On Monday, dozens of residents in Montreal's Bois-Franc neighbourhood woke up to find watermelons on their doorsteps. Baffled and a little bit spooked, they were sceptical of eating the mysterious gifts, which each came with seemingly cryptic notes attached. Now, the pranksters behind the nighttime delivery, Evgeny Patvakanov and Victor René de Cotret, have come forward.
Patvakanov told MTL Blog that their goal was to bring some "cheer" to these dark times.
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He read a post online that joked that the best way to leave a mark on someone's life was to drop a watermelon in front of their home in the middle of the night.
Inspired by the post, he and de Cotret purchased 50 watermelons from three different Provigo grocery stores for their prank.
Photos shared with MTL Blog show the melons stacked in the backseat of the pair's convertible car as they drove through town.
They decided to add notes on Post-Its to make clear their gesture was friendly. Their goal, Patvakanov said, was not to creep anyone out.
A video posted to his YouTube channel, evgeny, shows the two men pulling up to their target street under the cover of darkness, running back and forth from the car to townhouse stoops.
They moved to a different street once neighbours began to turn on their front lights.
As for whether the watermelons are safe to eat, Patvakanov said he wanted to reassure residents that the fruit hasn't been tampered with.
"The worst thing that could have happened to them is that they got dirty just by sitting outside all night."
This wasn't his first good-natured prank.
A video posted on August 1 shows him giving $250 tips to local fast-food drive-thru employees.
Watermelon Man, we found you.