# Vandalism a problem w/ BIG displays?



## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Has anyone ever had a case of vandalism on their display? Where I used to live there would always be cases of local teens who would travel about late on Halloween eve looking for pumpkins to smash but that was about it. However, no one had any elaborate displays either - so there was nothing for the youngsters to vandalize,destroy, etc.

I am a little hesitant to put out more elaborate displays before the "big day" if there is the possibility that they will get damaged or wrecked. If other people do put up their displays early - how early do you begin? If you start too early, it may get a little tired by the 31st; on the other hand, if you leave it too late people may not get a chance to really appreciate it.

Any good / bad experiences?


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## ubzest (Jul 1, 2008)

We have a fairly large walk thru and there is always at least one kid who is a little turd! one year our friend who was playing the witch got her nose ripped right off her face!It was on with spirit gum. we usually start putting up our display on oct 1st. and if we get any dummies out then, I have them all on poles and slipped over rebar and in the evenings we bring them in(the shed). If I dont bring in the whole dummy... I just bring in the head or mask. clothes for dummies is cheap.We been doing this for 9 years now and have had pretty good luck. There is a guy in london here and he must put out $1000.'s of stuff on his front lawn. You'd swear he owned spencers! anyways he has everything wired down it seems to work for him. We have a sign that says premices under video servalience. and another sign that says property protected by smith and wesson.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

We start putting things out on the first weekend of October. The fence and gate with a few tombstones and the countdown sign goes out first. Each weekend we add a bit more to the display until the weekend before Halloween, that give us a week to adjust the lighting etc... As far as vandals a few years ago we had some cheap plastic skulls taken, but this was before we enclosed the haunt with a fence. I think the fence has helped keep people out, it creates a kind of mental barrier. My son's car got broken into over the winter so we are now thinking about adding motion lights to the haunt.


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Thanks for the tips - We have an open corner lot on a busier street so we get lots of foot traffic (including some rambunctious teens). Every now and then there is some minor vandalism in the neighborhood, but actually nothing too dramatic. I will have some cemetery fencing and may add some heavier/brighter ground level motion lights.


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## eanderso13 (Apr 10, 2008)

I really like the motion light idea, Widowsbluff! I mean, since there's a bunch of electricity out there already anyway...maybe one of those driveway proximity alarms as well...hmmm....


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## skeletonowl (Aug 8, 2006)

The worse I got was a fruit cup thrown on our door on mischeif night. I'm scared every year though cause I know a few trouble makers go on our road in fact our cars just got egged recently. I don't get people sometimes. I don't mind harmless pranks just don't ruin anything or steal that's just being a jerk and i'm sure the only people laughing with you are your little group of immature friends.

I usually keep the most important stuff inside until the big day just to be safe!


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

We start setting up in early August. This year we are starting in July. We run both a yard display and a haunted house at our house. Our yard display is in the front yard and our haunted house is in our side yard. (We live on a corner.) For our display we have the whole perimeter of the yard framed out with 2 strands of lights. And for our haunt we have a cemetery with a pvc fence. So we haven't had any damages to our stuff. (Although we did have one plastic alien stolen one of our first years, but we found it with nothing wrong with it up at the college here in town.)
Other than that little mishap that one time, we have been fine.
This year we are planning on adding motion detectors with big bright lights to help make sure that anybody thinking about messing with our stuff with think twice!


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Hmmm - I've heard of X-mas in July, but so far never O-31! Any problems with keeping lawn mowed during the summer with all the accoutrements installed!?


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

All it takes is one loser to wander through a good neighborhood. Last year I had someone rip a corpsed bucky off my haunt wall Halloween night. It was close to 2 AM. Luckily, I was still in the back yard putting things away and was able to confront him. He didn't get away with the bucky. I hadn't planned on taking everything completely out of the haunt, but had to that night for fear of him coming back. He never did return.

The point is, don't let one loser ruin things for everyone. Do your best to keep an eye out. Secure what you can. Put away what you can't secure. (Taking just the heads off props and putting them away as suggested above is a good idea.) If you can afford motion sensors, that's great too. 

I try to setup things so they are put on display quickly and put away just as fast. It helps if you keep your props light. The only things I keep out over night are the things that are too heavy to throw in a car or be carried by one person.


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## DarkShadows (Feb 6, 2006)

I have video surveilence at each side of the yard monitoring it all night. Last year, I rigged up a car alarm to a motion sensor and had it placed in the tree aiming at the yard. It's kind of funny when you see a squirell set it off and go running away lol Only thing I've ever had vandalized was a mask that got stolen.


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## CraigInPA (Sep 28, 2007)

Ironically, the only things I've ever had walk are the wal-mart skulls that I mounted on top of my cemetary fence. Apparently, the local juvenile delinquents figured out that all you need to do is turn them 90 degrees and they can be lifted off. What someone would want with these is unknown, but they walked away with 3 of them one afternoon. Yes, Afternoon! Had they come around at night, they would have encountered my dogs, who are assigned porch duty from the beginning of October when I first start putting out stuff until the day after Halloween, when it all comes back in. To make it interesting, I run some green flood lights all night long at half-power. That way, if you approach the fence, the dogs literally appear out of the darkness, weaving between the tombstones, barking and carrying on.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Last year was my first year displaying, so I added myself into the scenery as a spooky greeter that gave out candy.


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## Metaluna Mutant (May 18, 2008)

I actually put up my stuff out the day of Halloween. Unfortunately my collage schedule can get in the way. So of course I worry about it all day. This year I don't have classes that day. I'll probably sit outside playing my DS while watching my stuff. I might buy one of those battery powered (I'll convert it to work from an outlet and hiding the cord) fake surveillance cameras and put up a sign


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## TommaHawk (Sep 18, 2007)

I designed my stuff to look great, but also put a lot of thought into discouraging theft behind-the-scenes. There's not all that much to put up really, so I do mine the day-of (I might go a few days prior this year). Had nothing stolen yet - though I'm sure someone tried (tried to take off with a pumpkin I mount on top of a small pillar).

My fence is 30' long forming a circle, with small pillars every 6'. Two pillars closest to the sidewalk are dropped over rebar just to anchor the thing. The entire assembly is connected together so anyone grabbing a section suddenly has a very cumbersome, and entire, Halloween display to deal with.

Electronic components inside two larger pillars are screwed down, plus out-of-sight-is-out-of-mind.

The pillar caps have a short bolt sticking up over which I drop a pumpkin (through a quick hole in the bottom) and secure with a washer and nut. This is mostly just to keep them from falling off, but hey, acts as a theft deterent too. Especially if I go with foam pumpkins someday.

Inside my circle sits my witch - based on the ScareFX design, she's all one piece and not going anywhere. Her mask and various "accoutrements" could get stolen, but I've had good luck so far. Thought I'd try something like velcro to help secure the mask to the wighead, and make it not so much of a quick-grab item...

There's fake leaf-garland strung with lights along the fence secured with black zipties. My gravedigger lantern is ziptied to the hand and has a power cord routed through the torso.

Of course, someone brazzen enough to try could always break things up and get their rocks off that way...

But it all (or most) comes down before bedtime - _being careful not to blow out the jack-o-lanterns before midnight._


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## Bilbo (Dec 13, 2007)

Last year I had some punks walk through my graveyard and destroy a bunch of my tombstones. I glued them back together and reinforced their backs with wood. 

They also took two of the really super cheap skulls from my cemetery fence. The third one I coated with a nasty sticky substance and placed a cheap (easy to break) water balloon filled with black paint inside, attached to the fence. The punk tried for the hat trick and got coated. All of this happened middle of the day when they are on the way home from school. 

I would love to find the kids and have them help me make/set up the display. A lot of the times if they have a hand in creating something cool they aren't quite as apt to destroy it.


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

We set up a few things outside at the beginning of October. The spiderweb/spider, the cemetery fence, a few tombstones, etc. The big stuff and all the lights/fog go out on Halloween day. This year we're going to have to set up some behind the scenes stuff the day before (I'm hanging the big white winged demon from Spirit up between some trees - that's going to take some time to get rigged up), but still most of the stuff will go out on Halloween day. The very first year we set up a teensy little display here the mask and knife got stolen from my "scream" guy...on my front porch...and we were up until 2 in the morning. 

The majority of the display is taken down that night as well. My parents came and helped take it down last year, and I think it took about 30 minutes with 4 of us working. It was a good thing we got it down too, because a group of kids that had been messing with the props right before we closed it down came wandering back by to see what we had left out for the night.


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## HauntedHacienda (Sep 16, 2008)

We live in a Rural Town and even through All of our Displays, no matter where we have been, We have gotten lucky.
We have only had 2 minor items, a Flaming Cauldron and a Strobe Light disappear.
Everything else is too large and too noticeable to be taken.
Plus, we belikeve in 2nd Amendment and Castle Law would more than likely apply to this.


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

I don't dare leave ANYTHING within reach. All me decor is either inside the front windows, on the roof of my shop or haning from the second story or higher. I can count on all the pumpkins getting either stolen (ok by me, actually) or smashed (worse for me). This year I'm taking a risk by hanging a large Grim Reaper on my front door. With flashing LED eyes, he's bound to attract attention. I've got him wired to my security screen door in four places so if someone gets him they want him pretty bad.


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## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

I plan on using motion detector lights if the budget allows it this is my first time in this neighborhood. Also I know some people have signs up that say you are being watched and use fake/ real cameras to let them know it. You can get the fakes from frightnersentertainment.com 5 for $20. I didnt have a problem last year, but there are more kids in the neighborhood this year more TEENS which I have fear of. Its not so much the props I purchase, its the ones i made that worry me. Things I bought I can usually replace, but the time and effort into something I made makes me feel sick to my stomach to think about someone stealing those.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

You can put up a sign that says, vandals and thieves will become part of next years decorations.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

I went looking for motion detectors which plug-in to an outlet. With all the power strips in the haunt this seamed to be the logical solution. However, I can not find any such device. Any thoughts as where to get something like this?


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## YardHaunt ATOM (Oct 13, 2007)

You can make your own, just add a plug to the wiring....


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I know Harbor Freight carries them for like 10 bucks.


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## poopsko (Oct 16, 2007)

I think this year I'm going to get a spool of the vinyal coated aircraft cable, I'll loop it through most everything I cherrish and then to something solid like the porch railing. That way if they were to grab say a bucky, then their going to be pulling alot more with it, make noise and end up with no more slack in the cable. They'll be forced to drop it. I may have a mess do deal with, mabey a few broken pieces, but at least I'll still have my props. 
And I think the stuff is kinda expensive, but I'll get the really thin cable, thats all ya need.
I'm also going to get some motion detectors, I will use and extension cord with the end cut off to wire up to the motion detector itself. I'll solder and heatshrink the wire where it connects too.


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