Halloween prop prompts St. Louis evacuations

ST. LOUIS -- Police in St. Louis say a suspicious device that prompted the evacuations of several homes turned out to be a Halloween prop.

KMOV-TV reported that a real estate agent found the item Friday morning in a box in the basement of a vacant home. The woman called police, who described the item as looking remarkably like a real bomb.

The city's bomb squad removed the box while police contacted a former tenant and learned the box had apparently been used as a part of a Halloween costume.

Five homes in the area were evacuated for a few hours before police gave the all-clear.

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Information from: KMOV-TV, http://www.kmov.com