# One of our yard props was stolen



## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

I went to check our mailbox this morning and part of one of our props is missing. They took the rat and leg bone of this prop:









I put a sign out front that reads "A thief stole my prop and wants to ruin Halloween. Please help us find the thief!!"

I doubt anything will come of it but it's worth a try.

I am so freaking mad right now.


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## Lagrousome (Apr 12, 2007)

I'm sorry this happened to you Cassie. This is something we all worry about!
I don't sleep well while my props are outside just because I worry so much about theft or damage. 
I try to keep everything lit through the night just in hopes will deter someone from taking things.


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## kruella (Feb 23, 2007)

I'm sorry this happened to you!

I know exactly how it feels. I had someone do this to me too.  

Funny, my boxer was barking like crazy the night it happened. We kept telling him to shut up! The next morning he looked at me like....."ummmm, I told you so! No one ever listens to me." LOL

This year, I have concrete tombstones that weigh about 60lbs and have everything nailed down. They will have to work for it, and I WILL listen to my dog's warning!


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## Moon Dog (Oct 3, 2006)

So sorry to hear that this happened to you!  

What you need to do now is to make a quick "thief" dummy (with thief on a T-shirt or something)
and have the skeleton club the thief!


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## Lagrousome (Apr 12, 2007)

Moon Dog said:


> So sorry to hear that this happened to you!
> 
> What you need to do now is to make a quick "thief" dummy (with thief on a T-shirt or something)
> and have the skeleton club the thief!


That is hilarious MD! Great idea! Get that dummy out there!


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

LOL! Killer idea!


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## Eyes_in_the_dark (Jun 15, 2006)

Man that bites!


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## Darkside (Aug 6, 2007)

Sorry about that. Don't you wish we could use booby traps.


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## Shakes (Sep 6, 2007)

That sux! I use a driveway sensor - it makes a beeping noise. I don't know if anyone has tried to take anything but I've never had anything taken yet.

You may want to check this guy:








:zombie:


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## kevin242 (Sep 30, 2005)

Freaking kids! Some 14 year old boy has it in his room (probably not the first "bone" he's been playing with up there)


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## Holyhabanero (Aug 9, 2007)

Man that bites! I'm really sorry. I'm making my first ever prop (a Pumpkinrot inspired scarecrow), and even though I'm about a week away from having it done, my stomach is already in knots just worrying about having it stolen--and I live in one of the safest cities in the US. I hope whoever did this gets the flu on Halloween and has to spend the evening making offerings to the porcelain god.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

That's terrible. I am so sorry to hear it. What is wrong with people?


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

This is a really nice neighborhood and our neighbors are just as upset about it as we are. So we have a lot of people keeping an eye out for our missing rat. They promised to spread the word too.

Above the 'Stolen Prop' sign, I hung a pic of the missing prop.

Maybe we'll luck out and have it returned. It sure would be nice.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Moon Dog said:


> So sorry to hear that this happened to you!
> 
> What you need to do now is to make a quick "thief" dummy (with thief on a T-shirt or something)
> and have the skeleton club the thief!


Love that idea!!!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I don't live in the safest neighborhood, and I know something will be stolen- I just hope it isn't an expensive prop or one I spent lots of time on.


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

That sucks! Some people are such jerks.

Hope it is returned safe and sound.


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## BudMan (Mar 6, 2007)

That sucks! I am always worried about the same thing happening. Do you have kids in the local high school, or know anybody that does? They could probably find out in a minute. If you do find the little [email protected]$^%@, could make a nice kicking hangman outta him!


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## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

Truely Sorry to hear about your loss. On the plus THANKS for posting that. I needed to get some camera's and different lighting and NOW my husband said to get it. I think im going to make a prop with the "thief" on it anyway. Great idea.


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## Madame X (Oct 16, 2007)

Turtle I'm sorry that happen to you. Yes make a thief dummy and hang him up.
it might scare the rest straight.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

That sucks...

One of the reasons we only put things out for one night is a family with 4 kids ranging from 16 to 24 that all live at home. The parents let all the kids - and their friends - drink there and their house is party central. I have no doubt our props would not make it past a Friday night bender.


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## Fangs (Jun 6, 2006)

Sorry to hear that this has happened to you Cassie7.  I second hoping the thief gets caught and is sick all Halloween day! Buggers like that are ruining it for the rest of us..... Kick some butt Cassie7!!!! :devil:


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## Don of the Dead (Aug 17, 2005)

That sucks.

in all my years we only had one thing stolen, a homemade gravestone.

Now we keep it well lit, keep the "expensive stuff" in until Halloween night, and I keep a CO2 BB gun and baseball bat by the door, if they're in a car, they're losing a window. If they're on foot, they'll lean the hard way not to mess with my stuff.


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## Darkside (Aug 6, 2007)

Don of the Dead said:


> That sucks.
> 
> in all my years we only had one thing stolen, a homemade gravestone.
> 
> Now we keep it well lit, keep the "expensive stuff" in until Halloween night, and I keep a CO2 BB gun and baseball bat by the door, if they're in a car, they're losing a window. If they're on foot, they'll lean the hard way not to mess with my stuff.


Yeah!!!!!!! you handle it southern style.


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

BudMan said:


> Do you have kids in the local high school, or know anybody that does? They could probably find out in a minute. If you do find the little [email protected]$^%@, could make a nice kicking hangman outta him!


As a matter of fact, we are friendly with several kids in the neighborhood. But I think if any of them could smoke out the bandit, it will be the 15yr old boy that's been spending all his spare time over here helping set up the haunt 

For the past two hours, kids coming home from school have been stopping to read our thief sign. And parents driving home from work are all stopping to read it as well. I added a photo of the missing prop to the sign. I think there's a fairly good chance of getting it back. At least I hope so.

It's not so much the expense, after all it was just a blucky leg and a $15 rat. It just really stinks that we go to all this expense, time and work every year to make a fun Halloween for the neighborhood and something like this happens. It's really disheartening.

This is the first time this has happened to us and we never realized how personally we would take it.


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## Bloodhound (Oct 16, 2007)

Moon Dog has a grat idea. I think I would put all that anger into the NEW prop construction.


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## Spookkid (Dec 27, 2005)

If you ever find it and put it back out, put a realistic chopped off hand next to it.


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Here's the pic of the missing prop part. I put a copy of this above the 'Thief' sign in our yard.


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## michael myers (Sep 3, 2007)

I sure hope that it does turn up, even if anonymously, at least you would get it back. My worries are that when I wake up in the morning, I will have extra free body parts for my yard...my 165 lb Rotweiller doesn't take kindly to strangers, especially when he thinks that he helped build everything we have out front!


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## DarkShadows (Feb 6, 2006)

I know the feeling. Someone got one of my masks last week. If I ever find out who it is, they better be preparred for a beating. I know have a 152 decible car alarm siren hooked to a motion sensor monitoring the yard at nigth and have my 2 camera's hooked up with volume at full taping the yard


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

kevin242 said:


> Freaking kids! Some 14 year old boy has it in his room (probably not the first "bone" he's been playing with up there)


Now THAT's funny! LOL

But seriously, this comes up every year and while it's really aggravating, it's a chance any of us takes when we put out our displays and trust people not to touch things. It doesn't matter what kind of neighborhood you live in, it takes the wrong person at the wrong time to just decide he wants what you have, and make off with it. Hopefully the rat will be returned but it's a long shot. Even on Halloween night, with lots of people and helpers, I still keep an eye out on some of the smaller things that could be lifted.
Sorry you were victimized.


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## Gothic Nightmare (Jul 19, 2007)

I am sorry your prop is missing. Have you thought about the possibility that it could have been a 4-legged animal, instead of a 2-legged one? I mention it because for me, I have to worry more about loose / stray / unsupervised dogs taking my props for chew toys and peeing on my tombstones more than I worry about kids. I even saw a squirrel trying to tear up my spider web before. To me it seems funny a kid would just take a leg and rat, and not the whole thing, but then again I've seen kids do dumber stuff before.

Good luck finding your missing parts.


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

I've never seen dogs running loose in our neighborhood so I doubt it was that.

The rat with bone was not attached to the skelly. But both the rat/bone and skelly were deeply staked into the ground. The skelly was half pulled out of the ground but left behind. I think the kid was trying to grab the whole thing but didn't know that it was staked down. In his hurry, he settled for the rat part and left the skelly behind.

Also, the location of this prop was very accessible from the street. I was concerned about it's location when hubby insisted on that placement.

We have a good bit of foot and car traffic on our road and we know most of our neighbors. Adding a pic of the missing prop lets everybody know exactly what the prop looks like and if it's seen anywhere, we will find out about it.

I'm optimistic that it will turn up. And if not, no biggie. But if there are any more signs of theft or vandalism, when we hand out candy on the big night, we will inform everybody that this will be our last year.


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## Ghoulbug (Apr 24, 2007)

Stupid kids!!! Even if it wasn't a "kid" those actions prove they are still children. Hope your prop turns up.


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## CerysCrow (Jan 22, 2007)

Sorry to hear about your prop being stolen.

Last year a SVU load of over-privileged, punk kids tried to steal the head off of one of my scarecrows. I just happened to be looking out of the front window and I saw the SVU suspiciously sitting there, with the lights on. I saw a shadow pass in front of the spotlight, so I opened the door and turned on the porch lights. The kid had already made it back to the car and it was already starting to take off. They must have been shocked when I started chasing the car down the street - they ditched the head.

The scarecrow was pretty torn up, however, and had to be reconstructed.

Man, I was peeved!

What was really infuriating was that these kids got busted by the police for doing something in a really high-end neighborhood as well, (they also admitted the attempted theft of our prop), but essentially got off scot-free.

This year, our headstones are staked down and we have installed a motion-light right out in front of everything. Hopefully, if anyone tries anything, they'll be startled enough to take off. Any scarecrows we have up are in the back yards (which would REALLY be major trespassing.)


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## skeletonowl (Aug 8, 2006)

now i'm worried about my props  
Hope you guys all don't lose stuff, sorry to the ones who did!


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## Cassie7 (Sep 16, 2007)

We caved in and bought a new rat for the prop to replace the stolen one. I'll move the prop to a location less accessible and hope for the best. 

I hated buying the new rat. I told hubby that I felt like I was admitting defeat. But oh well.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Don't give up. It sounds as if the communuty is slowly rallying behind you.


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## UnderMan (Aug 23, 2007)

It's terrible that someone thinks it's funny, cool, or whatever, to steal stuff from anyone's yard. Especially when the halloween display is meant for everyone to enjoy.


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