Wait, That’s a Real Sign? (9 Photos)

Real Signs With Unexpected Stories

From a tank crossing in Dorset to a coconut warning and a remarkably straight road, these nine signs mark real places and the stories behind them.

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✈️ Jet Blast Warning — Maho Beach, Sint Maarten 🇸🇽

The drawing of a person tumbling away from a jet engine is not a cartoon joke. Maho Beach sits right at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and planes on approach cross the sand at less than 100 feet (30 m).

💡 Fence Fact: People hold on to the fence to feel the blast of departing jets. In 2017 a 57-year-old tourist from New Zealand was knocked into a wall and died, and police said hundreds of visitors regularly ignore the signs.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsJet Blast Warning SignMaho Beach · Sint MaartenMaho BeachPrincess Juliana AirportRunway end1According to CBC News, hundreds of tourists regularly ignore multiple warning signs not to stand by the fence.CBC News2In July 2017 a 57-year-old New Zealand tourist holding the fence was reportedly blown over by jet blast and died.721news200721 FebPhoto uploaded · Wikipedia upload date2011AprPhotographed · month given by uploader201515 NovPhotographed · camera dateRead the full file →

📷 Photo: Terrazzo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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🌋 Volcano Evacuation Route — Puyallup, Washington, USA 🇺🇸

It hangs on a lamppost right next to a Meeker Days festival banner. Puyallup lies in a valley below Mount Rainier, where volcanic mudflows called lahars can be triggered by eruptions or landslides.

💡 Siren Fact: Pierce County notes that the USGS calls Mount Rainier one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. The county’s outdoor warning system uses sirens to alert people in the Puyallup River Valley to lahars and other emergencies.

📷 Photo: Chris Light / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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🥥 Beware of Falling Coconuts — Bowen, Queensland, Australia 🇦🇺

Nailed to a palm among the frangipani at a resort in Bowen, and meant seriously.

💡 Council Fact: In Queensland, the Cassowary Coast council strips coconuts from about 800 palms before they can fall. It says de-nutting reduces the risk of “falling coconuts which can cause considerable injury”.

📷 Photo: John Robert McPherson / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

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🏖️ Keep Off the Beach — Barra Airport, Outer Hebrides, Scotland 🇬🇧

The beach behind this sign is the runway. Barra Airport on the island of Barra lands its scheduled flights on the sand of Tràigh Mhòr, so when the windsock is up, everyone else has to clear off.

💡 Tide Fact: At high tide the runways are under the sea, so flight times change with the tide.

📷 Photo: luxpim / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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💥 Tanks Crossing, Sudden Gunfire — Near West Holme, Dorset, England 🇬🇧

The two plates are on the B3070 near West Holme, in East Stoke parish, where the road crosses the army’s Lulworth Ranges. Tank crews from Bovington Camp, which has trained them since 1916, use the ranges for live gunnery.

💡 Heath Fact: The tanks have been here a long time. Aerial photos from 1946–47 show Second World War tank trackways, slit trenches and foxholes on Stokeford Heath in East Stoke.

📷 Photo: “Tanks crossing and sudden gunfire signs” by Phil Champion / Geograph via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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🌊 Tsunami Hazard Zone — Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

A running stick figure, a curling wave and one instruction: go to higher ground. This sign stands on the docks in Bamfield, a small village on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

💡 1700 Fact: A tsunami from the Cascadia earthquake of January 26, 1700 destroyed a winter village at Pachena Bay. Huu-ay-aht oral history records a great earthquake and tsunami affecting the area.

📷 Photo: Mimigu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

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🔥 Stop: Extreme Heat Danger — Death Valley, California, USA 🇺🇸

A stop sign with no road and no cars. This one warns people not to walk out onto the salt flat in Death Valley after 10 a.m. The Park Service says summer temperatures can reach 130°F (54°C).

💡 Record Fact: The world record for the highest air temperature, 134°F (57°C), was measured at Furnace Creek in Death Valley on July 10, 1913.

📷 Photo: “Extreme heat warning sign in Death Valley, California, USA” by Graeme Maclean / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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📏 90 Mile Straight — Eyre Highway, Western Australia, Australia 🇦🇺

Most road signs warn about a bend ahead. This one brags that there isn’t one: on the Eyre Highway between Balladonia and Caiguna, the road runs 146.6 kilometers (91.1 miles) without turning.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced facts90 Mile Straight SignEyre Highway · Balladonia, Western AustraliaWestern end146.6 kmEyre Highway1Visit Dundas calls the straight a 146.6-kilometre ribbon of bitumen running unbroken between Caiguna and Balladonia.Visit Dundas2ExplorOz lists this sign at the western end of the 90 Mile Straight on the Eyre Highway.ExplorOz201715 AprPhotographed · camera date20237 NovPhotographed with two cars · camera dateRead the full file →

📷 Photo: Bahnfrend / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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🛣️ The Loneliest Road in America — US 50, Nevada, USA 🇺🇸

Nevada turned the insult into a road sign. In July 1986 Life magazine called the stretch of Highway 50 from Fernley to Ely “The Loneliest Road in America”, and AAA advised against driving it.

💡 Passport Fact: The state answered the same year with a survival passport: get it stamped in the towns along the way and trade it for a certificate.

📷 Photo: Jack Edge / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)