Hay River (May 12/03) - You never know what you might discover at the Thrift Shop in Hay River.

The volunteers running the second-hand store have seen some weird and wonderful items donated by the public.

On a recent afternoon, several volunteers at the store took a break to recall some of the stranger gifts.

Jayne Haywood recalled the time an old-time lace-up corset was brought in.

"It wasn't the sexy kind," she says. "It was heavy duty, utility underwear."

Haywood also remembered when the volunteers were closing up and turned out the lights. "And there was a glow in the garbage."

As it turned out, the spooky light was coming from glow-in-the-dark men's boxers, complete with little images of Santa Claus. The women had mistaken the glow-in-the-dark paint for stains and had tossed the boxers in the garbage.

Other sexy underwear is donated to the store, but the ladies admit they often don't know how all the laces fit together.

"But it all sells very quickly," notes Carolyn McMeekin.

There have also been bizarre kitchen appliances and gadgets. One recent donation was apparently some kind of pickling device, but no one could be sure ("You see, you don't watch the infomercials," one volunteer quipped to the others).

Then there was a "weird wire frame thing" that Schofield described as being something like a turkey lifter.

"And then someone came and bought it," she said, noting the volunteers still don't know what it was.

Of course, the various fads in exercise equipment eventually make their way to the Thrift Shop.

Some of the gadgets the women can figure out, but some are just way too complicated.

Norma Schofield recalled one particularly unusual exercise machine. "It looked like about eight people could work out on it."

And after digging around in the back room where the Halloween costumes are kept, the ladies emerged with a bear outfit, minus a head. According to the information stamped inside, the costume was made by the T. Eaton Company of Toronto. It dates all the way back to 1941.

"We do get some strange things in here," says Schofield. "Over the years, you name it, we got it."