Imagine walking along a trail in New Jersey on a fine, spring day. You step around the bend and see (wait for it) pasta! That’s right! Spaghetti, elbow noodles, penne, and even Spaghetti-O’s! We’re not talking just a little pasta! No, this is a prodigious pile of pasta. 500 pounds of pasta, according to authorities. Yipes!
This perplexing situation had Old Bridge, NJ, police scratching their heads last Friday, May 5. It wasn’t long until social media and even some national news outlets broadcast the story of this unusual sight.
Hot and ready?
At first, folks believed that the dumped pasta had been cooked. This made the incident even stranger. Who would cook such a large and varied amount of pasta only to subsequently dump it out? Upon further investigation, police determined that recent heavy rains made the pasta noodles only appear to be cooked.
Perpetrator pastabilities?
It didn’t take long for folks to discover the pasta pile perpetrator behind this macaroni mystery. Neighbors told police that a man was clearing COVID stockpiles out of his deceased parents’ home. He was emptying the home in order to sell it. The guy apparently dumped countless boxes and cans of various pasta right into Mother Nature’s lap. Ugh!
Clean up
When the mayor of Old Bridge, Owen Henry, was alerted to the social media pasta photo posts, he immediately directed his public works crew to clean up the mess. The mayor agreed that the pasta should not have been dumped. However, it was determined that the pasta pile did not cause any environmental or health danger.
Funny puns
As you can imagine, the unusual piles of pasta caused punsters to comment. Here are a few of their funny puns:
One Reddit user wrote: “We should send the perpetrators to the state penne tentiary.”
As to why someone would dump the pasta, another Reddit user posited, “Perhaps it was pasta expiration date.”
Another gal on social media wondered if the public works crew thought the clean up was “Mission Impastable.”
A Twitter user said, “I can fix this. Just give me time to gather up 300-400 cups of marinara sauce.”
Someone else said, “It sounds like the work of Rig-a-Tony or Lin Guini.”
Once the perpetrator was identified, another punster opined, “He was framed … Orzo I’m told.”
You can’t make this up, people! Although the weird story generated many jokes and puns, littering is no laughing matter.
##RVT1104
That must have been a lot more work than just tossing it in the trash. What did he do with the cans and jars of sauce??? And the cheese….On my gosh! What was the fate of the cheese???
I would imagine he recycled the boxes/jars, wouldn’t you?
Ha! I hope not like he recycled the pasta. Oh the horror. All of the church and Boy Scout fund raising dinners gone to waste.
Holy Macaroni Batman !!
🤣 Good one, Robin…I mean, Bill! Have a good afternoon/evening. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Since we know who the culprit is- send him a cleanup bill with a fine on top of that.