Property & Casualty adjusters encounter plenty of mundaneclaims: flooded basements, trees falling in attics, andcars backing into one another at the grocery store. But everyadjuster has at least one unusual claims story. You know — the onesthat are shared over drinks at a conference or during lunch at anindustry event.

The stories are probably embellished a little over the years,but they're memorable because of the situation or the policyholdersinvolved. Here are a half-dozen of them.

Related: Numbers are fine, but they only tell half thestory

No. 1: Slip-sliding away

Everyone knows about floater policies, but this tale takes it toa whole new level.

David LeNorman, senior investigator and adjuster for Alaska Adjustersin Anchorage, recalls one homeowner's claim that literally went offthe rails.

Members of the family who owned the property in question werelongtime residents of the village of Aniak in Western Alaska. Some60 years prior, the claimant's father had built a 1,000-square-footstore, and the family lived above it. A river flows not too farfrom the structure.

In Alaska, a “break-up” is what happens when ice breaks up,typically in the spring, and travels down river. In this instance,several immense blocks of ice had created a dam that blocked thewater behind it, causing the water level to rise in the river bythe store.

“The family was watching TV and said they felt like the housewas floating,” LeNorman recalls. The structure was indeed moving,as it had been built atop a series of logs; the sediment at thelocation was too sandy to build on without having a solidfoundation to hold it in place.

A corner of the store was damaged, and theentire building shifted about 3 feet. Luckily, the store had beenplaced on the riverbank near a rock outcropping; a corner of theplatform got caught on the rocks, which protected the store fromfloating away down river.

“How many people can say they were sitting there watching TV,and an iceberg floats by the window?” LeNorman quips.

Related: Mitigating the No. 1 natural disaster in theU.S.

2. The 300-pound stripper

When Mark Nixon, president of St. Louis-based Nixon and Company,was a new adjuster, he experienced one of his more memorableclaims.

“It was a sewer backup,” he recalled. “I called and made theappointment with the policyholder.”

When he arrived, the woman took him downstairs to the basementto see the damage. “It was a legitimate claim. She had some eveninggowns and other items that were in a basement and had beendamaged.”

As he was reviewing the claim, the policyholder mentioned thatshe needed her wedding dress for Saturday.Nixon thought, “Oh no — she's getting married on Saturday.” When heasked for more details, she told him she had an event and handedhim a business card that read, “The 300-lb. Stripper.”

It turned out that all of her dresses were costumes for her act.She gave him a brief demonstration and said, “Usually I doadult-only parties, but for you and your friends, I'll do itall.”

Needless to say, her offer left him speechless. He took her cardand said thank you.

Related: Water damage protection after a sewer, drain orpump loss

3. Mountaintop retrieval

Northern Adjusters Inc. serves all of Alaska with claimshandling and administration; one of the tag lines on its websitereads, “For over six decades, we've traveled to remote villages andcrossed glaciers to get the job done.”

On one such mission, agency principal J.D. Daniels had toretrieve a wrecked four-wheeler (ATV) off Crown Pointe Peak,located near Moose Pass, Alaska. It was a task that involvedDaniels and a colleague transporting their own ATVs 100 miles,unloading them, and then riding them up to about 4,000 feet, theelevation of Crown Pointe.

During the ascent they had to pass through a miners' site atthe base of the mountain, and the miners didn'texactly feel the intruders belonged there. They purposely madetheir sidearms visible, and in a very gruff manner let theinterlopers know they didn't want Daniels to take the ATV off“their” mountain.

The miners knew where the vehicle was and had put together theirown plan to retrieve it, Daniels explains: “This didn't include us,and there was a very awkward and antagonistic conversation thattook place. They made it very clear that they would challengeanyone for the ATV.”

The insurance carrier needed to retrieve the ATV before it facedan environmental claim from the government, as it was on federalland. But the miners were less than impressed with the adjusters'predicament.

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, Daniels finallyput his boot down and stated that they were going to getback on their ATVs, pass through the miners' site and retrieve thewrecked ATV from the top of the peak, like it or not. Things weregetting tense.

Whether the miners were unprepared or impressed by suchboldness, they let the “insurance guys” pass through the site,unharmed. “Later that day as we were retrieving the ATV, a group ofthe miners had made their way to the site and were watching ourevery move,” Daniels relates. “But honestly, I think I was morescared of encountering a moose or a bear along the way so I wasrelieved that neither of those crossed our path!”

If another adjuster should find himself or herself in the sameposition, what advice would Daniels give them? “My advice would bethat it is best to communicate openly and firmly,” he adds. “If youfind yourself at an impasse, take the action you have openlycommunicated.”

Related: Oh, deer! What drivers should know about animalcollisions

4. Madame Butterfly

A young woman had been in a car accident that involved herT-boning a truck that was making a left turn in front of her. Nixonreceived the claim and the insured gave him the address where theyshould meet.

It turned out to be a biker bar in rougher part of town. Dressedin khakis, Nixon felt as awkward as he looked. Fortunately,the bar was relatively empty when heentered.

“It looked like a set out of the movies,” he described. “Thejukebox was playing 'Bad to the Bone' pretty loudly, and there wasa woman in the back of the bar in a completely see-throughnegligée.”

Nixon noticed that she had a giant butterfly below the waist,but the more immediate problem was, how would he get a recordedstatement from a scantily clad woman?

As he was asking her about the accident and getting the details,Nixon thought he was being careful to just look at her eyes. “Inreality, I was looking at her butterfly.” She noticed where he waslooking and casually said, “It's a butterfly.”

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5. Mice in the house

Usually, a mouse or two in the house isn't a big deal. But onecouple had an experience that's worthy of a horror movie.

The couple was married, and left for amonth-long trip to Greece. While they were away, the power went outand their upright freezer defrosted. The food coagulated andspilled out onto the garage floor.

Nixon received the claim and learned that the couple's house wasinfested with mice from the freezer melting. “When I arrived, thehouse smelled like it was infested by mice. I told them I didn'tthink they had coverage because it was damage from rodents.”

The claims manager confirmed that the couple did not havecoverage for the loss, but the claim was escalated to someone elseat the insurance company who said the company would pay for theloss.

Nixon went back to the house and assessed the damages. Anexterminator was hired, and he stopped by daily to remove literallydozens of mice. When Nixon was talking to the exterminator, helearned that mice don't usually eat meat. “Are you sure the housewasn't infested before?” asked the exterminator as he pointed outthe field behind the house.

Nixon held up the claim again, but it was reinstated. The damageto the house was substantial. “Mice were eating the bait and goinginto the walls and dying,” explained Nixon. The ceilings, walls andcarpets had to be pulled out because the entire house was infested.By the time the job was completed, the exterminator had pulledhundreds and hundreds of mice out of the house.

But that's not even the end of the story …

Related: These 10 cities have the highest pestinfestation

6. Fluffy is missing!

While their home was being exterminated and rebuilt, the ownersstayed at a motel in St. Louis. Their little dog, Fluffy, got loose and waskidnapped. The owners told Nixon, “We want to put up a reward.Will the insurer pay for it?”

Again, Nixon told them he didn't think there was coverage, butthe insurer agreed to pay for the reward.

The following night, Mr. & Mrs. Insured were on the localnews saying, “Our dog, Fluffy, was kidnapped because the insurancecompany put us up at this hotel. We're offering a $500 reward toget our dog back, and the insurance company has agreed to payit.”

When they didn't get a response to the $500 reward, thepresident of the insurance company authorized an increase in thereward to $2,000. When no one responded, the insureds asked if theycould keep the money and use it to purchase a new dog. The insureragreed. The owners went on the news again and shared that theinsurer had let them keep the reward money to get a new dog.

When the policyholders returned home, Mr. Insured said that somecontents were missing from the inventory. Nixon told thepolicyholder to put it on the list, and he would contact therestoration contractor about the missing contents. Mr. Insured saidhe wanted a meeting with everyone involved in his claim becausesome very personal items were missing.

Nixon gathered representatives from every vendor involved in theclaim — the cleaners, restoration company, electrician andexterminator — for a meeting. The homeowner said, “We are missingsome very personal videos that my wife and I made in thebedroom.”

Someone said they were probably already on the internet. Thiswas not good news. The wife was a professor at a local universityand was concerned about who might see the videos; however, theywere never returned.

Related: 15 preventable homeowners' insurance claims and howto avoid them

Special thanks to the members of the National Association ofIndependent Insurance Adjusters for sharing some of their morememorable claims.