Here are 7 such famous movie props that were abandoned. You might find your favorite movie
prop on the list, and tears might be shed. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
The Original Death Star from Star Wars
After the filming of Star Wars, the studio stopped paying rent on the storage unit
where all the props were stored. Everything was going to be discarded. But fortunately,
a hero named Doug W. stepped in and saved the Death Star from its imminent death
and gave it an interesting life. After being on display at his house for a decade,
the prop was sold to his mother’s antique shop when Doug moved states. From there, it
found itself at a country music venue called Star World, which became its home for several years.
When the Star World closed its doors, Todd Franklin, a Star Wars collector,
went all the way to purchase it on the spot. He had been eyeing it for years. To his surprise,
it sat in a corner, being used as a trash can! He immediately brought it home and proudly displayed
it in his living room for years. He even made a replica radar dish out of cardboard!
Eventually, Todd decided to sell the prop. The lucky one this time was a collector called Gus
Lopez, who stored it in a storage unit till he could find a house that had “adequate Death Star
space.” Oh, the things we do for the props we love.. He loaned it to the Seattle EMP museum
for a while, but eventually brought it back home, where it now resides.
The Spaceship from ‘Alien’
Nostromo, the famous spaceship from ‘Alien,’ was a humongous beast, weighing a quarter of a ton,
and taking up 80 square feet of space! That’s a lot of space, and the studio didn’t have
any use for it anymore. So when an LA resident called Bob Burns contacted Fox for permission
to host an Alien-themed party, they sent him the Nostromo and a few other props as gifts.
The prop was so big that it had to be lowered into his driveway using a crane. Bob Burns,
an ‘Alien’ fan was ecstatic, even though the spaceship was too big for his house.
Being the ardent fan that he was, Bob Burns left it right there in his driveway for two decades.
Naturally. During this time, the spaceship became a victim of the elements and suffered
great damage due to the heat and rain. Bob threw a tarp over it and called it
a day. Don’t say he didn’t do anything! After two decades, he carted it to a storage locker,
where it stayed for another decade. Eventually, he sold it to a memorabilia store,
who tried to restore it as much as they could and brought the beloved spaceship back to life again.
The Last Remaining Shark from ‘Jaws’
Surely the last remaining prop from a famous movie would be stored with care? Think again! In fact,
Speilberg hated the props so much that all of the sharks were destroyed after filming!
But not this one. Because this shark, although made out of the same mold, was never meant to
be on the big screen. It was made solely to serve as a prop at Universal Studios for all the fans to
admire and take pictures with. He even has a name- Bruce - and he was displayed on top of a pole!
After the hype for ‘Jaws’ died down, the shark was sold to a junkyard owner,
Sam Adlen. Bruce became Junkyard Bruce. For two decades, Sam refused to part with it. Junkyard
Bruce was propped up on a pole and kept watch over Sam’s junkyard. Imagine! A 25-foot long, 8-foot
tall shark just hanging out on a pole in the middle of nowhere. After Sam passed away, leaving
his beloved Bruce behind, his son donated it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Academy will try to restore Bruce while keeping him in a climate-controlled storage unit.
Bet Spielberg is going to be thinking, “you again? Didn’t I get rid of you years ago?”
James Bond and Mad Max’s Cars
Apparently, these cars keep turning up in weird places. The Lotus Submarine Car from The Spy
Who Loved Me, was discovered inside a storage unit that was bought blind for less than $100!
What a treat to stumble upon a legendary movie car! After restoring it, it was auctioned off for
a ton of money to none other than.. Elon Musk! While this car was sitting in storage,
the Interceptor from the first 3 Mad Max movies travelled the world. Well,
a portion of it at least. After filming, the car was discarded and found in a junkyard. Since then,
the car has changed owners several times, and has travelled to museums in Florida, England,
and even Australia! Sounds exciting, right? Finally, the most interesting of them all
includes Tarantino’s own red Malibu from Pulp Fiction. This car was stolen right out of the set,
before it could be discarded. It resurfaced nineteen years later when a cop in California
got a call about something suspicious going on in a parking lot. Upon arriving, he saw two men
stripping down a car which turned out to be the red Malibu. Although these men were arrested,
no charges were pressed because the statute of limitations had passed on the theft. But the
cop got to go home, happy with the knowledge that he had saved the Malibu from an undeserved death.
The Whole Set From ‘Gone With The Wind’
This time, it wasn’t just a single prop that was abandoned. It was the entire movie set!
How does one even abandon an entire movie set?
You’ll see. Gone With The Wind was released in 1939 and was filmed in a cotton plantation called
Tara. Yes, apparently, naming cotton plantations was a thing. After the filming got over,
the set served as a tourist attraction till 1959. After two decades, they decided enough was enough,
and moved the facade from LA to Atlanta. It was then purchased by a Senator’s wife,
who, then, kept the entire set inside a barn and just forgot about it. Seriously, what is it with
movie props and abandoned barns and junkyards? For decades and decades, the dusty barn remained
its home, until Peter Bonner, a local historical tour company owner stumbled upon it in 2013.
He - quite literally - found the set buried under a pile of junk. Shocked at how the set
of the historical movie was treated, he started a restoration project called Saving Tara. He will
then display the set in its historical context, instead of leaving it to rot in an abandoned barn.
A Giant Head From a 90’s Rap Video
Back in 1993, a rap group called Digital Underground were high on success.
So obviously they had to celebrate by building a giant model of a head. This head belonged to
one of their rappers, Shock G, and was built in such a way that he could jump out of its nose.
The head accompanied them on tours. For a while. Then it fell off the face of the Earth till 2003
when Francis Rush found it sitting in an Oakland parking garage. He had bought the building,
receiving the giant head as a surprise gift. Francis didn’t want the giant head sitting in
the garage because it was taking up precious parking space. He tried several times to get
rid of it with no luck: first, by trying to sell it on Craigslist, then by offering it
to the LA Hip Hop Museum. But the museum didn’t have any space for it. Even Shock G didn’t want
his own giant head. Which is understandable. After years of no luck, a desperate Francis
turned to the internet in 2012 to help him out. Shock G said that he wanted it preserved
and would just pay someone to take it. He even said he would buy it back from them
if Digital Underground ever needed it again. Sadly, no one came forward,
abandoning not only the giant head, but poor Francis as well.
The Puppets From ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’
This final story is kind of heart-warming. After the famous TV special of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer’ was filmed, one of the employees did not know what to do with the original puppets.
So she gave them to her children, who proceeded to play with it the way kids
do. By feeding it crayons and play-doh. She also used them as Christmas decorations.
Four decades later, the employee’s nephew found the Santa and Rudolph puppets. Only these two had
remained as the others had melted in the hot attic. He gleefully took them to the Antiques
Roadshow where they were estimated to be valued around 8,000 -10,000 dollars. The nephew couldn't
believe his luck, and immediately sold them to a toy store owner. The owner then lovingly restored
them, making them look as healthy as before. These rare handmade collectibles are currently valued at
$150,000 - $250,000. Word on the street was that a Christmas Museum in Ohio had started a
GoFundMe page to tray and acquire these puppets. I guess you could say.. It was a Christmas miracle.