Pumpkin heist ends with smiles

Some strange and mysterious Halloween happenings are taking place to unsuspecting Manassas families in the West, Taylor and Battle streets area.

Someone lurking in the dark has been picking up pumpkins from porches, carving them out with faces and returning them to their rightful owners by morning.

One such person visited by the "carver" was Chrissi Blasius of 9010 West St.

"I had a pumpkin—a little larger than a basketball—on my front porch early this week. Someone came during the night, carved it and brought it back. It's amazing," she said.

Blasius said the unknown carver did a good job.

"The pumpkin had two triangle eyes, a triangle nose and a mouth with two teeth missing," she said.

At first, Blasius said, she was upset because the pumpkin was scheduled to be carved at a Halloween party she had planned for friends and family Friday night. But someone had beat her to the punch.

"I was mad at first, but it is what it is … and we will still party," she said.

The pumpkin, she said, was won as a prize.

A nearby neighbor, Lisa Harlow, also reported that one of her pumpkins was taken during the night and returned carved out.

"Mine was taken from my porch and left out at the end of the sidewalk under a lamppost," she said. She too was impressed by the "mad carver" who she said had a neat eye carved out like a star on the pumpkin.

"It's Halloween and I guess people do strange and weird things," Harlow concluded.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.