Smuggling Schemes in US History That Failed in Spectacular Fashion

"Someone during Prohibition fitted false humps to cattle so a herd could walk liquor past an inspection point. During the Civil War, gunpowder travelled south packed inside sausage casings. Ingenuity and competence are different qualities, and this episode is a catalogue of the gap between them. In this episode: Fake humps strapped to cows to move alcohol across a line Gunpowder smuggled inside sausages during the Civil War Alcohol carried in the stomachs of sedated alligators Staged funeral processions with the coffin packed full of bottles Beehives used as liquor containers, on the theory that nobody searches bees Carrier pigeons ran small consignments, hot water bottles were filled with gin, and a hollowed walking cane held enough for an evening. Prohibition never stopped the trade in the United States; it only made the packaging peculiar."