Boston Devices a Cartoon Publicity Ploy

Members of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority police, the Masachusetts State Police and the Boston Bomb Squad respond to a suspicious package found near the Sullivan Square subway station in Boston, Wednesday morning, Jan. 31, 2007. Four additional suspicious devices, similar in nature to the one found Wednesday morning, were found Wednesday afternoon in four different areas of the city. All devices proved to be hoaxes. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger) (Adam Hunger - AP)

Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.

The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.

Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge, which spans the Charles River, and at a Boston street corner.

A similar device was found Wednesday evening just north of Fenway Park, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.

The scare caused some subway service to be suspended and closed a road.

Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.

"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."

Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.

The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err _ who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.