History Main / BreakInThreat

* In a rare heroic example, [[Literature/DoraWilkSeries Dora Wilk]] and her werewolf commando break into the MonsterOfTheWeek's house, find their nesting place (Doraverse vampires sleep during day) and leave... [[TastesLikeDiabetes nauseatingly cute illusions]]. Message, though, is very clear - they could kill them anytime and they couldn't do a damn thing about it. Made even clearer when [[{{Shapeshifter}} Szelma]] breaks in as a cat and leave a politely composed invitation on the table, behind its owner's back.

An alleged tactic of the East German Communist secret police, known as Stasi, was to subtly change the arrangement of furniture and items in a suspect's house, with the goal of creating stress and doubt of their own movements (whether or not they had, say, placed a photo at a slight crooked angle).

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 2, the vampire Angelus sneaks into Buffy's bedroom while she's sleeping and draws a picture of her, which he leaves for her to find in the morning. (Buffy had previously [[MustBeInvited allowed Angel into her home]], and hadn't removed the permission after Angel turned into Angelus. Once she became aware of this, she had Willow perform a spell to uninvite him.)

** An alleged tactic of the East German Communist secret police, known as Stasi, was to subtly change the arrangement of furniture and items in a suspect's house, with the goal of creating stress and doubt of their own movements (whether or not they had, say, placed a photo at a slight crooked angle).

* This was the schtick of the villain of the week on one episode of ''Series/TheAvengers''; in one example, a victim finishes his tea and finds the word "POISON" inscribed on the bottom of his cup.

The point is that whoever sneaked into the room got so close to the victim that he could've done anything he wanted. This is often a lot scarier than actually carrying out the threat.

* In the Tess Gerrittsen novel ''The Surgeon'', as the titular character returns to her office, she notices some minor items are not where she left them, but dismisses it. But when the threats against her begin, she realizes that the criminal has already been stalking her and that the out-of-place things were meant to start rattling her peace of mind.

* In the Tess Gerrittsen novel, ''The Surgeon'', as the titular character returns to her office, she notices some minor items are not where she left them, but dismisses it. But when the threats against her begin, she realizes that the criminal has already been stalking her and that the out-of-place things were meant to start rattling her peace of mind.
* In a rare heroic example, [[Literature/DoraWilkSeries Dora Wilk]] and her werewolf commando break in MonsterOfTheWeek's house, find [[spoiler:his]] nesting place (Doraverse vampires sleep during day) and leave... [[TastesLikeDiabetes nauseatingly cute illusions]]. Message, though, is very clear - they could kill [[spoiler:him]] anytime and [[spoiler: he]] couldn't do a damn thing about it. Made even clearer when [[{{Shapeshifter}} Szelma]] breaks in as a cat and leave politely composed invitation on the table, behind its owner's back.

* In ''The Bishop'', this happens to [[spoiler:Margaret. The killer has been videotaping her. Judging by the distance, he was so close he could've touched her at times.]] Logically, this freaked them out big time.

* In The Bishop, this happens to [[spoiler:Margaret. The killer has been videotaping her. Judging by the distance, he was so close he could've touched her at times.]] Logically, this freaked [[spoiler: her]] out big time.

* RichardFeynman claims that he did this while working at Los Alamos, though it was more "break-in warning" than "break-in threat", as he tried to draw attention to what he saw as security flaws. As anyone with any experience with bureaucracy can guess, the people there tended to be more angry with Feynmann for pointing out the flaws than they were about the flaws existing in the first place.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 2, the vampire Angelus sneaks into Buffy's bedroom while she's sleeping and draws a picture of her, which he leaves for her to find in the morning. (Buffy had previously [[VampireInvitation allowed Angel into her home]], and hadn't removed the permission after Angel turned into Angelus. Once she became aware of this, she had Willow perform a spell to uninvite him.)

* An urban legend [[http://www.snopes.com/autos/theft/carthief.asp as retold by Snopes]]:

-->[A] woman who had elaborately burglar-proofed her midtown Manhattan apartment... returned home one day to find her furniture rearranged. Nothing was missing, but she happened upon a chilling note which read: "If we want to get you, we will."\\
\\
A common variant has someone find out that their elaborately protected car has been turned around in the night with a note that says "When we want it, we'll take it."

* The Hassassin were a group of Persian assassins who would threaten high profile targets by leaving a dagger under the victim's pillow.
* Weapons designer Gerald Bull came home to find that someone rearranged the furniture in his apartment. This was after he had been warned to stop working for Saddam Hussein.

-->[A] woman who had elaborately burglar-proofed her midtown Manhattan apartment... returned home one day to find her furniture rearranged. Nothing was missing, but she happened upon a chilling note which read: "If we want to get you, we will."
** A common variant has someone find out that their elaborately protected car has been turned around in the night with a note that says "When we want it, we'll take it."

* This happens in ''Film/TheGodfather'' as a result of the title character's offer being refused. [[spoiler:Jack Woltz wakes up with the severed head of his prize horse, Khartoum, in his bed]].

* In a rare heroic example, [[Literature/DoraWilkSeries Dora Wilk]] and her werewolf commando break in MonsterOfTheWeek's house, find [[spoiler:his]] nesting place (Doraverse vampires sleep during day) and leave... [[TastesLikeDiabetes nauseatingly cute illusions]]. Message, though, is very clear - they could kill [[spoiler:him]] anytime and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. Made even clearer when [[{{Shapeshifter}} Szelma]] breaks in as a cat and leave politely composed invitation on the table, behind its owner's back.

* ''Film/SleepingWithTheEnemy'': While bathing, Laura notices that the bathroom towels have been arranged the way her abusive husband insisted. She freaks out, but upon noticing that nothing else is out of the ordinary, dismisses it. . .until she returns home from her date and finds her tub overflowing (a possible reference to the way she faked her drowning death?), the ''kitchen'' towels rearranged (they were not like this before, and her cupboard arranged the way he always wanted it. Rather than some long, drawn-out stalking, he almost immediately reveals himself to her.

* In ''{{Following}}'', The GentlemanThief Cobb steals more ForTheLulz / ForTheEvulz than out of need, and he sometimes doesn't take anything, but will go through keepsakes and make sure the people there know it, in order to disrupt their lives.
* This possibly happened in ''EyesWideShut''. Due to it being a bit of a MindScrew movie, it's unknown if the bad guys left the main character's mask on his bed as a threat or if his wife simply found the mask herself.

* In a deleted scene from ''AfterTheSunset'', local gangster Moret casually tells Max, "I love the view of the water from your house." Max corrects him, "You mean the view of my house from the water" (Not that this is much better, as both statements warn him that the guy knows where he lives). The gangster informs him that the first statement was correct, effectively warning Max not to cross him.

* In a HeraldsOfValdemar novel, a minor noble sends an assassin after the Empire's heir (who is also an assassin). Said heir kills the man and leaves his body in the nursery of the noble's son.

* In the novel ''TheClient'', young Mark is attacked in an elevator by a hitman who warns him not to talk to the FBI (shortly before committing suicide, a man had told Mark where the body of a missing politician was buried). To emphasize the seriousness of his threat, the man shows Mark a picture of his family, which Mark instantly recognizes as having been on his coffee table.

** A common variant has someone find out that their elaborately protected car has been turned around in the night with a note that says "When we want it, we'll take it."

* This happens in ''Film/TheGodfather'' as a result of the title character's offer being refused. [[spoiler:Jack Woltz wakes up with a horse head in his bed. Bonus points for said horse being his prize horse when it was still alive]].