Woman's warning after finding shirt around car windshield wiper goes viral

FLINT, Mich. — A woman from Flint, Michigan, who says she'd heard stories recently of women being lured out of their vehicles by the strange objects that had been left on their cars couldn't believe it when it happened to her as she left work Thursday.

Ashley Hardacre posted a picture on Facebook along with a message that has been shared more than 90,000 times, and many are praising her for quick thinking and safety first mentality.

Hardacre said that as she was leaving work she found a flannel shirt wrapped around her windshield wiper in such a way that it had to be intentional.

She said she quickly replayed in her head the stories she’d heard about other women finding out of place objects on their cars so that they could be lured out.

She also noticed that there were two cars near her and that one was running, so instead of doing something about the shirt, she locked her doors and drove away.

Here’s what Hardacre wrote own Facebook:

"As some of you know I work at a store in the Mall out in flint. I worked a closing shift tonight so me and the girls I work with always walk out together to make sure we are safe in the parking lot. I got to my car and locked the doors behind me immediately as I always do and noticed that there was a blue flannel shirt on my windshield. There were two cars near me and one was running so I immediately felt uneasy and knew I couldn't get out to get it off. At first I thought maybe someone had just thrown it on my car for some odd reason. I used my windshield wipers to try to get them off but the shirt was completely wrapped around my wiper blade. I had seen posts lately about people finding things under their windshield wipers in the burton/Flint area as an attempt to get girls out of their cars and distracted. Luckily I knew better than to remove the shirt with cars around me so I drove over to a place where I was safe and quickly rolled down my window and got the shirt off. I don't know why the shirt was on my car but it had to have been intentional the way it was put on there. I really can't think of another reason as to why someone would put it on my car. Tomorrow I am informing security of the situation and making them walk me to my car from now on. It definitely frightened me a little bit. I'm so glad my parents had informed me that it was happening in our area, I just never thought it would potentially happen to my car."

Hardacre later spoke with CBS News and reiterated that this thing "a lot of people think … is fake" is something her mother had warned about.

“I posted about the incident to inform others that it can happen to anyone and that they shouldn’t fall for it,” she said. “A lot of people think it is fake or it won’t happen to them. But you can never be too safe.”

“They are unsure what the intentions were of whoever wrapped the flannel around my windshield wiper, but it was intentional by the way it was placed,” she added. “So I have taken any opportunity to inform other people of the potential harm.”

Even though it may have been nothing, police are looking into this, given the attention surrounding Hardacre’s post.

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Flint Township Police Detective Sgt. Brad Wangler advised locals to stay “vigilant” but calm.

“If something doesn’t seem right, or the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” he told CBS News. “But by all means, we need to know about this stuff when it happened.”

He added, "Nothing like this has ever happened before. There have been no other incidences like this. It’s kind of unknown as to what or why or who [did this].”

Authorities are reviewing surveillance video to see whether something nefarious was afoot.

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