Food for thought: Bizarre dumps of food items reported in Lebanon, Farmington

These photos show the area of a mysterious trash dump of what looks like nonperishable food items and a mattress late Sunday night on Shapleigh Road. The photos were taken on Monday. (Courtesy photo)

Police in two states are investigating what appears to be a pair of bizarre trash dumps of nonperishable foods on local Maine and New Hampshire roads.

The first occurred overnight Sunday on Shapleigh Road near Belgian Meadow Farm in Lebanon, Maine.

Tabatha Butler, who lives on nearby Gully Oven Road, said she discovered the large pile of trash - including a mattress and what appeared to be piles of unopened boxed and canned food items - spread across the road's shoulder.

Butler said Lebanon road crews gathered up the trash late Monday afternoon.

Lebanon Road Commissioner Scott Gerrish said today it took him an hour and a half and two trips to the Transfer Station to discard the mattress and nonperishables, which included unopened cans of spaghetti, peanut butter and soups among other food items.

"I've never seen anything like it," Gerrish said.

A similar dump of unopened foodstuffs was found Tuesday on Meaderboro Road in Farmington. (Farmington Police photo)

Meanwhile, police in Farmington, N.H., responded to a report of a similar dump on Meaderboro Road on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., Farmington Police Chief John Drury said today.

"It was kind of unusual, a bunch of canned goods and cereal boxes appear unopened," said Drury, who added it appeared cardboard boxes holding the foodstuffs seemed to have split open as they hit the pavement.

The Farmington dump occurred in the area of 723 Meaderboro Road.

Drury said he didn't really know quite what to make of it.

"It doesn't sound to be criminal; maybe if it was all one product, but this was an assortment of products," Drury said.

Maine State Police were not immediately available to comment on this this story.