From protecting their property to preventing an eviction, we count 8 insane instances of
people booby-trapping their homes.
8.
Black Country Drug Bust
West Midlands Police in England arrested eight men on drug-related charges.
At least one of the arrests proved extra dangerous because the drug dealer had booby-trapped
his house.
Using an enforcer, the police busted down the door but were met by a metal plate on
the threshold.
The metal plate had an electric current running through it, which came from the house’s
power supply.
Despite the electrified metal plate, the police still raided the house and arrested the man.
During the raid, police found crack cocaine and a cannabis set-up.
7.
Apartment of Bombs
In 2012, James Holmes opened fire in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater during a midnight showing
of “The Dark Knight Rises”, killing 12 people.
The next day, after police arrested Holmes, they went to his apartment and found it to
be booby-trapped with numerous bombs.
Bombs ranged from black spheres to pickle jars filled with homemade napalm and .40 caliber
bullets.
There were also gasoline-filled soda bottles laying around to fuel the fire and help it
spread once the bombs detonated.
Holmes had the bombs rigged to explode in two ways.
The first was a trip wire stretched across a door that if a police officer opened, it
would trigger a thermos of glycerin pour into a pan of another chemical.
A fire would’ve resulted, making the bombs detonate.
The second was more complex and involved a remote control car outside by a dumpster.
Inside the dumpster was a boom box that played loud music.
The music was meant to lure people over to play with the remote control car.
If anyone started playing with the remote, they would’ve detonated the bombs because
of an antenna on top of the refrigerator.
With the help of a bomb squad robot, the police were able to break into the apartment and
disarm the two booby-traps.
6.
Evicted
A Utah man was so determined to not get evicted that he decided to put a booby trap by his
door.
61-year-old Wade Woods set a shotgun on a countertop and secured it with two C-clamps.
He took a piece of string and tied one end to the trigger and the other to the door.
When the woman came by to serve Wade his eviction notice, the shotgun went off and blew out
a window.
The woman was injured by the broken glass, but her injuries weren’t serious.
Wade was arrested on two counts of deadly conduct and one count of aggravated assault
with a deadly.
5.
Kato vs. Briney
Another case of a shotgun booby trap being set near a door only this case involved a
man, Edward Briney, who had inherited a farmhouse from his father.
Due to the Iowa house being so old, it was prone to various break-ins and burglaries.
Edward had had enough and decided to do something about it.
He took a 20-gauge shotgun and went into the north bedroom.
The shotgun was rigged to fire at the intruder’s legs when the bedroom door was opened.
When Marvin Kato broke in five days later, he experienced Edward’s wrath when he opened
the bedroom door and was shot in the legs.
Marvin was hospitalized for his wounds.
Once out of the hospital, Marvin sued Edward.
The court ruled in Marvin’s favor, awarding him $20,000 in actual damages and $10,000
in punitive damages.
The judge who had presided over the case determined that using such force on an unoccupied piece
of property wasn’t justified or reasonable.
If Edward was home during Marvin’s break-in, he would’ve been justified in using his
shotgun as it would’ve been self-defense.
4.
The Crutches Trap
Long Island resident Eric Stetz was angry at his landlord, so angry that he decided
to set two booby traps in his apartment.
The 44-year-old took a pair of crutches and attached two large knives to them using duct
tape.
Next he attached each one to a different door – one on his front door, the other on his
bedroom door – with bungee cords.
The traps were designed to have the cords tighten when the doors opened, causing the
knife-wielding crutches to swing out and stab whoever was unlucky enough to open the door.
Eric wasn’t home when the landlord and a phone company employee arrived at his apartment.
When the landlord opened the front door, he noticed the deadly crutch before it swung
towards him or the phone company employee.
After closing the door, the landlord called police and Eric was arrested.
Eric was charged with reckless endangerment.
3.
Electrified Roof
Australian Jumer Selimovski and his family were relentlessly harassed following a violent
incident where Jumer shot a man after having been stabbed.
At night, Jumer claimed to hear people on the roof of his house.
What did he do?
He stretched two electrical wires around his roof, screwing them into the gutters.
The wires had 254 volts of electricity running through them.
The booby trap was created to protect him and his family.
Not only did the booby trap protect him and his family, it also got him arrested.
Jumer ended up pleading guilty to setting a trap and being reckless.
2.
The Belgian’s Revenge
Belgian Louis Dethy felt abandoned by his estranged family.
As revenge, he wanted his children and grandchildren to feel his wrath once he was gone by way
of various booby traps hidden throughout his three-story house.
The retired engineer built 20 booby traps, most of which used a shotgun.
He also wrote coded notes that gave the location of each one.
Louis made one of his traps where if a certain number of beer bottles were removed from a
crate, the shotgun would go off.
Similar traps were found in the cellar, in a TV, in a water tank, the bathroom door,
and even a hidden space in a wall.
The house was such a death trap that Louis, when accidentally opening a chest he had booby-trapped,
was killed by a shotgun blast to the neck.
During the investigation, police were able to find and solve the coded notes and take
down all but one of the booby traps… except for one, which they believe was never built.
1.
Murder Castle
H.H. Holmes, one of the first documented serial killers, murdered people by means of booby
traps at his house.
It wasn’t just any house, though, but a custom-built house that doubled as a hotel…
all with the sole intention of murdering people.
Holmes’ “castle”, as locals called it because of its massive size, opened in 1893
in Chicago.
The hotel was essentially one big death trap, with staircases that led to nowhere, doors
that opened to brick walls, and other deceptions.
Among the booby traps were secret rooms that people – mostly women – were dropped into
through a trap door in the ceiling and left to die of hunger and thirst.
There were also bedrooms with hidden gas lines that people were locked in and left to suffocate.
Holmes was arrested by police in 1894 and sentenced to death by hanging.
Holmes confessed to 27 murdered but only 9 were confirmed.
There is a possibility that there could’ve been up to 200!
Outro: Ever set up a booby trap of your own?
Let us know in the reddit page linked below and you might be featured in a future countdown!