AUBURN, Maine — If you've visited the Auburn Walmart recently, you might have noticed something out of the ordinary in the parking lot. There's nothing unusual about a stop sign on top of a pole, but this one leans at almost a 45-degree angle.
For years, cars have hit the pole one way or another causing all kinds of damage. The pictures and videos of the pole have spread across Facebook, and now there's one spot where they can all be shared.
'The Auburn Walmart Pole Strikes Again' Facebook group was started by Jeydon-Xavier Smith. Smith worked at Walmart and said the pole had been getting hit by cars since 2018.
“I don’t know what possesses them to hit it. I don’t know how they keep hitting it," Smith said.
The page was created so Smith, former co-workers, and friends could share funny memes and jokes about the pole. But now, it has more than 900 members from all over the country.
“Whenever there’s a post, I get notified immediately," Emily Dennis said.
Dennis is one of the many who use the page as a way to escape the everyday grind of the "real world" and can have some laughs.
“I noticed they made the group, so I immediately joined. This is hilarious. This is absolutely hilarious, the fact that this happens so often. It’s actually getting documented," she said.
Jason Alexander had his first encounter with the pole when he moved to Auburn in 2020. As a designer and content creator, Alexander made custom stickers of the pole for sale.
“There’s so much bad stuff that’s happening. It was so fun to find a group to chuckle at something that’s happening, it seems like, daily," he said.
And that's the goal of the Facebook page.
"I just want my group to be a fun little place where we can come together and laugh at something," Smith added.
While the group is for fun, the pole has caused some serious damage to cars that cross its path.
Jake Cyr works at a local auto shop and said he's seen cars come in after hitting the pole, and some were even totaled.
“It’s a parking lot, you’re going what 15-20 mph. You wouldn’t think it would cause that much damage, but we’ve definitely seen some nasty ones come through," he said.
Cyr, like everyone who follows the pole, still has no idea what the heck is going on and why so many people hit it.
“I don’t know, man. If you find out let me know. I’d love to know," he said.
The Auburn Walmart pole did not respond to requests for comment.