Kellie Coennen
- Dozens of giant Frosty the Snowman inflatable decorations have magically appeared on lawns in a neighborhood in Chippewa Township, Pennsylvania.
- As of Wednesday, around 60 houses had been “frosted.”
- Teenagers dressed as elves and reindeer have been seen installing the snowmen, but the identity of the mastermind remains a mystery.
- “The whole thing has been so much fun,” one homeowner, Donna Schaefer, told Insider.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
It started with a stolen turkey.
Cindy Turconi awoke one morning before Thanksgiving to find the inflatable turkey her family displays every year replaced by an 18-foot Frosty the Snowman towering over her home in Chippewa Township, Pennsylvania.
“I posted on Facebook, ‘Thank you for the snowman but who has my turkey?'” Turconi told Insider. “So then it did magically come back into my garage … I don’t know why we were one of the first ones but we love it.”
Every few days since, two or three more households have awoken to find giant, smiling snowmen on their lawns, as the Beaver County Times first reported. As of Wednesday, locals said the inflatables had appeared outside approximately 60 homes, primarily in the Highland Meadows neighborhood.
But no one is complaining.
"The whole thing has been so much fun," one homeowner, Donna Schaefer, told Insider. "Everybody in the neighborhood is just in a good mood and happy and, for what a crappy year this has been, I think everybody's just looking for some bright spots."
Children in the neighborhood are "just enthralled with the whole thing," she said. Even Schaefer's own four kids, who are all adults, were so excited about the snowmen, they drove around to tally up the decorations.
So who's behind the mysterious case of the appearing snowmen? According to locals, an unidentified group of teenagers wearing Buddy the Elf and reindeer costumes have been installing the decorations while blasting Christmas tunes out of their van.
Cindy Turconi
At first, the band of elves worked to install the inflatables in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep. But as anticipation for the snowmen grew, they've begun setting up the decorations earlier so families can watch.
A video on the Highland Meadows Snowmen Facebook page shows the group in action.
Kellie Coennen said watching the elves install the snowmen only adds to the spectacle. Upon hearing the elves' music outside their house, Coennen's three young children jumped out of bed to watch their snowman as he inflated.
"They came running outside to see what was happening and they saw Frosty on the yard and they were so excited," Coennen said. "It's made all of us neighbors closer ... and just during a hard time, it brings joy to everyone," she added.
The snowmen have become so popular, droves of cars have been driving through the area to admire the giant decorations.
Donna Schaefer
It's unknown who hired the elves, but neighbors are guessing it's someone in their neighborhood or a local business owner . It's also unknown how the band of elves afford the inflatable snowmen - the original Frosty the Snowman decoration that was installed retails for $399.95. Schaefer guessed they ran out of the original inflatable because they've been installing a different one recently.
Nobody's quite sure what will happen to the decorations once the holidays are over. But there are rumors that just like in the original cartoon, these Frosty the Snowmen will magically disappear until next Christmas.
"It's been kind of magical," Schaefer said, adding, "Almost like something you'd see in a movie."
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