ORONO — A suspicious package turned out to be a discarded Halloween costume once it had been exploded by the Bangor police bomb squad, Police Chief Josh Ewing said Sunday.

Ewing said Orono police received a report midmorning Sunday that the item, which was about the size of a cereal box and appeared to have tubes and a clock attached to it, was leaning up against a telephone pole on Main Street near Hamlin Street.

Police closed off Main Street between the Big Apple store and Juniper Street shortly before noon and called Bangor police, which has a bomb squad and a remotely controlled robot, Ewing said. When the item was detonated by the robot, no explosives were found.

“It looked like a discarded Halloween costume,” he said.

Main Street was closed about 11:30 a.m. and reopened about 2:15 p.m. Sunday.

Ted Curtis, who lives at 123 Main St., said he heard an explosion about 1:30 p.m. nearby. Curtis said he first heard sirens about 11:25 a.m.

He said police did not evacuate his home or appear to conduct a mass evacuation of the neighborhood.

Ewing said a few houses nearest the telephone pole were evacuated.

It was the second time in less than a month the Bangor police bomb squad has been called out. On Oct. 14, a suspicious package found near the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot on Hogan Road turned out to be a cinder block wrapped in paper.

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