Promotional Item Mistaken for Bomb at Massachusetts School

A promotional product may have made the wrong kind of impact at a Northeastern high school this week.

The bomb squad was called to investigate a "hissing" device found outside of Austin Prep School in Reading, Mass., on Wednesday. A teacher found the item and reported it to the authorities as a pipe bomb, WHDH 7 News reported.

Police evacuated the school and brought in the bomb squad, which x-rayed the canister before determining that it was not dangerous. Inside the cylindrical package were flyers for a school supply company and a promotional, light-activated noisemaker.

New England Cable News has helicopter footage of the state police handling the object prior to it being identified. The aim of the promotion and the name supply company were not identified, although Patch.com reports that it was sent by a marketing company in Minnesota.