Self storage units are used for a wide variety of reasons - most of which are fairly straightforward. Whether moving house, having children, travelling abroad or getting divorced, generally a need for storage can come from a change in our personal circumstances. Open most storage units and you would be likely to find boxes of normal household items in there.
From time to time though, we hear about strange, and even down-right creepy things which have been uncovered in abandoned units. If you are familiar with the programe Storage Wars, you will have heard about the practice of auctioning off storage units where people have stopped paying the rental to the highest bidder. Sometimes, people are pleasantly surprised by the contents of the units - other times not so much! So, what are the oddest things which have been found in storage units?
Hand Grenade
Whilst sorting through the contents of a storage unit, a man found a single live hand grenade in a gun case. Fortunately, the man was able to deliver the hand grenade to the local fire authority for it to be disposed of properly before anyone was injured.
Human Organs
A bit of a grim find this one, and a story that would not seem out of place in a horror movie. A storage unit in Missouri was found to be housing more than 100 human organs which were spread about in Tupperware containers, boxes, and bags. There were even large containers of formaldehyde. The unit had belonged to a former Medical examiner who was fired in 1996 from the medical examiner's office in Jackson County, Missouri. No one is quite sure how they got there or why he wanted them.
A Dead Body
What seemed like a fairly ordinary storage unit with everyday items turned out to be anything but when the remains of a dead body was discovered by the new owners of the contents. Despite pleading her innocence, the former renter of the storage was subsequently charged with the murder of her husband who had disappeared without trace some years before.
A Human Leg!
The new owner of the contents of a storage unit found a human leg hidden inside a meat smoker. The leg belonged to the previous renter of the unit and had been amputated following his involvement in a plane crash. He has been storing it for safe keeping as it was his intention to eventually be buried with it. The leg was eventualy reunited with it's owner!
A locked Coffin
In another scene reminiscent of a Hammer Horror movie, but actually aired on an episode of storage wars, a storage unit was opened to reveal the contents to find a single padlocked coffin and nothing else. Fortunately, the coffin was revealed to be holding nothing more sinister than a suit and an empty urn.
You may be wondering how we are going to turn this blog post around to its relevance to storage insurance. Well, in this instance, I am not sure we can! With the exception of the empty coffin, all the other items listed above would have almost certainly contravened the terms of conditions of storage and therefore, by definition any storage insurance cover taken out. We are also not sure how you would go about assessing the value of an amputated leg!