By Tim Binnall
The case of the 'British banana phantom' took an unexpected turn over the weekend when the elusive individual placed March's offering at an entirely different location. The bizarre mystery first came to light in January when it was revealed that someone had been placing a plate of the peeled fruit at a specific street corner in the town of Beeston on the second day of every month throughout the last year. Despite the story making worldwide headlines, the phantom managed to outwit those awaiting February's 'ritual' by depositing the fruit offerings a day early, making this past weekend the latest chance to possibly spot the person in action. However, they once again avoided detection with a significant change in tactics.
According to a local media report, when the sun rose over Beeston on Sunday morning, it was initially believed that the phantom's weird ritual had ended as there was no plate of peeled bananas at the street corner where they had been ritually placed every month. While resident Matt Thompson expressed somewhat melancholy feelings about the latest turn of events, he conceded that "I don't know whether to be sad about it," since the reason for the recurring offerings remains a mystery. His tepid dismay was echoed by another community member who mused "it's not the end of the world, but I was looking forward to seeing the prank on my morning walk."
Fortunately for Beeston residents fearful that the phantom had forsaken them, it was subsequently learned that this was not the case as Sunday evening brought news that the bananas had actually turned up on time, but in a different location than where previous offerings had been made. Amusingly, the peeled fruit had largely gone unnoticed during the day because nobody was expecting to find them in the new neighborhood. It was only later that someone spotted the bananas and realized that the phantom had changed the proverbial game. With the mysterious individual having once again pulled off the prank for yet another month, residents of Beeston and the rest of us following the weird case must wait until April to see what happens next.