Chicago's Lucky Charms purse disappears after going viral

CHICAGO - There's a cereal mystery on Chicago's Northwest Side.

Some say a purse filled with Lucky Charms hanging on a metal pole is public art, while others say it's just somebody's lost snack.

Either way, it's going viral on social media.

"It's just this beautiful, inexplicable thing that happened," said Chicago writer and game creator Sam Greszes, who was scootering down Addison Street last week when he spotted something odd hanging from a metal post at Lawndale. 

In front of a shuttered muffler shop was a clear plastic purse stuffed with Lucky Charms cereal.

"I just saw it and said, like this is weird. Cool. It made me smile. I took a picture of it and posted it," said Greszes.

Within days, the post had been viewed over a million times on X with 26,000 likes, and spawned a series of copycat memes. 

"Suddenly, thousands of people seemed to dig it," said Greszes. "And I started to think about it and I was like why, right?"

The viral cereal bag caught the attention of Block Club Chicago which published an article, and by the time FOX 32 arrived Tuesday morning, people were calling it the "Miracle in Avondale." 

"What people gravitate to is a story," said Greszes. "And I don't want to compare this to the rathole. The rathole is legendary, rest in peace."

The imprint of what appears to be a rat embedded on a Chicago sidewalk became such a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds earlier this year.

The city of Chicago had to cut it out and move it into storage.

As for the mystery cereal…

"It's a bit ridiculous, honestly," said neighbor Tyler Maltes, as he walked by the purse. "I mean it could be a performance art piece, I'm not 100-percent sure."

Greszes says even if the cereal purse isn't intended to be public art, people are still fascinated by it.

"I've got opinions on what is art and what isn't. Personally, I believe if you call it art, it's art," said Greszes.

But the cereal's charms were short-lived. Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, someone either pulled off the art heist of the century or reclaimed their snack bag. 

The Lucky Charms purse disappeared.

"These things, these small things that we can take a small amount of absurd joy in our day-to-day lives, we need to respect them," said Greszes, before the disappearance.

We may never know how they got here or what they mean. Just that they're magically delicious.