CLAIMS ADJUSTERS’ jobs are intense, stressful and highlyemotional, but at least they’re never, ever boring—not when thereare hoarders, exploding corpses and dictator-owned sniper rifles tocontend with.

Here’s a look at some of the many challenges—and the occasionalpleasant surprise—encountered by those who need to go into thefield to take inventory of a claim to make sure insureds are madewhole (but maybe not made normal).

CAR CAPERS AND “NOSY” NEIGHBORS

Mike Vanderwerker, president and CEO of Peekskill, N.Y.-basedMorris H. Banister & Sons, says bizarre claims involving carsoften stand out the most for him.

One customer, for example, called him claiming that a meteoritehit her car. “It was a Monday morning, and we thought it was a jokeat first,” he recalls. “She said, ‘No, really, a meteorite hit ourcar.’”

Sure enough, an investigation revealed the claim was real—andthe insurer, Aetna, compensated the owner for the actual cashvalue.

The family later sold the space-junk-smashed Chevy Malibu to theMuseum of Natural History in New York, where it remains today.

Another unusual claim involved a purportedly stolen car that wasfound years later—buried in the owner’s backyard.

According to Vanderwerker, an insured claimed his car was stolenand was subsequently paid for the vehicle. However, years later,Vanderwerker recalls looking in the newspaper and seeing that thepresumably stolen vehicle had been exhumed from the claimant’syard.

“The neighbors—they didn’t like him, so that was his firstmistake,” laughs Vanderwerker. “They went to the state police andsaid they believed he may have buried his car in the backyard. Thepolice knew [the claimant] was an excavator, so they brought insome sort of magnetic-resonating devices, and they could see thatsomething was down there. They dug it up, and his car wasthere.”

Other complaining neighbors brought to light an unusual claimafter they complained to the landlord of bad smells coming from anelderly tenant’s apartment, Vanderwerker recalls.

When the apartment was opened, not only was the tenant founddeceased, but gases had built up in the corpse and caused it toexplode, causing severe damage to the apartment.

“The insurer paid $12,000 for the cleanup,” says Vanderwerker.“We had to have a restoration and sanitation company in hazmatsuits come in and totally renovate the apartment.”

BONES, BOOKS AND YELLOW BRICKS

“It can get like ‘CSI’ out there sometimes,” says Paul Carlson,a field-inventory specialist with Enservio, a provider ofcontents-claims solutions.

According to Carlson, weird and shocking finds are all toocommon for inventory specialists, where skeletons are sometimesliterally in the closet.

“People don’t necessarily go through and take any of the weirdstuff out after a loss to spare us,” says Carlson. “It’s all thereto be inventoried.”

During a routine claim inspection, he once found, for example,real human bones.

“At first I thought it was a full-bodied anatomical fauxskeleton,” says Carlson. “When [the homeowner] saw it, she told meit was, in fact, a real skeleton.

“And I’ve seen enough armor and ammo and arms to equip an army,”Carlson adds. “One insured put in a claim for a sniper rifle fromone of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.”

Some of the most interesting content claims come from homesfilled to the brim with nothing but random belongings—known as ahoarding situation.

“We often come across situations which tend to make the stars ofthe TV show ‘Hoarders’ look like a bunch of stamp collectors,”Carlson says.

One of the worst cases he ever saw was an8-by-10-foot bedroom filled with 3,600 romance novels.

“There was literally not even a large enough path to walk in theroom,” Carlson says. “I just had to start inventorying romancenovels and toss them behind me as I went, just to dig out apath.”

Did the owner actually read all those books?

“I sincerely doubt it,” says Carlson. “A lot of times in thesehoarder claims it’s really clear that none of these items have everbeen opened or used.”

HIDDEN TREASURES

The discoveries awaiting adjusters are not always of the creepy,dangerous or smelly variety. Sometimes the finds are a boon for theinsured—or a pleasant or humorous moment for the claimsprofessional.

One example: Carlson once came across two sets of sealed WalkingLady Liberty silver half-dollar coins from the San Francisco mint.The rare coins were issued by the U.S. Mint from 1916 to 1947 andare highly sought after by collectors.

“The insurer had no idea they existed,” says Carlson. “I justfound them underneath a random chair. They were in pristinecondition and worth untold amounts of money.”

Another unique historical item Carlson stumbled upon was anoriginal piece from a beloved film.

“One of my favorite finds was anautographed yellow brick from the Yellow Brick Road signed by oneof the original munchkins from the Lollipop Guild,” saysCarlson.

As for downright funny claims, anything from the 1980s is alwaysgood for a laugh.

“I still come across acid-washed jeans and Magic 8-Balls andHulk-a-mania posters,” says Carlson.

“You never really know what you’re going to get yourself into,”he adds. “We come across all sorts of funny things out on thefield, but at the end of the day my biggest concern is to helppeople get their stuff back.”