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In California, a frog entered in a jumping contest can never become dinner. In New Hampshire, the same handful of seaweed you could collect in daylight can get you in trouble after dark. And the U.S. Postal Service has an entire set of rules for mailing live scorpions.
Some of America’s strangest laws apply nationwide. Others stop at the city line or cover one very specific activity. The details are often more surprising than the rumors, especially when lawmakers start measuring the bottom of a shoe or counting how many ducklings can go home together.
1. California Forbids Eating a Frog That Dies in a Jumping Contest
California allows people to keep live frogs for qualifying public frog-jumping contests. If one of those frogs dies or is killed, the law says it must be destroyed as soon as possible. Eating it or putting it to any other use is prohibited.
The rule follows the frog’s role in the contest. Even if it dies away from the jumping area, it still can’t end up on a plate.
2. You May Need a Permit to Wear High Heels in Carmel-by-the-Sea
On public streets and sidewalks in this California town, certain shoes require a permit from the city clerk. The ordinance applies when the heel is more than two inches tall and has less than one square inch of surface in contact with the ground.
That puts a narrow stiletto and a broad block heel in different categories, even if they’re the same height. The city’s ordinance points to uneven walking surfaces and makes the permit holder accept responsibility for falls connected to wearing the shoes.
3. New Hampshire Restricts Collecting Seaweed After Dark
New Hampshire prohibits taking seaweed or rockweed from the shore below the high-water mark during the nighttime hours. The rule also covers gathering it with the intention of carrying it away.
The high-water mark matters as much as the time of day. A proposal to repeal the restriction failed, leaving the nighttime rule on the books.
4. The U.S. Mail Accepts Live Scorpions for Two Very Specific Reasons
Federal law makes room for live scorpions in the mail when they’re being sent for medical research or to make antivenom. Postal rules require surface transportation and two layers of containment, including an inner container a scorpion cannot puncture.
Both the inner container and the address side of the package must identify what’s inside. Few packages have a label you’d be less tempted to ignore.
5. Idaho’s Cannibalism Law Includes a Survival Defense
Idaho makes it a crime to deliberately consume human flesh or blood. The unusual part is the defense written into the same law. A person can argue that they faced an extreme, life-threatening situation and that their actions appeared to be the only way to survive.
A conviction can carry up to 14 years in state prison. The survival provision is an affirmative defense, meaning the person accused must raise it as part of their case.
6. Oregon Lets You Keep Roadkill but Wants the Head Back
Oregon allows people to salvage certain deer and elk killed in vehicle collisions. Anyone who does so must complete a free permit within 24 hours and turn over the head and any antlers to the state wildlife agency within five business days.
So a chance encounter on an Oregon road can leave you with two separate deadlines, one for the paperwork and one for the animal’s head.
7. Kentucky Bans Dyed Ducklings and Sets a Six-Animal Minimum
Kentucky prohibits dyeing baby chicks, ducklings, other young fowl, and baby rabbits. The law goes further by restricting their sale, exchange, or giveaway in groups of fewer than six when the animals are under two months old.
There’s a remarkably specific exception. A rabbit weighing at least three pounds may be sold at six weeks. That’s a law where the color, age, head count, and weight can all matter.
8. Rehoboth Beach Moves Trick-or-Treating When Halloween Falls on a Sunday
The Delaware city’s code sets a 6 to 8 p.m. window for door-to-door trick-or-treating by children under 14. Ordinarily, that window falls on October 31. When Halloween lands on a Sunday, the code moves it to October 30 at the same hours.
The ordinance also makes room for certain sponsored Halloween parades and costume contests. The date change is about going from house to house for treats.
9. New York City Ice Cream Trucks Have to Stop the Jingle When They Stop Moving
New York City allows ice cream trucks to play their familiar tunes while moving. Once a truck is parked, standing, or stopped, the jingle has to go quiet.
That creates a funny little reversal. The music can call you to the truck, but by the time it stops to serve you, the soundtrack should be over.
10. Florida Specifically Prohibits “Dwarf Tossing” at Businesses That Sell Alcohol on Site
Florida directs its alcohol regulators to prevent businesses that sell drinks for on-site consumption from allowing exploitative activities that endanger people with dwarfism. The administrative rule specifically names “dwarf tossing.”
The restriction applies to the businesses that undertake or allow the activity. Its place in the alcohol rules reflects where lawmakers chose to intervene.
11. A Federal Goose-Egg Rule Specifies Corn Oil
Under a federal program for managing resident Canada geese, eligible participants can register to control nests and eggs on property under their jurisdiction. When they use oil to prevent eggs from hatching, the rule specifies 100 percent corn oil.
It’s an oddly precise ingredient for a wildlife regulation. The requirement applies to authorized egg oiling under the program, which has its own registration and reporting rules.
12. Georgia Measures the Letters on Llama Warning Signs
Georgia requires llama activity sponsors and professionals to post a warning about the inherent risks of llama activities. The sign has to be clearly visible at or near the place where those activities happen.
Even the typography is regulated. The warning must appear in black letters at least one inch tall. A tiny disclaimer tucked beside the gate won’t satisfy the sign requirement.
13. New Jersey Still Makes You Wait for Someone Else to Pump Your Gas
At a New Jersey retail gas station, an attendant handles the gasoline pump. The state’s safety law bars customers from dispensing their own gasoline at those stations.
For a first-time visitor on a road trip, it can be an unexpectedly awkward moment. The routine is to pull up and tell the attendant which grade you want and how much to put in.
14. Arkansas Has an Official Pronunciation Written Into State Law
Arkansas settled on “AR-kan-saw” for official oral proceedings, with the final s silent. The state’s General Assembly adopted the pronunciation after a historical society and a Little Rock scholarly group examined the name’s origins and early usage.
The rule settles how the state’s name is said in official proceedings. Visitors who rhyme it with “Kansas” face no penalty for the slip.
15. Vermont Protects Clotheslines From Municipal Bans
Vermont puts clotheslines in the same legal provision as solar collectors and other devices that use renewable resources. Municipalities cannot enact rules that ban their installation or have the effect of banning it.
Think about what a clothesline does and the pairing makes sense. The sun and wind do the work that an electric dryer otherwise would.
16. Wisconsin Requires Butter to Be Graded Before It Can Be Sold
Wisconsin requires butter sold in the state to be graded under Wisconsin or U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. The state even has licensing requirements for butter graders.
Those letters on a package are the visible result of a formal grading process. In a state famous for dairy, assessing butter is a job with its own credentials.
17. Utah Draws the Line for Draft Beer at 5 Percent Alcohol
Utah treats beer over 5 percent alcohol by volume as “heavy beer.” A licensed establishment can sell it in its original container under the applicable rules, while the draft provision covers beer at or below the 5 percent threshold.
That’s why a strong IPA can be on the menu while the bartender reaches for a can or bottle instead of pulling a tap.
18. North Carolina Caps Certain Bingo Sessions at Five Hours
North Carolina limits bingo sessions run or sponsored by qualifying exempt organizations to five hours each. It also limits them to two sessions a week, with at least 48 hours between sessions.
A five-hour game already sounds like a marathon. For the organizations covered by the rule, it’s also the legal ceiling.
19. Florida Requires a $10,000 Bond to Exhibit Venomous Reptiles
Anyone exhibiting a venomous reptile to the public in Florida must first post a $10,000 bond with the state wildlife commission. The requirement applies whether visitors pay to get in or watch for free.
The bond is tied to potential injury or damage from the exhibited reptiles. Offering free admission changes the ticket price, but the exhibitor still has to post the bond.
20. Texas Law Specifically Includes Human Eyes in Its Ban on Organ Sales
Texas lists the human eye among the organs and tissues covered by its law against commercial organ transactions. Knowingly offering to buy or sell one can fall under the statute even if no transaction is completed.
The law also makes exceptions for certain legitimate fees and reimbursements connected with a donation, including a donor’s travel expenses and lost wages.
21. Arcadia, California, Forbids Feeding Peafowl Even on Private Property
Arcadia’s peafowl are familiar enough that the city has a rule specifically about feeding them. The prohibition applies on public and private property, so it reaches a backyard as well as a sidewalk.
The city gives a practical reason. Feeding draws unusually large groups of birds into residential areas. A snack left out for one peacock can turn into a regular gathering.
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22. Minnesota Requires Reflective Markings on Overnight Ice-Fishing Shelters
Leave an ice-fishing shelter on a Minnesota lake overnight and each side must have reflective material. State law specifies at least two square inches of it per side.
The detail makes sense once you picture a dark shelter on a frozen lake at night. Marking every side makes it easier to spot from more than one direction.
23. Federal Rules Generally Prohibit Melting Pennies and Nickels
Federal regulations generally prohibit melting U.S. one-cent and five-cent coins. The rules separately allow certain kinds of coin treatment for education, amusement, novelty items, jewelry, and similar purposes, provided the nature and scale of the activity make clear it isn’t a way to profit solely from the metal.
That distinction is why a souvenir penny press can flatten a coin while a business buying up pennies to melt them for their metal runs into federal restrictions.
24. Alaska Makes It an Offense to Knowingly Stay Drunk on Licensed Premises
Alaska’s alcohol law prohibits a drunken person from knowingly entering or remaining on premises licensed to sell or serve alcohol. A bar is one example of a place covered by the rule.
Many people expect the law to focus on whether a bartender serves another drink. Alaska has a separate provision that applies to the patron’s presence itself.
25. California Treats Ferrets as Restricted Animals
California classifies ferrets as restricted species. Bringing one into the state or keeping one requires a restricted-species permit, and the state does not issue those permits for ordinary pet ownership.
That makes for an unusual difference at the state line. An animal someone keeps as a household pet elsewhere can be subject to California’s restricted-wildlife rules as soon as it crosses into the state.
Which of these laws would you have called made up if someone told you about it over dinner?