The Most Bizarre Items TSA Has Ever Confiscated

The TSA security checkpoint at any American airport can be the scene of some strange experiences. From travelers vehemently refusing to be scanned to chronic over packers, there are plenty of people at the TSA checkpoint who can make your voyage far more interesting, to say the least. But the individual characters you'll meet while going through the security line are only half the story, as there's lots of wacky things to be discovered inside travelers' luggage, too. Nearly everyone has forgotten to take out a pocketknife, lighter, or large fingernail clippers before packing up for a trip. However, some of the wildest finds in the TSA X-rays and body scanners go far beyond these simple acts of forgetfulness.

With millions of travelers flowing through American airports on a weekly basis, there's a lot of work to be done by TSA agents to protect people on the move. Sometimes, TSA staff intercept harmful objects that simply slipped a travelers' mind. These can include power tools — even chainsaws — and fireworks. However, the diligent security workers also must deal with smuggling efforts and even firearms (either maliciously or innocently packed) on a routine basis, too. TSA uncovered 6,737 firearms in 2023, a record number of guns with most being loaded when they were discovered. From saws to handguns, these are some of the most wild and wacky things that TSA personnel has discovered in the luggage of travelers throughout the United States.

In December 2022, an X-ray machine at Tampa International Airport's TSA line picked up an unusual outline. A woman's bag revealed a coiled-up serpentine body, which upon further inspection did indeed reveal a 4-foot-long boa constrictor packed away inside her carry-on. The woman's pet snake — Bartholomew — was sitting alongside her other personal belongings in the X-ray bin. The discovery was certainly alarming, as was the traveler's explanation for the snake's presence: It was, according to her, an "emotional support" snake! The airline was contacted before the decision was made to deny the snake's boarding.

According to TSA's official Instagram account (a resource of great comedic content, to be fair), "We really have no adder-ation for discovering any pets going through an x-ray machine." The security service instead suggests that pets — more importantly, those allowed to fly with a traveler — should be taken out of their carrier and brought through the body scanner or metal detector with their owners. Many airlines allow travelers to bring all manner of typical pets onboard — including the likes of rabbits and birds — but snakes appear to fall outside of this standard. It's perhaps this stretch of the standard rules that led the traveler to attempt to conceal her pet snake for the journey. At any rate, the TSA security line rooted out the invertebrate, and the flight was ultimately snake-free!

Firearms are a common find in TSA security screenings, but most discoveries don't take the form that this one exhibited. A 2022 Instagram post by TSA showed a series of discovery images in which a TSA agent carefully unwraps a raw chicken to find a shrouded handgun! The find took place at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and the post was filled to the brim with great puns, as always. "The plot chickens as we barrel our way closer to Thanksgiving ... our officers are always working around the cluck to keep you safe."

Guns are actually something you can bring along with you on an airplane (with the highest volume of firearm confiscations at the TSA line found at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport) as long as you make the appropriate disclosures and pack the firearm appropriately in a checked bag. TSA guidance notes that guns must be unloaded and secured in a hard-sided container that can't be opened without the corresponding code or key. They must be declared to the check-in counter agent, and these features need to be verified before the gun can be taken to be loaded onto your plane. Essentially, you have to ensure that the gun cannot be accessed by anyone until you remove the bag from the carousel at your destination. This chicken-concealed weapon obviously didn't conform to those stringent rules and was confiscated as a result.

2012 wasn't just an election year; it was also a great time to be a TSA agent on the hunt for bizarre traveler carry-ons! At Miami International Airport, TSA agents found a bag of live eels (22 in total) alongside 163 tropical fish in a traveler's checked baggage. In an Instagram from the official TSA account, the organization notes that these animals were destined for Maracaibo in Venezuela before their interception. The traveler ultimately surrendered the illicit "items" to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

The post also notes that the traveler was attempting to transport these marine animals "among many other things," without going into detail on what that might entail. We can only speculate on what kinds of hijinks this traveler might have been up to with their truly bizarre packing — as well as the thought process involved in making the assumption that TSA wouldn't find nearly 200 live sea critters swimming around in their baggage! At any rate, the security screening officers identified the marine wildlife and worked with FWS professionals to place them elsewhere.

Chainsaws are understandably not allowed in carry-on luggage, but this hasn't stopped some passengers from packing their powered landscaping equipment anyway! In August 2021, the TSA_Gulf account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted an image of dozens of potentially deadly instruments it had recently confiscated from passenger luggage. Included in this grisly collection are a variety of brass knuckles and knives — some shaped like firearms — as well as bats, clubs, a grenade, and, of course, a fully functional chainsaw.

Chainsaws break regulations on acceptable carry-on items for two key reasons. Firstly, the bladed teeth of this gardening and landscaping tool are sharp and, therefore, offer an easy-to-understand reason to leave them at home. However, power tools are also generally prohibited from inclusion in carry-on bags. From electric sanders to drills, power tools pose their own problems when placed in baggage that will enter the plane alongside a passenger rather than under them in the cargo hold. It's truly ludicrous that a passenger would assume that their chainsaw could reasonably travel in an overhead compartment on their journey, but the same can be said for nearly all of the huge variety of weapons included in the social media post.

Drugs are commonly concealed in other items when smugglers bring them through the airport. Coffee bean carriers, for instance, are often immediately noticed by TSA agents. This is because coffee beans can sometimes play a role in a smuggler's attempts to throw drug-sniffing dogs off the scent of their illicit package — whether this might be a successful strategy or not is a different question. At any rate, Houston's William P. Hobby Airport had an entirely different method of concealment make its way through the TSA line in 2021. Agents working the security line in April of that year took note of a strange-looking "lump" inside the breakfast burrito of one traveler, according to a TSA press release. The X-ray signaled to agents that a second look might be warranted, but suspicion really ramped up when the traveler was asked to unwrap the item and attempted to dissuade the agents from pursuing their inspection rather than opening it. It was ultimately opened and rescanned, revealing black tape inside the food item — certainly not a substance that most breakfast burrito eaters would welcome seeing in their concoction!

The traveler was arrested, and the substance was identified as crystal meth. While illicit drug smuggling isn't something that agents "actively screen for" (according to the press release), it certainly falls under the aegis of the TSA mission to keep travelers safe and prevent the transport of harmful goods or movement of nefarious individuals. And yes, the TSA social media made plenty of "Breaking Bad" puns for good measure.

Houston's larger George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) has also been the site of some comedically interesting confiscations. In 2016, TSA agents here uncovered not one but two five-bladed floggers in the carry-on baggage of a traveler. These devices are, of course, bladed instruments that can't be packed in carry-on luggage. TSA noted in a tongue-in-cheek post on Instagram: "You guessed it; these are not allowed in carry-on bags. If you're in a situation where you're going to need your floggers, they'll have to be packed in checked baggage."

Alongside other knife blades, floggers like this go far beyond the acceptable level of cutting instruments that can be brought safely onboard an airplane. Fingernail clippers and other tiny personal hygiene tools — like standard shaving razors — are accepted, but anything beyond these simple inclusions will have to be left at home or stored in checked bags. Whatever will turn up at a Houston airport next?

Hawaii is an archipelago packed with wonderful sights. The islands offer some of the most beautiful views in the entirety of the United States and plenty of hidden gems that only locals know that can elevate your travels significantly. One thing you shouldn't do, however, is bring back any potentially dangerous mementos (especially since there are so many great options for souvenir collectors).

One traveler flying through Kahului Regional Airport packed a few antiques that raised eyebrows among TSA staff and were ultimately confiscated. A cannonball and flare gun were found in a traveler's hand luggage in 2012 and were summarily taken (via TSA's Instagram account). A flare gun falls under the purview of general firearm prohibitions and likely would have been fine to bring along for the ride if it had been properly stored in the traveler's checked bag, but the cannonball may not have fared quite so well. TSA notes that anything potentially explosive — inert or not — can't be carried onboard an airplane, either in carry-on or checked luggage. This is due in large part to the lack of investigative capacity that TSA agents possess in this area. Explosives and potentially explosive items cannot be properly examined without calling in local law enforcement's explosives disposal team. This creates major slowdowns in the security line because the area can't be deemed safe until the item is properly managed by an ordinance disposal professional. Also, don't take cannonballs on planes, you know?

In August 2011, TSA agents at Los Angeles International Airport discovered two birds taped to a woman's leg on her way to China, which is certainly a long way to travel with anything taped to you, let alone avian companions. The animals were suspected of being endangered species, and the woman was arrested on illicit exportation charges relating to this particular smuggling issue as a result (via TSA's Instagram account). The birds were wrapped up in socks and taped to her leg in an effort to keep them from moving around too much through the security check.

However, the thing that stood out to TSA staff wasn't a soft squawking from the pair. Instead, she was selected for pat-down screening because she was wearing excessively bulky clothing — likely in a direct attempt to conceal the birds. TSA agents consistently say that baggy clothing items are some of the worst things to wear while traveling, for this reason in particular. Anything could be hiding under baggy clothing, so TSA staff often administer a pat down in addition to routine screening practices in order to make sure nothing illicit is traveling alongside a passenger's impossibly baggy jeans or wildly ruffly dress. All of this somewhat overlooks the madness of taping endangered birds to your leg, but who are we to judge?

Like many states with plentiful casino environments, New Jersey's Atlantic City is synonymous with gambling and the neon-tinged drama that comes with it. It is also the backdrop to one of Bruce Springsteen's grittiest anthems, and perhaps one of the most unusual TSA finds of 2021 came at Atlantic City International Airport and would have fit right into his protagonist's story. In September of that year, TSA agents identified odd metal inclusions in a stick of deodorant as it passed through the metal detectors in Atlantic City's terminal.

According to the humor-injected TSA press release, "It was a creative attempt to subvert security, but of course an X-ray machine can detect bullets! ... the bullets were in the deodorant, and quite frankly, that stinks!" Indeed, six bullets wedged into the soft powdery consistency of deodorant are no match for the metal-detecting capabilities of a modern X-ray device. The bullets quickly flagged the security team, who took a closer look and had no trouble locating the illicit items.

It is a strangely common find in both checked and carry-on luggage, but anything even resembling an explosive device is prohibited by TSA. The organization noted in an Instagram post alongside a picture of a grenade welded to a tow hitch bar that TSA professionals can't establish whether an explosive device is dangerous or not without calling in specialists to investigate. "What's the big deal if it's inert?" the post asks, going on to detail that calling in bomb disposal experts "takes time and slows down the line. It can even lead to a complete shutdown and evacuation."

The 2016 find was made in the checked bag of a traveler at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport and certainly set off some alarm bells. Even though the grenade appears to be much larger than an actual explosive device — considering its size in relation to the officer's hand and arm in the image that TSA shared online — and might visually signal its innocence as a prop rather than a weapon, the same rules apply. TSA's job is to protect travelers, and a potentially lethal explosive device on a plane would produce the opposite effect.

The final item on our list of maniacal items that people have tried to bring through airport security lines is one that started as a true horror story and ended with a somewhat happy conclusion. Perhaps the worst nightmare for any TSA officer is a repeat — in small or large part — of the events that saw the organization created in the first place. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks lit a fuse that ultimately created the Department of Homeland Security, TSA, and reframed the federal government's anti-terrorism and intelligence work substantially. Since 2001, security at airports has remained laser-focused on threats to individuals and potential hijacking concerns. As a result, weapons and any kind of device that might be used to intimidate, assault, or coerce flight staff and passengers have been made a top priority.

A suicide vest alongside a bevy of explosives material (electric matches, potassium chlorate, and titanium powder) was discovered in the checked bag of a traveler flying through Indianapolis International Airport, according to another TSA Instagram post. This find would certainly make even the most hardened individual's blood run cold, but there's more to this story than the simple discovery of bomb equipment. It transpired that the vest was an inert replica, and the whole suitcase of horror was carrying instructional materials for an explosive ordinance training instructor. However, while TSA's Instagram posts often make heavy use of puns and jokes when discussing its finds, this one was no laughing matter.