The appearance of a cloaked person outside an apartment complex in North Carolina has spooked not just local residents, but the whole internet as well. Pictures of the pale figure dressed in a black hooded cloak surfaced online earlier this week, creating panic among social media users.
The ‘creepy’ figure was photographed outside a building off Hudson Boulevard in Gastonia. No one knows what it was trying to accomplish, and its gender and identity remain unknown. Naturally, there are tons of rumors doing the rounds – some believe it was a witch performing a ritual, while others say it was just a prankster trying to fool people. A bizarre theory even suggests that the figure dropped raw meat on the ground to poison stray dogs!
“We don’t know if it’s one of our residents with an interesting way of presenting themselves, or if it’s a trespasser,” said Lance Calhoun, director of operations for Southwood Realty. Lots of people suspect that it could have been one of the residents of Hudson Woods apartment complex, where the sighting occurred, but the police haven’t been able to confirm that. “There’s no validation that it was Hudson Woods,” said Gastonia police spokesperson Donna Lahser. “It could have come from anywhere. We don’t know if this is some bogus prank somebody is playing.”
Another resident of Hudson Woods had discovered a bag of raw meat near their apartment a couple of weeks ago, and called maintenance to have it removed. The police have made no connection between the meat and the cloaked figure, but online commenters did. What’s even fishier is that the identity of the photographer is also unknown. The pictures – taken from in between blinds – were posted online anonymously. So there’s no way of telling if the whole thing is just a big prank.
Meanwhile, lots of people online are finding the situation rather funny. Twitter user Jana wrote: “This is so creepy and great. I hope they never find out what it was.”
A woman named Flannery O’Conner tweeted: “It’s one of those person in a cloak walking around dropping raw meat kind of days.”
“You know it’s people like the dude in Gastonia who gives us meat-dropping cloak-lovers a bad name,” joked Twitter user Sam Walt Jones.
While most people joked about the photographs, some residents took the matter very seriously. Brooke Conrad, whose yard is right next to the woods that surround the apartment complex, said she’s afraid for her family’s safety. “I see why it could be easy to make a joke out of it, but this is serious,” she said. “We live in a world today where you don’t know what’s going on and you don’t know people. Even if a person wore a cloak as a hoax, a child could be scarred by the encounter.” The police aren’t able to do much, though – they aren’t even sure that the photograph was taken near Hudson Woods in the first place.
Photos: Facebook
via Gaston Gazette
