Odd Indiana Laws That Are Actually Still on the Books
Before getting into what’s actually real, it’s worth addressing the most repeated Indiana law claim on the internet: the idea that it’s illegal to ride a streetcar or enter a movie theater within four hours of eating garlic in Gary. Dozens of websites repeat this exact wording, and it sounds specific enough to feel true. But according to legal researchers who’ve actually checked Gary’s code of ordinances, no such law exists in the current municipal code. It’s the kind of claim that gets copy-pasted from list to list without anyone verifying it against the source, which happens constantly in this genre of content.
In my experience, that’s the pattern with most “weird state law” content floating around the internet. Somebody wrote a list decades ago, other sites copied it without checking, and now the myth has more staying power than the actual legal code. So the rest of this article sticks to laws that trace back to an actual Indiana Code section or a documented local ordinance.
Statewide Laws That Are Genuinely on the Books
A few odd indiana laws apply across the entire state, not just a specific town, and these are backed by real citations in the Indiana Code.
It’s illegal to take a fish out of the water using your bare hands. This one, found under IC 14-22-9-1, also covers fishing with wires, explosives, nets, traps, and firearms, all of which are prohibited alongside hand-fishing. What tends to surprise people is that “noodling,” the practice of catching catfish by hand, is a genuine regional tradition in parts of the South, so Indiana’s ban puts it firmly on the wrong side of a hobby some anglers take seriously elsewhere.
It’s illegal to coast down a hill in neutral. Codified under IC 9-21-8-44, this one probably exists for a legitimate safety reason, since coasting reduces a driver’s control over the vehicle. It’s not unique to Indiana in spirit, several states have similar rules, but it still catches people off guard when they hear it out loud.
Liquor stores can’t sell cold soda or water. Under IC 7.1-3-10-5, this sits alongside Indiana’s long, complicated history of alcohol retail regulation. The logic traces back to old rules meant to separate liquor stores from convenience store functions, though the state has been gradually loosening its alcohol laws over the past decade, including the well-known shift that finally allowed Sunday alcohol sales starting in 2018.
If you’re a county sheriff, it pays to stay on good terms with the coroner. IC 36-2-14-5 gives the county coroner authority to arrest the sheriff and take custody of the jail and its prisoners if the sheriff is ever imprisoned. It’s an oddly specific contingency plan, but it makes a certain kind of bureaucratic sense once you think through the chain of command problem it’s solving.
Sniffing glue for the purpose of getting high is a class B misdemeanor under IC 35-46-6-2. This one isn’t quite as whimsical as it sounds, since it’s really an old-school inhalant abuse law from an era when huffing solvents was a more visible public health concern.
Local Ordinances That Vary by City
Beyond statewide law, several Indiana cities have their own local ordinances that add to the state’s reputation for odd indiana laws, even though these only apply within specific city limits.
Indianapolis reportedly still includes a general ordinance making it illegal for children under 14 to swear in public, according to reporting from local outlets. Evansville has a city-specific rule against possessing a laser pointer on city property. Warsaw has an ordinance against throwing snowballs across a street, and Beech Grove has a law against eating watermelon in public parks, apparently passed after watermelon rinds kept tearing through park trash bags. City board members have confirmed that last one exists, though nobody seems entirely sure where the written ordinance itself is filed, and there’s no record of it ever being enforced.
One thing worth flagging here: local ordinances like these are much harder to verify than state statutes, since they’re not always cleanly indexed the way the Indiana Code is. If you’re citing one of these for something more serious than a fun fact, it’s worth calling the city clerk’s office directly rather than relying on a blog post, including this one.
Why These Laws Are Still Around
Most odd laws like this stick around not because anyone’s actively enforcing them, but because state and local governments rarely go back and formally repeal old statutes unless something forces the issue. Removing outdated laws takes legislative time and effort that usually isn’t a priority when the law in question isn’t actually causing harm by sitting unused.
A lot of these also trace back to genuinely practical origins, even when the modern version sounds absurd. The hand-fishing ban likely connects to broader fish conservation rules. The neutral-coasting law is a vehicle safety measure dressed up as a punchline. Even some of the old alcohol-related restrictions, like the blue laws tradition that shaped a lot of American liquor regulation, came from a specific religious and cultural context that made sense to lawmakers at the time, even if it looks strange decades later.
