A pole in a Walmart parking lot in Maine has become an Internet sensation. Why? Because drivers keep running into it.

One theory is that the bright yellow pole is secretly a magnet, using its powers

One theory is that the bright yellow pole is secretly a magnet, using its powers to pull cars directly into a collision course.

Others have suggested that the ordinary stop sign bollard would make a perfect plot for a Stephen King novel, given its location in his home state of Maine, about an object possessed by the spirit of a disgruntled driver seeking revenge.

The real reasons people have repeatedly hit the notorious road marker are probably more mundane: poor design, distracted and impatient drivers, motorists miscalculating a turn. But that's poor fodder for the memes, jokes, and buzz surrounding the Pine Tree State's newest — if unofficial — tourist attraction.

The pole stands in a parking lot near the front of a Walmart store in Auburn, and as media buzz around the crashes has grown, so has curiosity around the strange phenomenon.

People are now driving to the sign, hopefully without incident, to take selfies with it. A 9-year-old girl went viral after asking her mother to make a pit stop at Walmart for her birthday and sharing a picture online. Someone made a five-minute YouTube documentary about the history of the many collisions. And a Facebook group dutifully documenting the crashes, appropriately named "The Auburn Walmart Pole Strikes Again," has ballooned to more than 7,000 fans and followers.

The pole's treacherous reputation even earned it a mention in a Maine woman's obituary.

When Janet Morse died in 2021, her family didn't ask for floral arrangements. Instead, friends were directed to "donate to the removal of the notorious Auburn Walmart pole that has led to the needless destruction of countless vehicles."

A manager at the store contacted by the Globe said they couldn't talk about the sign's apparent powers of attraction, and referred a reporter to Walmart's media relations team, which did not return a request for comment.

Jeydon-Xavier Smith, who created the popular Facebook group, said in a message to the Globe that they "have no idea" why people hit it so often.

"I’ve driven in that parking lot, right by that exact pole so many times, and I’ve never hit it!" Smith said.

But Smith, 22, recognized that the many incidents over the years had become something of a spectator sport. So having a place where people could discuss the oddly persistent trend just made sense.

Smith launched the group as a joke among friends in October because they "found it hilarious" that no matter what Walmart did to make the pole more prominent, "people keep hitting it!" By January, 2,000 members were watching and waiting for updates, and in the past month the number has skyrocketed.

"It's been pretty popular for a while, but I never thought it would get to this level," said Smith, who used to work at the store and said the crashes have been happening since at least 2018. "I think that people like this because it's funny. Obviously the vehicle damage isn't — but the fact of the pole itself, the same one every time being hit."

Auburn Fire Chief Robert Chase said the department has responded to "an inordinate amount of emergencies there," mostly for property damage caused by the offending pole. He couldn't recall any major injuries, but crews often have to clean up fluids like antifreeze that spill on impact.

Like others, Chase isn't sure why people keep hitting the pole.

"The interesting thing is, there's nothing that strikes me as it being particularly dangerous or out of the ordinary. It's a weird phenomenon," he said. "It's become kind of a joke: ‘The pole got another one,’ type of comments."

Auburn Police Chief Jason Moen said police have responded to an astounding 130 crashes at the scene since 2020.

"We’ve had cars roll on their side after hitting the pole, somehow one car ended up on top of the pole (we could never figure out how that one actually happened)," he said in an e-mail that included a chart of the incidents.

And like many villains, "the infamous Walmart pole" has an accomplice. Moen said there is actually a second pole that has also been involved in crashes. Both are at the end of parking rows near the front of the store.

"Their magnetic pull is apparently too strong," he said. "One theory is that the pole marks a focal point in the Earth's gravitational pull which causes vehicles to inherently veer into it."

With so many drivers ignoring the stop sign's directive, steps have been taken to make it more visible.

The poles have been painted bright yellow, and surrounded by concrete barriers. According to News Center Maine, bright red-and-white lights were added to the stop signs.

Some are skeptical it will help. Nothing seems to, after all.

"This won't change anything," one news anchor quipped during a Feb. 2 segment about the changes.

Just a few days later, someone reportedly smashed into the Jersey barriers surrounding one of the poles. The pole itself, now capable of causing damage without sustaining it, appeared unharmed.

Safety measures aside, Smith's Facebook page has become a popular source of amusement for those who can't stop riffing about the embattled signs.

It's there that residents and people from around the world have theorized that the parking lot — or the pole itself — is cursed, posted images of homemade T-shirt designs paying tribute to the sturdy support, offered solutions such as installing a flexible stop sign to absorb the inevitable impact, and shared pictures of themselves standing in front of the sign, tempting fate.

"I was there last week and decided to drive by the poles to take a peek," one person recently wrote. "I half expected my car to be sucked into one, kind of like a black hole or Bermuda Triangle thing."

Another person said they "lived to tell the tale" after cruising by it.

"It was touch and go for a moment though, nearly got sucked into the gravitational pull of it!" they said.

Lexi Doak and her family have been so enamored by the mystery and intrigue surrounding the pole that she recently took her 9-year-old daughter, Kynlee, to see it for her birthday — at Kynlee's request.

"We had heard about it through Facebook and different posts on different websites," Doak said. "We thought it was super funny that people seem to not be able to not hit it."

Doak, who lives an hour-and-a-half from the sign, said they planned a whole day around the visit. After posing in front of one of the recently reinforced signs, they went roller-skating. It was Kynlee's first time in the rink.

It was fun, Kynlee said. But it's the yellow pole she’ll remember.

Steve Annear can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.

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