Thank you JellyJam.
UPDATE: It turned out to someone’s dearly departed ashes.
Thanks to a Special Freepmailer for pointing to this article:
http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_197115959.html
Jul 16, 2007 4:10 pm US/Eastern
“Dynamite-Shaped Object Sparks Evacuation In N.J.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “(CBS News) WEST ORANGE, N.J. An area that included the Edison National Historic Site was evacuated Monday, but what authorities first called a suspicious device turned out to be a novelty item designed to look like two sticks of dynamite attached to an alarm clock, police said.
The object, found around 10:30 a.m. in a pile of household garbage next door to a propane business, was destroyed by the Essex County bomb squad as a precaution, West Orange police spokeswoman Amy Simon said.
“They blew it apart. There was no explosion,” Simon said.
It was soon determined that the object — made of two wooden dowels — posed no threat, she said. “