale at a yeard sale?

[cyberdan]

Last saturday a younger guy, probably middle 20's had a lot of asian things for sale. I recognized a few things because I have been to Japan several times. So we started talking. Then he pulled out an old dirty green cloth bag with a flap and asked if I might be interested in it. He opened the flap and pulled out some paper packets with Japanese printing, looked like cotton gause strips, then he pulled out a tattered old Japanese flag. He then told me his grandfather had taken it from a dead solder in WWII and the dirty part on the bag was blood. Looked like a first aid ditty bag that never got used.
I declined to buy because I didn't think I would be able to resell and I didn't think my wife would want it in the house.

 

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[LJHanley06]

With my Mother years ago at a Garage Sale...I was just a kid...she found a Lard Bucket Tin...about 100 years old. It still hard the lard in it. Rancid of course...she made me claen it out for her, as she couldn't stomach the stench. I didn't either for long after.

 

[jeff of pa]

some of the people having them.
They wern't for sale though.

 

[jnkhntr]

In a lot of B&W negatives were about 15 of these:

 

[cyberdan]

In a lot of B&W negatives were about 15 of these:

I have heard that photos from that era of children that died sell real good on feebay. Pretty sure someone on this board posted about that.

 

[twistidd]

Hey guys. When I was younger, we stopped at a yard sale out in the country. The owner of the farmhouse was a collector of Native American artifacts, mostly stuff he had collected on his property over the years. He had a lot of the stuff for sale, but what really creeped me out was the human skull he had priced for $20.

We ended up adopted two kittens from him. lol

Joe

 

[jeff of pa]

Hey guys. When I was younger, we stopped at a yard sale out in the country. The owner of the farmhouse was a collector of Native American artifacts, mostly stuff he had collected on his property over the years. He had a lot of the stuff for sale, but what really creeped me out was the human skull he had priced for $20.

We ended up adopted two kittens from him. lol

Joe

if the skull was real
they sell for Hundreds Now.

 

[diggummup]

Nothing too gruesome, though recently I did buy a small Czech. Cross locket/pendant and inside was a childs tooth.

 

[diggin jimmy hoffa]

I remember going to 2 seperate auctions.

At the one I thought the long wicker basket with the lid was quite unique until I foud out that it was used to remove a deceased infant from the home.

Second auction ended up being the estate of a local funeral home owner. Horse drawn hearses 2 at the least, draining table (lack of better term) from the prep. room, and caskets of differents styles. One had the sealed lid with the oval viewing window in it.

My buddy had hit the local GW thrift store and found a plastic tote with a lid on it and thought it would make for a good storage box, that is until he flipped it over and read the lable, "Cremains of John Doe". He took it to the counter and suggested that they try and contact the owners. The cashier had no idea what he was talking about until he told her to look at the bottom label. Guess she about dropped a load right then and there.

Goes to show, you'll never know what you'll find at the local thrift stores

DJH

 

[cyberdan]

Here is another I saw just this weekend.

I will try and be non-crude. There was this box. I always try and look in boxes to see what might be hiding. On the front of the box was a drawing of a lady's head with curly hair and on the box all it said was something like "the perfect teardrop" So I open the box and there was one item inside. It was about the size of a large grapefruit and light brown in color. I picked it up and it felt heavy and squishy like it had jello inside. It was also kind of oily on the outside. Then I realized what I was holding and also realized it might be leaking and quickly put it back and went over to the used clothes area and to wipe off my hand.

It was a fake B B

 

[MKnTenn]

I went to a sale and the lady there asked me if I would like to buy her mattress. Then she goes "it's only 7 years old!" I look over and crumpled against the wall is this well used mattress that looked like it had every type of body fluid on it. Had to be the family birthing mattress. That was sick! LOL

 

[MKnTenn]

some of the people having them.
They wern't for sale though.

How true! LOL

 

[Baja181]

I went to a sale and the lady there asked me if I would like to buy her mattress. Then she goes "it's only 7 years old!" I look over and crumpled against the wall is this well used mattress that looked like it had every type of body fluid on it. Had to be the family birthing mattress. That was sick! LOL

'Had to be the family birthing mattress!' LOL Man, I couldn't stop laughing when I read that. So funny!

 

[Baja181]

One time when I was checking out a little thirft store I found a ''toy'' in the kitchen utensil aisle.... I guess someone thought it was a battery operated stirring device...... I quickly told management. LOL! My bigger question was 'who the heck would put something like that in their donation pile?!' Hahaha!

 

[cyberdan]

My bigger question was 'who the heck would put something like that in their donation pile?!'

maybe she didn't do it on purpose. can you imagine how the house got torn apart while the "toy" was being looked for

 

[Bev]

I used to attend an "old tyme auction" here in RI every week. It was great! I'd buy a huge box of "trash", go through it and find treasure that I sold on my antique site. I bought a box lot for $5.00 one night and there was an alabaster statue in it. Couldnt figure out what it was used for, husband realized it had a "lid" on one end. Pulls out he trusty mechanic tools and got to work opening it. Sorry to say it was someone's ashes! I took it back to Marty and he tried to give me my $5.00 back! I said no, just keep him. He put him (assuming it was a HE) on the shelf and there he sat, watching over the auctions for years till the auction closed.