More Than 500 Pounds of Pasta Were Dumped in the Woods in New Jersey, but Why?

It's not every day that you stumble upon hundreds of pounds of pasta that appear to have been unceremoniously dumped in the woods near your home. And yet, that appears to be exactly what happened to residents of Old Bridge, N.J., last week when more than 500 pounds of pasta was discovered in the woods.

The obscene amount of pasta in the woods was brought to public attention by Nina Jochnowitz, a somewhat public figure in the community. A concerned citizen told her about the dumped pasta. Nina took some pictures of the pasta and posted them on her Facebook page. Why was the pasta dumped in the woods? Here's what we know.

It wasn't until Nina posted about the pasta on Facebook that local authorities, who had previously been alerted to the pasta, agreed to come and clean it up.

"THEY GOT THE MESSAGE!!!" Nina wrote on Facebook. "The township came and cleaned up then entire river basin. The mayor and his posse continue to ignore the Sixth Ward. For us in the Sixth Ward it comes as no surprise when we see the dumping of construction and other garbage spewed in all of the neighborhoods."

"This week, there was a new type of dumping, of excessive food, PASTA," the post continued. "A good estimate is more than 500 pounds of pasta dumped adjacent to the streams intersecting with Hilliard and Mimi."

The pasta was dumped on property owned by the town of Old Bridge, and included what appeared to be a combination of spaghetti, elbow, and ziti noodles. It isn't clear how long the pasta had been in the woods before it was cleaned up.

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, it isn't clear whether the police are investigating who might have dumped all that pasta in the woods. There aren't any suspects in the case yet. Nina also said that she didn't file a police report.

It seems likely, then, that we may never fully understand why all of the pasta suddenly appeared in the woods in New Jersey or how it got there.

It's worth noting, though, that the pasta was just out in the open. It wasn't in trash bags or any other form of receptacle. Instead, it was as if the people who brought it there dumped it directly out of the pots it had been cooked in. It's also unclear why anyone would ever actually need to dispose of that much pasta, when you would think that you could eat at least some of it.

Ultimately, it seems like we may never get answers to all these pressing questions. The pasta just appeared in the New Jersey woods, and now it's gone.

It's worth noting, though, Nina did mention that Old Forge doesn't have any bulk trash pickup. That means that whoever did this may have felt they had no other choice. Of course, it could also be some strange attempt at a prank that went over everyone's heads.