Top 10 Craziest Walmart Incidents Caught on Camera
#10: Quitting on Camera
If you’ve ever worked retail or for an awful boss, you’ve probably fantasized about quitting in a dramatic fashion. Well, Shana Blackwell, who worked as a night stocker at a store in Lubbock, Texas, took matters into her own hands and quit her job over the store’s intercom system in October 2020. Not only did she quit, but she called out the disgusting behavior of fellow employees, managers and the company as a whole. Blackwell recorded her resignation and posted it on social media, where it went viral. In a later interview with “Mother Jones,” Blackwell pointed out the unfairly low pay she received in one of the store’s most physically demanding positions. You go, girl.
#9: Mask Meltdown
While we saw plenty of kindness and empathy during the COVID-19 pandemic, we unfortunately also saw quite a bit of disregard for other people’s health and safety. In August 2020, many stores had masking requirements in place for both employees and customers, including this Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska. However, this particular person thought he was above the rules and attempted to enter the store with a naked face. When he was asked to mask up or leave, the man had a massive meltdown, complete with vulgar language, rude hand gestures and nonsensical ramblings. We really hope the employees who had to deal with this situation got a raise afterward.
#8: Fire, Aisle Five
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We’ve heard of fire sales, but this is taking it a little too far. In November 2017, during the wee hours of the morning when the weirdest things tend to happen, the graveyard shift shoppers in a Cedar Park, Texas, store were shocked to see smoke. Two separate fires were ablaze in the store, one in the jewelry and apparel area and one in the vacuum aisle, and both apparently the result of arson. Thankfully, the Walmart’s sprinkler system put out most of the flames, and the quick-thinking employees evacuated the store, ensuring no one was injured by the fires.
#7: Garden Center Wedding
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Wedding venues can be deeply personal for couples who choose to tie the knot, and for some people, apparently that deeply personal venue is Walmart. In 2007, the chain had a contest to choose seven couples who could have their weddings in their local stores’ garden centers completely free of charge on the popular July 7 date. One lucky couple, Ella Glass and Caleb Cox, captured their special day on camera, showing their beautiful ceremony with their loved ones. The unusual setting was charming and as idyllic as a Walmart can be, and Ella and Caleb are an absolutely adorable couple. Mazel tov!
#6: Ghosts?
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Few things are spookier than a completely empty Walmart in the middle of the night, but this seemingly sentient balloon making its way through the store definitely amps up the creepiness. If you saw this as you were picking up some midnight cereal, would you use scissors or a Ouija board to stop it? Although this video was revealed to be a fake, it does shine light on other apparently haunted stores, such as a location in Galveston, Texas, that is built on the former site of an orphanage. When the orphanage was destroyed by a hurricane in 1900, more than 100 people perished, but they are said to still linger in the aisles of this particular store.
#5: Shampoo Aisle Fight
This isn’t the largest brawl we’ll cover on our list, but it’s definitely the slipperiest. In 2015, at a Walmart located in Beech Grove, Indiana, two women got downright dirty in the hygiene department. Apparently, the brawl started when one of the customers complained to an associate about the shampoo aisle’s layout, prompting another customer to step in. During the fight, one of the women asked her young son to also attack the other woman, which he did. Police were called to step in after quite a while, and the mother who asked her young son to step in was charged with child neglect among other charges.
#4: Mooving Through the Dairy Section
This particular incident is what math word problems are made of. In April 2011, a Walmart in Virginia likely saw the most bizarre crime it has ever experienced. A man clad in a cow suit somehow managed to snag 26 gallons of milk at once. As if that weren’t strange enough, he then crawled out of the store on all fours in an attempt to mimic cattle and then handed out the stolen milk to people outside of the Walmart. The bovine Robin Hood initially managed to escape, but local police later caught him, not still wearing his cow suit, at a McDonald’s, and he was charged with shoplifting.
#3: Firework Blaze
What’s crazier than arson in a Walmart? Arson in a Walmart that sets off fireworks inside the store. In June 2016, a Phoenix, Arizona, location had an early and terrifying Independence Day surprise thanks to a man who set a fireworks display in the store ablaze. Of course, the fireworks did what fireworks do, and, well, you can imagine how that went. Although the store was evacuated and all the customers and employees thankfully escaped harm, the incident caused millions of dollars of damage. Phoenix police tracked down the suspect three months later, and he was charged with arson.
#2: Horsin’ Around
If you’ve paid close attention so far, you might have noticed that Texas has made more appearances on this list than any other state. Of course, this particular incident pretty much encapsulates the Lonestar State, saddle and all. In March 2017, two men moseyed into a Houston, Texas, Walmart on horseback to get a candy bar. Apparently, no one stopped the men and their very tall friends from entering the store, so they clopped their ways down the aisles. Although the horses were very well behaved during the trip, one did relieve itself on the floor of the store. Whoever had to clean that up definitely deserves a raise.
#1: Black Friday Brawl
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Of course, no list about insane occurrences at the ultimate big box chain would be complete without a Black Friday incident. While fights on the day after giving thanks seem to be an annual thing, this particular punch fest took place in 2014, and of course it was in Texas. Apparently, their deal on televisions was to die for as customers wrestled each other to the floor in an attempt to get in on the sale. Look, we don’t care how good the deal is. There is no excuse for getting so worked up over a sale that police officers have to get involved.
