Someone keeps stealing the metal signs at mile marker 66.6 along the heavily-traveled toll roads, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is having a devil of a time keeping up with the thefts, according to the Associated Press.

Nationwide, someone has been hijacking road signs containing the number “666,” which in Christian mythology is the “Number of the Beast,” or Satan.

Officials aren’t sure if the thieves are religious zealots, self-described “Satanists,” or just bored college kids.

“Maybe it’s just some kids with a Devil-may-care attitude,” said Joe Orlando, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

The latest theft involved the disappearance of the 66.6 mile marker sign on the Garden State Parkway. Within the past two years, four or five 66.6 mile marker signs have been stolen from the Turnpike and Parkway.

“Given the symbolism of the number and the fact that it is obviously done in the middle of night, and in the middle of nowhere, I can safely say that I’m not eager to meet the rocket scientists doing it,” Orlando added.

A few years ago, highway officials in New Jersey’s Morris County couldn’t keep signs for Route 666 on the poles, so they changed the name of the road to Route 665.

A similar tactic might be in store for the Parkway and Turnpike mile markers, with replacement signs reading 66.61.

In 2003, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado renamed the 194-mile-long Route 666 as Route 491 after a rash of sign thefts. Some signs wound up on auction website eBay.

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