What's the most unusual way you, or someone you know, has ever been found out?

Posted by blowbyblowtrumpet@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 703 comments

So my parents gave up smoking in the late 70's but my Dad continued to smoke cigars secretly for many years after. In about 1984 we were living on an estate that had a lane running down the back between the back gardens of some houses and a small wood. Every morning my Dad would walk the dog up and down this lane at the exact same time (creature of habit my Dad). In the winter he'd don his flat cap and winter coat and with our black and white collie cut quite a distinctive figure. One of the houses that backed on to the lane was owned by a local artist. One day he knocked on our door and offered us first dibs on his latest picture - a charcoal winter scene looking out of his back window with my Dad, as the subject, walking with the dog up the lane. My parents both thought it was really good so they bought it. Later, when hanging the picture, my mum noticed this dark thing that seemed to be protruding from my dad's face and a white cloud. At first she thought it was just his breath on a cold day but then it suddenly hit her that he smoking a cigar. My mum was really pissed off because in order for the artist to draw that, she reasoned, he must have smoked a cigar every day on his walk. So there it is: My Dad got caught out smoking by an artist drawing him then offering the work to my mother. We still have it hanging on the wall. Can anyone beat this as the most unusual way to get caught out in a lie?