What is that in my backyard?

Recently while raking leaves in my backyard, I happen upon what looks like an orange heavy-duty extention cord tangled in with the leaves. I do some further exploration and discover that one end is buried about a foot down in my backyard while the other end disppears under our privacy fence into the heavily wooded abyss behind our house. With unbridled zeal, I attempt to dig it up thinking what kind of moron has buried an extension cord in our backyard. After digging for a few minutes and realizing that this was making me sweat, I cease my fruitless labor and begin to feel paranoid. Why is this cord here? Are my neighbors stealing my electricity? What kind of bizarre contraption is this cord attached to? If I cut it with this shovel, will I be electricuted? I can't finish raking these leaves!!!!