Weirdest thing you've ever seen on the ground during a run..? (Read 11262 times)

I guess this would count...

One day, I was running along on a county road that was relatively near to a housing subdivision, but still heavily wooded and secluded.  As I approached the intersection that leads into the neighborhood, I saw what I thought at first was a rotten stump sticking out of the ground; as I got closer, I realized it was a raccoon, standing on its hind legs...in broad daylight.  For those who don't know, raccoons are generally nocturnal, so seeing one at that time of day is bad news, probably indicates rabies.  Failing to run away from you definitely indicates rabies.

I warily approached, and it did not notice me in the least.  It only stood there, staring off into space and baring its teeth at apparently nothing at all, and as I watched, it slowly tipped forward, forward, forward...eventually falling forward, onto the ground, at which point it started to convulse.  After a few seconds of this, it would groggily bring itself back up, go through some faint motions like it might be trying to root for some food (as raccoons do), then the cycle would start again, with me standing about 10 yards away and the raccoon paying neither me nor the flies buzzing around a bit of attention.

My first instinct was to just finish my run and try to put it out of my mind, but then I got to thinking about the kids in the nearby houses and realized I should call animal control, so I did.  The fellow arrived, took one look and called the sheriff's deputy.  Not rabies, as I suspected, but distemper, which I had no idea looked like that.  Poor thing needed to be put down (which I knew within about five seconds of observing its little routine), and apparently this isn't something that is done in a nice, Soylent Green-style chamber that the county maintains, it's done on-site, with a tool that animal control officers don't carry but that deputies do.  They asked me and a walker who had also come upon the scene to keep a safe distance away, the sheriff's deputy got a shotgun out of his trunk (why the shotgun, I still wonder?  Seems like it would make a much bigger mess to clean up than a well-placed 9-mil round), and a few minutes and some noise later, I was back on my run with some terrible images in my head and a sense of foreboding that would haunt me every time I run through that intersection.

I'm trying to think of useful...not coming up with much.  I need to find some money!

 

I've seen half-empty water bottles while thirsty, before, but I've never been desperate enough to go there.

I have had the same experience with finding water bottles while thirsty. Like you, I would never imagine drinking from one.

The weirdest thing I have seen while running wasn't uncommon, but definitely suprising. I had ran through an area recently during my long run. I had hit the end and turned around, so I had not been gone long. On the return trip, I was thinking about some acorns I had seen on the ground, and decided I would pick them up for my daughters. As I rounded the bend, I was looking at the ground and not paying much attention to the road ahead. As I glanced up, I saw a huge lump in the road. It caught my attention as I approached, and I slowed my pace to get a good look at it. Suddenly it hopped up, stretched out its wings, and flew away. Turns out, there was a Great Blue Heron, lying in the middle of the road sunning itself. They are common here, but usually are seen standing in water. This was the first time I had ever seen one just sitting on the road.

... catfish heads stuck on top of the posts ... 

Wow!  Then this:

I guess this would count...  [rabid/distempered RACOONS, sheriff's deputy w/ shotgun, Soylent-Green reference, ...]

Yikes!

I found a soaking wet $2 bill once. I still have it. But after the above, I almost feel like Charlie Brown at Halloween saying, "I got a rock."

Subdood, don't feel inadequate...finding money is WAY better than a distempered raccoon, believe me!  However, I understand how you feel after reading this:

living in FL i've seen plenty of gators, but i once ran up on a 10' gator who was laying mouth open in the tall grass right next to the sidewalk i was running on. i got within 2-3' before i saw it- scared the shit out of me, i jumped/ yelled at it, it didn't move... as i backed up, it turned and ran into the nearby wetlands.

 

Yikes! I don't think the arm-waving and "GO HOME!"-shouting that I usually do for dogs would have helped in that situation!

Not weird, but I thought it was cool- a week or two, while running on a closed dirt road, I saw a baby deer standing in the road ahead of me.  It didn't run away as I got closer, but lowered itself to the ground and flattened itself out.  I told him, that technique usually works better when you're in some tall grass or something, little guy!  And this morning, in the same place, a small fox was laying in the road.  It got up and ran away when it saw me, though.

That distempered raccoon story is crazy! The weirdest thing I can think of is a seeing a bunch of flattened snakes in one area of a back road that I would frequent. Seeing one is interesting, but seeing 5 all smashed in the same area was a bit odd. It made me wonder if there was a mass snake crossing at once or if it happened over the course of a few days. Either way they need a snake crossing sign there. After seeing that I pick up the pace on that road now in fear of a herd of snakes chasing me.

A dried up starfish along the road this morning.

a peacock in the road