Our shirts are so awesome, people are STEALING them!
So, with another successful Monster Mania behind us, we loaded up the van Sunday evening and headed off to dinner with friends. We always stay at the hotel one extra night as it gives us time relax after a stressful weekend, and rest up for the ride home the next day.
And while the evening started off great, it didn’t end so well…
An hour or two later we arrived back at the hotel, our bellies sufficiently stuffed from eating at the Pop Shoppe. We spent the next half hour talking in the parking lot and then said our goodbyes to friends who were leaving and the rest of us headed inside to hang out. We ended up in our hotel room since no one was in the lobby or bar, and figured we’d just talk for awhile before bed.
Not less than 10 minutes later, we received a phone call from the front desk asking us to come to the lobby as they believe someone had broken into our van. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t think it was true. I thought they had mistaken us for someone else and we would see that everything was ok once we got to the parking lot.
Boy, was I wrong.
The first thing I saw was the glass. All of the glass from the rear passenger door was shattered and strewn about the pavement, sparkling under the amber glow of the parking lot lights. I peered into the back and saw that one of the bins with shirts in it had been taken. And come to find out, we weren’t the only victims… A friend of ours, George (from VHSPS.com) was parked about 10 spaces from us and looking over I could see a similar smattering of busted glass on the ground from the rear window of his station wagon. The guy also managed to get away with their television, which was in the back of the car next to their other boxes of merchandise.
The only witness was a friend of ours, Gregg, who was walking out of the hotel just as the thief was taking off with the bin of shirts and tv. After realizing what had happened, Gregg ran toward the guy just a he ducked in to a car that had driven up to pick him up and they took off. Gregg did his best to get the license plate number, but it was dark and they drove away too fast. We were told by some of the hotel staff that this apparently happens in all the time…guess Sunday was our lucky day.
Below are pics I took of the van on Monday morning before we left. Note all the broken glass still inside…
All in all, it could have been alot worse. No one was hurt, and while they did steal from us, the damage was minimal and the glass was covered under my brother’s insurance.
Smashed glass and stolen shirts aside, it was still a great weekend. We met alot of nice people, hung out with friends, and rubbed elbows with some great names in horror. Let me also be clear by saying I do not hold anyone involved with Monster Mania responsible for this crime. This was just a random act of violence by someone who saw some bins and thought it might be something valuable so they took it. I justwanted to post this as a message to anyone (vendors, especially) who happens to arrive early or leave late from the show…you just may want to take some precautions before leaving your car for the night.
Until the next Monster Mania!
- Ben
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Jeeeeeez.
Sorry, about that. I guess if t-shirts turn up in random places like flea markets and ebay then you got might have a suspect.
Wow, that’s some balls this guy has. Doesn’t he realize that you’re huge horror fans, and could think of hundreds of disgusting ways to “deal with” a petty thief?
Seriously though, it’s good to hear that nobody got hurt. Best of luck to you all,
Man I have no respect for thieves. They have no hearts! Just cold empty spaces, only thinking about themselves. I hope karma catches up with them!
Wow, that’s really shitty! I’m very sorry to hear that. Aside from that, I’m glad you guys had a good weekend down there. I was really bummed that I couldn’t make it down there this time, it’s the first one I’ve missed in about 3 years. Oh well, there will be more cons, and I really hope to make it to Horrorfind with LBP in a couple weeks
I’d love to meet Ted Raimi, among several other awesome names at that one!
Ahhh that really sucks man, sorry to hear that!!
Here’s hoping the perps are caught and taken off the streets sooner rather than later.
Holy crap! I’m so sorry that happened to you guys…but I am glad no one was hurt. Karma will get those creeps!!
Sorry to hear that Ben. That is really terrible. Put a curse on them. I just did.
Despite hearing this shitty news, It was great talking with you on Friday. One of these days I’ll be able to stay the whole weekend. I spend the next two days always trying to get back there.
That sucks. I told my mom just to buy them through the site!!!
Anyways, I can’t find anyone mentioning Marta Kober at this con. She was actually missing for a few years there. Anyone have info or pics?
I’m very sorry to hear you had merchandise stolen, Ben. I know you guys work really hard on your products, and work hard at the convention too all weekend. People suck.
Ah guys that stinks! Worst feeling when you know someone went through your stuff like it belonged to them. I know your pain, I just had my car stolen this past month and it was found abandoned in Camden NJ, stole my stereo and my $1,200 wheels and left it sitting abandoned in the middle of the street. Worst feeling. People are scum bags, and should learn to work for the things they want. It just blows my mind.
If i were to see this happen,id have to throw a brick at the guy,its a little hard to get away with a fractured skull. >: ]
Sucks! Supposedly this happens to GWAR all the time. Every show I’ve been to of theirs, I ask them merch guy “do you have that one in large?”… “yeah, we did, but someone ran off with the whole stack of em”.