'It's absolutely crazy': Man suspects mysterious paper left outside home is a 'mark' for burglars

A man found a suspicious note on his home in Alabama, and he believes it was used by burglars to mark him as a potential victim. (Photo: WBRC)
A man found a suspicious note on his home in Alabama, and he believes it was used by burglars to mark him as a potential victim. (Photo: WBRC)

A man in Hoover, Ala. came home to a peculiar site last Sunday. On the doorstep of his house was a single sheet of yellow paper with the word “GOLD” handwritten on it. Corbitt Chandler told Birmingham, Ala., news station WBRC that his wife found a similar note in their mailbox the week before.

After taking to Facebook to post about the suspicious paper, he surmised from friends that potential burglars may have used the paper as a code. “Burglars and robbers will mark homes. They’ll mark the home and the time of day, things like that,” Chandler told the outlet.

“I installed these security cameras around the home, changed our schedules, moved our cars into the garage, some things we hadn’t been doing,” he explained.

The following day, during a time when Chandler is generally away from home, his surveillance camera captured a man walking up his porch steps. “My phone lights up; I get a notification. It’s 5:42 a.m., and somebody is walking up these stairs and comes and knocks on this door.”

Chandler’s wife called the police while he answered the door. The man at the door said that his car had broken down, but he eventually left the home, WBRC reported. When police eventually located the man, they learned he did not have a car.

Chandler was thankful he was home at the time and worries what might have happened if just his wife and their two daughters had been alone in the house.

Chandler told the outlet that he recognized the man from an incident in 2016 when he saw him mowing neighbor’s lawns. Police cannot confirm if the paper was part of a planned attack but are hopeful that other members of the public will reach out if they experienced a similar situation.

“The whole thing is crazy. I mean it’s absolutely crazy,” Chandler said.

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