A mayoral candidate in Fort Smith, Arkansas, decided to take matters into his own hands when he saw his campaign signs stolen over and over again. Thanks to a GPS tracker, he managed to find the culprit. The man is also a “vampire” of sorts, and his signs are coffin-shaped. Because, of course, they are.
Shayne McKinney shared the confrontation online. He is a Little Rock mayoral candidate, and for social media purposes, he dresses as a vampire, often sharing clips dressed in vampire clothing and fangs. The clip attached above went viral in a matter of days. It garnered 450,200 views, 31,900 likes, and more than 800 comments.
The Arkansas man shared his dilemma: his campaign signs, which are shaped like coffins, keep getting stolen. To get to the bottom of the issue and potentially find a culprit, Shayne decided to hide an Apple AirTag in one of them. And as he expected, the sign was stolen, although this time he knew exactly where it went.
Shayne got out of his vehicle and walked toward a home, supposedly where his coffin sign was being held hostage. Two women greeted him and immediately recognized him. They had seen him in his online videos, and certainly his vampire aesthetic helped with the identification. Shayne, after exchanging introductions, cut to the chase.
“I had a sign at W Street and Jenny Lynn that got taken, and it’s at this address. We have it on a GPS tracker,” he said.
A Teen Culprit
The women, AJ and Whitney, said that maybe some young boys had taken the coffin, and pointed Shayne toward the AirTag’s GPS location. He looked through some trash cans and, eventually, knocked on a door. One of the women explained the situation to the homeowner, and so did Shayne.
“My son probably got it,” a woman, the homeowner, said. Shayne added, “My signs are really cool, but still having these taken over and over and over again is getting frustrating.”
The woman then asked Shayne not to record her, but he reassured her that he was only recording himself. She was worried about a different cameraman, who, according to Shayne, was recording footage for a future documentary. Still, she wasn’t having any of it.
“My son is a teenager. He saw a sign he liked; he took it,” the woman said.
The Arkansas mayoral candidate showed no hard feelings, and he got his coffin sign back. He had previously said that the police were coming, but stated that he would talk to them and ask them not to pursue the investigation any further.
Reactions
The video sparked multiple responses, mostly from viewers who saw a clear lack of accountability. One said, “The fact that that mom defend his son instead of teaching a lesson…. Dang!” Another one commented, “My son is ‘just a teenager.’ Smh, she’s the issue.”
Others, however, chose to focus on the man’s attire and vampire persona. One asked, “How is the sun not hurting you?” Another one added, “Being a vampire and a landlord is smart because you don’t have to ask permission to enter someone’s house.”
Hopefully, Shayne’s viral video will mean that no one will dare to steal one of his coffin campaign signs ever again. If they do, they’ll have Nosferatu himself at their doorstep.
