Backyard Research

[Guest bsruther]

I am in the same boat. I rationalize everything away because my "somethings" seem to only happen certain times of the year. When the activity is going on I would definitely say I'm unnerved. Sasfooty gave me the best advice though, since I put that dummy security camera out on my deck rail I don't have anymore knocking on the side of my condo.

My "somethings" also seem to happen at certain times of year, fall and spring. I find it kind of odd that the strangeness is going on now, in summer. One thing that this forum has taught me, is to look at strange occurrences as objectively as possible and not let my own suggestive thinking cloud reality. It may take time, but I'll get to the bottom of it and have fun doing it.

I have motion detector lights on the two sides of my house that face the woods. Anything that comes within 40ft, gets illuminated.

One thing I noticed about the squeeze toy, when I found it. It had needle-like tooth marks on the bottom of it and I can't remember if they were there before or not. That caused the wife to bring something up that happened a few summers ago. I had a wood chipper, I was using to get rid of underbrush that I had cleared. It sat up there for about a week, while I was using it. I went up there one day and the rubber primer bulb was chewed off of it and I couldn't start the chipper.

At the time, I figured it was just some animal, chewing on my stuff, for whatever reason. I wish there was a way to find out if some wild animals have a tendency to chew on certain man-made materials.

[bipedalist]

See my post over in the "question thread" re: plasticisers in rubber/plastic and how animals are attracted to the smell. Could be mice/wood rats.

I had a lost digital recorder "returned" to a remote location after weeks of being lost that had a needle like toothmark in it that cracked the case.....I assumed it was a canine incisor eyetooth bite impression at the time.

[Guest bsruther]

See my post over in the "question thread" re: plasticisers in rubber/plastic and how animals are attracted to the smell. Could be mice/wood rats.

I had a lost digital recorder "returned" to a remote location after weeks of being lost that had a needle like toothmark in it that cracked the case.....I assumed it was a canine incisor eyetooth bite impression at the time.

Thanks, that helps, it also gives me some ideas. I've had two plastic jars of peanut butter taken. Found the lids, but not the jars. Tonight, I'll put some peanut butter in a glass jar and place it up there, on the log. I can't think of any animals around here that would be able to pick up a glass jar with their mouth. Heck, I might even put one of my Homebrews up there. If I find an empty beer bottle up there, I just might consider the monkeyman.

[bipedalist]

Just a warning on the glass jars......(maybe plastic too)....they can be rolled an awful long way.....if you have a grade of any kind you will have to expand your search pattern for them in a big way.

[Guest]

I could not wait to get home so I could tell you the news, Bsruthers, we had an incident last night. "We" is my brother and I, and we are neighbors. He lives two doors down from me in the same building that sits on a bluff overlooking the river.

My brother woke up this morning at about 10:30 (works nights on weekends) and found the ash tray on his deck dumped over and the butts missing again. There is a small closet like storage room joined to the deck like a lean too and the outside storage door was opened also, yet again. All of our decks are staggered so that there are dips and nooks between and you aren't even with your neighbor's for privacy. The A/C unit is in front of the section of the deck where the ash tray is sitting,and is in one of these nooks between decks/buildings. He looked over the edge of the deck and saw a bunch of crumpled vegetation and vines growing up over his AC unit so went around the building to remove them ( I told him to wait next time). The landscapers don't bother to go behind the hedges that border the decks and cover these little nooks and dips to weed eat. I came home for lunch after he called me at work to check it out. This is what I found:

I found what appears to be knuckle marks, at least to me, in the sand around the deer feed the neighbor scattered, I found a large skid mark in the sand going towards the feed. There was a bunch of shredded vines piled up and placed in a group of medium sized azalea bushes, that wasn't there the day before, in front of the deer feed. My brother missed this, but I found a beautiful red glass star shaped planter about 6 inches across that was covered in mud stuck up under the outside railing of his deck at the corner. It was hidden by my brother's large potted plant.

1.I don't think a deer jumped onto the deck because it would have knocked everything over.

2. I don't believe a raccoon could open the storage door since it sticks in the jam.

3. I don't think a human could have hopped over the railing without knocking something over or making a lot of noise. If he or she stood on the A/C unit I think it would have been dented, at the least.

4. I believe the missing and scattered cigarette butts are related to the storage door being open since these two events always coincide and have happened numerous times before.

5. I'm not sure who/ when the planter was put on the outside corner of the deck because a very thick hedge blocks access and my brother didn't see it until I moved the planters back looking for mud prints of any kind. There was no ring left on the deck surface to indicate the planter had been there for any length of time.

6. What looks like knuckle marks could be human made, or something else, but I can't imagine who would be squatting down in front of the deer feed to get a closer look or what else that could be. I'm pretty familiar with all of the animal tracks around here and it doesn't match any of those.

So there is my big "maybe",I am open to any explanations besides bigfoot. I'll try to post pics in my flickr account, if anyone is interested, in looking at them. It might make it more understandable about how difficult it would be to reach through the rails of the deck to open that storage door if you are reaching over an air conditioning unit from that height.

[Guest bsruther]

Thanks for sharing Jodie, some interesting stuff there.

Seems like even though the marks on the ground, by the feed are unusual, it's hard to say what they could be, since other animals might frequent the feed.

The planter and cigarette butts are interesting. I think I remember you mentioning something about a previous incident with the ash tray and butts in another thread.

The planter is the thing that I find bizarre. It's one thing to find a feather or a bone that could have randomly been placed by any animal, buy a heavy glass object placed on a deck is a whole 'nother story. That's the kind of thing that makes you let out a silent gasp.

What is kept in the storage closet?

Pics would be great, it's kind of difficult to visualize what you're describing.

Have you checked with neighbors to see if they've had any "intruders" messing with things?

I thought about placing some cigarettes and a lighter on my log, along with the beer and peanut butter.

I did some major weed eating on the undergrowth, up in the woods today, so I'll be surprised if I get any activity up there tonight.

[Guest]

I told my brother to leave some cigarettes out tonight sans lighter, what if he hasn't mastered it and sets something on fire?

https://picasaweb.google.com/109735314684676188381/RecentlyUpdated02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKx_pmAxM2FdA#

I haven't got my pics of the deck as a whole. I'll try to post those tomorrow. For some reason, I didn't get those in my e-mail....that planter was a deep red clear glass shaped like a star sitting on the edge of the deck in the pics with A/C unit. It doesn't look as eye catching as it does in person.

[Guest bsruther]

That skid mark doesn't look like it was made by any fauna that I can think of. Is it on a slope?

Would someone had to have stood on the deck, to handle the ash tray or could it be reached from below, depending on how tall the perp was?

Is there a sliding glass door, leading to the deck?

Seems like that would be a good place to camp out, in the dark, while your brother is working.

Did you check for mud prints on the planter?

We had a fairly large bird house pulled from a tree and taken, over the winter. If that ever got returned, I think I'd go from unnerved to freaked out.

[Guest Boolywooger]

I think it both instances it would be an interesting experiment to put out a pouch of chewing tobacco as a gift.

[indiefoot]

bsruther,

I have placed items of interest in new untouched ziploc bags. If the bags are opened or moved fingerprints can be left behind. Same with a clean glass container with an item of interest inside.

The ziploc bags I have examined appear to have been opened by inserting a finger or finger sized blunt object and tear an opening in the side of the bag. Occasionally larger teeth marks. No small teeth/claw marks. Experiments aimed at getting a clearer picture of what's happening at your study area.

[Guest bsruther]

bsruther,

I have placed items of interest in new untouched ziploc bags. If the bags are opened or moved fingerprints can be left behind. Same with a clean glass container with an item of interest inside.

The ziploc bags I have examined appear to have been opened by inserting a finger or finger sized blunt object and tear an opening in the side of the bag. Occasionally larger teeth marks. No small teeth/claw marks. Experiments aimed at getting a clearer picture of what's happening at your study area.

Thanks for the ideas. For now I'm sticking with glass containers, but you gave me an idea. I'll clean the jar and bottle of any prints. If they get tampered with, I'll look for prints on them, if the items are still there. I don't know what to use to view and lift prints. I assume graphite dust would work.

Boolywooger's chewing tobacco idea might work too.

[Guest]

That skid mark doesn't look like it was made by any fauna that I can think of. Is it on a slope?

Would someone had to have stood on the deck, to handle the ash tray or could it be reached from below, depending on how tall the perp was?

Is there a sliding glass door, leading to the deck?

Seems like that would be a good place to camp out, in the dark, while your brother is working.

Did you check for mud prints on the planter?

We had a fairly large bird house pulled from a tree and taken, over the winter. If that ever got returned, I think I'd go from unnerved to freaked out.

The storage closet- not much of anything is in there. Some dead orchids, gloves, fold up deck chairs, gardening tools, that's about it.

It is on a slope , and it rained lightly here that evening so the rock that sand was on would have been wet and slippery if stepped on before daylight.

Someone would have had to stand up on the A/C unit to get to the ash tray because there is no room to stand between the unit and the deck. The ashtray is on a planter stand, which was not turned over, right next to the storage room door. Someone would have had to reach over the A/C unit and pick the ash tray up off the plant stand and dump it on the deck. Then they would have had to reach around through the rails to the door knob on the shed door to open it. I can't figure out how they did it without killing themselves climbing and reaching if it was a human, or why, for that matter.

No sliding glass door, just a regular metal door that has glass from the bottom to the top, like one half of a french door.

I saw no obvious finger prints in the mud on the red star planter or any indication that it had sat tucked up under the rail any length of time since there was no mud ring on the deck.

If it ever cools off we have discussed camping out there to see what happens. I think I want to try recording first because I hear things all of the time, and for every thing I hear, I wonder what is going on that I don't hear. We are both scared as hell to camp outside alone so we need to time it when we are both off.

[Guest bsruther]

I think it would be good to camp on the floor, behind the half french door, while your brother is at work. You may have to sit in the dark for a long time and it could be scary, but fear is never boring.

What about your neighbors, have they had anything tampered with?

[Guest]

No,I've only asked the two male neighbors, not the women, because I do not want them to think we have a burglar or what have you. One says he hears things at times, the other that puts out the corn hasn't seen anything or heard anything.

[Guest]

Bsruthers- Here are more pics so you can get a better visual of my area. For some reason, I could not get them all in one folder today. My brother left a cigarette out under a clear plastic cover and it is still there. There hasn't been any unusual activity since then.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109735314684676188381/RecentlyUpdated02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKx_pmAxM2FdA#5630318260376961474

https://picasaweb.google.com/109735314684676188381/RecentlyUpdated02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKx_pmAxM2FdA#5630319439015291122

https://picasaweb.google.com/109735314684676188381/RecentlyUpdated02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKx_pmAxM2FdA#5630319491336340850

https://picasaweb.google.com/109735314684676188381/RecentlyUpdated02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKx_pmAxM2FdA#5630319712718201122