The dumbest laws in each state include things like a New Hampshire ban on gathering seaweed after dark, a Kentucky prohibition on bringing reptiles to church, and an Idaho felony statute specifically outlawing cannibalism. They are real, they sit in active legal codes, and almost none of them are enforced. The harder problem is that roughly half the “weird laws” you’ll find online are exaggerated or invented. The verified ones are strange enough on their own, and most trace back to a specific historical problem a legislature was trying to solve.
How to Spot a Fake Weird Law
Before trusting any list, check for a statute number. The Library of Congress has flagged this problem directly, noting that many supposed “weird laws” cannot be traced to any statutory text. Claims that New York bans slippers after 10 p.m., Arkansas prohibits honking near a sandwich shop, or Florida fines you for parking an elephant at a meter circulate from list to list, each one citing the last and none citing an actual law.
A good rule: if a bizarre law has no statute number attached, treat it as entertainment. Popular myths with no verifiable origin include Vermont requiring women to get spousal permission for false teeth, North Dakota banning sleeping with your shoes on, and Nebraska outlawing doughnut holes. Connecticut’s famous “pickle law,” which supposedly requires pickles to bounce when dropped, is another one. The Connecticut State Library has investigated and concluded there is no such statute. The story traces back to a 1948 enforcement action against distributors accused of selling substandard pickles, where inspectors reportedly used a bounce test during that specific case. It never became law.
The statutes below, by contrast, can be found in actual legal codes.
Strange Laws in the Northeast
New Hampshire: No Seaweed After Dark
New Hampshire prohibits collecting seaweed or rockweed from the shore below the high-water mark between dusk and dawn. The original purpose was to stop people from stripping a shared coastal resource at night while neighbors couldn’t see what was being taken. A violation is classified as a “violation” under New Hampshire law, the lowest tier of offense and less serious than a misdemeanor.1New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 207:48 – In Night
New Jersey: You Can’t Pump Your Own Gas
New Jersey remains one of the only states where drivers cannot pump their own gasoline. The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act cites fire hazards, the difficulty of enforcing safety procedures at self-service stations, and the preservation of attendant jobs as reasons for the ban.2Justia. New Jersey Code 34:3A-4 – Findings, Declarations Fines range from $50 to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for repeat violations, though they typically target station operators rather than individual drivers.3State of New Jersey. Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act and Regulations
Massachusetts: Don’t Jazz Up the National Anthem
Massachusetts law makes it illegal to play or sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” as dance music, an exit march, or part of a medley. The fine runs up to $100. The law does not punish audience members for dancing or leaving during the anthem, despite what many lists claim. It targets performers who alter or trivialize the song.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 264 – Section 9 It almost certainly wouldn’t survive a First Amendment challenge today, given that the Supreme Court has ruled the government cannot force citizens to participate in patriotic rituals or prescribe orthodoxy in matters of national expression.
Pennsylvania: Fortune-Telling for Profit
Pennsylvania classifies fortune-telling for profit as a third-degree misdemeanor. The statute covers anyone who claims to predict the future through cards, palm reading, astrology, spells, charms, or “necromancy” for money. A conviction can carry up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. State legislators have introduced bills to repeal the law, arguing that it unfairly targets tarot readers and similar practitioners, but as of 2026 the statute remains active.
Strange Laws in the South
Georgia: Fried Chicken by Hand Only (Gainesville)
Gainesville, Georgia, home to many major poultry operations, passed a local ordinance declaring it illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork. The ordinance is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the city’s identity as a poultry capital, and police have reportedly “arrested” visitors with utensils as a joke. No one has ever been genuinely prosecuted. It’s real on paper but was designed as a marketing stunt.
Alabama: Loitering While Masked
Alabama’s loitering statute makes it an offense to loiter while masked in a public place. The law was aimed historically at the Ku Klux Klan and other groups that used anonymity to intimidate. A first offense is a violation. A second offense in the same jurisdiction is a Class C misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $500.5Justia. Alabama Code 13A-11-9 – Loitering Exceptions exist for masquerade parties, public parades, and events with historical or religious themes.
Tennessee: Sharing a Streaming Password
Tennessee amended its theft-of-services law around 2011 to include “entertainment subscription services,” making it a crime to use someone else’s streaming account without permission. Stealing $500 or less in streaming services is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Penalties escalate above that threshold. In practice, no individual has been prosecuted for sharing a Netflix login. The recording industry pushed the law to target large-scale piracy operations, not a cousin borrowing a Hulu password.
Mississippi: Public Profanity
Mississippi makes it illegal to swear, use vulgar language, or be drunk in any public place when two or more people are present. A conviction can bring a fine of up to $100, up to 30 days in jail, or both.6Justia. Mississippi Code 97-29-47 – Profanity or Drunkenness in Public Place Enforcing it runs straight into the First Amendment. Since the Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Cohen v. California, courts have generally held that profanity alone cannot be criminalized. A state appeals court in Michigan struck down a similar statute as unconstitutionally vague, and most prosecutors know that charging someone for swearing in a parking lot is a losing case.
Kentucky: Reptiles in Church
Kentucky bans displaying, handling, or using any reptile in connection with a religious service. The fine is $50 to $100 per instance.7Justia. Kentucky Code 437.060 – Use of Reptiles in Religious Services The statute targets snake-handling congregations in Appalachian communities, where some churches incorporate venomous serpents into worship as a test of faith. Multiple people have died from snakebites during these services, which is why the law exists. Whether the state can constitutionally regulate religious practice this specifically remains a live question, but the statute has stayed on the books for decades.
South Carolina: No Pinball Under 18
South Carolina still has a statute making it unlawful for anyone under 18 to play a pinball machine. The law is a relic of an era when arcade games were viewed as gateways to gambling and juvenile delinquency.8South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-19-2430 – Playing Pinball Enforcement is essentially nonexistent, but the statute remains because no legislator has introduced a repeal bill for something so harmless.
Strange Laws in the Midwest
Wisconsin: Colored Margarine Restrictions
Wisconsin’s dairy protectionism produced one of the Midwest’s most famous food laws. The state’s oleomargarine regulations prohibit restaurants from serving colored margarine as a substitute for butter unless the customer specifically requests it. State institutions like hospitals and prisons face even stricter rules, with margarine substitution allowed only when a physician orders it for a specific patient’s health.9Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 97.18 – Oleomargarine Regulations The law made more sense when margarine manufacturers were dying their product yellow to pass it off as butter, but the regulations have long outlived that particular deception.
Michigan: Adultery Is a Felony
Michigan classifies adultery as a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.10Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.30 – Adultery; Punishment Prosecutions are extraordinarily rare. A repeal effort has gained traction in the state legislature, with lawmakers acknowledging that the law is a leftover from a time when criminal codes tried to regulate private morality. The statute technically remains enforceable until it’s repealed or struck down.
Minnesota: No Greased Pig Contests
Minnesota bans greased pig contests, turkey scrambles, and similar events where the goal is to chase and capture a greased or oiled animal. Violating the law is a misdemeanor.11Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 343.36 – Greased Pig Contests and Turkey Scrambles Unlike many entries here, this one reflects an animal-cruelty concern that most people today would find reasonable. The law also covers chickens thrown into the air for the same purpose.
Missouri: A Bullfighting Ban That Isn’t Really a Ban
Missouri’s statute prohibiting bullfighting and cockfighting has been on the books for well over a century, but it comes with a catch: a Missouri court ruled the law unconstitutionally vague in 1985, finding that the language didn’t clearly define what conduct was prohibited.12Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 578.050 – Bullbaiting and Cockfighting The statute still appears in the code, but it’s one of the clearest examples of a law that exists on paper while being legally dead in practice.
Strange Laws Out West
Arizona: Don’t Touch the Saguaro
Arizona takes its native plants seriously. Removing or destroying protected native plants, including the iconic saguaro cactus, without the landowner’s consent is a criminal offense. Penalties scale with the value of the plants taken: theft of plants worth $1,500 or more is a class 4 felony, while theft under $500 is a class 1 misdemeanor.13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 3-932 – Violation; Classification; Penalties Even moving a saguaro without the proper permits is a class 1 misdemeanor on the first offense and a class 6 felony on subsequent offenses. A large saguaro can be over 150 years old and worth thousands of dollars, which makes the steep penalties less surprising than they first appear.
Idaho: Cannibalism Is a Standalone Felony
Idaho is one of the only states with a standalone law specifically criminalizing cannibalism. The statute, passed in 1990, makes it a felony punishable by up to 14 years in prison to willfully consume human flesh or blood. An exception exists for extreme survival situations where no other means of staying alive is available.14Idaho State Legislature. Idaho Code 18-5003 – Cannibalism Defined – Punishment The law was enacted in response to a disturbing 1989 criminal case in Minidoka County. Most other states would prosecute cannibalism under desecration-of-remains or assault statutes rather than a dedicated law.
Oregon: Keep Your Car Door Shut
Oregon law makes it illegal to leave a car door open on the traffic side longer than necessary to load or unload passengers, or to open a door when it isn’t safe to do so. The offense is a Class D traffic violation with a presumptive fine of $115.15Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 811.490 – Improper Opening or Leaving Open of Vehicle Door; Penalty This one sounds silly until you consider how many cyclists are injured every year by car doors swinging open into bike lanes. Portland alone sees dozens of these “dooring” incidents annually, and the law gives traffic officers a tool to cite careless drivers.
Hawaii: No Billboards, Anywhere
Hawaii has banned billboards along its highways and coastlines since 1927, making it one of the earliest states to prioritize scenic beauty over roadside advertising. The ban covers nearly all forms of outdoor advertising visible from public roads. A handful of other states have adopted similar measures. Hawaiians treat the policy as a point of pride rather than a quirky restriction.
Wyoming: Public Buildings Must Buy Art
Wyoming requires that 1% of the construction cost of any new public building be spent on artwork for public display, capped at $100,000 per project. Buildings with total construction costs under $100,000 are exempt.16Justia. Wyoming Statutes 16-6-802 – Construction of New Public Buildings; State Funds The rule ensures that courthouses, libraries, and government offices contribute to the cultural life of their communities. Several other states and cities have adopted similar programs.
Washington: Don’t Shoot Bigfoot
Skamania County, Washington, passed an ordinance in 1969 declaring it a crime to kill Bigfoot. The original version classified it as a felony with penalties of up to $10,000 and five years in jail.17King County Law Library. Sasquatch Rules An amended version later reduced the penalties, distinguishing between a “gross misdemeanor” killing with malice and a lesser offense without it. The ordinance was passed on April 1, which tells you something about the legislative intent. It technically remains enforceable within the county.
Why Courts Rarely Strike These Laws Down
Even when a law is clearly outdated, getting it declared unconstitutional requires someone to actually be charged under it or to demonstrate a credible threat of prosecution. Most weird laws sit in a legal limbo where nobody enforces them, so nobody has standing to challenge them. Courts call these “dead letters,” and judges have little interest in ruling on a hypothetical case about whether Kentucky can really fine you for bringing a lizard to church.
When challenges do arise, two constitutional doctrines tend to come into play. The void-for-vagueness doctrine holds that a law can be struck down if it’s too unclear for an average person to understand what conduct is prohibited. Missouri’s bullfighting statute failed that test. The First Amendment’s protections against compelled speech and restrictions on expression could potentially sink laws like Massachusetts’s anthem-performance ban or Mississippi’s public profanity statute. The Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that the government cannot force participation in patriotic rituals, and the 1971 Cohen decision established that profane language, by itself, generally receives constitutional protection.
The result is a strange equilibrium. The laws are probably unconstitutional, but because they’re never enforced, nobody spends the money or time to prove it in court. Filing a civil challenge to a local ordinance can cost several hundred dollars in court fees alone, and constitutional litigation often stretches on for years. For a law no prosecutor would dream of enforcing, that’s a lot of effort for a symbolic victory.
Why Obsolete Laws Stay on the Books
Repealing a law requires the same legislative machinery as passing one. Someone has to draft a repeal bill, a committee has to hold hearings, both chambers have to vote, and the governor has to sign. That process competes for time and attention with bills addressing real, active problems. When the choice is between writing a budget and cleaning up a 19th-century seaweed ordinance, the seaweed loses every time.
Some states have law revision commissions tasked with identifying obsolete statutes and recommending repeals, but their recommendations often sit in a queue behind more urgent business. Prosecutors and police officers handle the gap between what’s technically illegal and what’s actually prosecuted through discretion. An officer who arrested someone for playing pinball in South Carolina would face more scrutiny than the pinball player. Because dead-letter laws don’t cause active harm, there’s almost no constituency pushing for their removal. They persist as historical artifacts, quietly documenting the anxieties and priorities of earlier generations while modern enforcement focuses elsewhere.