HAS ANYONE SEEN MY HEAD? SOME OF THE WEIRDEST ITEMS LEFT BEHIND

Bear pelt packed in salt

The Unclaimed Baggage Center once received a ‘terrible-smelling’ bear pelt packed in salt. Hunters and taxidermists salt animal pelts to preserve them but there are specific methods they must follow to do this successfully. It can take almost two weeks to cure an animal hide so it’s possible this bear pelt had not been completely cured before it was lost in transit.

Camera from the space shuttle

A modified Nikon F camera from Nasa’s Space Shuttle programme is an item that the store deems one of its ‘out of this world’ finds. Designed in the late 1980s, this model was one of the earliest iterations of the digital camera and only three were ever made. Because of its rarity, the company sent the camera back to Nasa.

Shrunken heads

The centre has received several shrunken heads over the years, including one that served as decoration on a medicine-man stick. They’re unsure where this bizarre item came from but note: ‘Headhunting has been documented only in the Amazon rainforest’s north-western region (Ecuador and Peru). Tribes… have been known to shrink and collect human heads.’

Hoggle from Labyrinth

One of the best-known finds was a four-foot goblin puppet known as Hoggle, a key character from the Jim Henson fantasy film Labyrinth. The character arrived at Unclaimed Baggage in poor condition. He was ‘lovingly restored’ by doll artist Gary Sowatzka and now resides in the store’s entrance, where he greets thousands of guests every year.