A giant, inflatable pumpkin broke free from a Halloween display on Thursday, rolling around the streets of Peoria, Arizona, and alarming drivers.
USA Today reports that the 25-foot, 350-pound pumpkin – which was initially set up at a display promoting the Peoria Monster Bash -- emerged from a group of trees before bouncing through an intersection and down the roadway. Officials attributed the pumpkin’s escape to strong winds.
Video footage, which appears to be shot by a bystander, shows the jack-o’-lantern rolling across multiple lanes of traffic. The determined inflatable then gets stuck beneath a streetlight pole, eventually breaking free and continuing its journey for about another quarter of a mile.
It even manages to surpass obstacles, bouncing over a wall and rolling through a parking lot before eventually getting stuck in a neighborhood park.
"I was so shocked to see that it was like bouncing like a basketball all the way down the road," said Patrick Sparkes of Big AZ Promotions, which was in charge of the display. "We showed up and it wasn't there and we spent the last 40 minutes driving around looking for it.”
No one was injured in the bizarre pumpkin escape, though some street lights were damaged – however, they have since been repaired.
