By Tim Binnall
Residents of a neighborhood in Texas are puzzled by a mysterious man who has been seen roaming the streets at night randomly pruning people's trees. According to a local media report, home security cameras have spotted the curious character practicing his handiwork outside of multiple houses in the city of Fort Worth over the last few weeks. Accompanied by an unleashed dog and generally appearing around three in the morning, the man seemingly possesses a passion for pruning as one resident observed that "he starts trimming the tree and admiring his work and kind of stepping back." What was first a weird occurrence has now become a genuine concern to homeowners who have taken to calling the peculiar individual Edward Scissorhands.
"Sometimes he'll just take a little bit," Ashley Thomann explained, "but then in other people's trees he'll take massive gobs." It would seem the latter scenario was the case with Jerry Balkenbush, who initially thought that a bad storm had caused a tree in his yard to lose several of its branches until his wife told him about the odd man who had become the talk of the neighborhood. Understandably a bit unsettled by the phantom pruner's odd late-night behavior, they are particularly perturbed by how much more frequent and widespread the incidents have become with a whopping 12 trees on three different streets being struck in one night last week.
Since their home owners associations leaves residents responsible for taking care of the trees in their community, residents are worried that 'Edward Scissorhands' could wind up costing the neighborhood hundreds of dollars should he wind up causing too much damage. Additionally, they are fearful that someone might ultimately get hurt should the pruner be caught in the act by a community member who does not take too kindly to their 'craft.' As such, residents are hopeful that shining a spotlight on the individual might have them thinking twice about their next late-night stroll through the neighborhood or perhaps they can be identified via the home security footage and their proverbial reign of tree trimming terror will come to an end.