There was a gigantic inflatable pumpkin on the loose today

Today, people were spooked (and, well, mostly amused) a day early by a 25-foot-tall, 350-pound orange inflatable jack-o-lantern that broke through trees and bounced into an intersection down the roadway. The pumpkin, owned by Big AZ Promotions, traveled across multiple lanes of traffic before getting caught on a streetlight pole, only to break free and keep on going.

The runaway pumpkin had been on display promoting the Peoria Monster Bash at a local sports complex. But things got pretty windy over there, and the pumpkin broke loose. When the company got the call that their pumpkin was on the run, they were a little bewildered. “I was so shocked to see that it was like bouncing like a basketball all the way down the road,” Patrick Sparkes of Big AZ Promotions told 12 News. “We showed up and it wasn’t there and we spent the last 40 minutes driving around looking for it.”

The pumpkin ended up traveling about a quarter of a mile, and it had quite the obstacles along the way — it bounced over a wall, rolled through a business parking lot, and ended up getting stuck in a local park. “Like, oh my God, I didn’t know it was going to go that far,” Sparkes told 12 News.

Thankfully, nobody was injured or harmed during the Great Pumpkin Escape of 2015, and street lights that were damaged have since been repaired. Unfortunately, the rogue pumpkin will have to be deflated to be repaired.

The winds must have been strong indeed to make that pumpkin travel so far, Shayne Smith of Big AZ Promotions told 12 News. “This is so heavy, and the straps, it just like ripped the rings out, went rolling down the streets,” he said.

Or maybe the pumpkin just felt like taking a stroll. Luckily, the whole thing was captured on video by Diego Ramirez, a 12 News viewer who witnessed it firsthand and sent his footage in to the news channel:

Imagine walking down the street and seeing that — slightly terrifying, to say the least. Well, at least it’s given us this gif:

Happy (early) Halloween, and keep your pumpkins under control!

(Image via Twitter.)

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