Uhmm, Is that what I think it is?!

My wife encountered this fine pile near the front of the northbound platform of the Chicago Red Line stop.

Many questions are obvious, but most curiously, how in the world did this get there and how long had it been there?

Needless to say, this was not a positive CTA experience. Said her in the e-mail to me, "This is why I sometimes don't like riding the el."