17
by SunRiseWest
I remember in about '78 or '79 or so, I drove down to my Dad's place in a renovated carriage house Dupont Circle in DC, and realized I'd forgotten my key, Dad wouldn't be home for hours... and there was beer in the fridge. So, I scaled the wall to the second floor using gaps in the alternating brick pattern at the corner-- high ceilings, roughly 20 feet, and even being 20 years old, it was scary-- and broke in through the old wooden doors that opened on the former hay loft / current bedroom.
I was surprised to see a single detonated M80 on the windowsill. After Dad come home, I asked him about it. He chuckled and lazily replied that he was sick of people breaking into his new Peugeot 505, so when the alarm went off, he set off the M80 and screamed, "I've got a gun!"
Apparently, it worked like a charm-- at least once. He knew most of his neighbors, no one called the cops. Don't think you could get away with that today.