The truth, it is said, is stranger than fiction. This is one of those true stories.

In May, Mary and Elmer Irish discovered a rather large egg in the woods. The egg weighed around 3 pounds and measured 19.5 inches on the long side by 15.5 inches around the middle. Based upon photographs and the measurements that the Irishes provided, an expert from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History determined it to be an ostrich egg.

The mystery is if it really is an ostrich egg, how did it come to be in a remote woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. No one has come forward to say they are raising ostrich’s in the area. Ostrich’s are native to Africa. Is this merely a prank? Will this go down as one more of the legends and lore of our lovely Upper Peninsula?

Well, as Paul Harvey says, now it is time for the rest of the story. Elmer was traveling in Michigan’s southern peninsula with the egg recently. On one of our hot days he had left the egg on the backseat in his truck. 95 degree temperatures plus one huge egg equals one huge mess.

The egg had exploded in Elmer’s truck. When he went to hop in, he quickly hopped back out. Rotten egg had blown itself all over the truck’s interior.

Note to self, when traveling with a mysterious ostrich egg in the summer do not leave it in the full sun on the back seat of your vehicle. It will explode and leave you with a rather large cleaning bill unless you don’t mind the aromatic scent of rotten egg.

You can read the article here in The Mining Journal.