Another house ransacked from Craigslist ad
In an incident reminiscent of the Tacoma house trashing, an Oregon man comes home to dozens of people vandalizing his barn and porch after a posting on Craigslist.
- Desiree's previous work has appeared in various print and online publications including Search Engine Land, PCWorld, Wired magazine and PBS MediaShift.
Most folks recall the story about the Tacoma, Wash., house that was trashed after a woman posted an ad on Craigslist telling people to "please help yourself to anything on the property."
Well, some mischief maker in Jacksonville, Ore., apparently decided to re-enact the Tacoma house-trashing scheme. According to this Associated Press story, Robert Salisbury came home to nearly 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch. Not only that, when he told the trespassers to give him back his belongings, he was rebuffed.
"I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury told the AP. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."
The Craigslist post advertised all of Salisbury's stuff--even his horse--as free for the taking. The woman who showed up to take his horse finally started to feel uneasy about the whole deal when she realized that the horse looked perfectly healthy, and well, seemed to actually belong to someone. She left a note on the door and then decided to call Salisbury to make sure that the ad was legit.
What's shocking is that of the dozens of people who pilfered his property, she was the only one to catch wind of the scheme. Come on, people.
By the time the police showed up, the plunderers had already crammed their cars full of Salisbury's stuff and taken off.
Investigators are still trying to track down the person who posted the ad--and it could likely be someone Salisbury knows. The Tacoma incident, after all, was fueled by a family feud.