Bright Spot: Mystery behind shark costumes in Bethel revealed - Eyewitness News 3

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BETHEL, Conn. (WFSB) - Two landlocked sharks made quite the splash in a small western Connecticut town during the height of the pandemic, and their identities were never revealed… until now.

Hannah Lipman was shopping at a local store in Bethel when she spotted the pair of sharks. And she wasn’t alone. “People in town were posting pictures and videos of them.”

And these pictures went viral, as did the mystery behind who was behind the inflatable costumes.

“I don’t know them. I do not know who they are.”

Hannah made a Facebook group about it, and within a matter of weeks… “We had 2,100 members and I believe there’s like over 50 thousand posts on it!”

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and the sharks were ready to reveal their identities to the world.

Meet Kyle Stejskal and his sister, Laurel Stejskal.

“It has been two years now, and looking back it’s like, ‘did that happen,” says Kyle.

“We had no idea it was going to be such a big thing,” adds Laurel.

But it was. And it became a community obsession during such a difficult time.

The brother-sister pair says their sightings exciting everyone from kids to especially adults. “We went to kids birthday parties, anniversary parties, retirement parties.”

There were even shark t-shirts, totes, car magnets and other items designed by someone in town, and the proceeds went right back into the community.

“And we raised over $7,000 for our food pantry,” Kyle noted.

But it was a pretty much a full-time job that summer, and a lot of work went into keeping the mystique alive.

“We had three different cars we traveled in. We had three different pickup spots, so there was no way anyone was going to find out it was us,” Laurel tells Channel 3.

Her brother says that’s what made it more fun. “It was fun to see people’s reactions and just knowing that we can just be goofy and fool around and dance around, and no one knew who we were...”

But they never spoke while out in public dressed as the sharks… until now.

Kyle and Laurel are both away at college which makes their adventures more difficult to do, but just for kicks, the siblings put on their costumes one more time for the public when their town honored them with a proclamation.

“I’m glad we came forward because a lot of the adults wanted to know.”

And neighbors like Hannah are also glad. “I mean these are kids that have this huge heart, two huge hearts.”

What started as a joke, became all worth it for this pair of sharks.

“I’m just glad that we were able to lift everyone’s spirits in a time when they needed it.”

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