---
title: The Burglar Who Met Three Ghosts | The Hollow Gazette
description: He came for the hardware store. He left with a phone call to his sister.
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# The Burglar Who Met Three Ghosts

He came for the hardware store. He left with a phone call to his sister.

 By [The Headless Horseman](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/blog/author/headless-horseman) · Oct 3, 2026, 3:04:56 AM

![The Gray Lady, in a painted portrait.](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/hubfs/The%20Gray%20Lady%2c%20Front%20Desk%20%26%20Client%20Relations%20Painting.jpeg)

The Gray Lady, in a painted portrait.

MARLEY BLOCK — Late on the longest night of the year, a burglar with a flashlight, a crowbar, and a firm belief in his own cleverness let himself into a shuttered hardware store through the back window.

He was met, in the order the old story requires, by three spirits.

## What the report said

The first showed him the store as it had been on a bright Saturday long ago, with a child on a stepladder and a father tying a ribbon on a wrench. The burglar did not enjoy this, as he had been that child.

The second showed him the store as it is: dark, honest, and entirely locked up, with a night report waiting on the counter that already had his name in it. The third showed him the store as it would be in a year if he kept coming back: a sign in the window reading “Closed,” and a very short list of places he could still go.

He left the way he came, through the back window, empty-handed and unsteady, without the crowbar. He called his sister from the parking lot. We understand it went well.

### Price of the service

One hardware store, forgiving. The owner read the report on her desk at seven, renewed for three years, and sent over a tin of cookies for the three spirits, which were accepted without comment.

**Corrections.** The three spirits have asked us to note that none of them used chains. It is a matter of professional pride.

**Filed under:** [Case files](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/blog/tag/case-files)

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### [The Carts Came Home at 3 A.M.](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/blog/the-carts-came-home-at-3-am)

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### [The Data Room Was 61 Degrees and Nobody Could Say Why](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/blog/the-data-room-was-61-degrees-and-nobody-could-say-why)

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### [Salt Is Not a Security Plan](https://www.sleepyhollowsecurity.com/blog/salt-is-not-a-security-plan)

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"Stapler floated. Left immediately. 10/10." *– Anonymous Burglar*

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