The story of Apple and the lost, found, sold, and possibly considered stolen iPhone has the internet abuzz. But there are quite a few even stranger stories of people finding missing cell phones.
1. In a Bar
An Apple engineer left an iPhone G4 prototype at a bar, where it was picked up by someone else who sold it to Gizmodo, which blogged about its features way before Apple intended. Now police are investigating and seized computers belonging to Gizmodo editor Jason Chen. Anyone who has ever lost a phone knows how unnerving it can be. Here are more stories of cell phones that wound up in strange places. You may say that the Apple prototype was the most valuable, but sports fans may argue that the next phone is priceless.
2. In a Thrift Store
Dave Checketts was president and general manager of the NBA’s Utah Jazz from 1984 to 1990. He has also been president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation, president of the New York Knicks, and vice president for development at the NBA. Around ten years ago, he lost his Blackberry. Just last month, a man bought an old cell phone in a thrift store in Provo, Utah, for 50 cents. When he charged the phone up, he was surprised to find contact information for the biggest stars in basketball and sports broadcasting, and even hockey star Wayne Gretzky! There were also saved email messages to the mayor of Salt Lake City and the governor of Utah. The buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, did not call any of the stars listed in the phone, and planned to return it to Checketts.
3. In Food
Emma Schweiger of Janesville Township, Wisconsin, opened a bag of Clancy’s Ripple Potato Chips and started eating. She wasn’t looking at the bag when she reached in and felt something hard. It was a cell phone. The blue and silver Nokia phone contained a T-Mobile SIM card in it and grease stains on the outside. The chips were distributed by Aldi, who removed the rest of the lot from sales and said they would investigate. Schweiger was offered a replacement bag of chips, but passed, explaining that she’d lost her appetite for chips for the time being. She added that in the future, she would pour them out into a bowl before eating. Photo by Dan Lassiter.
4. Inside a Fish
Andrew Cheatle was playing with his dog at a beach in England when his phone slipped out of his pocket. He thought it was gone for good, but a week later, someone dialed his girlfriend from that phone number. Glen Kerley of Worthing, West Sussex, had caught a 25-pound cod and found the phone inside the fish! He retrieved the SIM card, inserted it into a dry phone, and found Cheatle’s saved numbers. When Cheatle retrieved the phone and dried it out, it still worked—but not perfectly. He had the circuit board replaced and still uses the phone, which has since lost its fishy smell.
5. In a Cab
A phone found in a taxi cab sounds like an everyday story, but in at least one case it could help convict a murderer. Taxi driver Brian Douglas Horn was arrested in connection with the murder of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. A cell phone found in his cab contained records of text messages that were entered as evidence that Horn lured Bloxom into the cab the night he was killed. This is not the first time a found cell phone was used as evidence in a murder case.
6. Inside a Dog
Nero is a Great Dane-Doberman crossbreed. The rather large dog from Pretoria, South Africa, snatched a cell phone from his owner’s daughter’s hand and swallowed it in the blink of an eye. Nero was immediately taken to the veterinary clinic, where he was X-rayed and then had surgery to remove the phone. The vets found stones in Nero’s stomach along with the phone. Nero recovered, but the cell phone never worked again.
7. In a Body Cavity
Some may say the strangest place to find a cell phone is in someone’s rectum, but this is actually pretty common. Even death row inmates have been caught hiding cell phones in their bodies. In one case, a prisoner had to have extensive surgery after the phone broke apart inside him. Then there’s the story from Pakistan in which 37 prisoners were found with phones stashed in their bodies. Seven of those men required surgery to remove them.
My children are constantly misplacing their phones, which is one reason they are required to always have them charged and turned on. We just call them and follow the ringing! Curiously, they are always under something they should have already looked under.
Comments (16)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
“…they are always under something they should have already looked under”: Hard to argue about that. I guess it’s related to the concept of always finding something that you had lost in the last place you look ;)
posted by Betsy on 4-27-2010 at 11:00 am
Just a small note from a Canadian fan – Wayne’s last name is spelled Gretzky, with a z instead of an s.
posted by Bert on 4-27-2010 at 11:05 am
Th difference is they NEVER look anywhere before resorting to borrowing my hone, even if they have to run down two stories to find me, then run back upstairs with my phone. Kids. Along the same lines, teenage son spent a half hour wiring up electricity and lights so he could cut his own hair outside and avoid 30 seconds of sweeping the floor.
posted by Miss Cellania on 4-27-2010 at 11:06 am
Another (in)famous phone that was found in a cab… the Sasha Gomez and the Sidekick case. The phone’s owner left it in a cab and Gomez found it, then refused to return it even after the owner contacted her and offered a reward. A friend of the owner’s started a website to try and get the phone back, and the site went viral. Internet vigilantes offered the owner support and legal advice, Gomez’s military police brother got in trouble for threatening the friend who set up the website, and the incident even ended up on the news. Some people even figured out where Gomez lived and drove by the neighborhood to harass her until she finally turned the phone in to the police.
posted by Jina on 4-27-2010 at 11:48 am
I own a bar and someone stuck a nice Blackberry in the pool table. If you know how to do it, you can stick an object somewhere inside and the balls all go to the return where you can keep playing for free. Unfortunately for him he could not retrieve it & I had to call a tech in to get it. Later, the owner called me to ask if I found said Blackberry. I told him I had it but said “you need to get it from me personally”. Apparently he felt the price of the Blackberry was not worth the embarrasment of owning up to what he did. New Blackberry $160. Price of a pool game $.75. Getting the best of this “doink”…priceless!
posted by Alan on 4-27-2010 at 12:27 pm
I recently had to have a sewer line cleaned by water jet. I asked the guy what was the most unusual clog he ever ran across. He told me he was cleaning out a clogged toilet line and in doing so swore he heard voices coming from the pipe. He finally found the obstruction which happened to be a cell phone that was “still getting a signal”. He couldn’t remember the brand, but was amazed it was still working after being exposed to all the water and….well you know what else.
posted by Alan on 4-27-2010 at 12:32 pm
“Along the same lines, teenage son spent a half hour wiring up electricity and lights so he could cut his own hair outside and avoid 30 seconds of sweeping the floor.”
I have to laugh – that’s exactly what my husband has done. Or he lays out layers of newspapers over the whole bathroom to catch the hair.
posted by Kelly on 4-27-2010 at 12:39 pm
Second that,Betsy. That was weird and kinda gross, Alan. But I’ve read that they have found money, jewelry, and even PETS in the lines. Pets like hamsters. Can you believe that?
posted by Sara in Al on 4-27-2010 at 12:49 pm
Hopefully that last picture doesn’t go with the associated story. I don’t think I could touch body cavity phones with my bare hands… ewwww.
posted by Jud on 4-27-2010 at 1:11 pm
my mom lost her phone outside during winter in michigan and it was lost for about 3 months i remember that it was a relic a motorola i60 flip that thing could take anything you threw at it but when we found the phone we dried it out charged it up and turned it on she had it until we went to At&t
posted by justin on 4-27-2010 at 1:24 pm
I droped mine in the toilet (which had not been used, fortunately) and after I dried it out, it worked for a year until I got a new one.
posted by Berbert on 4-28-2010 at 8:40 am
Here’s a good account of tracking a phone via GPS to the hands of a thief. Warning: Our heroes begin their story at a Lego convention.
http://happywaffle.livejournal.com/5890.html
“Find My iPhone works, and it is awesome.”
posted by Carolina on 4-28-2010 at 10:35 am
A colleague of mine worked for a company that dealt with certain information that needed to be kept secret and out of public hands – there was always information stored in issued phones, which were kept encrypted and passworded. The best part is that they also contained software which allowed them to remotely track the phone, activate voice and video recording, lock it from access and even destroy it, physically, using a small explosive inside the handset.
posted by BL on 4-29-2010 at 2:26 am
My husband lost his iPhone not once but twice in Six Flags at Jackson, NJ. Considering all the whirly rides out there alongwith a lot of youngsters who could use it for their music, we never thought we would get it back. But considering how lucky he is (being maried to me….), he got it both times. Credit goes to the cleaning crew at Six Flags and their friendly lost and found crew.
posted by Latha on 4-30-2010 at 8:40 am
A friend of mine lost his phone in a cab once. The cabbie held on to it and even answered his phone and took messages the whole week!
posted by Gayle on 4-30-2010 at 10:13 pm
I interviewed hundreds of people for my book:
In a Cell Phone Minute
by Judy Reiser
Intriguing stories revealed by cell phone yakkers and eavesdroppers across the globe. From touching romantic connections, wild lost-and-found escapades, and poignant, lifesaving 911 calls to pranksters’ antics, absurd customer service calls, and wacky insurance claims, In a Cell Phone Minute, roams from the strange to the interesting to the hilarious faster than you can say “Hello?”
Chapters include:
•LOL
•love is in the air
•auto misdial
•lost & found
•overheard
•where ru
•saved by the cell
•jest kidding ; ).
The print edition is shaped like and opens vertically like a flip-top phone.
Info, reviews:
http://www.judyreiser.com
From the lost & found chapter:
A GAS
station attendant in Turkey searched all over for
his cell phone but couldn’t find it. He assumed that a
customer must have stolen it while he filled their gas
tank. He decided to try dialing the number and couldn’t
believe his ears when his dog started ringing.
Apparently, the dog had swallowed his cell phone. The
owner waited patiently and retrieved his phone after
nature took its course.
posted by Judy Reiser on 2-8-2011 at 4:44 pm