A plate of peeled bananas has appeared on the corner of a quiet Nottinghamshire street once a month for over a year, but no-one knows why.
Residents of the suburban town of Beeston have noticed up to 20 plane trees delicately placed on the corner of Abbey Road and Wensor Avenue.
Like clockwork, they are left on a pale blue plate on the second day of each month; The mystery goes back more than a year.
“I’ve asked around in the local community but no one really knows anything and no one can tell me anything,” said bewildered resident Clare Short.
‘The bananas appear early in the morning on the 2nd of the month, I see them on the way to work. I’d love to know the answers to this.’
As locals become frustrated with fruit slowly rotting on their street corner, Clare decided to take matters into her own hands.
A plate of bananas appears on a corner in Beeston on the second of every month.
She printed a polite notice asking the mysterious banana dropper to stop his strange monthly ritual.
The note, posted next to road signs where bananas are left, read: ‘Please, respectfully, no more bananas!!
“Uncleaned dishes and rotten bananas leave a mess!”
Despite Clare’s nice warning, the plate full of bananas appeared again on January 2nd.
As she took down her sign, Clare said the bananas were clearly “special” to someone.
“I’ve come to take down the signs because I really don’t want to turn it into a fight, I don’t want it to turn into a big thing,” he said.
The prankster has been leaving the plate on the corner of Abbey Road and Wensor Avenue for more than a year
A neighbor left a note asking the attacker to stop leaving the fruit because it rots over time.
‘I think it’s something special for someone and I wish them the best.
“But if they could come back and clean up the mess a few days later, that would be wonderful.”
Hesitantly, he added, “I’m going to keep an eye on him and continue cleaning up the mess.”
Other residents would prefer that the plane trees on their corner disappear forever.
Josh Trentham, 26, who lives nearby, said: “They are so annoying, I have no idea why they are here.”
Neighbor Jill Dowling added: “It’s so strange and disgusting someone put it there and I don’t like it.”
While some theorized that the bananas were intended to feed animals, Janet Hutchison, 81, said: “It is clear that the bananas were just purchased and are not touched by wildlife.”
And he added: “They get moldy, it’s disgusting.”
Another bemused resident wondered if it was customary to leave bananas on the street in countries outside the UK.
“I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, but it’s strange,” said Adam Castle, 34.
“I’ve never heard or seen it anywhere else I’ve lived.”
Some say they are so “scared” by the monthly banana drop that they have contacted the police in an attempt to find the culprit.
Speaking of the mysterious fruit, one resident said: “I’ve heard it’s some kind of cleansing ritual, but to be honest, it’s just weird and it’s scaring people.”
“I know at least one person who has reported it to the police.”