Offbeat

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Social media sleuths try to solve Pasadena’s urine bottle mystery

by: Marc Sternfield

Two local filmmakers are trying to solve a mystery that has confounded and disgusted residents of Pasadena for more than two years: Who is placing containers full of urine atop a utility box, and why?

As the Los Angeles Times reports, the so-called “Piss Bandit” has been fixated on a specific Pasadena Water & Power electrical box on Colorado Boulevard – leaving behind bottles and even large jugs of urine.

Some are even labeled as such.

In a series of True Crime-style videos posted to TikTok, Derek Milton and Grant Yansura have made it their mission to document and potentially expose the culprit.

One video, which includes night vision hidden camera footage, has amassed over six million views, and subsequent videos have reached millions more. Pasadena Piss Bandit Bottles of urine are seen atop a utility box in Pasadena, California, in 2024. (TikTok @_derekmilton)

A city spokesperson told the L.A. Times that police in Pasadena are also interested since the bottles have irked residents and drawn complaints.

Recently, the city tried to stop the “Piss Artist” -as Milton calls him- by installing a triangular metal cap atop the electrical box so it was no longer flat.

It didn’t work.

The person destroyed the cap, leaving shards of metal on the ground – along with a fresh delivery of urine-filled bottles.

Milton and Yansura believe the “bandit” is a single man. As to his motive, no one is quite sure.

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In teaching materials it released last week, a module titled adolescents and intimate relationships for Secondary Year 3, suggested that teenagers who wanted to have sex with each other could "go out to play badminton together" instead.

The materials also include a form called "My Commitment" aimed at getting "young lovers" to attest that they would exercise "self-discipline, self-control, and resistance to pornography".

The new materials have raised eyebrows and attracted criticism for being "out of touch". But officials have defended the decision.

Meanwhile social media has been flooded with jokes centered around "playing badminton".

"FWB [Friends with benefits]?? Friends with badminton," read one comment on Instagram that had more than 1,000 likes.

"In English: Netflix and chill? In Cantonese, play badminton together?" read another Facebook post which was shared more than 500 times.

Even Olympics badminton player Tse Ying Suet could not resist from commenting.

"Everyone is making an appointment to play badminton. Is everyone really into badminton?" she asked on Threads with a smirky face emoji.