The Great Minion Invasion of 2023: Town baffled by sculptures left outside homes

'They have been appearing overnight and we are up to about 24 of them now'

UPDATED MAR 22, 2023

Minion Sculptures have been left outside many houses (Facebook/Mountainside Wines)

WARRACK, AUSTRALIA: Residents of a small town were left baffled after sculptures of Minions mysteriously appeared in various locations in the region in Australia. The town of Warrack in Victoria, which has a population of approximately 70 people, has been experiencing a strange occurrence. Local residents have reported that the first sculpture of a Minion appeared shortly before Christmas, and since then, a total of 24 sculptures have been found in different locations around the town.

The sole business in the town of Warrack, Mountainside Wines, has been keeping track of the Minion sculptures' appearances through Facebook. As per local residents, the number of properties with Minion sculptures has exceeded those without. The person or group responsible for creating these sculptures is unknown. Although one installation was captured on CCTV, the identities of the creators remain a mystery as one of them was dressed up as Santa Claus, and the other person's face was unclear in the footage, DailyMail reported.

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'It's really quite funny'

Mysterious scrap metal sculptures of Minions, the subservient and diminutive characters from the popular children's movie series 'Despicable Me', have been appearing in different locations across the western Victoria town of Warrack. The people residing in Warrack, including Shane Goninon, the co-owner of Mountainside Wines, are perplexed as to who is responsible for creating the 24 Minion sculptures and their motive. "We're (Warrak) only a little place of about 70 people and they've just been appearing and no one knows who is doing it so it's really quite funny," he told Daily Mail on Tuesday, March 21. Goninon said the first Minion appeared after almost everyone in the town attended a Christmas party. "One of the people up the road, John, went home after the party, and out the front of his house was the first one and no one knew what was going on," Goninon said. "They just put up on the community Facebook page that "we got home last night and Santa Claus has left a letterbox. Since then every couple of weeks they have been appearing overnight and we are up to about 24 of them now." According to Shane Goninon, the creator of the Minion sculptures must be someone from Warrack, as they seem to have an intimate knowledge of the town and its residents.

24 customized sculptures

Each sculpture appears to have been customized specifically for its intended recipient. For instance, the second sculpture, which was found outside the property of a supporter of the Melbourne Demons AFL club, was dressed up in the team's jersey colors of red and blue. "Someone further up there's a mad Collingwood supporter, so theirs is black and white," Goninon said. A particularly thoughtful Minion was delivered to the home of Gwen Pilgrim. "They knew that Gwen was really into gardening so hers has got a plant growing out of the top of it," Goninon said. "Which was really good because she is fighting cancer at the moment so she was really happy to get one." There are other instances of customized Minions, such as a jockey placed outside the homes of a father and daughter who work as stewards for the nearby racing club, and a firefighter Minion positioned beneath the central fire warning sign in town. Additionally, there is a Minion situated outside the residence of Goninon and his wife Jane, pouring a bottle into a wineglass that is balanced on top of its head. "We're a small boutique little winery and this one's turned up and is pouring a bottle of one of our old labels, we've run out of that vintage so they did pretty well to get that," Goninon said. The town does not have many children but Goninon said a family 'down the road' has two young boys. "When we were up to 12 or 13 (Minions) they were actually going out every morning to see if they got one and after a couple of weeks one appeared there so they were wrapped," he said. Goninon said the town's Facebook community page was abuzz with Minion sightings and speculation.