The TSA’s Weird Year in Review

The TSA sure was busy in 2013—according to the agency’s Year in Review blog post, they screened 638,705,790 passengers last year. That’s over a million more flyers than in 2012. And of course, when you screen that many people, you’re going to find some weird (and scary) things.

TSA agents found an average of almost five firearms a day in carry-on bags (81 percent of which were loaded.) Flyers tried to hide guns in some pretty creative spots, as well, such as in a cassette deck, a golf bag, and in a box of detergent powder.

Other weird but non-dangerous items found in screenings included an inert suicide vest, an inert WWII era bazooka round, and 136 “novelty” grenades.

The most bizarre thing found by the TSA in 2013, however, was probably the human skull fragments found in clay pots in a checked baggage area at Fort Lauderdale airport.

Finally, if you’re considering packing your hairspray and lighter together, learn from this incident last year and remember to put your hairspray in a plastic bag. According to the TSA blog, “A traveler’s checked bag blew open with three foot high flames and smoke at Atlantic City (ACY). The cause? A large leaking can of hairspray was ignited by the spark of a lighter when the bag was loaded onto the rollers.”

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