Beatrice Smalls moved into a studio apartment in Manhattan’s East Village in 1993. One of the first things she did was clean the refrigerator and open a box of Arm & Hammer baking soda which she then placed at the back of the second shelf to absorb odors. Three years later, she did a major spring cleaning to celebrate getting out of a bad relationship. During that cleaning she threw out the small yellow box of Arm & Hammer, assuming that she would buy more the next day. But the next morning, when she checked the refrigerator, the ghost of the box of baking soda was still there. No matter how many times she threw it away, it always returned. After ten months of trying to rid herself of the phantom box of baking soda she finally stopped throwing it out. 15 years later, it is still there.
