A hospital bed appeared out of nowhere in Bradenton and made a social media stir, memes

A rogue hospital bed left near a busy Bradenton intersection last week is causing speculation and amusement among locals on social media.

Snapshots of the abandoned bed, spotted near a 7-Eleven gas station at the corner of State Road 70 and 45th Street East, garnered hundreds of likes and comments on Facebook. In the pictures, the electric, rolling bed with handrails sports a cobalt blue mattress on a white frame.

Images of the bed were first shared on Thursday. The posts continued over the weekend as the vacationing cot remained at the corner through rain and shine.

The appearance of the mystery mattress raised many a digital eyebrow, and Facebook users were prompted to make their best guesses about the bed’s origin.

“Tried it for 120 nights. Didn’t like it,” read a meme featuring a picture of the bed, posted in a Bradenton-area Facebook group.

Some cracked jokes at the expense of the sidewalk bunk, while others forgot their bedside manners.

“No insurance, no problem!” one Facebook user wrote.

“Wonder if a hospital stay is cheaper if you bring your own bed?” another commenter said.

“Might swing through and catch a 20 minute nap later,” another local wrote.

Reached via email on Monday afternoon, Manatee County Government staff got on the cot’s case. A code enforcement officer was dispatched to check on the bed. However, it had already rolled on to its next destination.

Some social media users reported that the bed was collected from near the 7-Eleven on Saturday, but the Bradenton Herald was unable to confirm the exact time and nature of its departure.

A 7-Eleven employee reached by phone on Monday was aware of the bed’s sojourn outside of the store, but the rest of its story remained a mystery.

“It fell off the back of someone’s truck, that’s all I know,” the employee stated.

Though code enforcement’s efforts to track down the bed were unsuccessful, the county still issued a blanket statement on the matter.

“If the hospital bed decides to pop back up again, residents can always call 311 to report it to our Code Enforcement Division,” county spokesperson Chloe Conboy said in an email on Monday.

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 11:41 AM.