Imagine this: after days of planning, perusing through Halloween aisles, buying the perfect mix of cute and scary decorations, you spend the day setting up the lights, blow-ups and other outdoor decor.
You go inside, with sweet visions of witches and warlocks filling your night; excited to wake up to a fully festive household. Except when you get up the next day, your beloved pumpkins, crows, ghosts and all their friends have been swiped from your lawn.
It seems the old tricks of egging houses and attacking with toilet paper are gone, and have been replaced with stealing decorations from outside people’s homes. Over the past few years, the phenomenon has been reported across the United States in places like Sacramento, Pittsburgh Columbia, Chicago and many other cities.
A family in Austin, Texas reported in 2022 that their 14-foot skeleton, which has become a new trademark of the holiday, was carried off into the night.
Travelers Insurance reported that property claims of theft on and around Halloween rose by 57% from 2011 to 2021.
Long Beach and Signal Hill residents have often taken to the community social platform NextDoor to report incidents of stolen decorations, though almost no one reports any luck tracking them down.
The Long Beach Police Department shared some tips with the Signal Tribune on how to prevent your home from becoming a victim of Halloween theft:
- Install cameras facing decorations and signage stating cameras are in place.
- Secure decorations to solid objects, if possible.
- Place decorations in view of home windows.
- Install motion sensitive flood lights or porch lights.
- Consider placing decorations in difficult to reach places (e.g. in a window or on a roof).
- Establish a neighborhood watch or electronic community chat to share information.
- Report any suspicious activity.
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