Off Beat

“We’re going to give it a job, so it’s going to be a police officer with us,” Sgt. Michael DeCroteau joked.

Stoneham police pulled some strings Tuesday to crack a highly unusual case, asking members of the public for help tracking down the owner of a creepy marionette puppet turned in at the station. 

“If this belongs to you — or if you recognize it from your nightmares — please contact us to arrange pickup,” the department wrote on Facebook. 

According to Sgt. Michael DeCroteau, a Stoneham resident found the puppet on their front lawn earlier this week and brought it to police, who quickly set about tracking down its rightful owner. 

Meanwhile, Facebook users who spotted the lost-and-found notice were having a field day. Some identified the puppet as “Bobby Strings,” a spooky animatronic sold by Spirit Halloween. Standing more than 7 feet tall and ringing up at a whopping $309.99, the puppet is programmed with six “chilling taunts,” according to the Spirit Halloween website. 

“Hope whoever is working the overnight at the station is packing. And maybe some holy water,” one commenter wrote under the Stoneham police post. 

Another added: “I wouldn’t worry about it. If I’ve learned anything from horror movies, it’s that a cursed puppet will find its owner all on its own.”

Sure enough, DeCroteau said police soon heard from the puppet’s owner, who said they had recently thrown the Halloween decoration away. He speculated someone fished it out of the trash and left it on a neighbor’s lawn, possibly as a prank. 

According to DeCroteau, the puppet will temporarily remain in Stoneham police custody until its owner gives the town formal permission to get rid of it. 

“We’re going to give it a job, so it’s going to be a police officer with us,” DeCroteau joked.