"911, there is a demon in my dryer, send a deputy"

[Murph]

I was reminded of a funny story that happened to me about 12 years ago when I was still a very rookie Deputy Sheriff. It was in late January or early February and very cold. I got a call on the radio:

"SO to 123"
"123, go ahead SO" (SO=Sheriff's Office)
At this point the dispatcher is giggling so bad all she can tell me to do is "10-19" (Come to the office)

I arrive, and both dispatchers are having a giggle fit. Seems an old black lady who lived way out in the county had called in a state of hysteria that her clothes dryer was possessed by a demon. They played me the 911 call, and the lady was just hysterical.

So I drive out by myself since the other two deputies were busy with other calls (3 of us for 711 square miles). I make it down the dirt driveway to the house, which is an old wooden frame house, with a detached garage and detached wash house. Its about 10 pm at night.

The lady comes out, and she is in her late 60's or early 70's and just hysterical, brandishing a double barrelled .410 shotgun. I talk her out of the gun, and she takes me to the shed. She is wearing slippers and a house coat. I hear the dryer running, and there is this "thump, thump, thump" sound coming from the dryer. Sort of like you get when you put tennis shoes in a dryer.

She explains that she had taken out a load of laundry, and had to go inside to use the restroom before coming out and throwing her last load into the dryer. She did and heard the "Thump, thump" sound, and did not think too much of it, and went to answer the telephone. She came back out to make sure the dryer was not unbalanced, and when she opened the door to the dryer, the "demon" hissed at her, so she slammed the door and ran to call 911.

I opened the dryer, and saw one beat to heck possum in the dryer, which had unfortunately done #2 all over the clothing. The fur was really fluffed out. I discovered that what had happened is apparently, being very cold that night a possum (which ate the cat food she left out) had come out, and crawled into the dryer to get warm. The clothes which were wool, and the possum fur caused a really big static build up, and its fur puffed out due to static electricity. When she opened the dryer, the possum hissed at her, and since the fur was standing out due to the static electricity and its winter coat, she did not know what it was until I took it out of the dryer on a shovel.

So the mystery of the demon in the dryer was solved. I got a big hug from the lady, a nice slice of sweet potato pie for my troubles, and I tossed the "demon" out into the woods, I never knew if it was dead or alive.

Unfortunately at that period in time, we were not writing reports for stuff like this, the call sheet reads: Arrived, dead animal removed, returned to service. Its stuff like this that make this job fun at times...in retrospect. So we were able to laugh at the "Demon in the Dryer" story.

[Daniel Bates]

I bet the other deputies were sorry they missed that scene!

[mjdmike]

That's funny Murph -- good story.

Derek, better keep an eye on the dryer...

[Ahh!]

Wouldn't that have been great on one of those TV shows?

Bad Possum, Bad Possum, Whatcha gonna do?

[CaptainTom]

Law enforcement is a tough gig for sure. Lighter moments like this can help dilute the tragedy and violence encountered too often.

Today, on my way to work, I was in the passing lane of the freeway going about 65 and I spot a FW police car ahead , stopped in my lane with lights flashing. I move to the next lane, thinking it was a routine traffic stop. This is in morning rush hour traffic. As I close in, I see the officer, who is at least 50, and a bit chunky, waving frantically to get our attention. I stop, and expect to see the traffic behind me start to pile into each other. In the meantime, the officer runs out into the center lane and retrieves a ladder that had fallen off a work truck. When he cleared, I could see the sweat on his brow, and the relief that he hadn't become a run down victim on his face. We all started up again and proceeded on our way.
He could have left the ladder in the road, and it probably would have damaged quite a few cars, and possible hurt someone. But, he risked his neck to prevent that.

He has my respect.

[Ahh!]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

Law enforcement is a tough gig for sure. Lighter moments like this can help dilute the tragedy and violence encountered too often.
...He has my respect.

Great response, Tom!

Thanks, Murph, for the "less than lighter" times, too. But I love the story!

[Night Owl]

Stories like this are why I carry a camera every night.

[Gleep]

That sounds like the S.O. I work at. Our county has a couple hundred more square miles in it. It's not unusual for us to have three, sometimes only two, deputies on a shift if someone is sick or on vacation.

I've dispatched my share of calls like this over the past 15 years. Unfortunately our deputies didn't have access to cameras until the last year or so. Each has his own digital camera now.