About eight residents woke up Nov. 21 to find a police officer at their door, a pumpkin lying near their damaged car, or both.
Area residents reported someone caused a combined $6,000 in damage to their vehicles by throwing pumpkins late Nov. 20 and early Nov. 21.
''We didn't even realize it,'' said Vicki Lockaton, of 651 E. Broadway Ave. ''I saw an officer leaving my house, and I went down the street to check on my car and the whole windshield was shattered and there were pumpkin seeds everywhere.''
Eight people, whose vehicles were parked on East Broadway Avenue, Hazel Street, West Second Street, North Avenue and Crumlin Avenue, reported damage to their vehicles resulting from pumpkins being smashed on various parts of their cars.
Two people, Christopher Mutter and Lockaton, reported their front windshield was smashed by someone who threw a pumpkin at it, causing an estimated $1,500 damage.
Six others reported that someone threw a pumpkin at their car, breaking off their driver's side mirrors, causing about $500 in damage.
"I'm thinking it was either teenagers or they were drunk and thought, 'Hey, let's try this,' '' said Roberta Bundy, of 41 West 2nd St.
Bundy said the side mirror on her husband's work truck was destroyed by a pumpkin.
Residents said the neighborhood was typically quiet and mostly elder adults, between 50 and 70 years old, live there.
Lockaton said after a neighbor's garage was broken into twice in a two-week span last year, her neighbors have watched out for each other. No one saw anything that night, she said.
Bundy said she believes her street, on which her vehicle and one other were vandalized, was hit by the pumpkin smashers after 1:30 a.m.
''My cousin and I were working on our craft show that night,'' Bundy said. ''When my cousin left about 1:30 a.m., there was nothing in the street. I know that.''
Lockaton said she felt lucky that the pumpkin smashers did not vandalize her two newer cars, which were parked in her driveway. She said she always keeps her front yard well-lit and said officers told her to keep it that way.
''It's idiots,'' she said. ''How can you take someone else's property and say let's do whatever we want to it? I hope they catch whomever did it. What if we had to use the car the next morning? We would have missed a day of work. We were just lucky.''