Walking to work through Love Park today, we noticed that the fountain was off and the water had been dyed a dark shade of red (as opposed to October/Breast Cancer Awareness Month pink). A few people were milling about, installing caution tape around the perimeter of the fountain. We decided to investigate.

Upon closer inspection (and by closer inspection, we mean we walked toward the fountain and read the tape), we saw that the caution tape was imprinted with the Showtime logo, and the name of a TV series that, up until this weekend, we'd never heard of. (We haven't had Showtime since we were twelve, when Mamaist and Daddyist caught us watching something on Showtime that was decidedly after-hours material.) The series in question is called Dexter, and a billboard we saw on I-95 on Saturday indicates that he's America's favorite serial killer.

It would appear that said serial killer is on the loose today, viciously murdering one of our city's landmarks. He, and his backers at Showtime, clearly must be stopped. Our lives (and our good white shirts) may be at stake.

Update: We can now see from our office window that the fountain is back on, but still running blood red as a result of its viral marketing attack.

Update 2: Digg this, please!

Update 3: We returned to Love Park, handy camera phone in hand, over our lunch break. More photos and a few impressions after the jump...

Dyed water pooled around the fountain. This photo doesn't do it justice – it looked like blood.

Here's a great view for tourists at City Hall to have when they look across the street! If someone updated The Ten Commandments and set it in Philly (with the Jewish slaves crossing the vast expanse of Love Park, natch), this is what it would look like.

The guy on the left in the white coat works on the street team for this promotion. They're handing out free DVDs and hand sanitizer.

A close-up of the aforementioned coat.

Know how on Grey's Anatomy when someone screws up in surgery and all of a sudden, there's a fountain of blood coming out of someone's chest cavity? That's about what this looked like. (The people pictured here were making some pretty interesting faces – a mix of confusion and disgust, we think.)