@elimanningface The most irreplaceable item was a sword I bought at a medieval event. It was a lovely sword with a ram’s head hilt. I was at a Renaissance Faire a couple of years later in garb, and the guest of honor was Jody Samson, the swordsmith that made the swords for the Conan movie. He recognized my sword, it was the one he’d made as a first draft of what he wanted to make for the movie for Conan’s father’s sword. It wasn’t as detailed as the one he made for the movie but it was a pretty nice item.
I got woken up in my apartment one late morning, hearing two or three people talking and walking around. I had to scramble to put in one contact lens so I could at least see something. I’d just gotten up and went to the bedroom door when someone opened my door to see if there was anything worth taking.
They totally panicked, freaked out, and ran. My guess is they’d been watching that morning, and saw my two roommates leave and couldn’t believe there could possibly be three of us living in that tiny apartment.
They left everything they’d been planning to steal, and dropped their crowbar, so it was a net positive overall.
If people respond honestly, 75% (minimum) of the vote should be for ‘Yes.’ What person has not broken into their own home (or mom or dad’s home) because they lost their keys?
@elimanningface I got very good at pooping the lock on the ghetto van (kid locked the keys in there more than once). Pry the side pop out window open with a screwdriver, take a broom stick or rake and push the lock on the sliding door. Bingo. Five min or less. And a lesson to never leave anything of value in that car.
@elimanningface
I have been hit a few times and had to break in a few times as well. Once, I noticed the gap in the old window on my front porch(enclosed so did not bother to replace interior window) and was able to undo the locks with, no lie, a popsicle stick I found outside. One other time, I had to kick in the front door(lock would not open) which was way too easy as well. It seems your nice solid steel door is kind of useless when the frame around it is just 2x6 pine.
@elimanningface When I was little that was always my job- climb the tree near the house, go onto the roof, through my bedroom window, and let everyone in.
Once I also went through the doggie door at my uncle’s house when we all got locked out after going for a walk on the day after thanksgiving.
I don’t think that was the intent of the poll though.
From my storage unit - all my tools and in that tool box was also all the hardware that holds together all my furniture I had taken apart. Plus some parts I needed to glue back together for the family’s 1864 melodeon (precursor to a pump organ). And the only thing I had from my father - a really lovely blue wood handle screwdriver with all the interchangeable screw heads still with it. I was putting stuff in it and didn’t close the “garage” door and lock it each time I went to take stuff out of the car. Lesson learned the hard way.
Also from my back yard (and the cops refused to take a report telling me it was my fault since I had left things outside. Really? I told them so this means I can take anything out of garages - some people lost things out of them the same day - yards, porches, etc. and it isn’t considered a crime? This is how that town kept the crime rate artificially low). My daughter’s friends stole things from me.
My credit card number and the dumb ass tried to send his real self money using his real name and real phone number. (America’s dumbest criminal nomination). When this was all untangled it turned out he was already in jail for doing the same thing. The cops (same town of we have no crime because we refuse to take a report) didn’t even want to take a police report since I couldn’t prove it happened in the town I lived in. Sheesh. I was the one who called the police line at Western Union and got the information from them about what they had for the transaction. Got Lowe’s to pull their security tapes to ID the guy and send that to the cops, and pushed the cops to get whatever they needed for Verizon to release the info since the dumb ass paid his phone bill with my card. They never sent the info (either that or the cops never did what they needed to do and lied to me). The cops told me that he was already in jail for doing this so why bother to go after him. I said, so he can go back to jail for doing it a second time. As far as I know he was never prosecuted. Spent the better part of 3 days playing detective. Made me really glad I didn’t do that for a living.
Car was broken into once (heard the glass break), stuff taken, and I was in the living room and saw someone coming to the door. I started to get up to answer the door but the person left (This was winter with fresh snow, dark out). Then about 20 min later the cops came to the door and wanted to see the bottom of my feet (shoes) and one of my roommate’s who had just come home. Apparently who I almost opened the door to was the thief as he was also breaking into houses and there were footprints in the snow, including in the snow on our porch.
Oh and when I was 10 our house was broken into. All my money was taken. My parents lost a lot of things. My sister had left her money sitting out in a mess of her stuff (we shared a room) and the thief missed that. I don’t think my other two sibs had anything of theirs taken. Our bikes were taken out of the garage when I was in high school. I had bought that bike.
Guess this is pretty many times. On the other hand I have been pretty lucky in that lots of people have lost far more than I ever have.
A lot of interesting stories so far. If anyone has their house or shed or whatever broken into sometime in the future, you maybe able to refer back to this thread to identify the culprit.
Toward the end of our remodel the painter (we’re pretty sure it was him, anyway) took a couple pair of binoculars, two GPS units, the nicest bottle of wine I was aging, and a small TV. But he didn’t break in so I answered “no”.
@SSteve I originally answered no too. But the time we left a garage door wide open so someone stole 1/2 the tools (crime of opportunity/how much could carry I assume) and the time a ring went missing but it had been a couple months between when I saw it and when I realized it was missing so no way to know which of about a dozen people (repair people, teen kid of someone who had wandered the house while her mom and I were downstairs,…) might have taken it. So never broken into, but not never stolen from.
And my 1st 10 speed that I paid what seemed like a lot of money was stolen from the garage. They ignored all the othe bikes the had to step over to get to mine.
And someone took everything out of a barn, stuff stored, but also pipes and wiring and switches And other infrastructure. Place wasn’t locked tho. I had my suspicions, but no evidence and I was no longer living on the property and was trying to sell it so … let it go.
@f00l I hate all the bike stories. Somehow makes me sadder when a kids bike is stolen than the storage or barn or what I and others listed. Kid bike are a bid part of kid hood and most kids/families can’t replace quickly.
@mollama
The bike seemed like $ to me cause I had paid for it out of teenage earning. it was the first 10 speed anyone among my friends had. Saw it at the bike shop and had to have it.
I was angry, but I had it for fun I guess. I was a teenager then, and driving. And often had access to a car. So less devastating than it might have been.
I have three Dobermans although they would stop the opportunistic dumbass, a more refine theif would kill the dogs - which is our most prized possession. Well that and a Limited Edition denim labeled Kentucky Basketball fifth of Makers Mark.
I did have my truck stolen last year, theif was caught on video, cops could care less. Truck recovered without much damage except the police charged $200 for the tow instead of calling us to come get it from the YMCA parking lot.
@PocketBrain Therefore most of the burglars are armed. Fortunately at the time I was burglarized my home was no longer serving as the gun storage for my military friends, or they’d have been stolen as well.
Long time ago. Took computer and sound system and VCR. Followed trail of cables and parts to neighbor’s house. Must have been a friend of neighbor’s kids. Never saw him again, nor my stuff. Upgraded via insurance.
I had an attempt once. They pulled my slider off the track so I came home and it was all cock eyed. Dog must of scared them away because nothing was missing that I could tell. My one cat took the opportunity to get out though, and was gone for a week. Came back with a tiny little wound that turned into a huge abscess. Had to have surgery to remove all the infection so it wouldn’t come back. It came back 3-4 weeks later anyway. This time they just used a syringe to pull out all the junk, and gave me different antibiotics, after I was in tears about how much they charged me the first time, because they HAD to do surgery, and it didn’t work. I still have the little jerk.
I did however have a roommate that stole from me. My ex confronted him and got the stuff back. (Except for all the food he ate.) I still haven’t had another roommate since.
Not my home, but my LOCKED car parked in the driveway next to it. What bothered me most was that they only took cassettes and they were picky about which ones. Looks like they went through and only took certain ones.
Yes. I know who did it too and Karma is cruddy! These cameras arrrrgh cool! You get to watch people break in and steal your stuff. I love the price, meh!
Twice total. Once at my older home in St Louis suburbs: Perp(s) broke the glass in the front door & unlocked it. Appeared to have been scared off/frustrated before they could get the heavy 19" CRT TV all the way out of the antique armoire (hidden plug & antenna connections). Didn’t even notice for more than 24hr cuz I always used the back door from the garage.
Once, sorta, at my vintage house in DFW area. Broke glass at (one of) the back doors, but it was a long-unused door w/ no way to unlock. May have attempted to kick door in (boot/shoe marks left behind), but it was stout with a VERY heavy trunk/chest up against it. Anyway, intruder never got in.
Have an alarm system in current house, and monitoring co. seems to do a good job. Police have been very responsive during the few times it was tested (false alarms).
Do apartments count? I was living above a storefront in a cool apartment. They came up the fire escape during the day, pushed in a window, and made of with my TV and DVDs and not much else. They took some wine of out my rack but didn’t take it with them. They didn’t take my receiver or speakers, and they lifted the center channel speaker off the TV and placed it on a shelf.
I suspect it was a young woman I knew who used to live in the other apartment but got into some drug problems and was evicted.
When the police came one of them pointed to the chicken foot I had nailed above my back door and asked what it was. I told her what it was and said it was supposed to protect me from strangers.
“I guess it didn’t work,” I said.
“Well, they came in through the window,” she said.
(I also had a voodoo doll over the front door. New Orleans souvenirs.)
Garage has been broken into a number of times, and just recently, my mother woke up to an unidentified black male in her room going through her drawers. Very terrifying. Would of been nice if my parents had the 3MP 8 camera set up to catch the SOB. This happened in Chicago.
In college, middle 80s. I had a sweet stereo system worth about $3000, an old style projection TV shit that I was upset to lose, but not devastated. The thing that devastated me was my father’s WWII field jacket, that I used to wear to class was stolen. Something that normally would be overlooked considering all of the electronics I had. But there was this fucktard that kept wanting to buy that jacket from me, a friend of a friend- I know that was the motherfucker that did it. He skipped town. I can only hope that karma royally fucked that cocksucker in the ass then came all over his face. Fuck that BITCH! Fortunately, I’m not one to be vengeful in anyway.
In October… but I bored you all to tears with the gritty details back then. Massive loss of “stuff” totaling around $8500 in (similar used items, not brand new replacement) value. And close to $1000 in damage. Of course the most valuable thing stolen was my peace of mind. I was stressed for a few months and only recently have been able to sleep through the night without nightmares.
Twice as a child… first time they took almost all the Christmas presents… second time as a teen someone (who knew us) took silver coins and several rifles/guns (we lived in Alaska). Now i live in the big city… and not once. But i wonder if having 2 big dogs who bark when anyone comes here (including us half the time) has something to do with that.
I had to sell my house because of multiple break-ins in less than a year. Other than the time they found my gun, they always cost me more in damages than in stolen goods. They would steal a $20 DVD player, but I would have to spend the night in a hotel and pay $150 to fix the window. (the DoubleTree Hotel did give me extra cookies when I showed up in tears at 2:00 a.m. one night.) Every morning when I left my house I wondered if my stuff would still be there when I got back, and every night when I drove up I looked for any outward signs of a break-in before I went inside. I hated that paranoid feeling. Even worse was the fear when I was home with strep throat, wondering what I would do if someone broke in while I was there. Eventually the stress got to be too much, and I sadly put my house on the market. Since then, I have rented apartments on upper floors, as I don’t think I will ever feel safe enough to live at ground level again.
@f00l Not really a bad neighborhood, but I lived on a creek lot, and the house next to me had an absentee owner for years. They always broke the windows nearest to the vacant house so no one would hear them. I was usually gone more than 12 hours a day, so they had lots of time. They helped themselves to my Cokes and ice cream, and then made off with my Captain Morgan, which was the unkindest cut of all. Bastards.
Three years in a row right before Christmas. Took some irreplaceable art pieces, not my art, art I’d collected.
@moondrake would I be an ass if I asked why you collect macaroni art or why you think it isn’t replaceable?
Yes, yes I would be.
@elimanningface The most irreplaceable item was a sword I bought at a medieval event. It was a lovely sword with a ram’s head hilt. I was at a Renaissance Faire a couple of years later in garb, and the guest of honor was Jody Samson, the swordsmith that made the swords for the Conan movie. He recognized my sword, it was the one he’d made as a first draft of what he wanted to make for the movie for Conan’s father’s sword. It wasn’t as detailed as the one he made for the movie but it was a pretty nice item.
for those who thought @moondrake’s response was tl;dr, he basically said, yes, you were an ass for what you wrote. I agree.
I got woken up in my apartment one late morning, hearing two or three people talking and walking around. I had to scramble to put in one contact lens so I could at least see something. I’d just gotten up and went to the bedroom door when someone opened my door to see if there was anything worth taking.
They totally panicked, freaked out, and ran. My guess is they’d been watching that morning, and saw my two roommates leave and couldn’t believe there could possibly be three of us living in that tiny apartment.
They left everything they’d been planning to steal, and dropped their crowbar, so it was a net positive overall.
Oh, I guess a little relevant, @matthew was one of my roommates. But I think at work at the time.
@dave now you are prepared if any head-crabs show up.
If people respond honestly, 75% (minimum) of the vote should be for ‘Yes.’ What person has not broken into their own home (or mom or dad’s home) because they lost their keys?
@elimanningface I got very good at pooping the lock on the ghetto van (kid locked the keys in there more than once). Pry the side pop out window open with a screwdriver, take a broom stick or rake and push the lock on the sliding door. Bingo. Five min or less. And a lesson to never leave anything of value in that car.
@elimanningface
I have been hit a few times and had to break in a few times as well. Once, I noticed the gap in the old window on my front porch(enclosed so did not bother to replace interior window) and was able to undo the locks with, no lie, a popsicle stick I found outside. One other time, I had to kick in the front door(lock would not open) which was way too easy as well. It seems your nice solid steel door is kind of useless when the frame around it is just 2x6 pine.
@Kidsandliz are kids now ‘pooping the lock’? Nope, not going to even try to imagine how that would work.
@elimanningface yeah well -can’t even blame auto correct on that one. Pop the lock LOL
@elimanningface I never have. We always had a hidden key growing up and I have one now too.
@elimanningface When I was little that was always my job- climb the tree near the house, go onto the roof, through my bedroom window, and let everyone in.
Once I also went through the doggie door at my uncle’s house when we all got locked out after going for a walk on the day after thanksgiving.
I don’t think that was the intent of the poll though.
From my storage unit - all my tools and in that tool box was also all the hardware that holds together all my furniture I had taken apart. Plus some parts I needed to glue back together for the family’s 1864 melodeon (precursor to a pump organ). And the only thing I had from my father - a really lovely blue wood handle screwdriver with all the interchangeable screw heads still with it. I was putting stuff in it and didn’t close the “garage” door and lock it each time I went to take stuff out of the car. Lesson learned the hard way.
Also from my back yard (and the cops refused to take a report telling me it was my fault since I had left things outside. Really? I told them so this means I can take anything out of garages - some people lost things out of them the same day - yards, porches, etc. and it isn’t considered a crime? This is how that town kept the crime rate artificially low). My daughter’s friends stole things from me.
My credit card number and the dumb ass tried to send his real self money using his real name and real phone number. (America’s dumbest criminal nomination). When this was all untangled it turned out he was already in jail for doing the same thing. The cops (same town of we have no crime because we refuse to take a report) didn’t even want to take a police report since I couldn’t prove it happened in the town I lived in. Sheesh. I was the one who called the police line at Western Union and got the information from them about what they had for the transaction. Got Lowe’s to pull their security tapes to ID the guy and send that to the cops, and pushed the cops to get whatever they needed for Verizon to release the info since the dumb ass paid his phone bill with my card. They never sent the info (either that or the cops never did what they needed to do and lied to me). The cops told me that he was already in jail for doing this so why bother to go after him. I said, so he can go back to jail for doing it a second time. As far as I know he was never prosecuted. Spent the better part of 3 days playing detective. Made me really glad I didn’t do that for a living.
Car was broken into once (heard the glass break), stuff taken, and I was in the living room and saw someone coming to the door. I started to get up to answer the door but the person left (This was winter with fresh snow, dark out). Then about 20 min later the cops came to the door and wanted to see the bottom of my feet (shoes) and one of my roommate’s who had just come home. Apparently who I almost opened the door to was the thief as he was also breaking into houses and there were footprints in the snow, including in the snow on our porch.
Oh and when I was 10 our house was broken into. All my money was taken. My parents lost a lot of things. My sister had left her money sitting out in a mess of her stuff (we shared a room) and the thief missed that. I don’t think my other two sibs had anything of theirs taken. Our bikes were taken out of the garage when I was in high school. I had bought that bike.
Guess this is pretty many times. On the other hand I have been pretty lucky in that lots of people have lost far more than I ever have.
A lot of interesting stories so far. If anyone has their house or shed or whatever broken into sometime in the future, you maybe able to refer back to this thread to identify the culprit.
Toward the end of our remodel the painter (we’re pretty sure it was him, anyway) took a couple pair of binoculars, two GPS units, the nicest bottle of wine I was aging, and a small TV. But he didn’t break in so I answered “no”.
@SSteve I originally answered no too. But the time we left a garage door wide open so someone stole 1/2 the tools (crime of opportunity/how much could carry I assume) and the time a ring went missing but it had been a couple months between when I saw it and when I realized it was missing so no way to know which of about a dozen people (repair people, teen kid of someone who had wandered the house while her mom and I were downstairs,…) might have taken it. So never broken into, but not never stolen from.
Just storage. No biggie. Made me mad tho.
And my 1st 10 speed that I paid what seemed like a lot of money was stolen from the garage. They ignored all the othe bikes the had to step over to get to mine.
And someone took everything out of a barn, stuff stored, but also pipes and wiring and switches And other infrastructure. Place wasn’t locked tho. I had my suspicions, but no evidence and I was no longer living on the property and was trying to sell it so … let it go.
@f00l I hate all the bike stories. Somehow makes me sadder when a kids bike is stolen than the storage or barn or what I and others listed. Kid bike are a bid part of kid hood and most kids/families can’t replace quickly.
@mollama
The bike seemed like $ to me cause I had paid for it out of teenage earning. it was the first 10 speed anyone among my friends had. Saw it at the bike shop and had to have it.
I was angry, but I had it for fun I guess. I was a teenager then, and driving. And often had access to a car. So less devastating than it might have been.
I have three Dobermans although they would stop the opportunistic dumbass, a more refine theif would kill the dogs - which is our most prized possession. Well that and a Limited Edition denim labeled Kentucky Basketball fifth of Makers Mark.
I did have my truck stolen last year, theif was caught on video, cops could care less. Truck recovered without much damage except the police charged $200 for the tow instead of calling us to come get it from the YMCA parking lot.
@calamityshuckle Wow, you were robbed twice there.
Fortunately, in my part of the world, there’s lots of guns. I don’t think you would even need one; people assume you have at least one.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
@PocketBrain Therefore most of the burglars are armed. Fortunately at the time I was burglarized my home was no longer serving as the gun storage for my military friends, or they’d have been stolen as well.
@moondrake honestly, i live in a nice neighborhood with plenty of retirees who stay at home most of the time. Built-in neighborhood watch!
Long time ago. Took computer and sound system and VCR. Followed trail of cables and parts to neighbor’s house. Must have been a friend of neighbor’s kids. Never saw him again, nor my stuff. Upgraded via insurance.
In 1975 when I was a kid.
These days i have 5 dogs and multiple guns.
Go ahead, punk. Make my day.
I had an attempt once. They pulled my slider off the track so I came home and it was all cock eyed. Dog must of scared them away because nothing was missing that I could tell. My one cat took the opportunity to get out though, and was gone for a week. Came back with a tiny little wound that turned into a huge abscess. Had to have surgery to remove all the infection so it wouldn’t come back. It came back 3-4 weeks later anyway. This time they just used a syringe to pull out all the junk, and gave me different antibiotics, after I was in tears about how much they charged me the first time, because they HAD to do surgery, and it didn’t work. I still have the little jerk.
I did however have a roommate that stole from me. My ex confronted him and got the stuff back. (Except for all the food he ate.) I still haven’t had another roommate since.
My neighbor’s dog has squeezed through the balcony railings and pooped on my balcony. Does that count as a break in?
Not my home, but my LOCKED car parked in the driveway next to it. What bothered me most was that they only took cassettes and they were picky about which ones. Looks like they went through and only took certain ones.
@sgrazi Why does it feel so offensive when thieves are snobby about your music tastes?
Yes. Multiple times.
Yes. I know who did it too and Karma is cruddy! These cameras arrrrgh cool! You get to watch people break in and steal your stuff. I love the price, meh!
Never had my home broken into, but had a car stolen. It was found about an hour away with minimal damage.
Twice total. Once at my older home in St Louis suburbs: Perp(s) broke the glass in the front door & unlocked it. Appeared to have been scared off/frustrated before they could get the heavy 19" CRT TV all the way out of the antique armoire (hidden plug & antenna connections). Didn’t even notice for more than 24hr cuz I always used the back door from the garage.
Once, sorta, at my vintage house in DFW area. Broke glass at (one of) the back doors, but it was a long-unused door w/ no way to unlock. May have attempted to kick door in (boot/shoe marks left behind), but it was stout with a VERY heavy trunk/chest up against it. Anyway, intruder never got in.
Have an alarm system in current house, and monitoring co. seems to do a good job. Police have been very responsive during the few times it was tested (false alarms).
Do apartments count? I was living above a storefront in a cool apartment. They came up the fire escape during the day, pushed in a window, and made of with my TV and DVDs and not much else. They took some wine of out my rack but didn’t take it with them. They didn’t take my receiver or speakers, and they lifted the center channel speaker off the TV and placed it on a shelf.
I suspect it was a young woman I knew who used to live in the other apartment but got into some drug problems and was evicted.
When the police came one of them pointed to the chicken foot I had nailed above my back door and asked what it was. I told her what it was and said it was supposed to protect me from strangers.
“I guess it didn’t work,” I said.
“Well, they came in through the window,” she said.
(I also had a voodoo doll over the front door. New Orleans souvenirs.)
@craigthom Bet you added to the stories told back at the station LOL
@craigthom
Garage has been broken into a number of times, and just recently, my mother woke up to an unidentified black male in her room going through her drawers. Very terrifying. Would of been nice if my parents had the 3MP 8 camera set up to catch the SOB. This happened in Chicago.
In college, middle 80s. I had a sweet stereo system worth about $3000, an old style projection TV shit that I was upset to lose, but not devastated. The thing that devastated me was my father’s WWII field jacket, that I used to wear to class was stolen. Something that normally would be overlooked considering all of the electronics I had. But there was this fucktard that kept wanting to buy that jacket from me, a friend of a friend- I know that was the motherfucker that did it. He skipped town. I can only hope that karma royally fucked that cocksucker in the ass then came all over his face. Fuck that BITCH! Fortunately, I’m not one to be vengeful in anyway.
In October… but I bored you all to tears with the gritty details back then. Massive loss of “stuff” totaling around $8500 in (similar used items, not brand new replacement) value. And close to $1000 in damage. Of course the most valuable thing stolen was my peace of mind. I was stressed for a few months and only recently have been able to sleep through the night without nightmares.
Twice as a child… first time they took almost all the Christmas presents… second time as a teen someone (who knew us) took silver coins and several rifles/guns (we lived in Alaska). Now i live in the big city… and not once. But i wonder if having 2 big dogs who bark when anyone comes here (including us half the time) has something to do with that.
I had to sell my house because of multiple break-ins in less than a year. Other than the time they found my gun, they always cost me more in damages than in stolen goods. They would steal a $20 DVD player, but I would have to spend the night in a hotel and pay $150 to fix the window. (the DoubleTree Hotel did give me extra cookies when I showed up in tears at 2:00 a.m. one night.) Every morning when I left my house I wondered if my stuff would still be there when I got back, and every night when I drove up I looked for any outward signs of a break-in before I went inside. I hated that paranoid feeling. Even worse was the fear when I was home with strep throat, wondering what I would do if someone broke in while I was there. Eventually the stress got to be too much, and I sadly put my house on the market. Since then, I have rented apartments on upper floors, as I don’t think I will ever feel safe enough to live at ground level again.
@Trillian
What city is that?
@f00l Dallas, just inside LBJ and not far from the Land of Gar.
@Trillian
Ouch. .
Could it be that the neighborhood was iffy?
@f00l Not really a bad neighborhood, but I lived on a creek lot, and the house next to me had an absentee owner for years. They always broke the windows nearest to the vacant house so no one would hear them. I was usually gone more than 12 hours a day, so they had lots of time. They helped themselves to my Cokes and ice cream, and then made off with my Captain Morgan, which was the unkindest cut of all. Bastards.