It's a strange phenomenon, but the video game which spawned the Internet tales has taken on a strange new life: as a possibly believable coverup. At least, that's what some folks seem to have thought, as they've deluged a pizza parlor in New Jersey with calls investigating the potential reality of the murderous animatronic-filled pizza lair.

The pizza place in question, Freddie's Restaurant and Pizzaria in Long Branch, has been hit with hundreds of callers not in search of pizza, but in search of a certain set of characters. The volume of calls has required some changes at Freddie's, including several new phone lines and shifted employee rosters in a bid to address all the callers. Still, Freddie's soldiers on, unwilling to change its number for fear of losing even more business than would have been lost to all the people calling in looking for animatronics.

Reports suggest that the pizzeria now handles up to 200 calls in an hour, and what's worse is it's not the only one. Fast Freddie's Pizza and Pasta in Roseville, California is also hit with calls routinely.

It's kind of a shame that this is happening; these businesses have had their names for quite some time, and now all of a sudden here comes some game about killer robots at a kid's pizza joint and now everyone thinks you're hiding bodies in the back room, in a manner of speaking.

Though it might be an opportunity as well; these various Freddy's out there might do well to offer a Fazbear Special or the like, or perhaps bring in a new animatronic statue, one that doesn't look like the originals or the newcomers, of course. But instead of lamenting the unnatural popularity, why not hitch a wagon to that star? The possibilities are there, the question is just how to take advantage of it.