Where Lost Luggage Ends Up

[Cocitus23]

In this month's RACV magazine there is an article on lost luggage. It's not bad, but there's not a lot that readers of this forum do not know already. It did however remind me of a quite amusing enterprise in USA which many of you may not know about. It is the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro Alabama. Check it out at www.unclaimedbaggage.com
Is is well off the beaten track, and I doubt if many readers have visited it, so I'll share my experiences.

It seems that generations ago an enterprising family did deals with various airlines in the US to buy from them any luggage, unopened, which could not be reunited with its owner. Apparently after the airlines pay out compensation for lost bags, ownership of any bags subsequently recovered and remaining unclaimed reverts to the airline. These arrangements continue to this day, and as I understand it, most US carriers offload their unclaimed bags to Scottsboro. You can buy anything from a bridal gown, to a surf board to a guitar to a full suit of armour! And of course, plenty of undies and bras.

Shopping there is not a sophisticated exercise. This is no Saks 5th Avenue, more like a sprawling trash and treasure barn in the middle of red neck country. It's a great place to take the kids (or grand-kids in our case), give them $20, give them an hour and let them see how much they can get for it. The place is a focus for bus loads of seniors from all the Hicksvilkles for miles around.

Scottsboro is a small place in the middle of no-where. Actually, it is in the NE corner of Alabama, near where the borders of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee all meet. You can't get much more Confederate than that, can you? It is not worth going a long way out of your way to have the experience, but if per chance you are driving anywhere within the triangle formed by Huntsville AL, Atlanta GA and Chattanooga TN, then you won't have to divert too far to check it out, and then it is worthwhile. To round out the trip, other attractions nearby which I have enjoyed include Russell Cave National Monument in Alabama, and the Chickamauge & Chattanooga National Military Park in Tennessee.

Why have I been there on multiple occasions? Well, I have 3 grand-kids living near Atlanta, and it's an off-beat place to take them and they enjoy it. As does my American (Pennsylvanian) wife. (Incidentally, 140 years after the Civil War, she still feels somewhat uneasy coming down into these parts, and eyes the locals much as she would eye the Viet Cong. And fair enough, although they only about half as sophisticated as the Cong. She is much happier on the heights of Chattanooga where "we kicked their Rebel cough.")

Has anyone else on AFF been there, or does anyone know what happens to unclaimed baggage in Australia?

 

[kiwi2768]

Its on our plan to go to Chattanooga Might make a detour and check it out - like we won't have enough in our bags by the end of our trip

 

[tuapekastar]

I have read about this place before, but never been anywhere near it. It sounds, as you say, interesting if you're in the area.

Must have been an enterprising person who set it up!

I'm not aware of a similar place in Oz, though one may well exist.

 

[drron]

Yes been there done that.Actually a very scenic part of the states to drive through and as the OP said lots to do in the surrounding area.Somewhere in one of my rambling TRs there is a description-before i learnt to bore everyone with photos.
Certainly the South is different.I remember following a school group around in the Civil war museum in Bardstown Kentucky.The guide stopped by the picture of Stonewall Jackson.The kids all knew who it was.She went on to describe his death which according to her was actually due to the fact that he was such a gentleman that he had sent his doctor to treat some wounded "damn"yankees.She continued-now if he had not done that he would have survived.And had he survived the South would have not lost and would have ruled the USA which would be a much better place today.
Yep-the South didnt loose according to some.

 

[hazel]

Has anyone else on AFF been there, or does anyone know what happens to unclaimed baggage in Australia?

I work for a large charity - we have received some in the past. We are also the recipients of the scissors etc that are removed from carry on bags at security.

 

[Cocitus23]

Picking up on drron's sub-theme of the South's attitude towards the North, one instance I loved was in Savannah GA. We took the horse-drawn tour around the town, and couldn't help but chuckle at the driver's constant referral to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression."

By the way, talking of good places to visit in the South, Savannah is just superb, as is Charleston SC, just up the coast. And those who like seeing the rich and famous might like to call in to Hilton Head Island, SC, which is between the two

 

[k_sheep]

I work for a large charity - we have received some in the past. We are also the recipients of the scissors etc that are removed from carry on bags at security.

That's a nice warm and fuzzy I'm glad it doesn't just get binned, or find its way to TSA / other security personnel!

 

[Fifa]

I wish I had heard about this place 2 years ago when we were visiting friends in Huntsville.

To think - Scottsboro was only 40 miles away from where we were staying!!! We'll definitely have to return.

 

[anat0l]

Well my guess is that they have a huge vault or something where they put unclaimed baggage.

If you're a baggage handler or customs agent and you've been a good boy/girl, you get to go into the vault and pick a piece of baggage to take home with you.

 

[samh004]

Sounds and looks like an interesting place to visit, though I’m not sure why I’d ever find myself in the “deep south” on purpose. I’ve seen that Top Gear episode

 

[thewinchester]

Can't say I know about what happens down under with bags unclaimed, but I've read about the UBC several times before.

Some of the stuff they've had arrive there is off the hook, including:

• gems
• diamond rings
• a US Air Force jet guidance system (which they returned thankfully), and
  
• [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]life-size face of Hoggle, from the Jim Henson movie, Labyrinth[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[harvyk]

Sounds and looks like an interesting place to visit, though I’m not sure why I’d ever find myself in the “deep south” on purpose. I’ve seen that Top Gear episode

Just don't write "man love rules" on your car and you'll be right...

 

[Blackadder]

Yes been there done that.Actually a very scenic part of the states to drive through and as the OP said lots to do in the surrounding area.Somewhere in one of my rambling TRs there is a description-before i learnt to bore everyone with photos.
Certainly the South is different.I remember following a school group around in the Civil war museum in Bardstown Kentucky.The guide stopped by the picture of Stonewall Jackson.The kids all knew who it was.She went on to describe his death which according to her was actually due to the fact that he was such a gentleman that he had sent his doctor to treat some wounded "damn"yankees.She continued-now if he had not done that he would have survived.And had he survived the South would have not lost and would have ruled the USA which would be a much better place today.
Yep-the South didnt loose according to some.

Some in South would say the war is still going.

Have spent time down in Huntsville,Al and loved it so much more of a laid back lifestyle than what you would find North of the Mason-Dixie.

*Wanders off whistling the Ballad of Johnny Reb*