Sausages Mysteriously Stuffed in Mailboxes are Tearing a Community Apart

In the tropical enclave of Waiheke Island, New Zealand, someone has crashed the gates of paradise. That someone—no one knows who—is putting single sausages, wrapped in bread, in residents' mailboxes. The bizarre deliveries have unnerved townsfolk, and the search for who's responsible has turned neighbor against neighbor.

No one is above suspicion. "It's ripping us apart; we can't trust one another," one resident told Stuff. "It's a witch hunt." Read on to find out more about the case, including what a clinical psychologist says about the traits of a potential suspect.

"A Serial Sausager on the Island"

The first sausage showed up in Jacob Coetzee's mailbox last summer, nestled in white bread and topped with tomato sauce. It was cold but seemed to have been barbecued at one point, he told Stuff. He threw it away and thought no more of it.

But the deliveries happened again and again—the same kind of sausage and sauce. "I sent a picture to my friend group and some of them had been sausaged as well. That's when we realized we had a serial sausager on the island," he said.

"Nobody's Letterboxes Are Safe"

"The modus operandi was almost always the same: sausage, white bread, butter and sauce, but the approach was scattergun," Stuff reported. "Weeks or even months would pass without incident until suddenly, a sausage." "You never know when the strike will happen but when it does, everyone gets struck," Coetzee said.

"It's traumatic. Nobody's letterboxes are safe." "It's ripping us apart; we can't trust one another," he added. "I've been accused, my brothers been accused. It's a witch hunt."

Local Supermarket Is Dead End

The teenager traced the sausages to the local supermarket, but no one there could confirm they'd sold the items. "We can only imagine the fear that people are living in, not knowing whether today will be the day they will fall victim to The Surfdale Sausager," a spokesperson told Stuff. "We'll continue to keep a close eye on the small goods section in-store and report any suspicious activity to the relevant authorities."

Community Coming Together?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Dougal Sutherland told Stuff that the controversy might actually be bringing the community together. "It's a bit of fun and brings everyone together because they're wrapped up in an antic that seems pretty harmless," he said.

"People have long enjoyed a practical joke, especially if it's played on someone else, and a sense of shared mystery is a nice distraction," he added. "People can talk about it and ask each other 'have you been sausaged yet?' though that could be taken a few ways."

What's the Motive?

Sutherland suggested the prankster's motive might be a thirst for notoriety and the satisfaction of getting one over on people. "This is someone with a bit of time and money, access to a barbecue, probably not a vegetarian and not particularly health-conscious hence the white bread," he said.

"We're looking at someone reasonably intelligent and good at hiding." But one of the suspect's traits is clear to him. "Only a male would put a sausage in a letterbox. Freud would have a field day," he concluded.