Many already know about the infamous Emerald Triangle on the Lost Coast. Cannabis farms in this area of Northern California have remained hidden from detection for decades within the dense redwood forest. The tallest trees in the world are the perfect canopy of cover and a natural guard against intruders.

Marijuana growers could thrive in secrecy. But not everyone is fortunate enough to hide among the silent giants. Much has been invested in guarding these secret operations, and we’re not simply talking about armored men on a murder spree. The folks on this list are more creative than that. In an underground economy like the marijuana trade, you have to be an original.

How does one conceal a pot farm worth millions?

Some ideas to protect a grower’s investment are pure genius, while others remain laughably absurd. As cannabis slowly becomes varying degrees of “legal” across the United States and the world, growers are emerging from the shadows. They still have valuable assets to guard, but now they have more freedom and resources.

In the not-too-distant past, growers were not as lucky. Whether it’s a federal prison sentence on the line or just a lot of dough, cannabis operations must be protected at all costs by whatever means necessary.

10 Booby Traps

Just as pirates planted booby traps in caves to ward off thieves from their tantalizing treasures, so have pot farmers used these devices to protect their lucrative investments. These traps range from trip wires that trigger fragmentation grenades to acid-filled buckets suspended in the trees. Growers have even been known to dig pits with hidden nails and sharpened sticks to impale intruders.

In Cleveland, Ohio, County Sheriff Keith Wood was the victim of such a leg trap. His boot was pierced with a long nail positioned beneath a thin wooden slab. Wood said, “We routinely see them. Traps are always something we have to be mindful of. There’s a lot of money involved, and (growers) are trying to protect what’s theirs.”^[1]

Unfortunately, a trap recently backfired on a grower in New York. Daniel Ricketts used several methods to protect his farm, including barbed wire and a leg trap that is often used for coyotes. However, it was an invisible piano wire he had planted that nearly decapitated him as he steered his ATV directly into it full throttle.

9 Secret Bookcase Doors

It’s everyone’s dream to have a bookcase that secretly opens up to a hidden room. Now imagine the room is filled to the brim with blossoming green buds and the pungent smell of marijuana.

It’s no fairy tale. In a man’s garage in Texas, a bookcase rested against the wall hiding a secret door. Police found a specialized key that triggered a magnet behind the door. It opened to a dark stairwell that led them to an underground chamber where they were greeted with $1 million worth of marijuana.

In another case in Essex, England, a man owned a pub called The Joker. Behind the pub’s seemingly innocent bookshelf, there was a small metal door. His secret might never have been revealed if it hadn’t been for a slight hole in the wall that enabled police to see the heat lamps and hydroponic system.^[2]

In another major slipup in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, two newlyweds were arguing in the basement when the wife noticed that a mirror and bookcase had been moved. She entered a door into a room she hadn’t known existed to find her husband’s illegal operation in full swing. He whacked her upside the head with one of his plants, and then she called the police.

8 Robots

In recent years, there has been a movement toward using robot security patrols for outdoor marijuana crops. In California, the growers of Canndescent tested out this idea with the help of the company Sharp Intellos. They implemented automated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to guard the perimeter in the evenings.

Todd Kleperis, chief executive officer of Hardcar Security, explained that robots are the most effective in this endeavor because humans are naturally flawed. He said, “At night, guards sleep, they play video games, and spend time on social media. It’s fraught with human error.”^[3] Not to mention, the security detail must put their lives on the line every night.

So robots are the natural solution. Kleperis said, “If you’ve ever been shot at, it’s very scary. These robots can take a gunshot better than a human.” Robots do not return the gunfire but merely alert the humans when something is amiss. However, Kleperis mentioned that he is considering adding a pepper spray function in the future.

7 Armed Scarecrow

A sophisticated operation with campsites, water pumps, and 10,000 1.8-meter-high (6 ft) marijuana plants was discovered near Dallas, Texas. The 5-acre site, just outside a rest stop, was so well hidden that it was only discovered via an anonymous tip.

First, police approached the site with a drone. Then they needed a bulldozer to clear a path through the dense woods. When they arrived, the only guard in sight was a sinister scarecrow positioned in a hammock with a tilted hat over its face, boots on, and a fake rifle strapped across its chest.^[4]

The presence of a gun makes it clear that the dummy was a deterrent, not for hungry crows but humans who have strayed too far from the rest stop.

6 Thin Black Screen

Sometimes, growers choose to hide in plain sight. In this case, nothing but a thin black veil whipping in the wind hid the illegal merchandise from an aerial view. Nothing else seemed to be needed as this operation was being conducted in the remote Mexican desert.

Army General Alfonso Duarte said that the black tarp is routinely used by farms to protect crops from the harsh Mexican sun. Due to this blind spot, Duarte explained, it was difficult to verify the type of crops being grown from the air. So soldiers had to travel to the isolated area on foot to be certain.

There, they discovered that the black screen hid a 300-acre plantation that produced approximately 120 tons of pot with an estimated value of $160 million. It was revealed to be one of the largest (if not the largest) marijuana plantations ever discovered in Mexico.^[5]

5 Cornfields

America leads the world in corn production, but many are unaware of the agricultural underworld that persists. If you take a stroll through a cornfield, you’re likely to come across a skunky whiff of a different sort of crop.

Cornfields are planted across hundreds of acres, sometimes thousands. Once the corn is planted, the farmer doesn’t set foot in the field again until harvest time. This is due to labor-saving technology and innovations. It’s very convenient for marijuana growers, who can easily hide their plants among the giant stalks of corn.

Cannabis grows faster than corn. It can be transplanted into a field after corn is planted and then grow to fruition before the corn is harvested. In the Corn Belt, farmers routinely find marijuana patches in their fields. There are entire Internet forums for pot growers to discuss the business of hiding their crops in cornfields.

Not only is there ample sunlight but the corn farmers ensure that the soil is rich and optimal growing conditions are met. Plus, marijuana growers plant a network of small patches throughout the cornfields using GPS technology, which makes it impossible to detect. The large industrial-style farming of corn has given birth to this green underbelly of criminal profit that is almost completely untraceable.^[6]

4 Prison

In California’s Central Valley, there is a small red dot of a town called Coalinga. As you are driving into town, there’s a billboard with bold lettering that reads, “Jesus is Lord of Coalinga.” It’s a highly religious, Republican community that has voted against marijuana legalization every time it has appeared on the ballot.

The town was bankrupt, with $3 million in debt and high unemployment. Its only asset was an abandoned prison. They tried desperately to sell it, but nobody wanted the building until a strange, unexpected buyer came along: Ocean Grown Extracts. An investor in this medical marijuana company was Damian Marley, son of the reggae singer Bob Marley.

“This is symbolic and a big middle finger to the drug war and to a broken system that hasn’t worked for a long time now,” Marley’s manager said.^[7] It’s fantastically ironic that a large marijuana growing operation would take place in a prison which had recently housed convicts for marijuana-related crimes.

3 National Parks

The Forest Service says that its law enforcement officers spend most of their time investigating illegal cannabis operations. California has over 16 million acres of national forest lands, and illegal grows have been found in 40 of its 58 counties. Massive marijuana grows have even been discovered in iconic national parks like Yosemite.

It’s incredibly dangerous when an unsuspecting visitor happens upon one of the aforementioned booby traps that are common. One may be joyfully hiking and twirling in the hills, Sound-of-Music style, only to trip a wire connected to a shotgun shell.

There’s also the use of pesticides, like carbofuran, that are so gross that they have been outlawed in California for more than a decade. Majestic elk and snowy owls consume these lethal poisons and fall dead on the spot. Not to mention the water pollution and trash heaps that the marijuana growers leave behind. Pot farmers are not marijuana-loving hippies that want to save the planet as is often romanticized.^[8]

2 Slaves In A Nuclear Bunker

Three men were jailed for converting a former nuclear bunker into an industrial-sized pot farm in Wiltshire, England. They had been operating this site for at least five years. When it was discovered, there were nearly 5,000 plants safely guarded belowground.

Unfortunately, the police also found three Vietnamese men who had been locked behind a 13-centimeter (5 in) door that was strong enough to withstand a nuclear blast. None of them had a key to the door. The men, two of whom were teenagers, appeared utterly terrified.

Detective Inspector Paul Franklin said, “It was slavery, there’s no doubt. [ . . . ] They were trafficked from Vietnam, they were placed there and told to work.” None of the three men who were jailed faced charges of slavery, however. The victims wouldn’t talk to the cops. It’s likely that there were threats against their families back home.^[9]

The next day, another young Vietnamese man was found wandering aimlessly outside a nearby rural village. Police suspect that he escaped by slicing open his metal ventilation tunnel on the roof.

1 Deadly Predators

In folklore and myth, snakes are often guardians. The snake is the universal protector of sacred trees or, in the case of pot growers, the protector of expensive crops.

In Louisiana, a grower used a python to protect his 2.3 kilograms (5 lb) of weed. On a farm in Essex, England, a marijuana greenhouse had 24 snakes slithering in between the greenery. Two of those snakes were horned vipers, which are highly venomous.

In western Canada, police discovered 10 black bears on a pot plantation with 1,000 cannabis plants. The wild bears had been lured onto the property with dog food to guard the premises. It seems like an army of bears would be a clever intimidation tactic to ward off would-be thieves, but charging beasts with wild eyes and gnashing teeth were far from the reality of these docile creatures.

After the initial shock wore off, police quickly learned that the bears weren’t going to attack. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police sergeant said, “They were tame. They just sat around watching. At one point, one of the bears climbed onto the hood of a police car, sat there for a bit, and then jumped off.”^[10]

Guard dogs also monitor pot plantations. In fact, they are so common that you can actually buy specially trained dogs for “cannabis protection” online now. Alligators as watchdogs, or “watchgators,” aren’t as common, but they aren’t just a one-time oddity, either. It’s a trend that’s seen from Pennsylvania and Maryland all the way across the country to California.

“Mr. Teeth” was one such gator. At 1.5 meters (5 ft) long, he was found patrolling a grower’s bedroom with 15 kilograms (34 lb) of pot. Another gator was the 25-kilogram (55 lb) Wally, who was discovered in a swimming pool in Hemet, California. Wally was guarding 2,200 plants that would have brought in approximately $1.5 million.

The Praetorian Guard is one of the most famous military units in history. They were known as elite Roman soldiers, sworn to protect the emperor for hundreds of years. They were feared by the people and even by the emperors themselves, who often went to great lengths to gain the praetorians’ favor.

The Praetorian Guard grew too powerful and, on more than one occasion, exerted its influence in ways that forever changed the history of the Roman Empire—and, indirectly, the world.

10Augustus Founds The Praetorian Guard

Although praetorians are inexorably linked to the Roman Emperor, they existed for centuries before Rome ever became an empire. During the Roman Republic, groups of soldiers known as Praetorian Cohorts were assigned to generals or magistrates called praetors.

During the civil war initiated by Caesar, the number of praetorians grew considerably, and both Augustus and Mark Antony had several cohorts. After Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, he united the cohorts and officially formed the Praetorian Guard. He learned firsthand from Caesar the advantages of having an army loyal to you, personally.

Augustus maintained several cohorts in Rome and dispersed the rest to other Italian cities. While the main goal of the praetorians was to protect the emperor, they also acted as a police force. From this moment on, the Praetorian Guard’s influence increased until it became one of the most powerful bodies within the Roman Empire.

9Assassination Of Pupienus And Balbinus

238, known as the Year of the Six Emperors, was one of the most tumultuous years in the history of the Roman Empire. As the name implies, six different people were recognized as Emperor of Rome within 12 months, and five of them were dead by the end of the year.

It all started with Maximinus Thrax, the soldier who became the first “barracks emperor” in 235 thanks to the support of the army and against the wishes of the Senate. By 238, a governor named Gordian was convinced to take power and proclaim himself emperor. He did, but he made his son, Gordian II, co-emperor. They still had to deal with Thrax, who was now declared public enemy. They failed, and both Gordians died. Afterward, the Senate named two elder statesmen, Pupienus and Balbinus, as the new co-emperors.

In the meantime, riots erupted in Rome, and the people targeted Thrax’s representatives, the Praetorian Guard. They even enlisted the help of gladiators to take on the skilled soldiers and besieged the praetorian barracks. In response, the Praetorian Guard attacked the palace and killed both Pupienus and Balbinus.

Meanwhile, Thrax’s army had enough of his bloody reign, killed him, decapitated him and brought his head to Rome to seek forgiveness. Gordian III was named new emperor.

8The Guard Makes Galba Emperor And Then Murders Him

Modern scholars are debating whether Nero was as horrible a leader as ancient historians portray him. However, it is clear that, toward the end of his reign, Nero lost all support of the Senate, who wanted him replaced with Galba. In 68, Nero also lost the support of the Praetorian Guard, when the leader, Gaius Nymphidius Sabinus, announced his allegiance to Galba.

The praetorians abandoned Nero in exchange for a huge sum of money. According to Plutarch, this money would be impossible to raise without committing “ten thousand times more evils upon the world than those inflicted by Nero.” The men didn’t get their money and, seven months after Galba’s reign began, the praetorians turned on him.

The Praetorian Guard aligned itself with Otho and overthrew Galba. When confronted, the emperor’s retinue switched sides and killed Galba. Historians recorded the name Sempronius Densus, the only praetorian who didn’t betray Galba or run away and who made his last stand against his former brothers-in-arms.

7Macrinus’s Plot Against Caracalla

As the leader of the Praetorian Guard, the office of Praetorian Prefect steadily became one of the most powerful positions in the empire. Still, this didn’t stop some prefects from coveting even more power. In this case, it was the greed of a single praetorian which changed the course of history and almost ended the Severan Dynasty.

Macrinus was the Praetorian Prefect during the reign of Caracalla. However, he saw an opportunity to seize the throne by exploiting and manipulating the emotions of a centurion in Caracalla’s personal retinue. His name was Martialis, and he hated Caracalla for executing his brother and for constantly insulting him in public. According to Herodian, it didn’t take much for Macrinus to convince Martialis to murder Caracalla in exchange for favors and riches.

Soon afterward, Caracalla had to undertake a long journey and took only a small group of soldiers, Martialis among them. When the emperor stopped to relieve himself by the side of the road, the disgruntled centurion walked up to him and stabbed Caracalla to death.

Martialis was chased down and executed. Macrinus, ably playing the part of grieving friend, won the support of the army and declared himself emperor a few days later.

6Two Sets Of Guards Fight Against Each Other

After the aforementioned Otho overthrew Galba, he reigned for just three months before committing suicide. Up next was Vitellius, and one of his first moves as emperor was to disband the Praetorian Guard and have over 100 of them executed for their role in Galba’s murder. He went on to create a new guard with loyal soldiers from his Germanic troops.

Although Vitellius was recognized by the Senate as Roman Emperor, not everyone agreed. Specifically, a large portion of the army declared Vespasian as new emperor. This also included all the former praetorians who now found themselves unemployed. Vespasian’s military soon marched on Rome. The two groups of praetorians fought each other at the Battle of Bedriacum, where Vespasian’s army, led by Marcus Antonius Primus, was victorious.

Once Vitellius’s Praetorian Guards realized defeat was at hand, they looked for ways to abandon the sinking ship. They prevented Vitellius from carrying out a peace agreement. Later, when the emperor tried to flee the city, his guards brought him back to the palace under pretense that the peace treaty had been signed. Instead, he was surrendered to Vespasian’s troops, dragged through the city, and Vitellius became the only emperor in Roman history killed at the place of execution known as the Gemonian Stairs.

5Sejanus’s Rise To Power

Although Augustus established the Praetorian Guard, the unit’s influence grew substantially under his heir, Tiberius, thanks to the machinations of the deceitful Sejanus.

Sejanus was the Praetorian Prefect who became one of the emperor’s closest confidants and purported friends. In fact, when Tiberius retired to Capri in the last decade of his reign, Sejanus became the administrative head of Rome and, consequently, the leader of the empire.

Were it not for Sejanus, the Praetorian Guard’s power would have never reached the heights it did. He passed numerous reforms that favored the guard, including moving them from the outskirts of Rome into the city itself and building the barracks which became the Praetorian Guard headquarters for the next 300 years.

Sejanus’s ultimate goal was the throne. He started by eliminating Tiberius’s rightful heir, his son, Drusus Julius Caesar. Historians of the time such as Tacitus agree that Sejanus seduced Drusus’s wife, Livia, and had him poisoned. Sejanus hoped to marry into the family and get adopted by Tiberius. When the emperor refused, Sejanus began isolating him as much as possible. In 26, Tiberius moved to Capri and never set foot in Rome again.

Sejanus oversaw a purge of all nobles who could challenge his power, including several Julian family members who died suspiciously. His own demise came unexpectedly. Although we are unclear on the exact circumstances, in 31, Tiberius sent a letter to Rome condemning Sejanus of conspiracy, and he was summarily executed.

4Assassination Of Elagabalus

Macrinus might have been able to orchestrate the demise of Caracalla and install himself as emperor, but his reign was short-lived. Caracalla’s aunt, Julia Maesa, managed to produce a rebellion, and Macrinus died at the Battle of Antioch in 218. New Roman emperor became Maesa’s 14-year-old grandson, Elagabalus.

Although not as infamous as Nero or Caligula, Elagabalus’s four-year reign was marked by decadence, sexual and religious scandals that, arguably, topped those of his predecessors. In the end, his actions managed to alienate the Senate, the common people, the Praetorian Guard, and even his own grandmother, Julia Maesa, who helped plot his assassination.

By 222, the guard had had enough of Elagabalus and wanted him replaced with his cousin, Severus Alexander. The emperor tried to plot against Alexander, expecting the help of the Praetorian Guard, but there was no help to be had. Instead, when Elagabalus walked into the praetorian camp, he was executed, decapitated, and his naked body dragged through the city. Along with him, the Praetorian Guard killed his mother, his lover, Hierocles, and everybody else who indulged in the young emperor’s debauchery.

3Praetorian Guard Chooses The Wrong Side

Given the number of times the Praetorian Guard tried to interfere in the administration of the Roman Empire, it was certain that they would eventually bet on the wrong horse. This happened at the start of the fourth century during the civil war between Maxentius, Licinius, and Constantine. The Praetorian Guard was firmly behind Maxentius, who increased its ranks after being initially reduced in numbers (and influence) by Diocletian.

Unfortunately for them, Maxentius’s army was decisively defeated in 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where Maxentius drowned in the Tiber. Constantine would go on to defeat Licinius and become sole emperor in 324.

Realizing they could not be trusted, Constantine dissolved the Praetorian Guard in 313, marking the end of three centuries of serving the Emperor of Rome (more or less). He made a grand show out of destroying their barracks in Rome and assigned the surviving praetorians to the far reaches of the empire.

2Conspiracy Against Caligula

41 was a busy year for the Praetorian Guard. First, they assassinated Caligula, then they prevented the restoration of the Roman Republic, and, finally, they declared Claudius the new Roman Emperor.

By the end of his reign, Caligula was so despised that several groups of people plotted his demise. After a few failed conspiracies, the plot that ended the emperor’s life was orchestrated by the praetorian Cassius Chaerea and the tribune Cornelius Sabinus, although it was said that many others knew and approved of the plan. According to Suetonius, Caligula was approached in an empty passage by Chaerea, and his men and was stabbed 30 times. Afterward, the praetorian dispatched guards to kill Caligula’s wife and infant daughter.

Cassius’s downfall was overestimating his influence over the Praetorian Guard. His plan was to help the Senate restore the republic, but most of his fellow soldiers preferred imperial rule. When they decided against Chaerea’s plans, they rescued Claudius, the only remaining member of the Julian Dynasty, and took him to safety. After securing praetorian support, Claudius declared himself new emperor, and Chaerea and other conspirators were executed for treason.

1Auction Of The Imperial Title

Without a doubt, the most shameful, abusive act ever carried out by the Praetorian Guard happened in 193 when it auctioned off the Roman Empire to the highest bidder.

This all started when the guards murdered the Roman Emperor Pertinax, who felt that the Praetorian Guard had become too powerful and corrupt and wanted to reform it. Afterward, the emperor’s former father-in-law, Sulpicianus, offered them a large sum of money to grant him the support needed to become the new emperor. Realizing the opportunity they had, the guard opened the auction to public bids. A wealthy senator named Didius Julianus paid the highest bid and became the new Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone reacted well to this blatant abuse of power, and a civil war broke out, known as the Year of the Five Emperors. Julianus lasted less than three months before he was executed.