Halloween came early for drivers and pedestrians in Peoria, Arizona, when storm gusts caused a giant inflatable pumpkin to suddenly emerge through the trees and start rolling through multiple lanes of traffic.
The pumpkin was 25-ft tall and 350 pounds; not something anyone wants to see running loose on the streets. Luckily the jack-o-lantern got stuck in a neighborhood park before it hurt anyone, and the only damage was to itself and a couple of streetlights.
This pumpkin with a mind of its own was being used by Big AZ Promotions in a Halloween display to promote the Peoria Monster Bash at the Peoria Sports Complex. “I was so shocked to see that it was bouncing like a basketball all the way down the road,” employee Patrick Sparkes told 12 News. “We showed up and it wasn’t there and we spent the last 40 minutes driving around looking for it,” he said.
The pumpkin had a brief altercation with a streetlight, and then bounced over a wall into a business parking lot, before finally reaching the park to settle down and wait for rescue services. “Like, oh my God, I didn’t know it was going to go that far,” Sparkes said. The big guy was eventually recovered and deflated, and will undergo some repairs before the next outing (which will hopefully be less thrilling than this).Â
Did you witness this pumpkin tearing through the streets? Or maybe you have a similar story of a Halloween decoration escaping from its nest? Let us know in the comments below.
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IMAGE: Diego Ramirez via KPNX-TV, Phoenix
