Potato Mystery Confounds Wayland Librarians

WAYLAND, MA — This is a job for James Patterson or Agatha Christie — or maybe even Stephen King.

Over the last week, someone has been leaving potatoes on the lawn in front of the Wayland Free Public Library. Director Sandy Raymond found the first tuber Monday during a walk around the library grounds. She discovered the second while getting her steps in Tuesday.

"I said, 'Did that potato move?'" Raymond recalled Friday.

It had not moved, and the second potato gave birth to a local mystery. The librarians posted about the phenomenon on social media, attracting a lot of attention — and theories — in the community.

"None of us can imagine how they got here ... part of a rare potato migration? Kid on a bus revolted by a packed lunch?" the librarians wrote in a Facebook post this week.

Some have remarked about other potato occurrences in the area. One woman said she's seen piles of potatoes left along Concord Road near the library. Another person suggested a "friendly raccoon or black bear" is leaving the potatoes as an offering to the librarians.

The potatoes appear to be baked or cooked, Raymond said, but the library's location would seem to rule out a restaurant-based explanation.

The closest eatery is Spice & Pepper, a Thai restaurant with no baked potatoes on the menu. There's also a Stop & Shop a little farther west, but a call to the deli department confirmed they don't sell whole baked potatoes.

Then there's Mass Central Rail Trail, which has a paved course that begins near the library and heads east to Waltham. Raymond doesn't think it's a biker or walker — although one person wondered whether someone was using baked potatoes to keep warm, an old New England trick.

As of Friday, the mystery remained unsolved, and the potatoes were still sitting undisturbed on the library's lawn. Raymond has no intention of moving them — after all, what if their owner returns and is hungry?

"It's an experiment," she said. "They're not going to hurt anything."