GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.-- A lot of people have their homes decorated this time of year for the holiday season, but instead of spreading cheer, some neighbors in Kent County say someone is cutting their Christmas lights.
Some residents started noticing this a couple weeks ago and while it does seem like there’s some sort of Grinch out there, they’re not letting this stop them from celebrating the holidays.
"I felt sad that someone would want to do that, kind of like the Grinch?" said Kate Vece. "It did remind me of when the Grinch came down to Whoville and he was going to spoil their Christmas tree, you know?”
Kate Vece says she noticed lights were out at her home near Northview High School two weeks ago.
"At first I thought that, like something had gone wrong, come unplugged or something, so I sent my husband out to have a look and he discovered that it had been cut," said Vece.
It was a clean diagonal cut, according to Vece, which left half of the lights on her home in the dark.
"I was upset," said Vece. "I thought that we had offended someone, so I was concerned about that and I asked around and some other people had mentioned that it had happened to them also."
Vece says her kids were just as upset.
“We were like ‘Who the heck did this’?” said 10 year old Julia Henke.
"I think it’s rude," said four year old Max Vece.
Kate isn’t alone; other homeowners say they’ve had their lights cut as well.
"When my boyfriend got home around 9:00 to 9:30, he noticed that half the lights were completely off," said Amy Dalziel. "We picked up the lights and brought them inside and noticed that they were at a diagonal, complete diagonal slice so I just figured that somebody came by and sliced them with a knife or something.”
It's a slice Amy Dalziel says she can't put together.
"Our lights are a little obnoxious because they play with music and so when they’re playing, they’re flashing all the time and so I thought maybe somebody was mad about that," said Dalziel. "The music’s loud, but it’s not loud enough to bother anybody.”
Both Kate and Amy say they know other people who are dealing with the same thing, but they’ve since replaced their lights. Like in the movie, they aren’t letting this Grinch ruin their Christmas.
"I was furious," said Dalziel. "It’s just something fun and there’s no need for it.”
"I would just want them to stop," said Vece. "It’s not like, at least as far as I can tell, it's no major harm done, but just stop doing it.”
Both Kate and Amy say they don’t know who did this, but say they’ve both fixed their lights. Grand Rapids Police are aware of the reports and say they’re looking into it.
Anyone with information should call Grand Rapids Police at 616-456-3400 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
