- Who knew Freddy Krueger and the Invisible Man carried out robberies in their spare time.
Nobody move; this is a robbery! Stick ‘em up, or I’ll…
Uh, somehow savage you with this leek I’m holding.
Having some kind of weapon does a lot to make a robber more intimidating, but real weapons aren’t always easy to come by. Those stores and banks aren’t going to rob themselves, though, so occasionally crooks decide to improvise.
Often, that can have some hilarious results. Here are seven robberies (attempted and successful) that were carried out with completely bizarre “weapons”.
1. Boomerang
In 2019, a 31-year-old robber burst into a gas station near Brisbane, Australia. He started threatening the lone staff member of the gas station while brandishing a very fitting weapon — a boomerang.
The gas station worker must not have complied with the would-be criminal’s demands, as he felt the need to demonstrate the destructive power of his boomerang. So, he threw it.
And then the thing hit a shelf in the cramped store and fell to the ground, without returning to the robber’s hand.
At that point, he decided he’d make a big enough clown of himself and fled. The cops found and arrested him soon after.
They must’ve felt sorry for him, though, since they didn’t charge him with anything and only handed him a fine for being a public nuisance.
2. Python
In March 2025, a black car pulled up to the door of a gas station in Denmark, Tennessee. Two men stepped out of the car and walked into the store.
According to the gas station staff, the duo brandished a pair of snakes — pythons, to be exact. They waved the snakes around like weapons and started making demands of the staff.
During the robbery, the men grabbed a bunch of CBD oil bottles off the gas station counter. The workers believed they wanted to steal more stuff, but due to the number of customers in the store, they decided that was enough.
They piled back in the car where two women were waiting and took off. Now, a python’s bite would hurt, but it’s not like the snakes are venomous, so it was a bit of an odd choice.
But hey, it obviously worked.
3. Avocado
In 2019, an Israeli man entered a bank in Be’er Sheva. He approached the cashier and handed her a note.
“Hand over the money in the drawer,” the note read.
The cashier refused, and the man wasn’t very happy with it. From his pocket, he drew a round, black object. He said it was a hand grenade and threatened to blow the whole place to kingdom come if he didn’t get the money.
Well, that motivated the cashier. She handed the man the roughly $4,500 she had and he took off.
The man repeated the robbery at another bank a few days later, this time taking some $3,300 with him. Thanks to surveillance footage, though, the police were able to identify and arrest the man.
It turned out he never had a grenade. The thing was a black-painted avocado.
4. Freddy Krueger Glove
In 2017, two men walked into a Qdoba restaurant in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. They weren’t there for Mexican treats, however.
These robbers actually had some weapons that could hurt. One of them brandished a large kitchen knife, but it was the other man who caught the three staff members’ attention.
He was wearing a jury-rigged bladed glove, much like the one donned by Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.
Well, the staff wasn’t about to start messing with that. The robbers got away with the contents of the cash register and whatever the employees had in their pockets.
5. Teaspoon
In 2009, a Polish man rushed into a bank in the city of Lublin. He grabbed one of the cashiers working at the branch and pressed a metallic object to her throat.
He told two other cashiers to hand him all the money they had, or else.
Or else… He would spoon his hostage to death with the teaspoon he was wielding.
The non-grappled cashiers weren’t fooled and started yelling for help. Our robber ran away and was arrested later — with his spoon still in his pocket.
6. Potato
Gary Deming, 34, entered a Shell gas station in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2014. He attempted to hold up the workers, wielding something that he waved around like a gun.
Except it wasn’t. The gas station staff identified the bizarre contraption as a large potato attached to a lighter.
The situation suddenly got a lot less intimidating, and the workers chased the man away with a baseball bat.
Deming didn’t learn his lesson, though, and only a half hour later, he tried robbing a dry-cleaning store with his spud. This time, he got away with a $20 bill.
Which was a counterfeit.
7. Invisibility Spell
In 2012, an Iranian man walked into a bank in Tehran. He suddenly started grabbing money out of the bank customers’ hands and shoving the bills in his pockets.
The customers understandably weren’t very happy and quickly overpowered the man. When the police arrived, he told them one bizarre story.
Apparently, the man had paid more than $600 to a sorcerer who taught him an invisibility spell. The guy genuinely thought nobody could see him when he started stealing the money.