It’s enough to make your bones rattle — another giant skeleton has been stolen, this time in Esquimalt.
Named “Mo-Mo” by Ellie Sercombe’s two-year-old son Tayte, who can’t yet pronounce the word “monster,” the skeleton disappeared from the front yard of their home on Old Esquimalt Road, across from Ecole Victor Brodeur, overnight on Saturday.
The arm of a similar huge skeleton was taken from the Oak Bay property of Hazel and Rod Braithwaite on the weekend of Oct. 26.
When they headed out each morning, Tayte would say “good morning” and “goodbye” to the skeleton, said his mother, who called it “our little buddy — our big buddy.”
The last time Mo-Mo was seen by the family was close to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, when Tayte gave it a goodnight kiss.
When Sercombe went out at 8 a.m. Sunday to take the toddler for a walk, there was no sign of Mo-Mo.
Her first thought on Sunday was that perhaps her father, who was planning to store the skeleton until next year, had popped by and taken it. But that wasn’t the case.
Sercombe posted a plea on social media hoping for help in finding Mo-Mo, saying: “Breaks our heart that someone would steal it, especially seeing how sad he is about it.”
Sercombe said many neighbours replied to her post, saying how much they enjoyed seeing the skeleton and were sad to learn it had been stolen.
Installed at the beginning of October, it had been in the yard until this past weekend.
Mo-Mo was a gift from her father, who paid $400 for it.
The skeleton is about five to six feet tall, Sercombe said, speculating the thief or thieves would have needed a pickup truck to take it away.
It has detachable parts that break down into six pieces and is something an average person could pick up, she said. “It’s surprisingly light.”
She thinks someone would have been able to take it apart and put it in a truck in about five minutes.
Sercombe is hoping that a door-cam or a dash-cam picked up images of the theft.
She suspects the thief or thieves have put Mo-Mo in a garage or shed to keep it out of sight until next year, when it might be sold or used.
