Lawnmowers are designed primarily for garden maintenance, but this does not stop them being used for other purposes, sometimes with malicious intent. One man in Helsingborg, Sweden, was convicted and fined for harassment after plaguing his neighbour with the constant running of his lawnmower engine. The neighbours had fallen out over a plant growing in the front gardens, and had stopped speaking to each other entirely when the man took his displeasure to a new level, turning on his lawnmower and leaving it running at the boundary between the two gardens, when the lady next door was outside with guests. He continued this behaviour, even leaving to walk his dog and run errands with the engine still going. In his defence argument he claimed that the mower was old and leaked oil, so he had to keep it running to avoid it not starting back up when he needed it. The district judge did not accept this, and ordered him to pay a hefty fine.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!A man in Jonesboro, Arkansas, was also the victim of lawnmower based malice when he found a very rude directive mown into the grass in front of his commercial premises. He had no idea who could have been behind this act of grass-roots vandalism, but the police have stepped up patrols in the area to deter any more would-be landscapers from returning.
In Lancaster, UK, a lawnmower was found to be responsible for triggering a sensor that was looking for signs of the Aurora Borealis being visible over UK skies. The geomagnetic sensors record activity that suggests a sighting will be imminent, and in August one of these sensors recorded a huge spike in activity. Aurora Watch scientists investigated the reading and found that the sensor had been activated by a groundkeeper, at Lancaster University mowing the grounds on a ride-on lawnmower that had been driven too close to the equipment. Any metal objects or machinery operating close to the sensors can trigger a false reading, so precautions have been put in place to prevent another false positive reading.
One man in Angus, Scotland, found a very unusual use for his lawnmower – he was using it to hide a large stash of cannabis, bringing a whole new meaning to “stay off the grass”. Police searched his property after he was stopped in a vehicle and found four bags of cannabis hidden in the grass collection box of the lawnmower in the back garden, as well as several more bags in the house. A sniffer dog was used to locate John Lamond’s stash, which would probably have remained hidden otherwise.
Lorain County, Ohio, was the scene of a large scale lawnmower removal project. Daniel Esterle, known locally as “lawn mower man”, had a vast collection of vintage and modern lawn mowing equipment on his front yard. Originally, the machinery had been kept in his basement, but work done by the city council three decades ago had left the area prone to flooding. After a particularly bad flood Esterle moved the equipment into his front yard, draining all the engines and tanks of fuel to avoid a fire risk – which was one of the citations the city made in their proceedings against him. They also cited him for having disabled vehicles stored in plain sight on the property, and although his neighbours were not enthused at the prospect of having to look at the lawnmowers every day, most of them turned a blind eye due to Esterle’s popularity and generous nature. Several trucks were used to remove over 100 pieces of lawn care equipment from the property, and Esterle has five days to retrieve his collection from a depot and arrange proper storage. It seems not everyone is such a fan of the lawnmower.