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From garden vegetables to small children, we count down the 10 weirdest things sent
in the mail.
#10: A Tiny Letter: They call themselves “The World's Smallest Postal Service,” and a
glance through their catalogue will quickly tell you why. Leafcutter allows customers
to mail tiny letters, packages, and more to friends, family, and acquaintances. For a
tiny fee, they will send everything out for you.
#9: A Potato: Believe it or not, writing a random message on a raw potato and throwing
it into a mailbox is perfectly legal as long as you use a stamp. If you’re too lazy to
drive to the grocery store to get your special spud, you can use a service like Potato Parcel.
Want to go the extra mile? Potato Parcel claims it can mail potatoes with pictures on them.
#8: A Building: In 1916, a young businessman named W. H. Coltharp decided he wanted to
build a bank. But there was a snag. The bricks he needed for construction were 120 miles
away and would have to be mailed. The cost to mail the bricks by freight was four times
more expensive than what he paid for them, but Coltharp found a way around it. He packaged
up the bricks – all 80,000 of them – and mailed them in 40 individual crates through
the U.S. mail. Everything got there, but this event prompted the postal service to change
its regulations.
#7: A Cat: Until around 1953, New York City used a series of tubes to transfer mail. These
tubes could send large canisters around the city at speeds of 35 miles an hour, and around
95,000 letters were delivered per day. To celebrate the installation of the tube system
in 1897, employees sent out a fake peach, a Bible wrapped in a flag, and a cat. Why?
Your guess is as good as ours. According to a witness, the cat was dazed but fine.
#6: Germs: In a New York Times article published 1895, a postal worker named Miss Daisy James
recalled some of the very strange things she’d seen during her time there. James claimed
everything from snakeskin to dead birds had passed through her office, but some items
really took the cake. Physicians sometimes shipped diphtheria, scarlet fever, and smallpox
to the national Health Board. Can you imagine opening that box?
#5: A Person: In 1849, Henry Brown took a brave step to get out of slavery. After receiving
a “heavenly vision” that told him to “mail [himself] to a place where there are no slaves,”
Brown crammed himself into a three-foot-long box marked “dry goods.” With the help
of a few individuals, Brown managed to make it through the rough journey from Virginia
to Pennsylvania. He was delivered to the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee and later became known
as Henry Box Brown.
#4: A Child: In 1914, May Pierstorff visited her grandparents, something that millions
of children do every day. However, the way she got there was definitely unique. Pierstorff’s
parents mailed her there using “53-cents worth of stamps.” The trip was 73 miles
long, and the little girl was only six years old. Think that’s crazy? She wasn’t the
last kid to make this kind of journey. A year later, six-year-old Edna Neff traveled from
Florida to Virginia, and Helen Combs’ parents paid 10 cents to mail her by parcel post.
Needless to say, you can’t do this anymore.
#3: A Series Of Disturbing Letters: He was known as the “Circleville Writer.” In
1976, this creepy stranger sent out letters revealing personal information about residents
of a small Ohio town. The writer later turned violent, supposedly murdering the husband
of a bus driver named Mary Gillespie.
#2: A Drone: A college student living in Massachusetts received something any science nut would love
– the control panel and wings for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Puma
drone. A card that read “USA Federal Property Return to: NOAA Aircraft Operations Center”
was enclosed. The package was eventually returned to its rightful owner.
#1: A Chameleon: In December of 1954, the postmaster of Orlando, Florida received a
pre-stamped envelope that contained a chameleon. An included letter asked the postmaster to
let the little lizard loose. It was cold in Ohio, and the owner wanted his pet to stay
in a warmer climate. All went well and the chameleon found a new home on the grounds
of the post office.
Hey guys fresh here and thanks for watching my video on the 10 weirdest things sent in
the mail. For those of you on my channel that use twitter feel free to follow me @freshjiivetv,
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