Most Fascinating Laws

Everybody knows you can’t just go around robbing banks or running stop lights. Because it’s against the law, and there are consequences for breaking the law. But who really knows all of the laws in existence or if certain laws even exist anymore? Selling your eyeballs in Texas–illegal, apparently. So are bear wrestling matches in Alabama. Now I’m sure many of us have perused through the Internet’s collection of weird and interesting state laws. But where did these laws come from and how many are still in effect? Well I’m today I’m going to go through Five Fascinating Laws to try and figure out if they really exist and if we need to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity out there.

A Time Limit on Bingo

In North Carolina, it’s illegal for a licensed organization to host a Bingo game for more than five hours. It’s also illegal to host more than two Bingo sessions in one week and to have these sessions within forty-eight hours of each other. I know what you’re thinking–what does North Carolina have against Bingo? I don’t know–I actually couldn’t find any information on where exactly this law came from. But I will tell you that it’s still in existence. You can actually find it in Chapter Fourteen of North Carolina’s General Statutes, Article Thirty-Seven, Part 2, Section 309.8. So watch how much Bingo you’re playing in North Carolina!

No Home-Baked Cookie Stands

Sometimes I think it’d be nice to have a small snack with that glass of twenty-five cent lemonade I’m buying from the neighborhood entrepreneur-in-training–maybe a cookie. But then I have to take a moment and make sure I haven’t traveled somewhere far off–like Wisconsin–where it’s illegal to sell homemade cakes and cookies. Yeah, that’s right–selling pastries made in a home is illegal in Wisconsin. According to this Forbes article (link here: Baking Bad), bakers must be licensed as either a “food processing plant” or “retail food establishment,” which forces home bakers to essentially start their own business if they want to make revenue off of their products. As of 2016, this law is still in place. I mean I guess it’s a good security measure for public health.

Fishing with Your Mouth

Rumor has it, this is one of the most famous weird, but very real laws enacted in Pennsylvania. Fishing with your mouth is PROHIBITED here. Try as I might, I couldn’t find anything on how this law came to be. Supposedly, you can find it in Chapter 63 in the Pennsylvania Code, but I couldn’t find it in any of the unrestricted sections. Regardless, Pennsylvania has quite a few other interesting fishing laws–like not being allowed to fish with nets that are more than four square feet or not being able to ice fish through gaps larger than ten inches. Pennsylvania’s just trying to cover all their bases here.

No Honking

“No person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m.” (link here: Section 18-54. Sounding of horns at sandwich shops). Word for word. I guess people just want some peace and quiet when they go out to eat and drink in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Respect the Boulders

Boulder, Colorado is really protecting its namesake with this law–“No person shall roll, throw, or otherwise move any rocks or boulders on any public property.” (link here: Chapter 4, Section 5-4-8. Rolling or Throwing Rocks on Public Property). I wonder what exactly constitutes as a boulder? And is there some sort of fine for this? It’s vague, but honestly, I respect it.

What do you think about these odd rules for some of these states? Were any surprising to you or have you heard any of these before? Share some of the weird and fascinating laws that exist in your state!

Next week we’ll be celebrating the return of the Coffee Crawl Series, so make sure to stay tuned for a review of some of our best coffee shop visits of the last year! I’m also going to be publishing another post next week (what, a double feature???) about my latest project–“With Sam & Marie,” a random topics podcast I’ve been recording with one of my best friends. We started this as a fun way to hangout and just be funny, but in the last couple of months, it’s turned into a whole new adventure for the both of us! I’ll be releasing the latest episode on this very site next week, so if you want to give it a listen, make sure to come back here at 10 PM, CST for the very best podcast entertainment!