In the annals of unsolved mysteries, we have DB Cooper, what's actually in Area 51 and how a perfectly preserved In-N-Out Burger appeared earlier this week on a street in Queens, New York.
Now, one of these mysteries has been solved.
New York City resident Lincoln Boehm spotted the unspoiled double-double laying in the middle of a street in Queens, as he was walking to a nearby McDonalds earlier this week, and he was understandable confused about the out-of-place burger. After all, the closest In-N-Out location was 2,000 miles away and thanks to his experienced trying to bring a Double-Double back from the West Coast he knew they didn't last long.
As it turns out, the burger's mysterious appearance in Queens has a decidedly unremarkable origin story. According to a piece Boehm wrote for Vice, a 16-year-old girl in Queens DM'ed him on Instagram, claiming responsibility for the orphaned Double-Double.
"Hi. This is actually my burger. You may not believe me," the message sent by Helen Vivas, a high schooler who lives in Flushing, read.
Vivas told Boehm she'd just gotten off a JetBlue flight from San Diego where she'd purchased several burgers as a treat for her after getting back home. But as she was coming home from JFK Airport, she had to run after the Q44 bus, the burger bag still in hand. Unfortunately, the paper bag containing the treasured burgers from California had soaked up some of the grease, and it was not able to withstand her sprint. The 16-year-old said she was able to catch two of the three burgers before they fell on the street.
As proof, Vivas offered several posts from her Instagram stories that showed her buying the burgers.
Vivas even went so far as to ask the San Diego In-N-Out employee the best way to preserve her burgers for her long flight. Based on the employee's suggestions, she ordered two Double-Doubles with no sauce, as well as, two single cheeseburgers "packed fresh" - which essentially means the In-N-Out employees packed the vegetables in a separate baggie for later reconstruction.
Then, Vivas said she even went to far to preserve her burgers by holding them in her lap for the entire flight back to New York, carrying it "like a brown bag lunch."
As sad as the loss of a pristine Double-Double might be, the good news was, Vivas managed to catch her bus back home and retained two of the three burgers.
"THE TRUTH COMES OUT!" Boehm tweeted.
Boehm has begun selling t-shirts of the mysterious Double-Double with the proceeds going to the New York City Food Bank.