She’s got a bone to pick.
A Disney-loving California family is hoping they will get their own “Halloween miracle” after a spooky swindler plucked their 13-foot Jack Skellington animatronic off their front lawn.
Avelina Rodriguez has stuck the domineering decoration of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” protagonist in her yard every year from October to the New Year. From its perch, the renowned Pumpkin King watches over Trick-or-Treaters and carolers alike.
A thief stole a 13-foot Jack Skellington animatronic from a yard in California. FOX11But this year, a sticky-fingered Scrooge made off with the mainstay weeks before Halloween.
Rodriguez’s entire family was devastated — including her 2-year-old granddaughter, who loves the classic Tim Burton film so much that her first word was “Jack,” the matriarch told Fox 11.
Avelina Rodriguez hopes someone will find her stolen decoration. FOX11Neighbors were quick to rally around the family as they mourned the loss of the beloved neighborhood staple.
When the towering lawn ornament was first stolen last weekend, a kindhearted neighbor turned up at Rodriguez’s doorstep and offered to share surveillance footage she’d captured of the thief.
The security video showed a hooded figure carrying the 13-foot skeleton and loading it onto the roof of a nearby getaway car as if it were a Christmas tree, then speeding off before sunrise.
The hooded thief was seen carrying the animatronic down an alley. FOX11“They came at 5 in the morning when they knew it was dark. Put him on top of the roof of the car — so they had to have been holding on to this 13-foot Jack the whole time while the other person’s driving? It’s insane!” Rodriguez told the outlet.
She bashed the humbug highwaymen for “ruining” such an innocent tradition. Still, she’s holding out hope that Skellington will make his glorious return to her Halloween Town.
They then hoisted it onto the roof of a waiting getaway car. FOX11“It would mean a lot to me — it would be like a Halloween miracle for me. I know there’s Christmas miracles, but it would be a Halloween miracle. It would make me really happy and would make my family happy, and it would just go to show that there’s hope,” she told the outlet.
The spooky season often inspires its own brand of chaos.
Last October, a police officer in Ohio was “attacked” by a massive inflatable pumpkin that rolled away from its yard. It rolled right on top of him, briefly swallowing him whole, before they were finally able to get a hold of it.
A couple of months prior, the same officer was chased by a pair of “raging” turkeys during a routine traffic stop.
