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Posted: 3/28/2024 1:53:12 PM EDT
Have you heard any urban legends people insist are true? Over the years, I’ve heard a version of this story from 3 unrelated people. It goes something like this:
My grandfather owned a hardware store for many years. He fought in WWII and kept souvenirs around the store, in particular, was a piece of metal he used as a door stopper. One day, a customer told him “You know that’s a bomb, right?” My grandfather didn’t believe him and said “Yeah right.” The customer insisted it was and that he call the authorities to dispose of it. Still not believing the customer, my grandfather called it in. Sure enough, the disposal team told him it was a mine. My grandfather’s face turned white. The team took it to a field and blew it up. It left a crater the size of a bus. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 1:57:55 PM EDT
[#1]
Never heard that one. Last one I heard making the rounds before the net was "The call was from inside the house!" one.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:03:42 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ACDer]
[#2]
There was the meteorite worth 100k that was discovered being used as a doorstop.
https://www.space.com/42084-valuable-michigan-meteorite-used-as-doorstop.html |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:05:01 PM EDT
[#3]
Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:05:30 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ACDer: There was the meteorite worth 100k that was discovered being used as a doorstop. https://www.space.com/42084-valuable-michigan-meteorite-used-as-doorstop.html I remember reading that recently.  Attached File |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:05:31 PM EDT
[#5]
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:06:34 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. Maybe it was a hot wheels bus. 
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:08:34 PM EDT
[#7]
That's just an old crapper tank!
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:08:49 PM EDT
[Last Edit: dyezak]
[#8]
Originally Posted By eurotrash: Have you heard any urban legends people insist are true? Over the years, I’ve heard a version of this story from 3 unrelated people. It goes something like this: My grandfather owned a hardware store for many years. He fought in WWII and kept souvenirs around the store, in particular, was a piece of metal he used as a door stopper. One day, a customer told him “You know that’s a bomb, right?” My grandfather didn’t believe him and said “Yeah right.” The customer insisted it was and that he call the authorities to dispose of it. Still not believing the customer, my grandfather called it in. Sure enough, the disposal team told him it was a mine. My grandfather’s face turned white. The team took it to a field and blew it up. It left a crater the size of a bus. I don't know about that urban legend, but I do know we had a local WWII vet who died back in 2004 (or 2005) in central TX. Dude had a stash of old pineapple grenades in his garage. Sheriff called Ft. Hood's EOD team. Damn E4 that went out there wanted to detonate it in place, in city limits, in this dude's garage. Another phone call to the commander and direction was given to transport the ordinance to Ft. Hood for disposal. So because of this experience I had, I tend to belive some of these urban legends like OP's. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:09:14 PM EDT
[#9]
Originally Posted By eurotrash: Have you heard any urban legends people insist are true? Over the years, I’ve heard a version of this story from 3 unrelated people. It goes something like this: My grandfather owned a hardware store for many years. He fought in WWII and kept souvenirs around the store, in particular, was a piece of metal he used as a door stopper. One day, a customer told him “You know that’s a bomb, right?” My grandfather didn’t believe him and said “Yeah right.” The customer insisted it was and that he call the authorities to dispose of it. Still not believing the customer, my grandfather called it in. Sure enough, the disposal team told him it was a mine. My grandfather’s face turned white. The team took it to a field and blew it up. It left a crater the size of a bus. Been a while and I forgot, but yeah I've heard that one. My favorite is "if you ask them if they're a cop and they are, they HAVE TO TELL YOU!" And also "if you take 7 hits of LSD you're legally insane." |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:10:14 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By CastleBravo91: Been a while and I forgot, but yeah I've heard that one. My favorite is "if you ask them if they're a cop and they are, they HAVE TO TELL YOU!" And also "if you take 7 hits of LSD you're legally insane." Avatar fits |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:10:50 PM EDT
[#11]
I would think that in Europe they've been dealing with all sorts of UXO for the last century
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:15:20 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tc556guy: I would think that in Europe they've been dealing with all sorts of UXO for the last century The storytellers were American. The crater was a different size in each story. The one I remember was “you could drive a bus into it.” |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:17:21 PM EDT
[#13]
Remember the old one about not swimming within 30 minutes of eating or you would get a cramp and drown? LoL what bullshit we use to believe before the internet.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:20:54 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Vague]
[#14]
They could shoot our ammo in their rifles, but we couldn't shoot theirs.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:21:22 PM EDT
[Last Edit: WUPHF]
[#15]
I’d think the chances of a munition small enough to be used as a door stop also having the ability to make a bus sized crater in an open field would be about nil. That’s a huge crater.
While I’m sure crazy stuff has happened like that somewhere, any time I hear someone try to tell a story like that I just automatically assume it to be bullshit. May not even be their fault, it may have been told to them by an older relative who they trust. Bullshit nonetheless. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:22:03 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ACDer]
[#16]
https://forums.canadiancontent.net/threads/elderly-woman-used-live-wwi-shell-as-doorstop-for-20-years.64402/
Pensioner used live artillery shell as a doorstop for 20 years 2nd July 2007 Daily Mail A bomb bomb disposal team was called to a pensioner's home to detonate a First World War artillery shell she has used as a doostep for 20 years. Thelma Bonnett, 68, had used the 90-year-old German explosive to prop open her front door for more than 20 years. The device had been in the family for nearly a century after her grandfather Arthur Croxall brought it home in 1918. Armed and dangerous: The live artillery shell has been used as a doorstep for over 20 years It took pride of place on the family mantelpiece for years and was regularly polished - and even used as toy. Mrs Bonnett eventually began using it as doorstop in the 1980s until a neighbour spotted it and asked where it had come from. He immediately called police and a Royal Navy bomb squad discovered the shell was live and packed full of explosives. Several neighbours were evacuated from their homes and the device taken to a local quarry where it was exploded. Experts say it is a "miracle" the shell never blew up. Mrs Bonnett, of Paignton, Devon, said: "I had no idea it was dangerous. Grandfather picked it up on his travels with the Merchant Navy in 1918. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:28:13 PM EDT
[#17]
In the 1980s in Selma AL, a metal doorstopper was being used at Sturdivant Hall, an antebellum museum in town. It had been found on the grounds during some digging / landscaping almost a century before. During an annual "Pilgrimage" historical tour, a guy came through the museum (who just so happened to be knowledgeable on Civil War munitions) and noticed the doorstopper. The doorstopper was shaped like a Parrott shell, a Civil War artillery shell. He picked it up to examine it, and although it was somewhat corroded, he noticed that the base fuse was still intact. He quietly and calmly contacted local law enforcement, who contacted an EOD team from Ft. Rucker (IIRC). They took the doorstopper and upon examination, determined that the shell was still live, over 120 years after the war. It was later detonated on a range.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 2:56:12 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tc556guy: I would think that in Europe they've been dealing with all sorts of UXO for the last century IN France, they've had UXO from World War ONE. HUGE sections of France (and iirc Belgium) are still cordoned off. And farmers in the "cleared" sections STILL plow them up! They put 'em at the side of the road and call the local police. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 3:11:09 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By beitodesstrafe: Maybe it was a hot wheels bus. Data bus. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 3:14:26 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By dyezak: I don't know about that urban legend, but I do know we had a local WWII vet who died back in 2004 (or 2005) in central TX. Dude had a stash of old pineapple grenades in his garage. Sheriff called Ft. Hood's EOD team. Damn E4 that went out there wanted to detonate it in place, in city limits, in this dude's garage. Another phone call to the commander and direction was given to transport the ordinance to Ft. Hood for disposal. So because of this experience I had, I tend to belive some of these urban legends like OP's. Well an EOD team leader is an E6 or an E7, and an E4 is uncertified and has absolutely no authority whatsoever on that scene, so there's a plot hole here |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 3:16:15 PM EDT
[#21]
I saw a 50lb flour sack of potassium chlorate and charcoal homemade explosives being used as a step in front of a door once.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 3:18:03 PM EDT
[#22]
A guy brought UXO into a marina near Camp Lejune a few years ago.
https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_a00952e2-cfa6-11ea-8edd-af66b9681081.html |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 3:22:06 PM EDT
[#23]
Civil war cannon balls next to fire places and they were still live.
I've heard of a few of them blowing up over the years. |
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NC, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:22:18 PM EDT
[#24]
Buddy of mine grew up in Charleston SC, his house was used as a post in the civil war. He said that as a kid he’d find all kind of stuff from the war. One day he found a metal ball, took it home and stuck it on the drill press, it started sputtering so he hauled ass to tell his grandfather. Grandfather walked in, realized what it was and beat the crap out of him… lol. Didn’t help that the drill press was in the workshop, directly under the house.
One time on a CAX in 29 Palms (I think) we had a new guy show up to camp, but nobody was there, we were in the field doing something. He started walking around, ended up in desert behind camp and found UXO. The newb brainiac was joining our Ordinance shop, and figured he’d show it to his new boss. So he found our Ordinance shop tent, and left it on the desk, then took a nap. We all got back and we’re putting shit away when we started hearing screams of evacuate. We all mustered up and the Ordie Sgt was screaming for the mfer that tried to kill him. As we’re all in formation trying to figure out what was going on, this newb we’d never seen walks up and said it was his. We never saw him again… lol |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:26:04 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. well, it was the hollywood-teller variety with a multistage trigger and an unobatainium core |
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:28:09 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By dorobuta: well, it was the hollywood-teller variety with a multistage trigger and an unobatainium core Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By dorobuta: Originally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. well, it was the hollywood-teller variety with a multistage trigger and an unobatainium core Or the LAPD calculated the demolition charge. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:35:01 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms: IN France, they've had UXO from World War ONE. HUGE sections of France (and iirc Belgium) are still cordoned off. And farmers in the "cleared" sections STILL plow them up! They put 'em at the side of the road and call the local police. 
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:35:43 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By WUPHF: I’d think the chances of a munition small enough to be used as a door stop also having the ability to make a bus sized crater in an open field would be about nil. That’s a huge crater. While I’m sure crazy stuff has happened like that somewhere, any time I hear someone try to tell a story like that I just automatically assume it to be bullshit. May not even be their fault, it may have been told to them by an older relative who they trust. Bullshit nonetheless. Satchel charge would fit that description. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:43:26 PM EDT
[#29]
While clearing a house on a search warrant we located several real and active grenades, bomb squad dealt with them. They were WW2 timeframe and were just on a shelf in the living room.
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:45:29 PM EDT
[#30]
Dad's best friend, an army vet, had a large shell of some sort that he thought wasn't live, as a decoration hanging on his clothes line pole next to his garage. It blew a good size chunk of the garage wall out one cold 20 below night in the late 60's or early 70's.
The house took some shrapnel, but if it had been hanging on the other pole, their bedrooms would have taken a heck of a hit. Old Marvin took a lot of shit for that over the years! |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:51:58 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By SmilingBandit: Or the LAPD calculated the demolition charge. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By SmilingBandit: Originally Posted By dorobuta: Originally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. well, it was the hollywood-teller variety with a multistage trigger and an unobatainium core Or the LAPD calculated the demolition charge. This I could believe....let's see, door stopper sized object? 4 pounds of Semtex should be just about right.... 
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Posted: 3/28/2024 4:54:36 PM EDT
[#32]
Not the US, but there is the urban legend of a British Grand Slam bomb being used as a gate guardian at a RAF base for 15 years before it was found to be live.
Cool story, but it is uncorroborated by anything official. |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:25:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: M14chud]
[#33]
Filed firing pin full auto. At least 3 in my lifetime Ive met that claimed to know of or own.
Last one I heard it from claimed it was a Beretta 92 'from the army', others were just AR pattern. When did that start? Who was the first? The last 2 I heard I offered to buy sight unseen to call their bluff...nah, they ain't selling, but they dont bring it up again either, which works too. |
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:32:45 PM EDT
[Last Edit: DADGAD]
[#34]
There's always the one about the catfish at the bottom of the dam the size of a Volkswagen. Not sure why it's always compared to a Volkswagen.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:35:42 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DADGAD: Catfish at the bottom of the dam the size of a Volkswagen. That's not a very big dam. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:42:12 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Bama-Shooter: Civil war cannon balls next to fire places and they were still live. I've heard of a few of them blowing up over the years. It wasn’t that long ago that I found out canon balls actually exploded. I always thought it was like bowling. Heave the ball and hope you hit something. I’m kinda slow… |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:43:04 PM EDT
[Last Edit: daemon734]
[#37]
There are military EOD response calls every day across the US for all kinds of explosive hazards.
- war bringbacks - stolen military ordnance - verification of museum or collection pieces - found UXO - purpose built IEDs or explosives - old commercial explosives being found - all kinds of other shit Usually if it's military the local law enforcement bomb squad calls the military EOD, if there is no LE bomb squad in an area there is an MOU in place for military EOD units to respond. If it's a large incident the local bomb squad may still call military units to assist. Every inch of the US is covered by primary and secondary military EOD response teams that are on call 24/7 and they get a lot of work. I've worked IEDs in meth labs, unfired aircraft flares dropped on farms, stolen grenades in peoples houses, old ordnance dug or washed up, rediscovered mining or oil field explosives, museum pieces that turned out to be live... |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:45:15 PM EDT
[#38]
Well, I once attended a meeting in a Fed bldg where a MIRV was holding a door open. Fairly sure it was just the casing.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:47:28 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AA717driver: It wasn’t that long ago that I found out canon balls actually exploded. I always thought it was like bowling. Heave the ball and hope you hit something. I’m kinda slow… Some do, some don't. The ones that do often are filled with gunpowder which has become unstable after thousand of moisture and heating/cooling cycles. They like to detonate above people's mantles quite a bit. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:55:13 PM EDT
[#40]
In Afghanistan I was sitting at a table eating in an Afghan police station when I accidentally kicked something under the table. It was a 30 year old Russian AO 2.5RT submunition.
 I was in a meeting in an American Major's office and noticed a 30lb pressure cooker IED he had sitting in the corner as a decoration.  People can do some really stupid shit sometimes. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:59:01 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. |
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OH, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:59:42 PM EDT
[#42]
 MVI_3406.AVI By Jimmy Ferris Spur Texas |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 5:59:55 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By dyezak: I don't know about that urban legend, but I do know we had a local WWII vet who died back in 2004 (or 2005) in central TX. Dude had a stash of old pineapple grenades in his garage. Sheriff called Ft. Hood's EOD team. Damn E4 that went out there wanted to detonate it in place, in city limits, in this dude's garage. Another phone call to the commander and direction was given to transport the ordinance to Ft. Hood for disposal. So because of this experience I had, I tend to belive some of these urban legends like OP's. Interesting. A WO1 told me about that last time I was at Swift a couple months ago. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:00:07 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: In Afghanistan I was sitting at a table eating in an Afghan police station when I accidentally kicked something under the table. It was a 30 year old Russian AO 2.5RT submunition. https://i.imgur.com/9MScvZQ.jpg I was in a meeting in an American Major's office and noticed a 30lb pressure cooker IED he had sitting in the corner as a decoration. https://i.imgur.com/ITbdklP.jpg People can do some really stupid shit sometimes. Were those live? |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:01:47 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Some do, some don't. The ones that do often are filled with gunpowder which has become unstable after thousand of moisture and heating/cooling cycles. They like to detonate above people's mantles quite a bit. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Originally Posted By AA717driver: It wasn’t that long ago that I found out canon balls actually exploded. I always thought it was like bowling. Heave the ball and hope you hit something. I’m kinda slow… Some do, some don't. The ones that do often are filled with gunpowder which has become unstable after thousand of moisture and heating/cooling cycles. They like to detonate above people's mantles quite a bit. I have a civil war cannonball slightly smaller than a baseball sitting on my plant shelf… |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:02:01 PM EDT
[#46]
I don't know if he ever used it as a door stop, but I know a Florida national guardsman that took home an 81mm HE mortar round.
I never heard anything about him blowing himself up or it ever being turned in. I'm guessing it's still out there near Sanford Fl somewhere. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:03:19 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By eurotrash: Were those live? Yes |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:21:11 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By beitodesstrafe: Maybe it was a hot wheels bus. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By beitodesstrafe: Originally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. Maybe it was a hot wheels bus. Did his doorstop look like this? 
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OH, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:27:29 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankW134: Did his doorstop look like this? https://d1ldvf68ux039x.cloudfront.net/thumbs/photos/1908/5652612/2000w_q95.jpg Nice booster blocks~ |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 6:34:54 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By sparkyfender2: Never heard that one. Last one I heard making the rounds before the net was "The call was from inside the house!" one. I love spooky stories. There's a modern one if you dig that stuff.  A Redditor's Strange Experience with Security Cameras |
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