When a family in Woodstock realized that they were losing their home of 20 years to foreclosure they placed an ad on craigslist to give away the items that they don’t want to take with them.
Here is the ad that they have posted on craigslist:
“Fairly large, free yard sale. Moving and we want everything to go for free. So come over and take whatever you want and how much you want. Here are a couple of items that will be there: Couch, chairs, lots of household and kitchen items, appliances, a wardrobe, desk, recliner, movies, lots of books, lamps, women’s and teens’ clothing, etc. And also a box of free food with lots of cans. Please take only if you need it. We’re starting at 10 a.m., October 24th, and we’ll finish when everything’s gone.”
The online ad was a for a giveaway of furniture and other household items brought out to their driveway but crowd showed up early while the family was out and broke into the house and take everything inside, in part because of the way that the craigslist ad was written gave them the idea that everything on the property was up for grabs.
Michael Vercher said “Everyone was inside the house; they were taking out items,” he said. “There were cars around the block. It was like ants in and out of the house.”
He spoke of how they took, from inside the house, the only items that the family wanted to take with them as they moved out — family keepsakes, and all their clothes — everything but a few of their books, which were left scattered across the carpet.
Vercher’s fiancee, Dana Lamanac, was despondent; they took her guitars, which were gifts from her father.
“There’s two guitars that really mean a lot to me,” Lamanac said. “They were my dad’s, and that’s irreplaceable to me. That’s really the only thing I want back. I hope somebody has enough courage and respect for other people to bring the stuff back. I mean it’s like the only thing he gave to me. It really means a lot to me.”
Lamanac said she and Vercher’s mother arrived at the house about the same time Vercher did, thinking they were there in plenty of time to help distribute the items outside that they’d intended to give to the people who showed up.
“When we got here, me and his mom jumped out of the car and said, ‘This is our stuff, don’t take anything,’ I mean, ‘If you have something, put it back,'” Lamanac said. “And this one woman actually, like, got in our faces and stuff, and started saying no, and everybody else just kind of drifted by us and didn’t listen and took the stuff and left.”
They immediately called 911, while telling people to get out of the house and stop taking belongings from inside the house.
Vercher said he now understands why people misunderstood the family’s ad to mean that they were giving away everything, inside and outside the house, because of the way they worded it.
“Never thought in a million years that they would come and take all of our stuff in the house,” he said, emphasizing that he had planned to arrive from work before anyone else showed up. “They probably thought that they were allowed to come [inside], and they saw other people coming in and out, and they thought it was OK.”
