Grave-robbers ruin the spirit of family's Halloween fun
By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers UNHAPPY--The Herold family of Thousand Oaks, from left, Bill, Vi, Austin and Camryn, are displaying a sign in their Avenida de Las Flores front yard after somebody stole their Halloween decorations last Friday night. Camryn, 8, cried over the loss of her family's haunted graveyard.

Big bad goblins came early to the Herold house and left broken hearts and tears for an 8year-old girl.

Every year for more than a decade the Herold family has decorated their yard on Avenida de Las Flores for Halloween.

This year the family spent a lot of time together creating their own haunted graveyard complete with tombstones.

"We cut the Styrofoam to make the tombstones and worked together to decorate our yard," Bill Herold said. The family of four--Bill, his wife, Vi, and two children, ages 11 and 8--felt very happy when they completed their decorating and stood outside looking at what they'd created, he said.

The cemetery even included epitaphs that only the family understood, such as, "Here lies the professor charting the river to life."

"It was an inside joke," Herold said.

Others said, "Rest in Peace, Elvis" and "Do Not Disturb." Mixed in with those were some store-bought tombstones without any epitaphs.

A spotlight shone down illuminating the spooky scene for passers-by to enjoy.

That is, until Fri., Oct. 26, when seven of the tombstones went missing from their lawn while the family slept inside their home.

Sometime between 10 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. the tombstones vanished, Herold said. From his bedroom window on the second story, he could see they were gone when he looked out Saturday morning.

When Herold's 8-year-old daughter, Camryn, learned their work was gone, she cried. That's when her frustrated father made a sign to let whoever took the decorations know what they'd done.

"I know they were probably just kids having a big laugh, but I want them to know they broke a little girl's heart," Herold said.