Drove to the laundromat in New Brunswick, NJ. Coming back, it started to rain. I grabbed my shirts, and left an old duffel bag with my underwear in the back seat. Came out to find ~4$ worth of change and my cassettes where I’d left them but the duffel bag was gone.
Well, my house was broken into one time and the only thing taken was a VCR. This was back when VCRs were still hot stuff.
The police officer that took the report said not to get a new one right away, as sometimes these scumbags come back a week or so later to steal the new one you get.
So I waited. Sure enough, six days later the house was broken into again. The asshole didn’t find anything else to carry away, and, being disappointed that I was so unaccomadating. went into my fridge and cooked themselves breakfast. Bacon and scrambled eggs, there was grease all over the stove. They weren’t even satisfied with my regular dishes, they went into the back of my cabinet and got out the one porcelain plate I owned at the time, an antique bread plate.
Not the same thing, but some years ago someone kidnapped the Jayhawk costume from the University of Kansas. They sent in pictures of the costume, with it’s beak taped shut, and tied to a chair. It was being held “hostage” by two guys in masks, holding fake guns. It was returned unharmed, presumably a prank from (cough, cough) a rival school.
Pothos Ivy from the house next door. 2 years before that someone stole a Pothos Ivy
from the house across from me… Really odd because I had a lovely pot of red and white striped Petunias and another of Yellow Snapdragons…
You never know what’s in someone elses mind:dubious:
The statue of Civil War heroine Emma Sansom in Gadsden, AL has had its finger stolen several times.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/blog/rebel-daughter-re-fingered/
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080627/NEWS/989792285/1016/NEWS
When I was a kid (kindergarten age) my mom baked cupcakes for my class - 2 dozen chocolate frosted cupcakes, and loaded them onto a tray. She made a quick stop at a local mall, and sure enough, someone broke into her car and stole (only) the cupcakes. She was more annoyed about the tray, really. But who steals cupcakes obviously intended for a party?
I went through a “car audiophile” phase, and had three car stereos stolen out of two different cars before I gave up and stopped buying them. The first one was nicked at the movie theater, and the thief also raided the small cooler in my backseat and stole my two remaining beers. Left the cooler, though. Took my CD wallet full of CDs - can’t imagine they had much luck pawning albums that had no jewel cases or liner notes - but ignored my college backpack full of textbooks, a leather jacket, and a brand new pair of Rollerblades. Just the stereo, the CDs, and two beers, thanks.
The second time, same car, the thieves actually left the tools they’d used to remove the front dash to get at the new stereo, sitting on the passenger seat. Indeed, the center section of the dashboard was also missing (though my neighbor found it, a few months later, behind some overgrown shrubs). Some of the tools they left were pretty nice, actually. I still have the ratchet set somewhere in my garage.
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Recycling bins – it hasn’t happened in a while, but I had to ask the town to replace some recycling bins that had been stolen a couple of times. The woman at the office told me that it happens all the time.
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Pens. Ok, that’s not so unusual – everyone loses pens, people walk away with pens without thinking. It happens. But what’s funny though is the inventive method that was used to steal them in this case.
They were stolen from drive in windows at the bank. It was this practical joke that was making the rounds. Someone would drive up to the drive-through window, and ask for a pen. He’d then say ‘thank you’, and drive away. I told the story to a friend of mine who had formerly been a bank teller, and he told me that that someone had done that to him.
So the question is… was that stealing? After all, he ASKED for the pen and the teller complied…
Its in the knowing…
Just like when they put $20,000 into your bank account by accident… if you surely knew it wasn’t yours, it is stealing to take it out and spend it.
My son moved into a flat (apartmrnt) in London (UK) which had an old, useless natural gas kitchen cooker. He ordered a new one and when it was delivered asked the man to take away the old one (3ft high 2tt square and he could only just lift it) which was covered in black grease from apparently never having been cleaned after use.
The delivery man said, “No need. Just leave it outside the door.”
Sure enough 30 minutes later it was gone.
It depends on the asking. If you asked “Do you have a pen?” then you stole it. If you said “Give me a pen.” then you accepted a gift.
When I was a kid, somebody stole two bags of stool samples from the back seat of a car while the driver was at another doctor’s office getting other lab samples.
I heard of a woman whose okra plants were dug up and stolen by some doofus who mistook them for pot. According to Google, a similar thing happened to a GA man when the police mistook his okra for pot, only he got raided.
I remember reading an article of the strangest things that were stolen - maybe on Cracked.
From memory, an entire bridge in Russia - overnight.
A swimming pool - yes, in-ground and concrete - from someone’s summer home backyard.
A metal bell from a monastery that weighed approximately two tons, and with no way for machinery to get in to steal it.
The two most dimwitted kids in my high school class stole a tiger. Yes. A real live Siberian tiger cub. They kept him in the locker room of an abandoned school and fed him hamburger.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-964185.html
When they sobered up (a week later) they let him go in a densely populated suburban neighborhood. I never visited the tiger, but my sister made the trip. It never seems to have occurred to anyone to call the police because the whole school knew about the tiger and a good portion saw it and I don’t believe the two morons were ever arrested.
Strangest thing I ever had stolen was ‘nothing.’ Let me explain. In the late 80’s we had a battered old Econoline van. Well, we moved into a new neighborhood, and instantly had a break-in. These neighborhood thieves specialized in radios and tape players. All we had was a 8 track player at least 10 years old. Punks stole only a pair of channel locks we used to roll down the window, and a pint of whisky we carried in case we were out driving when the apocalypse came. We never locked again to save the windows since everyone now knew we had nothing. We carried the whiskey and channel locks in a bag.
About 18 months later we got a newer better van, and damn if someone didn’t break in first night! They stole nothing because my husband took that old 8-track and installed it our new van.
We could make ourselves laugh any time thinking of those punk neighborhood thieves saying ‘Damn! Those cheap ass bastards didn’t even buy a new tape player.’ 
I had spent some time cleaning out my fridge and freezer, you know unidentifiable stuff, empty pickle jars and such. It all went into a big garbage bag. That afternoon my son had some beer cans to take back to the liquor store, so he said he would take my garbage to the dump after. When he got to the liquor store he took his bag of cans in and while he was getting the money for the cans the clerk said those guys in another truck just stole the bag out of sons truck. I howled with laughter and at the same time was slightly embarrassed. Gotta wonder what they thought they were stealing and would I have loved to see the looks on their faces when they opened their ill gotten gains.
How about OJ Simpson’s bust, stolen from the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton OH?
I toured the HOF when the bust was missing, and then just before I left that day it was returned - I doubled back into the Hall and where previously his bust was missing, it was now there.
A co-worker’s car battery died while the car was parked at work. She got a ride to the nearest auto parts store, bought a new battery and a couple of the guys helped her install it. The dead battery was placed by the curb with a Dead Battery sign taped to it. Just to see what would happen.
Sure enough, next day, it was gone.
My mom once left a newly purchased Christmas tree in the backyard overnight to let the branches fluff out before bringing it inside. Thieves stole the tree stand…and left the tree. It wasn’t THAT ugly of a tree…
At my old restaurant, some regular customers suggested that having toothpicks would be nice. So I went out and bought a dispenser. It lasted less than a week.
Also at the restaurant, not so much strange as just plain stupid:
A group of young guys had been there for a few hours drinking beer. One of them walked up to the counter, looked me in the eyes, and said “later!” as he grabbed the tip jar and ran out the door. My first reaction was to chase him, but I made it about two steps before deciding it wasn’t worth it… because he was a former employee. So I went and found his file, called the police, and supplied them with his full name, address, phone number, etc.