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?

@clutter my phone dies within a couple of hours, not days. And a wet one would die v quickly

Well I would be concerned if I found a phone in my garden if I lived in a isolated place,

I live in a house which has several acres of woods, since lockdown we’ve had loads of walkers - including a woman heading merrily through our garden today like it was a footpath. No apologies, just straight up the driveway! Could it be something similar? Everyday walkers seem to know where you can go and where you can’t, the new to walking lockdown exercisers go anywhere. Could it be that?

@Mothership4two - The animals are only a very remote possibility but I keep an open mind and would rather it was that
The drone, I know nothing about them - but there would have been a drone noise?
I love the paraglider idea because it's hilarious, I think, but no way, never seen one here.
No swimming pool or even nice garden furniture . No markings, that I can see, anywhere, I actually checked for them the day it happened.
The lights make us visible from a long distance, can't decide if they should be on or off. Some do have sensors, but not near where the phone was. Will try to get some more.
Thank you for your wishes and for being here!
It's scary retrospectively, as more than likely someone was here and we didn't use to close the curtains, or check the windows or doors much before going to bed, we do now
The odd answers are from people who don't read the thread don't you think?

OP I’m sorry you’ve had to spend 25 pages explaining the same points over and over. Why are some people so rude..?! Of course YANBU.

You will feel jittery for a while but in a few weeks you will be fine. Please don’t let this idiot (because an intruder is of course the most likely scenario) make you feel unsafe in your own home. Be thankful you don’t live alone and you have your barking dog. Good advise from pp to invest in extra visible security. Although you are imagining some loony psycho from a horror movie it’s most likely young amateur criminals who will be put off if they see signs that you have CCTV and security lights/ alarm etc. And another dog!

Can I please also thank you for giving me half an hour escapism from bloody covid! I understand this is fully at your expense! But it’s nice all the same

Seriously though I’ve experienced freaky unexpected crimes myself and they really do leave you shaken up for a while. Learn to be more security aware as I have, but please don’t let it make you fearful. In the words of Mogili- I’m not afraid of you Shere Khan!! 💐

Maybe a rambler being nosy and lost their phone. Have the police been?

@georgialondon - Nice!

@CircleofWillis _ I doubt they would dust for fingerprints but I don't know. They took it away in a nice evidence bag like on the telly though!
If they do the forensics they will find my fingerprints all over it!

@SuitedandBooted Sergei is lovely and would be ideal, save for the enormous massiveness of him, poor darling but that's the spirit!
Come over here too @Bettysnow because last night after your message I filled in the application form for fostering from GSDR, the very people that Suitedandbooted is suggesting !! This morning the area manager called us and we've spent the afternoon bringing up one part of the fence that wasn't high enough to 5ft so we could be considered. Tomorrow we're doing the home assessment over the phone. I hope we pass and they offer us a new friend. We're all really exited now!

@VanGoghsDog - people are responding the way they have is because of all the inconsistencies and incredible "facts" in your story Really? Like what?
@teqcar and the rest - Some people are basically telling me I'm a liar, or a drama llama, that's quite rude and offensive imo.

I've answered all of their questions, as far as I can tell, even when I had to repeat stuff again and again. They don't come back to that with anything relevant by the way.
If they feel entitled to be as rude and hurtful as they wish to me then I feel entitled to tell them exactly what I think too. Their problem is that they can dish it but they can't take it.

@ScreamingKid - Love your name! - Thanks for the support. Ours is not a holiday home, but yes the countryside has its share of crime and I think it's going to get much more of problem with the current situation, including all the lovely empty holiday homes, I hadn't thought of that, they must be a prime target. Agree too re.CCTV.

@BusyProcrastinator Haha! I have tried, but it's not easy to implement if you have to take a dog into account. If you search booby trap alarm it takes you to some very interesting survivalists websites I love this stuff!
We've done a few things that are going to tell us for sure if someone has been in or not and made some changes so it's less welcoming to a stealthy visitor.
Bells are a great idea too!

@Yesterdayforgotten - Thank you, here are some for you too
I don't expect we will ever know. If it was ( which is more than likely) someone snooping, I am pleased, they lost their phone, otherwise we would have never known! At least now we are sharpening up on the security front. Someone upthread was mentioning the whole country being on flipflop holiday mode and negligent with security; that was us, full house, really pleased to have the kids back.

@TheMaddHugger - You see! Anything can happen! lol lol

@wonkylegs - Always wondered about the kids footballs when they had some, one night in the garden and pfff Thank you for the explanation!

@QuimReaper I don't know, I didn't get really, someone said it had something to do with IHGNFY

@QuimReaper - Thank you for the support, I really appreciate it. It's weird to be attacked for talking about an experience like this.
Intrusion is the right word isn't it, I have been using trespass (too much Better Call Saul)

@FlamingoAndJohn I can literally judge, knowing the house's layout, if it's in the kitchen, the sitting room or the study, it might be in their equivalent upstairs, of course but sometimes it randomly jumps into a field 3 miles away, always the same.

@safariboot - Thank youThank youThank You.

@GiveMeAllTheGin8 - Haven't slept much since, no.

@VanGoghsDog - Don't you remember, in your world there are no criminals, no nasty events of any sort anywhere whatsoever and now you're getting the helicopter out for your bil's phone! Tss. You ARE fun!

@VenusTiger - I'm okay, thanks!
That first story of yours gave me a chill. I trust and hope you were okay in the end? What happened? It's hard to see the big picture, under stress and primary reflexes are not always our best friends. Where they gone long? I can see how you'd be terrified, on your own in the house suddenly silent. How old were you? Did you lock yourself somewhere safe? Where they gone long?
Then the burglary, how mean do you have to be to take anything belonging to a child? I know it happens all the time , but still.
They obviously knew they had all the time in the world.That must have been really sad to come back to this after your holidays.
CCTV;There are no houses opposite or near the start of the drives and we don't have any (yet).

@Bettysnow - Thanks for your reply. I can see your points and agree, but also think that creep don't think like you and me. Obviously! What we see as too risky, they might not, or they might even like. (vomit)

Did you see my post earlier *Betty8 about GSs? We're doing it! I went to a rescue centre website after your post and applied, they've been in touch today, we've raised a fence to 5ft as per their requirement and we're doing the home assessment by phone tomorrow. SO excited!
If we pass through all the hoops and are approved, that must makes you the godmother of our new dogdogdoggy

@taxiforme - Now the drone theory makes more sense. First prison 25 miles away; can drones travel this far?

What exactly are you worried about. Are you a child? So what someones dropped there phone. If they come back for it and introduce themselves as the local axe murderer then maybe be alarmed. Otherwise man up

Welcome to the thread @Jeeperscreepers69! Would you like to read some of the posts? Just a warning, I am very rude. I hope you appreciate plain-speaking and that you're not easily offended!
It's their, not there. My teacher told me.

*It's probably broken and whomever owned it probably ditched it out the window as they were passing.

No need to overthink it*
@FelicisNox - No need to read any of the thread before you pitch in.

@TheMotherofAllDilemmas - Thank you, again and you too thank you @AntennaReborn Is it always like this on MN?

A mechanic left his phone on the roof of my car once, half a mile I drove before it fell off. It could have been a delivery person, they may have done a similar thing
Sure. (bangs head)

OP can you pm me with the outcome. This thread is so getting nowhere

we’ve had loads of walkers - including a woman heading merrily through our garden today like it was a footpath. No apologies, just straight up the driveway! Could it be something similar?

@thecatsabsentcojones - No, as per thread,. But it's true, as you have said that there are more walkers about.I have the feeling it stems from that.
I'd rather believe it's something that just cropped up and hopefully only happened once.

That would make me pretty uneasy. Do you have motion sensor lights or an alarm? I'd probably get one anyway.

@parentsnet123 - Ah, Thank you! 25 pages? Moi? Well, I do drone on!
The YABU/YANBU were a fat fingers mistake, I didn't mean to have voting, seems to attracts some argumentative bunnies.

Thank you for your nice words Parent, I got shaken, taking in the possible implications, but I'm in a better place now.
We've done stuff today so we have less of an easy prowling ground for an intruder and have a new dog to look forward to. Stopped me feeling hopeless.

I've put in place a nifty little trick (thank you John Le Carré) that will let us know if someone has come round again or not.

That creep is not going to stop us enjoying our home.
He's shown us how vulnerable we were and we're doing something about it, which is a plus.

I've had my dark hours but don't feel I've been hysterically screaming blue murder, if so, sorry, must be me being french.
One thing you can say is that when a stranger goes out of their way to lurk under your windows, they're sick in the head. That comes in all shapes and sizes from the most benign to the more scary.
If they managed to lose their phone and give the game away, they're probably thick and scatty and not that focused, a good thing for us, surely.
We'll never know. What matters is that we learn our lessons and move on.

I am glad the thread has provided you with some distraction from the ambient shit storm, you're very welcome to that . We'll take whatever we can at this stage. Besides, there is far worse going on than this, right now.

The thread has helped me lots and kept me going when no sleep, it's been interesting and great for processing stuff, ( DH is not a 'dweller').
Thanks for the Mowgli quote, I like it.

@Lowprofilename - First friend 10 miles away doesn't drive.

They won’t be able to track a signal don’t worry I have tried before to find a lost phone of mine however if u turn it in the chances are they might locate it tho via apps find my phone, Facebook has a location finder... ect so if u do get it on id recommend only briefly but it will probs my be locked any way this is worrying to find a random phone in your garden someone has been in your gate sen obviously to of dropped it I’d get spotlights check security in your house it’s good you have a dog, I really don’t think they would no where they lost it phoning the the police is the right move so they are aware try not to worry to much x