It's all an innocent prank, until it's not.
Houses are being "egged" in a spate of incidents in the Brentwood Bay area.
Central Saanich police warn pranksters who throw eggs at people's houses may face criminal charges.
Since Dec. 19, 2024, police said there were at least six reported cases of house egging, with more being shared on social media.
"We're seeing an increase and I’m not sure why," Cpl. Pat Bryant told Peninsula News Review. "It seemed to be happening between midnight and 3:30 a.m. If these individuals are caught and if we could link them to all the incidents, you could be looking at a charge of mischief – a criminal charge of interfering with life and property and they could go to court."
On Jan. 6, a house on Clarke Road was egged leaving homeowner Pauline Lyngard annoyed.
"What a mess it made," she said. "We live in a 90-year-old cottage and we try to keep the place pretty pristine and intact, so it was pretty obvious when we saw it."
Lyngard believes the egging happened sometime after midnight and was most likely committed by a passing car or people walking by the street.
"Clarke Road is a busy road for pedestrians because people cut through from Brentwood Drive down at the other end so there's a lot of people walking up and down there after midnight."
Looking at the sticky mess that dripped down the wood siding, she said there were probably almost a dozen eggs that were thrown onto their property which created the messy splatter.
Within 24 hours of the egging incident on Clarke Road, Colin Shearing, a resident in the Brentwood Heights area, alerted the neighbourhood Facebook group about falling victim to the pranksters.
"Heads up that my house was just egged. I went outside to look around quickly after it happened and there was nobody around. I'm guessing whoever did it may have been in a car, " he said.
Other community members shared similar egging incidents a few weeks ago on Greig Avenue and Josephine Road.
"This is getting rather worrisome – masked prowlers and regular vandalism and eggings," said Lisa C.
Egging a house can be considered vandalism.
"If this just happened once, OK, it's a little bit of tomfoolery, " added Bryant. "But when you see the numbers and it's just happening over and over again, that to me is just unacceptable."
Police encourage the community to report any egging incidents or other suspicious activity by calling 250-652-4441. Residents who have CCTV or any kind of video recordings are also encouraged to submit them to the station.
"At this point we're, we're still working through the investigation and figuring out who these people are," Bryant said.
