[MagicMalachi]

Title says it all...

Went out earlier and come to find out I had a few small props stolen sometime today and of course the camera that I had set up wasn't working properly and so I have no proof.

It was fine for over a month and then as soon as Halloween is over boom stuff starts to go missing...

Really ticks me off and whats worse is that this is the first year to ever have anything stolen and my first year in a new neighborhood...

It had to be a kid in the neighborhood due to the fact they just stole small invaluable items. (A demon baby and a fake severed arm and some rats)

Nothing that costs more than $20 (all in all about $50 worth taken from me) and I had WAY more expensive stuff still out there which could of been taken that wasn't.

Just really ruins my Halloween Mood!

 

[Candy Creature]

So sorry this happened. Know I felt bad when one of my small tombstones blew away. Would have felt super mad & sick if it had been stolen. Luckily someone returned my tombstone. Still had a skull get blown away in a separate wind event.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Sorry for you too. It's just plain wrong regardless of how much it cost. Figures about the camera, that must almost make you as irritated as the loss of the items. I know it would me.

 

[Hallow's Eve]

NOT cool!!! I'm sorry it happened!

 

[MagicMalachi]

yea it irritates me more than getting the stuff stolen. I live in a small town and so I'm hoping that if it was one of the kids in the neighborhood that their parents find out and make them bring it back. Tomorrow I am going to call the local police department and see what they say my options are. Most likely they will tell me that there is nothing they can do about it and because it wasn't of great value there is not a big point to try to catch the person who did take it.

Have yall ever had something stolen?

 

[Ugly Joe]

To answer the question; yes, I've experienced theft from my yard, and I'll agree it does generate feelings of, "Why should I even bother, if that's the way I'm treated for my efforts?"
I still decorate and put out my haunt, but until the 30th or even the 31st, I won't put anything out I'm not willing to lose. That way, if something comes up missing, I can roll with that punch much more easily.

For you, since you've mentioned it's a small town, perhaps a "Have You Seen Me?" poster with pictures of the missing items (as best as you can manage) may be just the impetus to having your items returned. When parents see pics of the items, and all of a sudden realize "Little Johnny" just "found" something that looks just like it, they'll put two and two together.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I made a UFO creature that was about 5 ft, tall, my Wife loved the way he looked, sort of insect-like, but still "Cute".
Somebody stole the upper half of him. They probably left his lower half because it was made from steel re-bar and concrete. I walk passed his feet with those three toes everyday and wonder where he is?
The funny thing is, I don't wonder about where that ex-wife is at all! (But then she had normal toes!)

 

[matrixmom]

Gym - you are hysterical

I made a UFO creature that was about 5 ft, tall, my Wife loved the way he looked, sort of insect-like, but still "Cute".
Somebody stole the upper half of him. They probably left his lower half because it was made from steel re-bar and concrete. I walk passed his feet with those three toes everyday and wonder where he is?
The funny thing is, I don't wonder about where that ex-wife is at all! (But then she had normal toes!)

 

[matrixmom]

On a separate note - They stole my baby jesus from my nativity scene one year. Someone will be going straight to hell.....

 

[Boone6666]

yep just this year for Halloween the first time just a 15 daller blue led light but the work to get it mmm but I had to expect it as it was close to the street
on my hears wheel, but it directly under a street light.
and last year a baby Jesus from my nativity that they had to walk all the way to the back of the yard to get and replaced it with a garland they stole
somewhere else and probly15 yrs before that marry from Christmas fortanaly I got that one back from a new neighbor who said the got it at a garage sale
for a 1.25 a lot less than I paid for it from good will

 

[Blarghity]

Theft and vandalism are the reasons why I usually put up the decor starting about 6 am Halloween morning and take it all down as soon as curfew passes. Amusingly,set up really can take all 10 hours allotted for the task, yet the breakdown is usually done in under 45 minutes.

 

[Scatterbrains]

Not that many people see my stuff before Halloween, but a lot see it on Halloween, so I sweep the yard after the last ToT and stick whatever can walkoff in the garage.

 

[texmaster]

So sorry to hear this. I hope everyone who can afford it will put up cameras or at least signs saying they are on camera to avoid situations like this.

 

[im the goddess]

Sorry to hear about this. Hope the items mysteriously reappear.

 

[MagicMalachi]

So sorry to hear this. I hope everyone who can afford it will put up cameras or at least signs saying they are on camera to avoid situations like this.

I have both... I have a big sign that says "Caution: Security Camera's in use" as well as a camera set up. It just so happens that the camera messed up and thus I didnt get a recording of the person who took it.

As a update: I just filed a police report and the cop said that I wasn't the only one in the neighborhood to report some items missing.

 

[The Mask Doctor]

Hey Magic Malachai, I think Ugly Joe is on the right track. "Have you seen me" posters will catch the attention of parents, but a call to the schools in the area, to alert them that if some kid is showing off some "cool prop" it just may be yours. As you stated, it's not the value of the stuff, but showing the young thief that there are consequences for law breaking might set a would-be career criminal straight.

 

[MagicMalachi]

Hey Magic Malachai, I think Ugly Joe is on the right track. "Have you seen me" posters will catch the attention of parents, but a call to the schools in the area, to alert them that if some kid is showing off some "cool prop" it just may be yours. As you stated, it's not the value of the stuff, but showing the young thief that there are consequences for law breaking might set a would-be career criminal straight.

I will do that. I have also been posting on the local Facebook groups about it. Hopefully the stuff will turn up.

UPDATE:
As I was putting the stuff up today I noticed MORE stuff missing... I am also missing a bone scythe that my grim reaper was holding as well as 2 of the legs of my spider. (apparently they tried to take the spider and it broke and they just took the legs...)

REALLY ticks me off.

 

[Bruzilla]

We've been doing this for eight years, in two different neighborhoods, and have never had anything stolen. And we start setting up Oct 1st, with the big dollar items going out on Oct 15th.

 

[Forhekset]

Man, that sucks. Haven't had anything stolen from my yard. I usually set up most of my decorations (except for the small items that are easy to steal, or stuff that won't hold up too well in the weather) early in the month, or at least by the middle of October. Once all the trick or treaters stop coming by on Halloween night, around 9 or 9:30, I shut off all my lights, etc. and take the majority of the decorations inside my garage just in case of any kids looking to steal or vandalize stuff later on that night. I know when I was a kid, Halloween night was a prime night for kids to go pumpkin smashing.

Last year I did have some kids screw around with my Christmas decorations. Pissed me off, but they didn't steal or actually damage anything. They knocked over one of my lighted reindeer and put an old toilet underneath another lighted reindeer whose head bobs up and down as if she's grazing, so it looked like she was drinking from the toilet. All in all, a harmless prank I guess, and I would've probably thought it was funny if it hadn't happened to me.

 

[professor_key]

Many years ago I had glow in the dark skulls stolen from on top of two pillars. The thief ripped the pillars of their rebar during the process (skulls were screwed to the pillar tops). Some neighbor kids told me that they knew one of their classmates was bragging about having them. Police got involved, but nothing ever came of it.

For the next few years, I reduced the size of my display and set up later in the month. I eventually ramped things back up figuring it was one bad apple. I have never had another issue.