Found a phone in my garden - isolated property - shit scared

[ScarredBunny]

Name changed for this - Sorry if this seem trivial, I know people are dealing with far bigger things at the moment.

I found a phone lying on the ground, about 5 yards from my house.

We live in an isolated property about a mile away from the first road. We have not have any visitors , maintenance people for many weeks (obviously). Delivery drivers, yes, but they would not have any reason to go to this part of the garden/couldn't access it during daytime without us seeing something.
At first I assumed it belonged to one of us, but no!
Phoned the police, have a ref./case number, etc. but they're busy and will get back to us when they can.
The police said to take the phone indoors and wait for their call/visit.

I am worried that the next visit is going to be from whomever the phone belongs to.
The phone is dead as a dodo but I assume it still can be found?

What should do?

Why would you put a phone in an AGA, OP? They’re constantly on.

@Strawberrypancakes Thanks! - in a way
@Namechangex10000 Yes it's not as if trespassers, pervs, burglars were the stuff of science fiction, it does happen. Some on this thread have had some rather hairy experiences.
No she hasn't, could I see it from this page if she had? I'd rather she said what she has to say here, tbh.

@Namechanger Criminal offenders like to go for the minimum amount of effort for the maximum reward otherwise its not worth the effort or the risk. OP says she lives so remotely you can see or hear a car (or motorbike) and she didn't so I do think it's far more likely to be another explanation other than a potential intruder walking or cycling for miles for no reward.

Where we live there are a few homeless people who live wild in the local woods, camping and rough sleeping. If they thought your house was a holiday home that would be empty during lockdown, they might scope it out to see if they could stay there a while. And before someone says what would a homeless person be doing with an i-phone, it can be the key lifeline they have and the one possession that connects them to the world. Some of the local homeless have jobs or earn well from begging but no roof over their heads.

Avalanche was clearly troll-hunting (possibly while stoned), & the OP batted her off very impressively.

I'd have been scared too OP: hope you manage to have a nap today.

We are rural and last week we had a man snooping around looking in windows that freaked my kids out. We called the police and they said he was looking for holiday properties and took him away. Dont know what happened after that but we made sure our security lights work!

Cyclist? Loads more cycling now. Or seagull? Friend of mine had her guinea pig picked up by a seagull and dropped quite away away in somebody’s garden. It survived.😱

I wouldn’t worry now the police have it. They’ll know how to get into it and If it was somebody dodgy the minute it gets switched on they’ll see it’s at a police station.😂

I’d worry more re Avalanche.😬

Is pig-stealing a thing?
Not easily neighbouring farm is a pig one and I was once roped into helping them catch one that got free, never again 😐

Does the phone have a cover on? Might help for identification if anybody has lost it. Could a crow or seagull have carried it maybe?

@CrazyTimesAreOccurring I didn't last night, no.
@TwistyHair - Not dogs??

It does look as if @Avalanchemight have planted it here, doesn't it?

@IGottaGetOuttaThisPlace Really? But shouldn't the phone be charged for this to worK?
Tried it with mine and the reply; " I don't know who this iphone belongs to' Maybe my phone is particularly dense

@IGottaGetOuttaThisPlace 😱that’s scary! Just tried it

@MarthasGinYard - yes. But from both roads it looks like a dirt tracks between fields, the bins are the only giveaway.

OP, I hope the police can give you an answer of some kind, how worrying.
Although I do like the theory of the cool fox missing his iPhone, unable to check Foxbook.

The idea of homeless person looking for a empty house does sound plausible but your house did looked occupied (cars, lights on) on that night.
Could it be someone came to see the previous owners? I’ve got feeling from your posts that you moved here recently.

Bin man!!!!

I was meaning that a secret visitor to the house may have dropped it, not someone from the house. And the person involved may not want to confess for whatever reason.

Someone on the bridle path looking for a place for an illicit shag, dropped the phone, battery ran out so no torch. Or a wanker in the bushes watching the windows.

@AvalancheKit are you on crack-ling ???

This is brilliant. (As long as AC is not psychotic - then it's not so funny)

' It is possible to get too involved in a thread. I did that before and actually got inside the internet and webpage. It took a long time for people to click i was missing in real life and the Mumsnet technicians actually had to track me down and free me. While I was gone, thankfully nobody moved my phone.

I think this is what could have happened with the phone you found. Someone from the estate had transferred directly into the internet while sitting down in the woods. A fox saw the phone and thought it belonged to your household and dropped it in your garden.

The problem is, there is no a soul wandering around the internet trying to get back to Earth, but in until the phone is taken back to the exact same place from where it came they will wander forever.

There is only one solution now. A hedgehog needs to find it and carry it back. They do that.

But firstly you and other Mumsnetters need to get the phone back from the police.

And you have to do it quickly. The phone was removed on the New Moon and must be returned by the night of the Full Moon. That is 7th May.

Only the hedgehog must go. All others may not follow.'

I was having a laugh folks! Thought we could all do with a bit of laughter too.

Not so sure now. Jesus Christ..!!

Not troll-hunting @MilesJuppIsMyBitch

Your judgment is poor.

have you been up al nuight op!?
i think your bridal path observation mighyt be the key here.or i would try to think of it this way to ease your mind.of course do all the security extras you can but dont let your bliss be shattered.becasue your are thining it has by thinking the worst.but why does it have to be the worst,why cant it be the optimist side and it atually be really innocent.we so quickly always fall to fearing the worst.
i think more and more people are going out of the way now.and as you said its been busier by the path.so i think more people are walking.and could they have come close if they needed or wanted wifif thinking oo a house and wifi.or even a long out of the way walk and suddnely a house and they m ight want a sneaky explore because its the first place theyve come across for a bit.anny number of reasons.
try not to panic because this is your haven at the moment and you dont need that breaking.
every time you think "what if it could be this oh no"try thinking "why am i thinking this,why on the bad what if it could actually be ok"

So err have you actually got a story @avalanche then....? freaking out an already scared poster by sounding unhinged and desperately seeking her whereabouts and predicting what creepy things she's going to find next in her garden is hardly funny

OP I don’t understand. You say you live near a bridle path. People will explore. Especially now. Why wouldn’t that happen and they drop their phone? Maybe for a fox to find?

@TimeForChange123 - the fact that I didn't hear a car doesn't mean there wasn't one, I wasn't paying attention to that.
I get that it's unlikely that someone would walk for miles to burgle any place, but you could drive during the day when there is some farm traffic, park the car where it can't be seen from the house and wait for the 'right' moment.