Mystery mashed potatoes are popping up on front porches in the Belhaven community.

WJTV 12’s Margaret-Ann Carter spoke with neighbors who say they woke up to find mashed potatoes in the oddest of places.

While some people think it’s just a prank, others are scared the potatoes might be poisoned.

Who leaves mashed potatoes on someone’s front porch? No, it’s not the beginning of a corny joke, it’s the question Belhaven neighbors are asking after finding themselves the recipient of this bizarre side dish.

“This neighborhood does a lot of quirky things, we decorate road signs we put Christmas trees in our potholes, so it’s not surprising at all, that’s why I love this neighborhood, because they do so many strange things, but it’s definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve seen since living in Jackson,” Jordan Lewis said she found mashed potatoes left on her car.

After posting to Facebook, Jordan Lewis found she wasn’t alone, several others said they also found a bowl of potatoes on their property.

“They’ve found it on their mailboxes, on their cars… So we don’t know if someone is just playing a prank or if someone just had a lot of leftovers,” Lewis joked.

Whoever was behind the mashed potato mystery was driving all over Belhaven, putting several houses and even streets in between his ‘victims.’

“I got up and was headed to work, 7 o’clock, and there was just a styrofoam bowl of mashed potatoes on the door steps right there,” Sebastian Bjernegard pointed to where he found mashed potatoes on his door step.

Stepping out and narrowly missing the bowl, Bjernegard didn’t think twice about it.

However, as news traveled on social media, people hastily started forming their own theories of a ‘mashed potato maniac.’

“Some people were thinking maybe the mashed potatoes were poisoned to kill animals. I didn’t taste it, I have a 3 second rule, so I didn’t touch it but some people were worried,” Bjernegard said.

Others see it as a prank and wonder what the person behind the potatoes will come up with next.

The neighbors say there was no need to involve law enforcement on a harmless prank.

