There are a lot of things you would expect to see on the side of the road in front of your house: discarded trash, a lost toy, even a shoe.

Isaac Phillips found something on Friday in front of his house that he hopes he never sees again — a coffin.

The wooden coffin appeared to be fairly old and battered, gray with metal handles and, thankfully, empty.

Phillips said that he saw the coffin on an abandoned property near his house on Decatur Street for at least a week before it showed up across the street from his house.

“They dragged it out here this morning,” he said Friday. “You can see where they dragged it. If my granddaughters came home and saw that, I’d probably never find those girls! They’d be scared of it.”

Members of the City of Demopolis public works department picked up the coffin. Barbara Blevins, the director of the city’s horticulture department, said they may use it in the “Haints and Haunts” tour for Halloween.

Calling city officials when you find a coffin in front of your house is the best thing to do. Trying to sell it through the want ads or on eBay may not work out too well for those trying to make some money off of it: “For sale: used coffin.”