Lost Luggage Finds Homes
S C O T T S B O R O, Ala., Dec. 11 -- At the Unclaimed Baggage Center, a perfect stranger could be rifling through your personal items and buying them.
"This is the home of lost luggage," exclaimed Betsy Simms of Milton, Fla.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit the center every year in order to discover treasures inside luggage that never made it back to their rightful owners. After airlines finally give up locating the owners, they send it to the unclaimed suitcase center of the universe.
It seems a lot of people want to see what's in other people's luggage. "My curiosity is great," laughed Bud Knowles. "That's the spice of life to me."
The luggage is collected from airports around the country, hauled here, opened, and catalogued. They don't allow the process to be photographed because they first want to sort out the unmentionables.
Some of those "unmentionables," like boxer shorts, are first dry-cleaned and then put out for sale.
"You never know what you're going to find here," said Ernie McCoy. "You have to look real close too or you overlook something that you want."
It all depends, really, on who's been flying and where they were heading. "I see a saddle over there looks pretty interesting," said McCoy, laughing. "How could you leave a saddle?"
One Person’s Lost Bags, Another’s Treasures
Doyle Owens started this now-profitable business 33 years ago.
"My dad started with … a borrowed pick up truck and he went off to get his first load of unclaimed bags," said his son, Bryan.
With items like a violin from the 1700s, an enormous emerald, ball gowns, countless rings, watches, unusual clothing and even a violet Bailey's hat, some customers find treasures.
They're treasures lost, packed by a traveler headed for a journey.
"I really hate it for the people who have lost some of their stuff," said Judy Rhodes, "but I sure do like to find it."
And, as they like to say here, finders keepers.
ABCNEWS' Harvey Goldberg contributed to this report.
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