Incorrect prim counts?

So last Summer we saw a sizable drop in the number of free prims on Livingtree. We really did not add sizable amount of content, yet we saw a great big decline. We did a restart (and it has been restarted several times since), but the numbers remained much as they were. It never seemed right to me, as I think anyone who'd look at Livingtree would say that it's not a prim heavy sim.

The other day we cleared off Livingtree Cove in preparation for returning it to Linden Lab. We scoured the island and picked the place bare. But there was something odd.

You see, I could still see some blue on the minimap, indicating that I still had content. And after we cleared the region of everything visible (including showing transparent, looking under the ground patch, etc.), there were still 44 prims. A return did net an octopus, a handful of plants, and a couple spent should-have-been-temporary fireworks.

Now before I tear apart Livingtree looking for "ghost prims" that won't die upon a restart, I want to know if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Are there prims that simply go into some sort of limbo like this, and will I have to essentially pick up everything I own in order to dust these things out?

Wasn't there a thread dealing with "ghost scripts" recently? Could it have anything to do with something like that?

In this case, it's prims, and dating back a lot longer than the 'ghost scripts." Could be a similar issue, though, perhaps.

Ghosted prims are an old and continuous problem. The last few servers over the past year have been prone to them badly. There were times when the NCI Kuula sandbox was unwalkable due to the ghosted prims leaving behind their physics bounding block. Crazy stuff. (^_^)y

I've read about prims being stuck at some location such as 0,0,0 before but I thought a reboot sorted that.

Reboots and sim crashes usually take care of ghosted prims. *brandishes a sim crasher* That's why I carry one of these. (^_^)y