Minnesotans, Beware Of ‘Haunted’ Exploding Watermelons

It sounds like something from a badly written horror movie--'haunted' watermelons. But, they're a real thing. If it happens to you, throw them out, don't eat them. They could make you VERY sick.

In fact, I just had my first encounter with a 'haunted' watermelon last night and it completely freaked me out.

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I love fresh watermelon in the summer, there's nothing better. On Wednesday night I picked up a watermelon from the grocery store and left it out on my counter top.

Thursday rolled around and the watermelon was still on my counter because I hadn't had time to cut it up. I went to my son's little league practice and planned to enjoy the heck out of it when I got home.

Here's the twist...when I got home, I found the watermelon had exploded in my kitchen. There was juice on the floor, guts and foam on the counter. I mean, it was everywhere.

I couldn't figure out what even happened. I concluded there were only 3 scenarios....

A. My husband dropped the watermelon, it broke apart and he didn't tell me about it.
B. Someone broke into my house and just wanted to bust open a watermelon.
C. My house is haunted.

But, the thing is, none of those scenarios seemed quite right. I questioned my husband and he swore he didn't touch it. I believed him because neither of us could explain the strange foam that was present on the floor, counter and watermelon.

I called up the grocery store and the woman on the other end of the line said, "Yeah, I wouldn't eat it. Bring it back and we'll get you a new one."

I bagged up the creepy exploding watermelon, brought it to the store and told the kids at the counter what happened. They asked me if my house was haunted and we laughed that none of us had ever experienced or heard anything like that happening.

I got home, put the new watermelon on my counter and just stared at it, waiting for something to happen with this one.

I decided to do some research...and what I found was shocking.

Apparently, 'haunted' watermelons are a thing. According to What About Watermelon, "Watermelon splitting (or exploding) can be caused by the “exploding gene,” which is found in many of the heirloom varieties, or from increased water turgor in the watermelon. Sometimes just placing the fruit on a surface, bumping it, or touching it with a knife will cause an immediate pop on the side."

And, sometimes they can break open because of a bacterial infection that causes the watermelon to start fermenting and eventually exploding like a volcano...which would explain why my watermelon was foaming.

An article from How Stuff Works called 'When Bad Watermelons Explode On Good People' almost exactly described what happened to me.

Check out the video.

If you come across one of these watermelons, throw them out, bring them back to the store, give them a proper burial...whatever you need to do--JUST DON'T EAT THEM. You could definitely get some type of food poisoning. These watermelons are not safe to eat.

So, yes, 'haunted' exploding watermelons do exist...only, they aren't really haunted. But, they'll make you think your house is when you find one busted open and you're the only one home.