A grandmother was left stunned when she found a foot-long machete buried in a sofa she bought from Facebook marketplace.
Shirley McNally, 82, made the jaw-dropping discovery after using the second-hand sofa for more than a year.
The grandmother-of-two had paid £180 to buy the piece of furniture from a seller on Facebook marketplace – totally clueless that it contained the frightening weapon.
She finally made the shock discovery while attempting to clean the sofa so she could sell it on.
Shirley, from Harlow, Essex, said: ‘I decided to give the sofa a quick Febreze and a hoover before the next owner came to collect it.
‘I put my hand down the side of the cushions and felt something hard. It felt like a wallet and I thought: “Result!”
‘I couldn’t believe it when I pulled out a huge Rambo machete.’
Shirley McNally, 82, made the jaw-dropping discovery after using the second-hand sofa for more than a year
She had paid £180 to buy the second-hand piece of furniture (pictured) from a seller on Facebook marketplace, totally clueless that it contained the frightening weapon
The grandmother-of-two finally made the shock discovery of the Rambo knife (pictured) while attempting to clean the sofa so she could sell it on
What Shirley had stumbled across was a authentic reproduction of the knife used by Sylvester Stallone in the 2008 film Rambo IV.
In the film, the character, a former US soldier turned lone wolf warrior, uses a machete to disembowel the movie’s antagonist, military leader Major Pa Tee Tint.
The knife is one of 10,000 replicas made and carries the title character’s name ‘John Rambo’ in signature form.
The original machete, on which the replica is based, was apparently partially designed by Stallone himself.
What Shirley had stumbled across was a authentic reproduction of the knife used by Sylvester Stallone in the 2008 film Rambo IV (pictured)
Shirley said: ‘My first reaction was: “Oh my god!”
‘It’s got the leather sheath and everything. When I pulled it out I was shocked, it weighs a tonne.
‘It could chop somebody’s legs right off.’
Shirley had originally decided to buy the sofa after seeing it whilst browsing Facebook Marketplace in March 2020.
Shirley said: ‘I saw a picture of the sofa and thought: “Oh that looks nice, I think I’ll get that”.
‘These two slightly unsavoury guys arrived in a van with the suite – to drop it off – but it was alright.
‘It wasn’t one of those ones where you sit down and you’re basically on the floor and you can’t get up again so I quite liked it.’
But after some criticism from grandson Keenan, a hair stylist, Shirley decided to put the sofa up for sale on April 10 this year.
She had sold it by April 12, but decided to give it a quick clean before handing it over.
She said: ‘My grandson said “Nan, that is absolutely awful,” and told me it’s the sort of sofa you find in an old people’s home.
‘Then I began to hate the darn thing so I put it up for sale.
‘Once someone wanted it I thought I better freshen it up a bit and give it a bit of a Febreze spray and take off the cushions to make sure nothing had fallen down the side.
‘I put my hand down the side of the sofa and thought: ‘Oh what’s that?’
The knife is one of 10,000 replicas made and carries the title character’s name ‘John Rambo’ in signature form
The original machete, on which the replica is based, was apparently partially designed by Stallone himself
The machete was discovered inside a leather sheath down the back of a second-hand sofa Shirley had bought a year earlier
‘To think it’s been there for a year and I had no idea. Who knows what somebody else might have used it for?
‘Now it’s just sitting in my dining room. Imagine if I’d given the sofa away with it still there.’
Unsure of what to do with the unwanted weapon, Shirley called Essex Police — who instructed her to hand it in to a police station.
Items sold on Facebook marketplace are ultimately the responsibility of the seller, with Facebook providing the platform.
The social media site does not allow weapons to be sold on its marketplace.
And it urges sellers to clean and disinfect any item that you intend to sell, as well as recommending buyers also clean items before bringing them into their home.
MailOnline has contacted Facebook for comment.
