CALGARY—For years, the appearance of empty petroleum jelly containers has been a mystery haunting a northeast Calgary community.

Empty containers of Vaseline are being continually discarded along 68th St. N.E., south of 16th Ave.

Local residents say they are promptly picked up, but always reappear.

Maria Dilillo has lived in the area for more than 20 years. She said she started noticing the jars three years ago, when they started showing up on her lawn.

“We don’t see (anybody). Who uses that much Vaseline and then throws them here? It’s a mystery,” Dilillo said.

“It’s weird because they’re empty ... they’re the big (jars) and not the little ones. (Normally) to use one of them it takes a year ... It’s very strange.”

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At times, she said, there are groups of five or six containers in one area.

Dilillo said she and her neighbours have been trying to keep a look out to see who his tossing the jars, but have not had any luck. She said they believe it must be happening at night.

Tara Norton-Merrin, spokesperson for City of Calgary roads department, said the city has been aware of the issue for five years now.

“We get complaints of these Vaseline containers on the road probably about once every two weeks. Then a crew is dispatched to clean up,” Norton-Merrin said. “But we have no idea who is doing this and why they’re doing this.”

The who, what and why surrounding the mystery Vaseline containers is something that has been on Abbydale resident Neil Hennaert’s mind since he moved into the area five years ago.

“(My wife) pointed them out to me a couple of times and I pretty much disregarded them,” Hennaert said. “As the years went on I continued seeing them quite frequently and I asked around and no one seems to know who puts them there or why they’re there.”

Hennaert said he notices the jars show up every few months.

“Sometimes it’s as few as two or three, and other times as many as nine or ten,” Hennaert said.

Hennaert posted on Reddit a few years ago, asking users if they had any ideas of where these mystery jars could have come from.

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The puzzle of the street that has been dubbed ‘Vaseline Alley’ resurfaces every so often on the site.

“I’ve asked a hundred people why would all these be on the street, what possible explanation could there be,” Hennaert said.

“I’ve gotten everything from ‘Maybe it’s from a meth lab’ to ‘Could be an autobody chop shop using it as a lubricant.’ There’s just no explanation that seems reasonable as to why they’re there.”

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