You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

Explosive golf balls

In both Massachusetts and New Jersey, it is illegal to manufacture, sell or use an explosive golf ball. Golf balls used to be made with liquid centers that were often caustic and could result in an explosion if the balls were cut open. Manufacturers have since switched to solid-core golf balls, but the law still bans the former dangerous design.

[Lee Stewart]

Brass knuckles

Brass knuckles are made from a piece of metal or hard plastic shaped to fit around the knuckles. These weapons can cause serious damage. States like California, Michigan, Illinois and Vermont prohibit the possession, manufacturing, sale or use of brass knuckles.

[Lee Stewart]

Vandalizing mailboxes

Smashing mailboxes or setting off fireworks inside might seem like an old-fashioned teenage prank. However, mailboxes are protected by federal law, and it’s illegal to injure, tear down or destroy any mail receptacle or injure, deface or destroy any mail inside.

[Lee Stewart]

Cheating at video games

While cheating at video games is not outright illegal under federal or state law, some naive players have learned the hard way that you can be sued for cheating at popular games like "Fortnite," "Overwatch" and "World of Warcraft." The makers of these popular games have successfully taken cheaters to court for violating the game's copyright and terms of use contract by buying, selling, using or distributing cheats.

[Lee Stewart]

Haggis

Even though many Americans have Scottish ancestry, the U.S. has banned Scotland's national dish for decades. Haggis is a savory meat pudding made from a sheep's “pluck,” which is chiefly the liver, lungs and heart. The U.S. made it illegal to import traditional haggis in 1971 over concerns about ingesting livestock lungs.

[Lee Stewart]

Cuban cigars

Along with banning an iconic product of Scotland, the U.S. has also banned one of the most famous Cuban exports: cigars. Cuban cigars have been illegal stateside since President John F. Kennedy's embargo of Cuba during the Cold War in 1962. While some trade restrictions have been eased between the countries in recent years and travelers are able to bring back cigars for personal use, it is still illegal to buy and sell Cuban cigars in America.

[Lee Stewart]

Ackee fruit

It's not just Scottish people whose national dish has been the target of American regulation. Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica, but the fresh form of the produce is banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with only frozen and canned ackee allowed in the country. That's because unripe portions of the fruit are toxic and can cause vomiting, seizures, comas and even possibly death.

[Lee Stewart]

Sharing your Netflix password

While it's not a federal crime, in the state of Tennessee, it's technically illegal for individuals to share login credentials with anyone who doesn't live under the same roof. This applies to Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Spotify and more. The “Tennessee Login Law" was passed in 2011 to prosecute hackers selling off passwords and hasn't actually been used to target anyone using their ex's HBO Go account.

[Lee Stewart]

Kinder Surprise

While other confections from the Italian candy brand Kinder are sold in stores around the country, one of the company's signature products cannot be imported and sold: Kinder Surprise. These chocolate egg shells contain plastic capsules with a prize inside. And in the U.S., any food with a "non-nutritive object embedded" inside is deemed a choking hazard under the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In 2017, a different version of Kinder eggs, the Kinder Joy, was launched in the states with a design that adhered to U.S. regulations.

[Lee Stewart]

Predicting the future

In Massachusetts, it's illegal to be paid to tell fortunes without a license. That includes using tea leaves, coffee grounds, crystal balls, tarot cards, astrology, palmistry and more. Fortune tellers must have lived for at least one year in the city or town where they intend to tell fortunes to apply.