Posted: Aug 3, 2012 3:33 PM by Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Police in St. Louis say a suspicious device that prompted the evacuations of several homes turned out to be a Halloween prop.
KMOV-TV reports that a real estate agent found the item Friday morning in a box in the basement of a vacant home. The woman called police, who described the item as looking remarkably like a real bomb.
The city's bomb squad removed the box while police contacted a former tenant and learned the box had apparently been used as a part of a Halloween costume.
Five homes in the area were evacuated for a few hours before police gave the all-clear.