By Tim Binnall
Residents of a New Zealand town are trying to get to the bottom of a strange mystery centered around bottles of flavored milk that keep appearing atop a gas station pump in the community. According to a local media report, the town of Alexandra has become gripped by the puzzling phenomenon that began several months ago when people first noticed the recurring presence of the drinks. Leading the charge in solving the mystery is citizen sleuth Poppy Prendergast, who has been 'working the case' with a zeal reminiscent of a seasoned police detective.
Since the milk keeps appearing at a specific gas station, she posits that the individual leaving the bottles behind is probably a trucker. Taking her theory further, Prendergast noted that the beverages are fairly expensive and, as such, she mused that "this person, this culprit, works within the supply chain for cold, refrigerated items and they're getting them for free." She also argued that the perpetrator is a man, because "I've never met any woman that drinks that much flavored milk." Observing that there are multiple places nearby where one could dispose of the disused bottles, she wondered "does this become criminal, with all this littering? Are we delving into kind of a Midsomer Murders type territory, minus the murders?"
Prendergast is not alone in her near-obsession with the odd phenomenon as the mystery has seemingly become the talk of the town. "People are keeping track, people are noticing, this is getting discussed," she said, pondering "if the culprit knows we're watching, and they're doing it for entertainment purposes." While the answer to that question is uncertain, the delightfully weird mystery and those trying to solve it are certainly worthy of some kind of true crime series, provided it centers around the plucky Prendergast doggedly pursuing the Milk Man of Alexandra.