I had something similar happen last night as well.
This is quoted from my thread last night:
"So I was in Riften training in smithing with Balimund. I dropped a bunch of stuff on the ground to clear my inventory so I could organize everything I had... Well, that kinda caused the town to break out into a riot. I first dropped a potion by accident and that beggar Edda ran up to me asking if she could have it. I was pretty amazed to see that, I thought, well, now that's really neat of the AI to do that. So I started dropping my other stuff, armor, bars, weapons, etc. Well, Edda and that other beggar fought to the death over some of my stuff, something about "Seeing it first" A guard scolded me for dropping a weapon, as that was dangerous, what with children around and what not. And a few people kept asking for my stuff XD Oh what a mess that was. I had no idea the AI did things like that. Then again, I've never dropped anything in town before. A good 1000 hours in, and still finding stuff out every day. This game amazes me.
Anyone else have something like this happen? Or something astounding? The only other "Wow moment" I can think of, was when I was being attacked by an assassin and a group of thugs all the while Alduin was resurrecting a dragon in the background, creepy clouds, swirling draconic magic, dragon speak and all."
Had something similar happen to me at the timber mill west of Windhelm. I was heading to speak with Ulfric, and a dragon attacked the mill as I passed through it. After the battle and subsequent soul-theft commentary, I looted the dragon for bones and scales. Well, the weight was such that it would slow me down, so I dropped a few things from inventory, intending to come back to see if they were still there. After I dropped everything, one of the workers eyed me warily and said, "You know, that might not be there when you come back..." I blinked a few times, then smiled. When I came back, it was all gone except the crappy stuff, and the workers were all avoiiding me. Hehehe.
Just remembered, a couple of days ago I was messing around waiting for shops to open in Whiterun. Picked up the bucket by the well to put it ON the well, but wound up just dropping it. One of the townies came over, picked it up, and handed it to me. "Oh, dearie, you dropped this. You'll want to be more careful." Second time I put it on the well and left quickly. Sheesh.