Arkansas man planted mystery seeds delivered from China to grow massive unstoppable fruit
Topics: Nature, US News, Weird, Environment, China
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: 5News/Whitehouse Police Department
Topics: Nature, US News, Weird, Environment, China
A man who received a random packet of seeds in the post decided to plant them.
Doyle Crenshaw, from Arkansas, US, received a mystery parcel in the mail to find come seeds inside.
The package was advertized has having jewelry inside but instead had the mystery seeds. And to make matters even more unusual, the return address was one in China.
Advert
Not thinking much into it, Doyle decided to plant the seeds to see what they grew into. This could have ended in disaster, however, as local authorities were concerned that the seeds were that of an invasive species.
Scott Bray of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture said at the time: "Our concern is from an invasive-pest aspect; these seeds could introduce an invasive weed or an invasive insect pest or a plant disease."
Fortunately, this wasn't the case and Doyle's seeds grew into a huge plant with fruits on it.
He told KSFM of the then-new addition to his garden: "Every two weeks I’d come by and put Miracle-Gro on it, and they just started growing like crazy."
Experts couldn't quite put their finger on what type of plant it was, but Doyle's boasted large white fruits and orange flowers, which some compared to a squash plant.
As to why Doyle received the seeds in the mail, it was suspected that he was victim of a 'brushing' scam.
Whitehouse Police Department said in a statement shared on social media in 2020: "We have done some researching and it does appear that these seeds are tied with an online scam called 'brushing'. A brushing scam is an exploit by a vendor used to bolster product ratings and increase visibility online by shipping an inexpensive product to an unwitting receiver and then submitting positive reviews on the receiver's behalf under the guise of a verified owner.
"Although not directly dangerous, we would still prefer that people contact us to properly dispose of the seeds."
A woman who lives near Chicago has experienced a similar ordeal recently has received an influx of unsolicited Temu parcels.
Isabelle Wood claims to have received hundreds of parcels from the Chinese retailer. Items she's received range from chess sets and pleather jackets to a karaoke machine and camera.
While Isabelle reached out to Temu, the parcels have kept on coming.
It's now believed that her address is being used as part of a brushing scam.