The first time they were spotted in metropolitan Adelaide was on a Tuesday morning.
The faces of KFC and Dan Murphy's were cross-eyed at opposite sides of the city, becoming monuments overnight with their new, giant googly eyes.
The prank went viral when @rAdelaidegrl posted the photos to Twitter.
“Someone in Adelaide is going around and putting giant googly eyes on things and I applaud them,” she said in a tweet.
Though we’re sad to report the Eastwood KFC branch has since taken down the eyes, the culprits struck again, turning to a different Colonel.
The person (or group) attached eyes on the city’s statue of Adelaide founder Colonel William Light, offering us a little sign that they had seen their newfound notoriety.
The pranks have evoked memories of other news stories mentioning googly eyes. Like the time Kuwait’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry had to shut down a fishmonger after it was found to be putting googly eyes on its product to make it appear fresher.
And two years ago, in the US city of Savannah, officials weren’t so happy when someone pulled the same stunt on a statue of US War of Independence general Nathanael Greene.
"Who did this?!” the post wrote on Facebook. “Someone placed googly eyes on our historic statue in . It may look funny but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it's a crime.”
In Australia, though, we’ve been loving it. And it’s brought respite to people in Adelaide who are facing restrictions and rolling COVID-19 headlines.
“The superhero we need is already here, people,” one user wrote. “And people claim Adelaide has no culture,” said another.
Others had questions on how the googly-eyed Banksy was able to get so high off the ground for all three assignments.
"For reference, the statue is NOT low to the ground and in a reasonably busy spot. I'm applauding," said @rAdelaidegrl on Twitter.
Colonel Light Vision in Adelaide. Source: Google Maps
A very serious investigation
We went on Reddit where all things on the internet begin and end to investigate the low-stakes whodunnit.
On our callout, the top comment read: “May it forever remain a delightful mystery.” Others speculated that some businesses in Adelaide had planted their own googly eyes on billboards and vans to get in on the buzz.
Another prayed that it would start a community googly eye trend, like the clown craze that hit Australia in 2017 where people dressed up and lurked around neighbourhoods.
But it was the second comment on the thread that made our ears perk up.
“Throwaway account,” the comment, with 66 upvotes, began.
“We're not a single person, we're a group of friends. Why? It sounded like a good idea at the time, it's a good idea now and we enjoy somewhat of the thrill and challenge of it.”
“Those eyes aren't difficult to buy on the internet. TBH though I think if people tried finding us, we'd easily be caught on [CCTV] footage or something.”
The Feed can neither confirm nor deny that the comments came from the real googly-eyed bandit. But the fun is in the mystery.
