COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – There’s the Grinch that stole Christmas, but what about stealing Halloween?

A man in Columbus’ University District is looking for the people he said took his decorations and joy out of the holiday. A message he posted on his porch after the act is now circulating on social media.

David Hill said that every year, he usually puts up a pretty elaborate display.

“I’ve lived here for, like, 42 years, and we’ve always been really big on decorations,” Hill said. “Christmas was first with the wife, and then Halloween.”

He said he and his wife collected decor over the years. After his wife died in May, Hill said he decided he wanted to go big on his display this year.

“It’s a lot,” Hill said. “It takes me three to four days to set everything out.”

Hill said the display had been out for just a few days when he noticed something was off.

“Probably went across to get pizza and came back and said, ‘Something’s missing,’ and then just went back through the Ring cameras and so, ‘Oh, there, there they are,’” Hill said.

Hill said he was hit five separate times by decoration thieves.

“Then some young kid in a hoodie actually walked up onto the porch right in front of the Ring cam, that the doorbell,” Hill said. “He just went down like he was shopping at Target.”

Feeling frustrated, Hill said he decided to save the decorations he had left and replace them with signs. They read “Thanks for ruining Halloween” and “No candy, my neighbors stealing my decorations.”

Hill said he’s since been approached by neighbors asking about the sign.

“Everybody seemed to stop and say, come up here and say, ‘What happened to this,’ and it kind of explains it,” Hill said. “Every morning, I know it’s stupid with the candy sign, you can’t see too much out here, so I come up here and look out here and see if anything maybe came back after all of this. But it’s not going to happen.”

Hill said he is not seeking consequences for the thieves. He really just wants his decorations back.

Hill said he is not going to put his Halloween display back up and he does not plan to do a Christmas display. Instead, he said his sign will stay right where it is until after the new year in hopes his message will get across.