Who wants a gross story? I was working on my 1947 torchy pinball machine replacing a spring on the plunger when I lost my grip on it and a washer flew off the plunger into the bottom of the cabinet. I looked all around and then decided I had to move the bottom board to see if I could find it. I never found it but I did find something strange attached to the cabinet sidewall just beneath the bottom board. It was clay or mud-like. I thought it was strange but put it aside for later so I could finish the machine. I finally get back to it today when I'm cleaning up and I decide to do some archaeology. The item was made out of mud and had three capsules, one of which was already open and empty. I decided I would partially open the other two and saw that there were a bunch of bug bits. Once I finally got them all the way open I realized that inside the two capsules were tons of spiders and spider bits along with a few eggs. These are not the Easter eggs you were looking for... A quick Google search showed me it was most likely a mud dauber wasp nest. I didn't know much about them until today. They use their venom to paralyzed spiders, drag them into their nests and lay eggs so that baby wasps can feast. This is easily the grossest and strangest thing I have found in a pinball machine to date.
Happy Easter!
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