November 27, 2025 • 7 mins
A Maine man allegedly squeezed through a bathroom window, carefully unwrapped all of a family's Christmas gifts a full month early, then fell asleep on their couch — and when confronted, couldn't explain why.
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WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.
#WeirdDarkness #TrueCrime #MaineCrime #ChristmasGrinch #BizarreCrime #HolidayCrime #StrangeNews #RealLifeGrinch #WeirdNews #CrimeStories
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
A Main man allegedly squeezed through a bathroom window carefully
unwrapped all of a family's Christmas gifts a full month early,
then fell asleep on their couch, and, when confronted, couldn't
explain why. I'm Darren Marler and this is weird, dark news.
Some crimes make you fear for humanity, mothers make you
fear for humanity's sanity. And then there's this one, which
(00:35):
makes you wonder if humanity has finally achieved some kind
of absurdist performance art that future generations will struggle to interpret.
On the morning of Sunday, November twenty third, twenty twenty five,
a resident of a state street department in Bangor Main
woke up to discover something unusual. There was a stranger
sleeping on their couch. The stranger had not only let
(00:55):
himself in uninvited, he'd apparently spent part of his evening
unwrapping every every single one of the family's Christmas presents.
Welcome to the Holidays and the Pine Trees, State folks.
According to the Bangor Police Department, the call came in
around eight thirty eight am. The tenant had awoken to
find a fifty year old man from the nearby town
of Milford, casually snoozing on their sofa. The tenant did
(01:18):
what any reasonable person would do, asked the man to leave.
The man did what no reasonable person would do, refused.
The doors to the apartment were locked, all of them.
So how exactly did this uninvited HouseGuest get inside the
bathroom window? Apparently squeezing through a residential bathroom window in
November in Maine, where the average temperature this time of
(01:40):
year hovers somewhere between uncomfortable and why do people live here?
Is certainly one way to announce you're not making great decisions.
When police arrived, they quickly identified the man as Jose
Harvey of Milford, a small town of about three thousand
people located across the Panopscott River from Old Town. Officers
recognized Harvey from what the department diplomatically described as previous interactions.
(02:04):
The nature of those previous interactions was not specified, though
one imagines they did not involve bringing casse roles. The
break in itself was strange enough, the gift situation pushed
it into genuinely inexplicable territory. After the police response, the
tenant discovered that while Harvey had been making himself comfortable
on their couch, he had also apparently found time to
(02:25):
unwrap every single Christmas present in the apartment. The gifts
were found opened and placed near where Harvey had been sleeping. Hi,
let's pause for a moment appreciate the logistics here. Christmas
is still a full month away. This is not a
case of opening presents on December twenty fourth and claiming
you thought it was already Christmas morning. This is November
twenty third. The Turkey hadn't even thought yet. Thanksgiving dinner
(02:49):
was still in the future. But Jose Harvey, for reasons
known only to himself and possibly not even to himself,
decided that the wrapping paper simply had to go. Did
he open them carefully, preserving paper for potential reuse. Did
he tear into them with a wild abandon like a
toddler hopped up on sugar cookies? Did he sort them
by size or recipient? These questions tragically remain unanswered. Another
(03:13):
question yet to be answered, how on earth does a
family have all of their Christmas shopping and gift wrapping
done before Thanksgiving? There's a separate, strange news story, right
there I should probably look into because that is just
this side of paranormal. What we do now is that
when the police questioned Harvey about his presence in the
apartment and his apartment gift openings free, he could not
(03:34):
or would not provide what the police described as a
logical reason for any of it, as if there could
be one. Honestly, that's the most frustrating part of this
entire story. If you're going to break into somebody's home
unwrap all their Christmas gifts, then take a nap police
to have the courtesyed to come up with a compelling excuse.
I was sleepwalking. I'm a quality control inspector for wrapping paper.
(03:56):
The presence told me too, anything, do give us something
to work with here. Jose Harvey was arrested and transported
to the Panobscott County Jail, where he was charged with
aggravated criminal trespass. In Maine, this is a Class C felony,
meaning it carries potential penalties of up to five years
in prison and finds of up to five thousand dollars.
(04:17):
Under Maine law, a person is guilty of aggravated criminal
trespass if they knowingly enter a dwelling place without permission,
and either commit an additional crime while inside, or have
two or more prior convictions for burglary or criminal trespass
already on their record. The first option seems more likely here,
since uninvited gift wrapping probably falls under some category of
(04:37):
properly related offense, even if it's one that rarely comes
up in law school. Regular criminal trespass into a dwelling
without the aggravating factors is merely a Class D misdemeanor
and Maine carrying a maximum sentence of three hundred and
sixty four days and finds of up to two thousand dollars.
But Harvey apparently earned himself the upgrade. Congratulations. I guess
(05:01):
the case remains under investigation, which raises the tantalizing possibility
that police are still trying to figure out what exactly
happened here. Perhaps there are witnesses, perhaps there is security footage.
Perhaps Harvey will eventually provide that logical reason that everybody's
waiting for. I wouldn't hold my breath. Though we may
never know what drove Jose Harvey to squeeze through that
(05:22):
bathroom window in a cold November morning, we may never
understand what compelled him to meticulously unwrapped presence that didn't
belong to him, weren't addressed to him, and weren't even
due to be opened for another month. We definitely won't
get an answer to the most pressing question of all.
What did he think of the gifts? Were they good presence?
Did he approve of the family's taste? Did he discover
(05:43):
someone was getting the gaming console they wanted? Or did
he uncover the bitter disappointment of another pair of socks?
Did he peek at the gift receipts? Try anything on
the victims of this bizarre crime now face a unique
holiday dilemma. Do you do you rewrap everything and pretend
it never happened. Do you make everybody open their gifts early?
(06:05):
Since the surprise is well already ruined? Do you return
everything and start completely from scratch, just to reclaim some
sense of normalcy. There's probably not a Hallmark movie about
this exact situation, but now there should be. Meanwhile, the
town of Milford population approximately three thy sixty nine, slogan
best little town by a damn site, can add another
(06:27):
claim to fame. It's already known for the historic Milford
Dam on the Panobscot River, for being a site of
a major nineteenth century sawmill that burned down in eighteen
ninety one, and for hosting the main Forest and Logging Museum.
Now it's also the hometown of the man who may
have invented an entirely new category of holiday crime. Harvey
is scheduled to be processed through the Panovscott County court system.
(06:50):
The family on State Street is presumably shopping for new lucks,
and somewhere in Bangor there's a pile of presents that
have technically already been opened once this season. I tried
reaching out for a comment, but have not yet heard
back from the Grinch. If you'd like to read this
story for yourself or share the article with a friend,
you can read it on the Weird Darkness website. I've
(07:11):
placed a link to it in the episode description, and
you can find more stories of the paranormal, true crime, strange,
and more, including numerous stories that never make it to
the podcast in my Weird darknewsblog at Weird Darkness dot com.
Slash News
A Main man allegedly squeezed through a bathroom window carefully
unwrapped all of a family's Christmas gifts a full month early,
then fell asleep on their couch, and, when confronted, couldn't
explain why. I'm Darren Marler and this is weird, dark news.
Some crimes make you fear for humanity, mothers make you
fear for humanity's sanity. And then there's this one, which
(00:35):
makes you wonder if humanity has finally achieved some kind
of absurdist performance art that future generations will struggle to interpret.
On the morning of Sunday, November twenty third, twenty twenty five,
a resident of a state street department in Bangor Main
woke up to discover something unusual. There was a stranger
sleeping on their couch. The stranger had not only let
(00:55):
himself in uninvited, he'd apparently spent part of his evening
unwrapping every every single one of the family's Christmas presents.
Welcome to the Holidays and the Pine Trees, State folks.
According to the Bangor Police Department, the call came in
around eight thirty eight am. The tenant had awoken to
find a fifty year old man from the nearby town
of Milford, casually snoozing on their sofa. The tenant did
(01:18):
what any reasonable person would do, asked the man to leave.
The man did what no reasonable person would do, refused.
The doors to the apartment were locked, all of them.
So how exactly did this uninvited HouseGuest get inside the
bathroom window? Apparently squeezing through a residential bathroom window in
November in Maine, where the average temperature this time of
(01:40):
year hovers somewhere between uncomfortable and why do people live here?
Is certainly one way to announce you're not making great decisions.
When police arrived, they quickly identified the man as Jose
Harvey of Milford, a small town of about three thousand
people located across the Panopscott River from Old Town. Officers
recognized Harvey from what the department diplomatically described as previous interactions.
(02:04):
The nature of those previous interactions was not specified, though
one imagines they did not involve bringing casse roles. The
break in itself was strange enough, the gift situation pushed
it into genuinely inexplicable territory. After the police response, the
tenant discovered that while Harvey had been making himself comfortable
on their couch, he had also apparently found time to
(02:25):
unwrap every single Christmas present in the apartment. The gifts
were found opened and placed near where Harvey had been sleeping. Hi,
let's pause for a moment appreciate the logistics here. Christmas
is still a full month away. This is not a
case of opening presents on December twenty fourth and claiming
you thought it was already Christmas morning. This is November
twenty third. The Turkey hadn't even thought yet. Thanksgiving dinner
(02:49):
was still in the future. But Jose Harvey, for reasons
known only to himself and possibly not even to himself,
decided that the wrapping paper simply had to go. Did
he open them carefully, preserving paper for potential reuse. Did
he tear into them with a wild abandon like a
toddler hopped up on sugar cookies? Did he sort them
by size or recipient? These questions tragically remain unanswered. Another
(03:13):
question yet to be answered, how on earth does a
family have all of their Christmas shopping and gift wrapping
done before Thanksgiving? There's a separate, strange news story, right
there I should probably look into because that is just
this side of paranormal. What we do now is that
when the police questioned Harvey about his presence in the
apartment and his apartment gift openings free, he could not
(03:34):
or would not provide what the police described as a
logical reason for any of it, as if there could
be one. Honestly, that's the most frustrating part of this
entire story. If you're going to break into somebody's home
unwrap all their Christmas gifts, then take a nap police
to have the courtesyed to come up with a compelling excuse.
I was sleepwalking. I'm a quality control inspector for wrapping paper.
(03:56):
The presence told me too, anything, do give us something
to work with here. Jose Harvey was arrested and transported
to the Panobscott County Jail, where he was charged with
aggravated criminal trespass. In Maine, this is a Class C felony,
meaning it carries potential penalties of up to five years
in prison and finds of up to five thousand dollars.
(04:17):
Under Maine law, a person is guilty of aggravated criminal
trespass if they knowingly enter a dwelling place without permission,
and either commit an additional crime while inside, or have
two or more prior convictions for burglary or criminal trespass
already on their record. The first option seems more likely here,
since uninvited gift wrapping probably falls under some category of
(04:37):
properly related offense, even if it's one that rarely comes
up in law school. Regular criminal trespass into a dwelling
without the aggravating factors is merely a Class D misdemeanor
and Maine carrying a maximum sentence of three hundred and
sixty four days and finds of up to two thousand dollars.
But Harvey apparently earned himself the upgrade. Congratulations. I guess
(05:01):
the case remains under investigation, which raises the tantalizing possibility
that police are still trying to figure out what exactly
happened here. Perhaps there are witnesses, perhaps there is security footage.
Perhaps Harvey will eventually provide that logical reason that everybody's
waiting for. I wouldn't hold my breath. Though we may
never know what drove Jose Harvey to squeeze through that
(05:22):
bathroom window in a cold November morning, we may never
understand what compelled him to meticulously unwrapped presence that didn't
belong to him, weren't addressed to him, and weren't even
due to be opened for another month. We definitely won't
get an answer to the most pressing question of all.
What did he think of the gifts? Were they good presence?
Did he approve of the family's taste? Did he discover
(05:43):
someone was getting the gaming console they wanted? Or did
he uncover the bitter disappointment of another pair of socks?
Did he peek at the gift receipts? Try anything on
the victims of this bizarre crime now face a unique
holiday dilemma. Do you do you rewrap everything and pretend
it never happened. Do you make everybody open their gifts early?
(06:05):
Since the surprise is well already ruined? Do you return
everything and start completely from scratch, just to reclaim some
sense of normalcy. There's probably not a Hallmark movie about
this exact situation, but now there should be. Meanwhile, the
town of Milford population approximately three thy sixty nine, slogan
best little town by a damn site, can add another
(06:27):
claim to fame. It's already known for the historic Milford
Dam on the Panobscot River, for being a site of
a major nineteenth century sawmill that burned down in eighteen
ninety one, and for hosting the main Forest and Logging Museum.
Now it's also the hometown of the man who may
have invented an entirely new category of holiday crime. Harvey
is scheduled to be processed through the Panovscott County court system.
(06:50):
The family on State Street is presumably shopping for new lucks,
and somewhere in Bangor there's a pile of presents that
have technically already been opened once this season. I tried
reaching out for a comment, but have not yet heard
back from the Grinch. If you'd like to read this
story for yourself or share the article with a friend,
you can read it on the Weird Darkness website. I've
(07:11):
placed a link to it in the episode description, and
you can find more stories of the paranormal, true crime, strange,
and more, including numerous stories that never make it to
the podcast in my Weird darknewsblog at Weird Darkness dot com.
Slash News
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