In the end, the resolution of the mystery was strikingly mundane: a flight from California to New York, a soggy paper bag and a double cheeseburger left languishing on the pavement.

For a heady few days earlier this week, however, the appearance of a fully intact In-N-Out Double-Double on Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens, seemed like a tale from science fiction. A West Coast burger chain with an unlikely cult following, In-N-Out has locations in only six states, all of them west of Kansas City. So what was one of the chain’s signature burgers doing in Queens?

On social media, some dismissed photographs of the burger that were circulating online as a marketing stunt by In-N-Out meant to build anticipation ahead of a possible New York opening. Others posited alien activity.

For Lincoln Boehm — a California native and longtime In-N-Out fan who found the street burger last Saturday and then posted a photo of his discovery on Instagram — the sighting was practically a religious experience.