There are now some answers regarding a fascinating macaroni mystery in a New Jersey town that has captivated the internet.
It all started when hundreds of pounds of pasta was found by a city council candidate along the banks of the Iresick Brook in a wooded part of Old Bridge. Keith Rost, who lives nearby, said there was likely about 200 pounds of alphabet noodles and spaghetti just left there, with no explanation given.
No meatballs and no sauce were included, just mounds and mounds of pasta.
And while the pasta appeared to be wet and limp in pictures, it wasn't like that when it was dumped there. The pasta was raw, but then the heavy rains over the weekend came, making the mounds look like they had been cooked before being dumped in the in Middlesex County town.
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Neighbors said that the oodles of noodles came from a nearby home that is up for sale. A military veteran moving out of his mother's home after her death seemingly found a stockpile of old food that she had kept in the house.
"I mean, I really feel like he was just trying to clear out his parents' house and they were probably stocked up from COVID," said neighbor Keith Rost, saying it's a generational thing. "My grandparents always had a cupboard full of cans and pasta, just to be safe."
No matter the facts of the matter, the pictures still went viral, with captions saying things like the lead suspect is a man by the name of Al Dente (get it?). Or, don't forget his partner in crime, Lin Guini (hah). Others wondered if whoever did dump the food will be sent to penne-tentiary (OK, that one was pretty good). And it wasn't known if what was left there was pasta expiration date (last one, we swear).
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But in reality, it's no laughing matter to neighbors.
"I just moved in right next door so that would have been a big mess to start cleaning all the flies in the house, maggots," said Rost.
Fortunately, the township's public works department cleaned up the mess and hauled it away, leaving just a handful of noodles lying around. The mayor told NBC New York that the case is closed on the pasta peculiarity, saying no harm, no foul.
