MASON, Ohio -- What are those things?
Theories have been swirling about the origin and purpose of mysterious black towers popping up in parts of the Tri-State. Mason and Deerfield Township residents posting about the towers on Facebook questioned if they could be secret government listening posts, coyote watch towers, the Bat Signal or a Festivus pole.
"Yeah, you're kinda looking out there and you're seeing that tower, you're kind of wondering what it's all about," Mike Dickman said. "I don't know, you kind of seeing these things like you said all over the place."
They're actually called small cell towers. They boost cell service in areas that either have spotty coverage or heavier usage.
Small cells are infrastructure improvements that will help meet growing data demand, according to cellphone carriers.
"We're all addicted to our phones," Adam Ploof said. "We all live through our phones now, so anything they can do to help us boost our productivity, that's what I think it's going to come down to."
