The Strange Fates of 15 Iconic Movie Props
![The Strange Fates of 15 Iconic Movie Props](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/5/883855_320x180.jpg)
When you’re reclining passively, stuffing popcorn into your drooling maw, it’s hard to notice how much work goes into a movie. From your place in the theater or your futon, you’re simply gazing into a window to Pandora or Tatooine or Jenna Rink’s New York City, but -- not to shock you or anything-- none of those places are real. They’re the products of painstaking labor by people whose whole jobs are to be invisible (sorry, AI bros, you can't automate this job yet).
That means a lot of their work ends up being more recognizable than the movie stars frolicking around it, but it also means a lot of it ends up being stashed in someone’s attic (or worse -- so much worse) and forgotten about. From Dorothy’s dress to the freaking Death Star, so many relics of Hollywood glory have been found in junkyards, some dude’s house, or even an actual archeological dig.
Just When You Thought It Was Safe
![The Jaws shark was found in a random junkyard. CRACKED.COM The last shark made from Joe Alves's iconic mold languished for years before it was restored to hang over the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where it definitely won't seek revenge.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/9/883869.jpg)
Not Much of a Riddle
![A sphinx was actually dug up by archeologists. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS X9807 After filming wrapped on the 1923 movie, DeMille and CO. either buried the sphinxes or let nature do it, but either way, they left some probably very disappointed scientists behind.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/8/883868.jpg)
Kubrick’s Baby (No, Not Any of His Movies)
![Space Odyssey's star child wasn't found until Kubrick died. CRACKED.COM It went missing after filming wrapped but it was found in the director's house four whole years after his death, which is arguably both the most and least normal place for it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/7/883867.jpg)
HAL Save the Queen
![Space Odyssey's original monolith pays tribute to the Queen. CRACKED.COM Though it didn't actually appear in the movie, the clear acrylic monolith that Kubrick initially envisioned found a second life when an artist looking for materials to sculpt a crystal crown for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee happened upon it in storage.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/7/0/883870.jpg)
In France, It’s Called “Vandalisme With Cheese”
![Vincent Vega's Chevy Malibu was the victim of an attempted stripping. PULP FICTION CRACKED.COM It was stolen from Tarantino during filming, and wasn't seen again for nearly 20 years, when cops caught two guys who had no idea what they were stripping for parts.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/6/883866.jpg)
The Spy Who Abandoned Me
![James Bond's submarine car was sold for $100. CRACKED.COM It happened to be in a storage container that some dude bought with no idea what was inside. Apparently, the original owners had stopped paying their rent in 1987.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/1/883861.jpg)
Suck It, Cage
![A Mustang driven by Steve McQueen was found in a Mexican scrapyard. BULLITT CRACKED.COM A guy who makes Gone in 60 Seconds replicas, which is apparently a business you can have, identified the '68 Mustang, which was used in the movie Bullitt, as something way more valuable.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/3/883863.jpg)
Goonies Never Say “Here’s My Forwarding Address”
![The Goonies map was probably thrown away by... Patty Duke? CRACKED.COM Sean Astin made off with a bunch of props from the movie and then just left it all behind when he turned 18, at which point he thinks the map was accidentally thrown out by his mom, who is Patty Duke for some reason.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/8/883858.jpg)
Feed the Trash
![Mary Poppins's snow globe was found on a janitor's shelf. CRACKED.COM The orb in which Julie Andrews kept her tiny live birds trapped wasn't recognized until it was noticed by a Disney archivist -- the janitor found it in the garbage and just thought it was neat.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/9/883859.jpg)
He’s Comin’ (Back) to Town
![A Rankin-Bass employee gave Rudolph and Santa to her kids. RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER CRACKED.COM In 2005, the puppets that starred in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were recovered and displayed, but not before Santa was snatched bald and Rudolph was stuffed with Play Doh.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/6/883856.jpg)
It Sure Beats the Prius
![A spaceship was repurposed as a haunted house. ALIEN CRACKED.COM The Nostromo was donated to a collector for one sweet-ass Halloween display and then sat in his driveway for 20 years until a museum took it off his hands.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/5/883865.jpg)
Vehemently Not a Friend of Dorothy
![Dorothy Gale's dress was found in a shoebox at a Catholic school. THE WIZARD OF OZ CRACKED.COM One of the dresses Judy Garland wore was somehow given to a Washington, D.C. priest/drama teacher, who promptly lost it for decades. It was eventually found in the school's mail room.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/2/883862.jpg)
What If It Was Turned Into Curtains?
![One of Scarlett O'Hara's dresses was found on the floor at a costume company. GONE WITH THE WIND CRACKED.COM They apparently had no idea what it was until a former Universal executive happened to wander in. They gave it to him for twenty bucks because they were just going to throw it away.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/4/883864.jpg)
Turns Out the Title Was Accurate
![Scarlett O'Hara's beloved estate was left to rot in some lady's barn. GONE WITH THE WIND CRACKED.COM It was dismantled in 1960 and sold to a Georgia woman, though MGM tour guides kept telling tourists a similar-looking house on their lot was the famous Tara, which feels vaguely metaphorical.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/6/0/883860.jpg)
Space Junk
![The original Death Star was abandoned in a storage unit. STAR WARS CRACKED.COM A storage employee salvaged it and displayed it in his mother's antique store, where it was bought for a country western bar, who used it as a trash can.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/5/7/883857.jpg)