Like emergency room doctors, cops and priests in theconfessional booth, insurance people are being asked to clean upthe messes that people make–and worse, they're expected to pay forthem.

It's little wonder that veteran insurance people can get a bitjaded. When it comes to claims–and human nature–they have seeneverything.

We spoke with several long-time insurance professionals aboutthe weirdest claims they've come across in their careers. Here aresome of the strangest.

(Got a crazy claim story? Post your story in the Commentssection below!)

1. The case of the vanishing gold bars

Claims consultant Chris Tidball has worked for P&C carriersfor more than 20 years, in roles ranging from claims adjusting tomanagement. The client whom he recalls as the “biggest nut” wasWalter A., who presented a claim for a stolen van that was carrying$500,000 in gold bars, which, of course, he wanted covered as well.“Imagine our shock when the van turned up burned to a crisp and allthe gold was missing.” Walter would personally come to the officeevery morning at 8 a.m. to demand his check—a ritual that continuedfor around 90 days. “He would come in and get belligerent, thenwould feign having a heart attack, asking us to help him find hisnitro pills. He was truly certifiable.”

2. The case of the gypsy curse

Another Tidball tale involves a gypsy who roamed around SouthernCalifornia. This gypsy had a van that he reported stolen that,like Walter's, contained lots of valuable “stuff,” which the gypsycould somehow never describe beyond saying it was important. WhenTidball told him he had to deny the claim (which was “complete andutter B.S.”) the case went to trial. During an examinationunder oath, the gypsy pointed a magician's wand at Tidball andstarted speaking a strange language in an attempt to cast a curseon the insurance man.

3. The case of the cruising cat ladies

Steve Schroeder, vice president of NFP, has been in theproperty-casualty business for almost 25 years, on both the brokerand carrier side. One of his most memorable claims cases involved atrucking-company client that had a claim filed against a driver.The claimant alleged the truck hit a station wagon and injured thedriver and her passenger. The truck driver insisted that it wasn'this fault; the vehicle had appeared out of nowhere. Investigatingstate police and SIU personnel found no truck skid marks, butseveral dead cats on the highway at the accident site. It turnedout the women, whose station wagon had been loaded with cats, hadbeen literally driving in circles in the rural area – first in thesouthbound lane, then crossing the embankment and heading north.When the truck driver T-boned the station wagon, several cats flewout the vehicle's windows and were killed. The claim was pulled.

4. The case of the soaked survivalists

Schroeder recalls another case where the elderly owners of anolder but newly renovated home made a $350,000 water-damage claimafter heavy rains and an inadequate sump pump ruined what theydescribed as thousands of “valuable items” in their storage area.After a closer investigation by the claims adjuster, it turned outthe storage area was actually a bomb shelter dating back to theCold War era that the couple kept secret from family and friends.Stuffed in this shelter were thousands of meticulously arrangeditems set aside for an apocalypse—soap, toothpaste, canned goodsand more. The owners claimed these items were worth hundreds ofthousands of dollars, even though most of the items were useless.The insurer ended up paying around $200,000 to settle the claim.

5. The case of the conniving constructionworkers

Schroeder recalls a contractor client that filed a claiminvolving the death of a foreman on the building site of aneight-story apartment complex. A team of four had been loading ahuge pipe onto the top floor of the structure when the foreman felland was killed. His three coworkers all insisted that the craneoperator was at fault, although the operator denied this. The claimwent to mediation and was set to settle for $3.2 million. Allparties were at the meeting and ready to sign the paperwork whenthe foreman's widow whispered to Schroeder that she had to speakwith him immediately. After going to a private room, she toldSchroeder that she wanted all of the settlement money to be placedinto a structured settlement for her two children, ages 2 and 4. Itturned out that her deceased husband was not well liked by thecrew, two of which had proposed marriage to the widow, knowing thedeath settlement would make her a millionaire. However, the policecould not prove foul play so the case had to settle.

Want to read about more crazy claims? Check outthe complete story in the upcoming October issue of NationalUnderwriter Property & Casualty!