this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
75 points (98.7% liked)

Wikipedia

4359 readers
135 users here now

A place to share interesting articles from Wikipedia.

Rules:

Recommended:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic. Placed throughout Boston, Massachusetts, and the surrounding cities of Cambridge and Somerville by Peter "Zebbler" Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, these devices were part of a nationwide guerrilla marketing advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] night_petal@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

They weren't just in Boston. They were in many major cities. I remember a fairly prominent display in Atlanta.

[โ€“] nocturne@slrpnk.net 1 points 8 hours ago

But, from what I recall, the panic was in Boston. As mentioned in the article, there were also hoax pipe bombs found the same day.