Category: News and Views
Lost in transportation, Los Angeles style
Some 12,000 "lost" items of all shapes and sizes are
waiting to be claimed in Los Angeles' Metropolitan
Transportation Authority's lost and found department.
Many possessions that are reported lost on Los Angeles'
buses and trains are never turned in. Those that are
returned usually come with an unusual story, said Lorna
Riley, the MTA employee in charge of recording each item.
"You never know what to expect," Riley told the Los
Angeles Daily News. The bizarre items in the lost and
found inventory include a prosthetic leg stolen from its
owner -- who wanted to take a quick nap; a human jawbone
lost by a science professor; and a suitcase containing
a cremated woman's remains, the newspaper said. Most
items that are not claimed within 30 days are turned
over to Nationwide Auction Systems in Industry, Calif.
Some items are donated to a homeless shelter. The MTA
will notify anyone of a found item when it contains
contact information, Riley told the Daily News.
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You know what this means? This makes more plausible that urban legend about the thief who boarded an RTD bus a few years ago and was seen by passengers leaving behind a woman's hand after he'd removed all the golden rings. I grew up hearing that legend, and now I'm thinking that it's actually a true story. Yep, it's crazy down here in the City of Angels, very crazy.