⚠️This fact has been debunked
This law appears exclusively on 'weird laws' websites without any citation to actual Mohave County ordinances or Arizona statutes. State historian Marshall Trimble and Arizona author John Neuner have debunked many such purported Arizona city/county laws as fabrications. Legal sources that document real Arizona laws (with statute numbers) do not include this soap-theft ordinance. Pattern matches other debunked 'dumb law' myths.
In Mohave County, Arizona, if someone is caught stealing soap, they must wash themselves with it until it has gone.
The Soap-Stealing Law That Never Actually Existed
You've probably seen it on a list of bizarre laws: in Mohave County, Arizona, anyone caught stealing soap must wash themselves with it until it's completely gone. It sounds quirky enough to be true—the kind of Old West justice that makes you chuckle and shake your head. There's just one problem: it never existed.
This "law" lives exclusively on websites dedicated to collecting weird ordinances from around the country. Sites like StupidLaws.com feature it prominently, and from there it spreads across social media like wildfire. But here's what you won't find: any citation to an actual Mohave County ordinance, any statute number, or any record of this law in official legal documentation.
The Weird Law Industrial Complex
Arizona has become a magnet for these fake legal legends. State historian Marshall Trimble and author John Neuner have spent years debunking supposed Arizona laws that sound too strange to be real—because they aren't real. The pattern is always the same: bizarre claim, no verifiable source, endless repetition across clickbait websites.
When legal professionals and law firms in Arizona compile lists of actual strange laws still on the books, they cite real statutes with numbers you can look up. The Mohave County soap decree? Nowhere to be found. It exists in the same fictional legal universe as other debunked classics like the claim that it's illegal to refuse someone water in Arizona (it's not—businesses can refuse service).
Why We Fall for Fake Laws
These myths persist because they feel true. The American West has a legitimate history of unusual local ordinances, often written during frontier times when communities made up rules as they went along. A punishment involving soap? In a dusty mining town where hygiene was questionable? It tracks.
The irony is that real Arizona laws are plenty weird on their own. It's actually illegal to let a donkey sleep in your bathtub (that one's real, stemming from a 1920s flood incident). But the soap-washing punishment? Pure internet folklore.
The Real Crime Here
So what actually happens if you steal soap in Mohave County, Arizona? The same thing that happens anywhere else in the United States: you get charged with theft. Depending on the value of the soap, it could be petty theft (a misdemeanor) or, if you somehow stole an enormous amount, potentially a felony.
The punishment would involve fines, possible jail time, or community service—determined by a judge following actual Arizona criminal statutes, not some imaginary decree about mandatory bathing. No sheriff is going to stand there watching you lather up until the evidence disappears. That's not how the legal system works, and it never was.
Next time you see this "fact" shared online, you'll know better. It's a perfect example of how easily misinformation spreads when something sounds just plausible enough to be entertaining. The truth might be less colorful, but at least it's actually true.