Stoneham Police Department / Facebook
A police department successfully tracked down the owner of a creepy clown animatronic after officers shared a viral Facebook appeal asking if anyone recognized the nightmare-inducing figure.
The puppet, which features oversized black eyes, bright red hair, and a cracked face lined with sharp teeth, had been handed into the station as lost property.
In the original Facebook post, police joked: “If this belongs to you — or if you recognize it from your nightmares — please contact us to arrange pickup.”
The department added: “All jokes aside, if anyone knows where this puppet came from, contact the station.”
Creepy puppet identified as Halloween animatronic
Following the post going viral, comments managed to identify the puppet as Bobby Strings, a Halloween animatronic sold by Spirit Halloween and other horror retailers.
Whether this is an authentic version of Spirit Halloween’s animatronic or a fan-made one isn’t clear. While both versions look similar, the one that wound up inside a police station is missing the piercing green eyes and has different feet to that sold by retailers.
In Mad About Horror’s product description, the $400 animatronic is described as: “Standing an impressive 7.7 feet tall, Bobby Strings moves like he’s being controlled by a puppet master – his limbs extend up to 8 inches and swing up and down like a marionette come to life. His glowing eyes flicker open as he delivers six creepy phrases in a mix of sing-song tones, twisted giggles, and layered demonic voices.”
“Thank you to everyone who shared our post and helped spread the word,” the department wrote in an update.
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“We’re happy to report that the owner has been located and will be reunited with their missing item.”
Police did not reveal who the owner was or explain how the animatronic ended up separated from them in the first place.
In wholly unconnected events involving extraordinary police work, Thai officers went viral after disguising themselves as female dancers to arrest a suspected drug dealer.
