Since the Department of Homeland Security founded the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2001, the agency has been working hard to ensure the public travels as safely as possible. It also has been making sure you’re not getting on planes with anything too weird — or at least weird and dangerous.
In 2013, TSA joined Instagram to share important things like travel tips, pictures of explosives detection canines and reminders of busy travel periods. But it’s the content featuring fascinating confiscated contraband that helped the agency amass a whopping 1 million followers on the platform.
To celebrate the social media milestone, we rounded up and ranked the strangest carry-on finds the TSA Instagram has documented.
Over the course of this story, you’ll see that sharp objects are a common occurrence in TSA’s world. What’s less common is finding them sheathed in cartoon paraphernalia. In 2014, TSA posted about a bizarre combo of utility knife blades found in a Scooby-Doo greeting card. The photo and the terse caption left followers with more questions than answers, and also prompted a lot of “ruh roh” comments.
We may never know what inspired the flying perpetrator to sneak blades into a greeting card. And they would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for that meddling TSA.
These confiscated shoes and matching ammo bracelets bring the phrase “dressed to kill” to mind.
The owner of the shoes should have tweeted to @AskTSA before their trip to learn that although they’re prohibited in a carry-on, they’re totally fine to pack in checked luggage, per the Instagram caption.
Continuing on the violent fashion train is this lipstick tube that’s actually a knife.
This one — complete with a rhinestone carrying case — that TSA posted in July isn’t even the only one they’ve caught. In 2013, a curvier, spookier lipstick knife was found in a carry-on bag passing through San Antonio. Some lipstick tubes have also been disguises for stun guns.
Nothing to see here folks, just a bag of eels. Miami International Airport TSA discovered this incredibly disturbing bag of eels in 2012. To the credit of the smuggler, at least they didn’t try to sneak this bag of eels in a carry-on bag. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was called in to handle the situation, as the traveler had also packed 163 marine tropical fish and 22 invertebrates to Maracaibo, Venezuela.
In the caption, TSA also notes that animals have a history of passing through airports in extremely strange ways. A woman traveling from Miami to Barbados tried to sneak a snake in an external hard drive. Also caught in Miami was a man with seven snakes hiding in nylon stockings shoved in the traveler’s pants, along with three small turtles. And a woman traveling from Los Angeles to China taped birds (which were wrapped in socks) to her leg and chest.
With marijuana legalized in some states, there may be some confusion as to how to transport the stuff — like the traveler who tried to fly with an impressive 80 pounds of marijuana in their checked bag at California’s McClellan-Palomar Airport.
Even though TSA doesn’t have regulations on weed possession and transportation, some state governments and the federal government do consider them a crime. In cases like this, TSA has to notify local law enforcement.
We’re taught to never judge a book by its cover. Well, we’re here to tell you never judge a cane by its sheath. Thanks to the TSA Instagram account, we now know that a whole lot of canes are more deadly than they appear.
On multiple occasions, TSA has confiscated canes that were actually swords. And just when you thought you’ve seen it all, this cane got a high-tech upgrade to double as a stun gun.
If scanning through the Instagram account taught us anything, it’s that way more people use throwing stars than you’d think. They come in all different shapes and sizes, prompting us to think that the slogan for throwing stars should be: “Throwing stars, there’s something for everyone!”
Once you pick the right throwing star for you, you’ll want to travel with it properly. That does not mean to store it in your smartphone case, for example. TSA’s friendly reminder? “All martial arts weapons are prohibited in carry-on bags.” Some could even get you arrested by being in your checked bag. Tweet at @AskTSA for any specific throwing star packing questions.
No, you can’t bring your chain saw in your carry-on bag, as one Albany International Airport traveler thought. However, you’re usually okay to bring them in your checked luggage. But with exceptions — your packed chain saw can’t be leaking fumes.
A person discovered this exception when traveling through Chicago O’Hare. Fuel vapors wafted out of the traveler’s bag, and the saw was removed from their luggage. Make sure you clean your chain saw before packing it, or else TSA will remove it from your luggage and you’ll be left with no chain saw.
Cognac has a history of causing controversies at the airport. In 2015, a woman at the Beijing Capital International Airport chugged a whole bottle of Rémy Martin XO Excellence when she was told she’d have to throw it away at airport security.
In 2012 in Detroit, TSA had a very different cognac run-in when it caught a traveler trying to bring this oversize bottle of the French spirit on a flight. Not only was the bottle of “Very Superior Old Pale” cognac larger than TSA regulations, but it was also filled with five endangered sea horses. The encounter required TSA to call in Michigan wildlife officials to confiscate the bottle.
TSA deals with bones all the time. Animal bones and parts are fair game at the security checkpoint. What’s particularly crazy about this 2013 TSA find at Fort Lauderdale International Airport is that the passenger was allegedly unaware that they were carrying a skull in the first place. They bought a pot, put it through the X-Ray machine, and discovered fragments of a human skull inside.
There are too many oddities to capture in one list alone. We had to leave out spear guns and a bag of moose droppings. To relish all of the peculiar finds of the TSA, follow the account yourself. Browse it on a rainy day when you’re feeling down and find solace in the realization that at least you didn’t try to bring a bag of eels on an airplane.
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