Key fobs that suddenly won’t unlock vehicles. Cars that won’t start. Alarms that go off for no reason and can’t be quieted. Something mysterious is thwarting drivers outside a grocery store in the small Alberta town of Carstairs — and it’s sparking all kinds of theories.
The problems have been happening for weeks in the parking lot outside the Westview Co-op grocery store in Carstairs, a town of about 4,000 about 60 kilometres north of Calgary.
A longtime employee at the dollar store right across the street from the Co-op says it’s all she hears some folks talk about when they come into her store to buy a battery for their fobs — and then discover that doesn’t solve the problem.
“I’ve been at the dollar store almost four years,” Laura Strate said, with a laugh.
“It’s just bizarre. People are actually scared to go to the Co-op now because they don’t know if their cars are going to start.”
“People start getting on social media and saying, I’ve been to the Co-op. Is anyone else having this problem?’ And all of a sudden we have 160 people commenting, ‘Yes, that happened to me last week,’ or ‘That happened to me today,'” Strate said.
Electricians from J. Williams Electric in Carstairs rode the rescue — but the mystery endured.
“We have shut down the power source in our store this past Monday night to determine that the source of the interference isn’t emanating from our location,” Kennedy said.
“The location is unknown so we’re just waiting for followup from the ministry.”
He said they’re working with a team to try and figure out what’s going on, including a federal government agency.