NOT The Onion: 'Noose' reported on college campus turned out to be a... WHAT?

Doug P. | 11:43 PM on October 05, 2017

A story out of East Lansing, Michigan that was reported this week in a Michigan State University dorm sounded ominous at first:

MSU student finds noose hanging outside dorm room https://t.co/djTCkxEyjm pic.twitter.com/1U4iutUS7V

— WILX News 10 (@wilxTV) October 4, 2017

BREAKING: A noose found hanging outside a student's dorm room is under investigation by MSPD and the OIE https://t.co/YC3iPKKBB8

— The State News (@thesnews) October 4, 2017

The report sparked immediate alarm:

https://twitter.com/nidraw_ebag/status/915697986499432448

NAW. HELL NAW. Find this person & expel them immediately. They don’t deserve to be called a Spartan. https://t.co/fvZ2eKCPP0

— Pablo Lopez (@PLo03) October 4, 2017

https://twitter.com/tayler__t/status/915643005855571968

whoever did this should be beaten publicly. https://t.co/aeazFMEX7M

— ZeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeJ (@ztj521) October 4, 2017

BUT, upon further investigation, the story evolved just a little. Are you ready for this?

Police: 'Noose' found in Michigan State dorm was a shoelace https://t.co/6tjKmw3APJ

— Lansing State Journal (@LSJNews) October 4, 2017

UPDATE: the perceived noose found in an MSU dorm was actually a packaged shoelace https://t.co/7aPcyizG8t

— The State News (@thesnews) October 5, 2017

Wait, WHAT? A shoelace?

https://twitter.com/angelahowardmi/status/915949068769210369

Via Lansing State Journal:

An item found on a stairwell door handle in a Michigan State University residence hall and initially believed to be a noose was, in fact, a shoelace, MSU police say.

MSU President Lou Anna Simon released a statement Wednesday morning condemning what appeared to be an instance of racial intimidation and saying, in part, that “No Spartan should ever feel targeted based on their race, or other ways in which they identify.”

By Wednesday afternoon, after further investigation, the university offered a different account of what had happened.
[…]
MSU police spoke with the student who lost both shoelaces which “are packaged in a way that someone could perceive them to look similar to a noose,” Cody said.