Thread: Cemetery Entrance Up Yesterday, Spotlights stolen last night

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Hi All. I set my cemetery entrance up last night, along with the fence, and the red spotlights shining up to illuminate the entrance. Got up at 3:30am and no red lights are on! Went out to check the plugs and the spotlights had been pulled out of the sockets and left on the ground!!! MY FIRST NIGHT!!! I am so pissed right now I could spit.

I put mine up early so I can enjoy my set-up for more than a day or a week, (I do this for ME, not the neighbors or the kiddies) and someone feels they are entitled to just come along and 'f' everything up. GGGRRRrrrrrrr....

I bought 2 more red spotlights to replace the ones from last night. Now I need to think of some way to secure the stupid things against vandalism. The spotlight units that I have are the kind that are staked into the ground. I bought some black electrical tape and taped the bulbs into the units, but that isn't gonna keep them from just pulling them out of the ground. I need to find a way to secure them so they aren't so easily available...

Sorry, just had to vent! Hope everyone's having a nice weekend.

Heres what i do i take these lil booby trap novelty things and tie 10 together then tie strings to object then to a secured point so when its tugged on It makes fair amount of noise like i have said in the past for night time anyway....It will get someones attention in the middle of the night I keep them away from face b/c packet says to so. I dunno if thats legal or something you want to do in your area but a idea. I tie up lil bundles and one end goes to string then prop then the other side longer string goes to a secured spot in the yard. So 10 pops when tugged on The more you use the louder i pulled 3 at the same time with fingers and my ears were ringing for a few so they get pretty loud for what they are

Heres a pic Halloween Forum - Toetag's Album: Gear - Picture

One thing I would do is have your lights turn off earlier in the night. I have mine turn off at 10PM, anyone out after that hour is up to no good anyway. You dont want to draw their attention with lights. I have never had any problems with theft or vandals, but if I did I would invest in a Picoboo 105 prop controller and hook that up to lights and program in alarm sounds. When I turned everything else off, I turn the Picoboo105 on.

i agree with you Homestead. I think putting in something that pops and makes noise may just encourage the people out at that time of night to perhaps do more damage to your props instead of just taking a light. Turn off the lights at bedtime. Not only will you not draw attention to your items, but you might save a few $$ in electricity.

It's a sad thing, but from the early days there has always been those who are out to either damage or steal holiday decor. If you know anyone in the local police department, you might let them know about the theft and ask if they could do a drive-by every once in a while. Sometimes just a visual of a local police car is enough to discourage.

If that don't work, there are always bear traps and pits filled with spikes...oh wait...maybe not a good idea. Scratch that!

Have you seen this? Great reviews on this ecomnomical camera system. The true testimonial is that thieves are stealing them from our shelf-stock.Swann 2.4Ghz Wireless Color Twin Security Camera Pack With Remote Control and Night Vision - SW-P-WOC2 at The Home Depot

I put a sign up every year saying if anyone touches or vandalizes anything never again will I do halloween. I;m the only one in the nieghbor hood who really does anything fo halloween and everyone loves it so no one has ever done anything...........knock on wood

Sorry it happened to you. Sign of the times.

We had items either stolen or vandalized in our yard every year up until last year. The one thing that I changed was to leave a light on all night in the room that over looks the yard and adjusted the blinds over the window so that just tiny slits were visible. Then I cut out a life-size shape of a head and torso and propped it on a chair in front of the window. From the street you see the silhouette and it looks exactly like someone is sitting in front of the window watching. Every night I would move the chair to a different place in case someone was really paying attention. We had our all our stuff out for nearly 3 weeks and nothing was touched.

That's a great idea, azdude and I had thought of doing that. Maybe I'll try it this year.
It's probably more effectinve than most people would think, because you know a vandal or thief won't try anything if in his mind he's not 100% positive that he's not being watched!

A good insurance policy is to just set up a digital video camera, if anything is stolen, you have evidence to bring to your local police.

Another good idea is to display signs that warn of video camera use, no crook will mess with that risk of detection.

But the most basic 'security' tool is to just build a fence, it looks good for Halloween, and if you install a gate, you can secure your haunt at night.