Sydney woman’s gross baked bean inspires sinister theory

A Sydney woman found baked beans in her letterbox. Then she heard the bizarre find might point to a sinister plot in her quiet neighbourhood.

A Sydney woman who found a puddle of baked beans on her letterbox may have uncovered a sinister new trend in her quiet community.

Margaret Khursigara was stunned to find her letterbox overflowing with beans when she checked her mail on Saturday morning.

Confused by the strange delivery at her West Pennant Hills cul-de-sac home, the 52-year-old took to social media to get answers.

Instead she discovered a sinister trend might be emerging in her quiet neighbourhood.

Ms Khursigara found baked beans pouring out of her letterbox. Picture: Supplied / Channel 7

A neighbour reportedly told Ms Khursigara of a similar bean-dumping trend in 2021, when kidney beans would be left on doorsteps of UK homes by would-be burglars.

The beans were used as a messy indicator of which house was unoccupied, and a possible easy target for a burglary.

Thieves would return to targeted homes hours after pouring beans in an obvious enough place – a doorstep, or letterbox, for instance.

If the beans were still there, it was a sign no-one was home. Giving thieves a green light, of sorts, to break in.

Would-be thieves are known to case neighbourhoods to decide their next or an easy target.

Given the timing of her discovery just before Anzac Day, when many will opt to take Monday off and make a long weekend, Ms Khursigara told 7 News the theory was not too far-fetched.

“We know a lot of people who have gone away for that four-day weekend, so it kind of makes sense for it to happen at this point in time,” she said.

“If they’re (thieves) trying to see if someone is home, it’s a technique that could work.”

According to 7 News, Ms Khursigara did not report the incident to authorities.

“I think, because it’s just a minor and silly thing, that it’s the sort of thing that people aren’t going to take to the police or report,” she said.

“The creepiest part of this is, if it is a technique to see if we are home, that means they’re going to come back to check.”

Baked beans were also left on top of the mailbox. . Picture: Supplied / Channel 7

Her home the only one known to have been targeted in the bizarre incident.

But it was enough to cause her to tighten security around her home – which she has lived in for 20 years – including closely monitoring home security cameras.

In all her years living there, she said had never heard of a break-in in the area.

A NSW Police spokesperson told Seven there were no reports of local cases involving the link between beans and burglaries yet.

Burglars have a number of symbols they can leave at a property to indicate its occupants, ideal times to attack, or tactics to approach with. Picture: iStock.

It is not uncommon for homeowners to ask the social media brains trust about strange markings spotted around their homes.

In 2022, an Adelaide woman took to social media to ask about symbols that appeared overnight on the front and rear of her home, and similar symbols had appeared on neighbouring homes.

A quick internet search can uncover a number of common symbols that would-be thieves can leave once they case your home to indicate if it is a prime target, including: circles, triangles, ladder-like lines, crosses, or particular letters.

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Originally published as Sydney woman’s gross baked bean inspires sinister theory