Mailbox Mayhem in Dartmouth Turns Out to Be Harmless Teen Prank

What began as a head-scratching mystery turned out to be nothing more than a harmless prank conducted by a group of teenage boys.

Dartmouth resident Gillian Pacheco went to check her mail Tuesday night while letting her dogs out. As she opened the mailbox door, she was shocked to see a giant piece of metal that completely caught her off guard.

"I put my hand in and pulled it out quickly," she said. "I wasn’t sure if it was a pipe bomb."

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Turns out it was a rusty old piston from a car or piece of farm equipment.

My buddy Mike Cleary, a mechanic and big-rig driver thinks it might be from an older Chevy or Plymouth judging by the size of it. Either way, it's certainly not what Pacheco was expecting to see in her mailbox.

Although, I'd take that over an electric bill any day.

"It’s so strange," Pacheco said, “Who out there is saying 'Hey, looks like a good mailbox to leave a piece of an engine in?'"

What boggles my mind is that this is not the first mailbox incident I've come across this year. Over in Westport, someone was putting chunks of coconut in my neighbor's mailboxes, my friends from Westport High School found an owl, and now this. Who has the time or the energy? On top of it all, Pacheco lives toward the end of a dead-end road with little to no traffic (besides a bunch of turnarounds) so it really could have been anybody at this point. Especially since she didn't have any outdoor security cameras to catch this strange act.

The next morning, Pacheco's son spoke up to let his mother know his friends left the weird object for him as a joke.

A group of teenagers went for a walk, found the old piston and decided to leave it in their friend's mailbox.

Boys will be boys.