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Hold up your hand if you’ve ever flown to a near (or far) destination accompanied by your perfectly packed suitcases.  You arrived at your destination …. but your luggage did not.  If this sounds familiar, my friend, this article is for you.  Having said that, right now you are undoubtedly being bombarded with frenetic flashbacks of past lost luggage hysterics.  I apologize for stirring up those old beastly horror shows, but here’s the deal.  Did you know there is a real place where many of those bejillion homeless suitcases end up?  Scottsboro, Alabama.  Yessir, that’s the place. It’s a city-block-sized store called “Unclaimed Baggage.” Tourists come from all over the world—and beyond—to marvel at the incredible display of its inventory.  If one were to look closely, he would see marks on the floor where stunned jaws have bounced off it.

The inspiration began one day when Doyle Owens’ friend (an employee of Trailways Bus) mentioned that he had mountains of unclaimed baggage he didn’t know what to do with.  A glint immediately sparkled in Doyle’s eyes as he imagined his future.  Borrowing $300 and a 1965 Chevy pickup, he set off to collect the suitcases. A closet entrepreneur, Doyle knew exactly what he would do.

He began with an ad in the Scottsboro newspaper announcing his new commercial enterprise.  There he explained he would be selling items from unclaimed baggage—lost  items left behind in seat pockets and overhead bins on planes, trains and buses. What a concept! Overnight people showed up in droves.  Soon his son, Bryan, took over.  Doyle died two decades later but not before seeing business—his baby—expand far beyond his small Alabama town of 16,000 residents. Unclaimed Baggage is now international with online purchases shipped worldwide.

So, now we come to the really important question.  What are you in the market for?  Perhaps a jar full of shark’s teeth, two live rat snakes, a wedding dress or a funeral casket key? (Do caskets really have keys?  And, if so, are they for entering or exiting!) No matter what your heart desires, this place probably has it.

Indeed, there have been so many quirky mislaid treasures that Doyle decided to create a separate museum inside the store.  There you can ogle a suit of armor, a set of bagpipes, a Gucci bag filled with Egyptian historical artifacts, designer jewelry and the puppet Hoggle, a dwarf used in the 1986 fantasy movie “Labyrinth”.  One lost bag contained a custom Nikon camera designed for a U.S. space shuttle that someone from NASA forgot. Whoopsy!

To be sure, the diligent airlines try their darnedest to match up the lostables (I just made up that word) with their owners.  But, when all attempts fail, what else can they do?  In 2003, the airlines in America lost an average of 6.9 bags per 1,000 passengers.  Fortunately, more than 99.5% of the suitcases were eventually reunited with their owners.  Jump ahead to August of 2024 where in one month alone, U.S. federal statistics show that the airlines mishandled more than 260,000 bags.  Admittedly, when you observe the chaos in airports, it’s a wonder the number isn’t higher.

Typically, three to four months are spent trying to reunite bags with their rightful owners.  When that is unsuccessful, they (the suitcases not the owners) are sold to Doyle’s store.  It should be noted that most bags are lost because they have no identification on them.  That’s as dumb as wondering why you have a headache after you’ve crashed into a brick wall while riding your Harley Davidson without a helmet.

I don’t know what the store pays the airlines, but the airlines pay their disgruntled passengers big money!  By the time the bags end up in the store, the airlines have already compensated the owners (per federal regulations), up to $3,800 per person.  Unclaimed Baggage buys each bag as is without knowing its contents.  They are then gone through, sorted and cleaned.  You’ll be happy to know that used undergarments are not sold.  Also, tech experts remove all personal data from electronic devices and test them to ensure they work.

This brings to mind the other side of the world.  In the 18 years I lived in Tokyo, I learned a few things.  One of them was what the Japanese commuter train system does with lost items. These are generally umbrellas, books and sunglasses.  But, what about cremains?  Yes, I said cremains.  You know, the ashes of dead people.

Here’s the scoop.  Japan is one of the world’s priciest places.  It is also densely populated.  That means there is no space for caskets.  Cremation is the name of their end game.  But, burying an urn is unspeakably expensive as well as purchasing the crypts in which they are sealed.  So, what’s an indigent fellow to do with Great Aunt Michiko’s ashes?  Simple. He clandestinely—though purposely—leaves the urn behind him on the seat of the train.  Oh, no, you cry!  But hold on for here comes the surprising part. Each kind-hearted, benevolent train line has its own columbarium overseen by respectful chanting monks.  Wow!  You didn’t expect that, did you?

Meanwhile back at Unclaimed Baggage, a regular customer reports that she purchased a high-end silver jacket as well as a vintage Louis Vuitton bag that retails in the thousands of dollars.  Her price: $350.  The store’s most expensive item was a platinum Rolex watch retailing at $64,000, but sold for half that.  Currently the top ticket item is a solitaire diamond ring priced at $19,491. And then there was the one lucky customer who, while rummaging about, found her own lost ski boots!  Wonder if she had to pay for them?  And if not, why couldn’t I then claim that that $19,491 solitaire diamond ring used to me mine?

Each day … I repeat … each day roughly 7,000 forgotten items are delivered to the store!  How can folks be this brain dead?  It certainly gives me pause to reflect on the smarts of the traveler who forgets her mink coat in the Sun Country seat pocket.  Like wasn’t there a bulky noticeable lump in front of her as she stood up and/or didn’t she feel a draft immediately upon deplaning?  I wonder if she was blond?

Above all, let it be known that Unclaimed Baggage is not a thrift store.  Au contraire!  Rather it is an emporium full of things that people adored so much that they took them on vacation with them.

With this in mind, let me suggest that if you’re in the market for a suitcase  …