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Follow us on XA Massachusetts police department has found itself at the centre of one of the strangest little mysteries of the year after a giant, creepy puppet somehow ended up inside the station.
Stoneham Police shared the bizarre find after someone turned in what appeared to be a large, eyeless marionette or animatronic-style Halloween puppet. It was not exactly the kind of lost property officers deal with every day. According to local reports, the puppet was sitting in a supply room while police tried to work out who it belonged to.
In a post that quickly caught attention online, police joked: “If this belongs to you — or if you recognize it from your nightmares — please contact us to arrange pickup.”
And honestly, fair.
The puppet looked like something that had either escaped a Halloween display or crawled out of a forgotten horror film. With its red hair, strange grin and lifeless face, it did not take long for people online to start treating it like a cursed object.
The Puppet Had A Name: Bobby Strings
The mystery did not last forever.
The puppet was eventually identified as “Bobby Strings,” a Halloween decoration that belonged to local dad Billy Dalton. According to People, Dalton had thrown the decoration out on May 23, 2026, after owning it for several years. A few days later, it somehow ended up at the Stoneham Police Department.
That is the part nobody seems able to fully explain.
Dalton reportedly said he was away on vacation when the police post started going viral. His father, who was watching the house, noticed people coming by and asking whether the creepy puppet online was theirs.
Suddenly, a discarded Halloween prop had become a local celebrity.
The New York Post also reported that the puppet had originally been a gift from Dalton’s father. After the whole ordeal, Dalton said Bobby Strings was now staying with the family for good.
From Trash To Police Station
The best part of the story is that no one seems to know exactly how Bobby Strings made the journey.
Dalton threw it out. Then it ended up with police. Somewhere in between, someone must have decided the best place for a terrifying giant puppet was the local station.
That small gap in the story is what makes the whole thing work.
Was it a neighbour trying to be helpful? Was it someone who thought it had been dumped suspiciously? Or did Bobby Strings, as Dalton joked, simply not want to leave?
There is no evidence the puppet is haunted, obviously. But if you were writing the opening scene of a horror-comedy, this would be a very strong start.
Stoneham Had Another Strange Police Scare Just Weeks Earlier
Oddly enough, this was not the only strange police-related moment in Stoneham recently.
Earlier in May 2026, police briefly detained a Stoneham High School senior after a 911 caller reported someone hiding in bushes with what looked like a firearm. It turned out the teen was playing “Senior Assassin,” a popular end-of-school game where students try to eliminate each other with water guns.
Body camera footage released by police reportedly showed officers ordering the teen to the ground before realising the “weapon” was a water gun. The student apologised, and officers helped him up and removed the handcuffs.
WCVB reported that police received the 911 call just after 7 a.m. on a Monday, with the caller saying someone appeared to be hiding in the bushes on Gerry Street with a firearm.
Police later warned about how quickly games like that can create panic, especially when toy guns look realistic. It is a very different kind of story from Bobby Strings, but both incidents have the same strange Stoneham energy: something looks creepy, someone calls police, and the internet gets a new local mystery.
A Small-Town Mystery With A Perfect Ending
In the end, nobody was hurt, nobody was arrested, and Bobby Strings went home.
That makes this one of those rare weird police stories that is more funny than frightening. A creepy puppet appeared, police had a laugh with it, the internet joined in, and the owner eventually came forward.
Still, the unanswered question remains.
Who picked up a discarded nightmare puppet and decided to deliver it to police?
Until someone explains that part, Bobby Strings keeps a little bit of mystery.
And maybe that is exactly how a puppet like that would want it.
