Mystery of the Mashed Potatoes: Mississippi Residents Stumped by Bowls of Spuds Left Around Neighborhood

Perplexed Mississippians said they have been left stumped by the numerous bowls of mashed potatoes that have been left in various spots across their neighborhood, according to reports.

The spuds have appeared on top of cars, porches and mailboxes in the Belhaven neighborhood of Jackson, according to residents, who described their community as an already quirky place to live. 

Locals are known to decorate road signs and erect Christmas trees in potholes, resident Jordan Lewis told The Associated Press. But the mystery of the mashed potatoes is a new one, Lewis said. 

“So we don’t know if someone is just playing a prank or if someone just had a lot of leftovers,” Lewis told the AP.

Lewis found a bowl of the tubers on her car and posted about the odd discovery on Facebook.

"I've seen a lot of weird things since moving to Jackson but walking out to my car this morning to find a bowl of what I THINK was potato salad on my windshield definitely ranks in the top 5," she wrote. 

Within hours, she had several messages from other locals reporting they too had been visited by the potato fairy. 

Michaela Lin also found a bowl of potatoes balanced atop her mailbox. When she told her neighbor about the baffling discovery, the neighbor told her she had seen others in the area report the same thing.  

“I was like, 'Oh, OK, so this is a thing today,'” Lin told WLBT-TV.

Some locals fear the food may be poisoned to kill animals. There have been no reports of anyone actually eating the mashed potatoes. 

“I didn’t taste it,” said Sebastian Bjernegard, a resident who offered up the theory of the poisoned potatoes. 

Bjernegard said he nearly stepped in a Styrofoam bowl of mash left on his doorstep as he headed to work Tuesday. 

“I have a three-second rule, so I didn’t touch it,” he continued. “But some people were worried.”

But neighbors said they didn’t the need to involve law enforcement in what is likely a harmless prank. 

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