A snake, secret military papers and $10,000 in CASH: Nine of the strangest items that have been discovered in used cars

Getting ready to buy a used car? Then you might like to know about some of the crazy things car owners have found in recently purchased vehicles.

From pet snakes and fake bombs to urns containing human ashes, drivers across the globe have left some incredibly bizarre items in their trunks and glove boxes, or on their back seats.

Here, in partnership with Cars.com, we bring you some of the most intriguing finds.

A snake 

A British woman got the scare of her life when she opened the trunk of a second-hand car she purchased online to find a 3ft boa constrictor curled up inside.

Charlie Wise, from Berkshire in the UK, saw the Volkswagen Golf advertised on a social networking site and bought it for $300 in 2014.

Terrifying: A British woman discovered a 3ft boa constrictor (similar to the one pictured) curled up inside in the trunk of a car she purchased online for $300

The daycare worker had taken the car home to clean when she and husband noticed what they thought was a rubber toy curled up in the back. But when it flicked its tongue out, they realized it was real.

'We screamed and slammed the boot,' Ms Wise said. 

The couple called a reptile specialist to remove the snake, which was dehydrated and in poor condition, and it was taken into care by animal rescue services.

The couple called the car's previous owner who told them he had lost his three-year-old snake two months earlier - he said the reptile had vanished while he was transporting it to a friend's house.

Human ashes

When Andrea Davidson from Bonney Lake, Washington, bought a second-hand SUV at auction last year she found a variety of personal items in the back - the strangest of which were four urns.

Ms Davidson, who bought the teal 1997 Geo Tracker for about $700, discovered the mysterious urns hidden under old photo albums, social security documents and journals.

She told ABC News that three of the urns appeared to contain human ashes, while the third - labeled Cha Cha - seemed to contain those of a pet.

'I was shocked,' she said. 'It was something you don't expect to find in a car. It definitely felt eerie and pretty creepy.'

Top secret info 

Military chiefs in the UK were forced to investigate a security breach in 2012 after the personal details of army snipers were found in the trunk of a second-hand car.

The stunned buyer found a 'treasure trove' of secret information which could have been used by Britain's enemies, including the Taliban, to chilling effect.

Top secret: A car buyer in the UK discovered the personal details of snipers from the British Army in the trunk of a second-hand vehicle purchased from a Leeds garage in August 2009

Sensitive papers listing the names of 28 soldiers selected to train as elite marksmen were discovered under the spare tire by the new owner, along with an army pass giving the holder access to Ministry of Defence bases.

The papers, dated July 2 and 19, 2010, lay hidden for nine months after the car was bought from a Leeds garage in August the previous year. 

Concerned defense chiefs launched an urgent probe amid fears the lapse could put lives at peril. 

An Army source said: 'We have a duty of care to provide the best possible support for our soldiers and those who are deemed at risk if their identities are exposed while on operations.

'Snipers fall into that category as they are at the forefront of our fight against the Taliban, and exposing their identities can put them and their families at risk from more extremist elements of society.' 

Dynamite

In June 2015, the bomb squad was called after a car owner in Vermont found sticks of dynamite in the back of his vehicle.

The local fire department and US Border Control were also at the scene, and six nearby homes were evacuated before the area was rendered safe.

Jeremy Crawford, from Beecher Falls, told police he had recently purchased the vehicle and had discovered the explosives in the trunk.  

Fake bombs

Sydney's domestic airport was partially closed in 2013 after the Australian army accidentally left fake bombs in the glove box of a rental car.

The two inert IEDs had been left in the car during an elite military exercise and their discovery sparked a major bomb scare resulting in the partial shutdown of the airport car park.

High alert: Sydney's domestic airport (pictured) was partially closed in 2013 after the Australian army accidentally left two inert IEDs in the glove box of a rental car that had used for an elite military exercise 

They were found by cleaners at Hertz rental cars about two weeks after the car was returned to the airport, according to an investigation report obtained by Fairfax. 

Police were called out and a section of the car park was cordoned off while the devices were investigated.

A check of Hertz records revealed the car was one of several vehicles hired for six-and-a-half weeks by the Defence Police Training Centre at Holsworthy Barracks, reported news.com.au.

The DPTC said both devices were marked 'inert' and posed no danger to the public.

Thousands of dollars

A used car technician in Florida came across a bulging envelope stashed in a recently traded-in vehicle last year, and was shocked to discover it contained $10,000.

Brett Cadorath was carrying out a safety check on one of the cars at the Hyundai dealership in St Petersburg when he made the discovery of several crisp one hundred dollar bills under the passenger seat.

In the money: A bundle of $100 bills is one of the more shocking finds to come from inside a used car. The discovery was made by a technician in Florida and all the cash was returned to its rightful owner (stock photo)

Mr Cadorath took the envelope to his manager Chris Sanborn, who contacted the car's previous owner, a 70-year-old woman who had recently been widowed.

'It turned out the woman's husband had stashed things all over the place before he died, and he had put the money in the car as surprise,' Mr Sanborn explained.

He added that the woman and her daughter later came down to dealership and were able to reclaim all the cash.

A wedding ring

In June 2012, the chance discovery of a wedding ring in the back of a recently purchased car in California led to a 1,200-mile cross-country quest to find its owner.

Steve and Shannon Callahan from Sacramento found the 14-carat, white gold and diamond ring down the back of their second-hand Pontiac Grand Am in 2012.

Doing a little detective work, the couple tracked the original registration of their 2004 car to El Paso in Texas, but then they hit a dead end.

However, the Sacramento Bee newspaper picked up the story and continued the search back in Sacramento where it had all begun, locating the car's previous owner 78-year-old Darlene King,

The ring in fact belonged to Mrs King's late husband Thomas, who had died six months earlier, and it was returned to the family.

Drugs

When Leonardo Mendoza experienced difficulties starting a car he had recently bought at a police auction, he had no idea this was caused by 40lbs of marijuana stashed in the gas tank.

In June 2013, Mr Mendoza, from Nogales, Arizona, took the 2001 silver Volvo to a mechanic who checked the engine and noticed that the gasoline was green.

Green gasoline: A man in Arizona found 40lbs of marijuana stashed in the tank of his second-hand car. The vehicle had previously been seized by police at the Mariposa point of entry along the Mexican border (pictured)

He refilled the car with gas, but a month later found that the vehicle was still not running properly and removed the tank to find it contained several small bundles.

Mr Mendoza called the police who arrived at his home to find he had recovered around 25 bundles of marijuana weighing just under 40lbs in the tank.

A Department of Homeland Security report reveals that the car had initially been seized at the Mexican border crossing the previous year, after packages of marijuana had been discovered hidden in the doors and panels. 

A machete

A buyer at a car auction in Pennsylvania got slightly more than he bargained for last summer when he discovered a machete stowed inside his newly-acquired vehicle.

Glenn Shook found the weapon in the 2008 Buick he purchased at an auction of vehicles seized by the Monroe County drug task force, WNEP reported.

The vehicle had been cleared of other drug paraphernalia, and Mr Shook was allowed to keep the machete.