Vandals Set Fire To Famous âHome Aloneâ House
Last week, movie fans held their faces in their hands and screamed â just like young Macaulay Culkin did in the 1990 film Home Alone â when news broke that the northern Illinois Georgian mansion used for many of the filmâs scenes was heavily damaged in a fire authorities are calling âsuspicious.âSold in 2012 for nearly $1.6 million dollars, the house has its share of âdrive by fansâ â movie lovers who stop by to take a picture, just to say they were there. âOne of those fans, we think,â said fire chief Bill Carrey, âgot carried away and wanted to leave his mark. There was evidence left behind that suggested the fire was deliberately set.âNevertheless, conspiracy theories are popping up across the internet. SuperTriviaFanTed suggested in a blog post that actor Joe Pesci, irritated that he could not use his usual foul-mouthed vocabulary in the family oriented film, used his so-called âconnections to the mobâ to exact his revenge by torching the house. The Chicago Tribune has received anonymous emails saying that because Macaulay Culkin mimicked Edvard Munchâs painting âThe Scream,â the restless spirit of the distressed Norwegian artist set the house ablaze. The most popular theory, though, is that Daniel Stern, the actor who played Marv, one of the âWet Banditsâ alongside Joe Pesci, got bored and set the fire himself. Stern hasnât been relevant in films in over a decade, and the fire could have been his way of making a name for himself once more.Several other famous âmovie setâ houses have fallen victim to sudden âfameâ once more. The famous Amityville HorrorÂ house was besieged with visitors after an article appearing in Good Housekeeping magazine renewed interest in the property. Even after changes in the landscape and modifications to doors and windows were made, crowds still flocked to the house, causing problems for the new homeowners and their neighbors.âYes, Iâve heard the theories and funny jokes,â said Carrey, âbut weâre going to go with arson. We detected traces of kerosene on the premises. Weâve gotten all sorts of prank calls from people who ask âWas the little boy home alone during the fire? Was he hurt? Did he set the house on fire?â Things like that. I guess itâs all fun and games, but it takes up a lot of the departmentâs time. We deal in facts and this is a crime scene, not a reality show.âCarrey is confident that the perpetrators will be identified and apprehended soon. âEverybodyâs got security cameras now. These dumb vandals donât stop and think everything they do, someoneâs got them on camera. Also, there are only a few gas stations nearby thatÂ sell kerosene, so weâll have this wrapped up soon.âWinnetka police are reviewing neighborsâ security camera data and expect to release images of persons of interest to local media by the end of the week.