'It'-Like Red Balloon Tied To South Brunswick Sewer Grate

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — A woman visiting her family in South Brunswick made a creepy discovery this week: A red balloon tied to a sewer grate on Tiby Place, near the intersection of Georges Road and Deans Lane. It appeared to be a prank related to the movie adaptation of Stephen King's classic horror tale "It," which is now in theaters.

In King's work, a little boy chases his paper boat down a storm drain and is killed by an evil clown named Pennywise. The boy is lured by the sight of a red balloon tied to the grate.

"There was a red balloon in the sewer grate when I entered their street," resident JoAnne Gutierrez said. "Looked intentional to me. We do not normally have debris on our street."

It's not just South Brunswick. Pranksters have reportedly been tying red balloons to sewer grates all over. They've been spotted in the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, New Jersey, Des Moines, Iowa and in the Pennsylvania town of Lititz, just north of Lancaster. Along with a photo of one of the balloons found in Lititz, local police posted a partly tongue-in-cheek statement on Facebook asking the prankster to stop. "We were completely terrified as we removed these balloons from the grates," part of the statement reads.

Five teenage girls were behind the prank in Pennsylvania.

South Brunswick Police say they've received no calls about red balloons.

Photo from the Lititz Police Department