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Mysterious bowls of mashed potatoes are popping up in this Mississippi neighborhood

Bowls of mashed potatoes are mysteriously popping up in the oddest of places in a neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi, leaving residents bewildered. "We don't know if someone is just playing a prank or if someone just had a lot of leftovers," joked Jordan Lewis, who said she found mashed potatoes left on her car.

Lewis posted Tuesday on Facebook about finding a bowl of what she initially thought was potato salad, calling it one of the "top 5" most weird things she'd seen since moving to Jackson. She describes the Belhaven neighborhood as "quirky."

"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," Lewis told CBS affiliate WJTV.  "But it's definitely one of the weirdest things I've seen since living in Jackson."

After posting to Facebook, Lewis found she wasn't alone. "They've found it on their mailboxes on their cars," she said. "So, we don't know if someone is just playing a prank or if someone just had a lot of leftovers and decided to share."

While some residents think it's just a prank, others hastily started forming their own theories of a "mashed potato maniac" as news traveled on social media.

"Some people were thinking maybe the mashed potatoes were poisoned to kill animals," said Sebastian Bjernegard, who said he was headed out to work one morning when he narrowly missed stepping into a styrofoam bowl of mashed potatoes left on his doorstep. "I didn't taste it. I have a three-second rule, so I didn't touch it. But some people were worried."

Despite the concerns, however, residents haven not alerted law enforcement.

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