My daughter worked in a law office for years and saw some of the craziest stuff. The one that comes to mind immediately was a renter who found out that the previous tenant had committed suicide in his apartment. He sued for anguish and a laundry list of other things and who knows, he might have gotten away with it.

However, he took it just a little too far, claiming that the landlord had not even switched out the curtains and said he’d found globs of brains on them. He claimed he was so distraught that he could no longer work. He produced the curtains as evidence, which did appear to have dried out clumps of some sort of pale yellow organic material clinging to it.

The landlord knew this was a scam, as he’d had a hazmat cleanup crew scour the place after the previous tenant had left in a body bag. He’d had walls replaced and painted, carpets, blinds and drapes removed and replaced, so he knew that if the stuff on the curtains were indeed brain matter, they had not come from the previous tenant.

The lawyer asked if they might be able to have DNA work done (at considerable expense back then!) and the judge agreed, They didn’t have to wait long, however, as the organic material was discovered not to be human brains…but chicken fat. The scammer lost his case soundly and was ordered to pay all of the landlord’s attorney fees and all charges and losses related to the scam.

Clever…just not clever enough.