Ex-NASA Engineer Gets Revenge On Package Thieves With Fart-Scented Glitter Bombs

YouTuber Mark Rober got a little help from ‘Home Alone’ icon Macaulay Culkin in concocting a smelly, glittery plan to get revenge on a porch pirate

‘Tis the season for porch pirates! It’s the holidays, and that means front porch package thefts are on the rise — something YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober has no patience for. After falling victim to a porch pirate last year, he concocted his first-ever fart-infused glitter bomb to get revenge on his robber, inspired by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. This year, he decided to make another one — even smellier and more sparkly than the first — with his childhood role model helping him design the bomb and execute the genius plan.

Fart glitter bomb 1.0 went viral last year. However, he later learned that some of the porch pirates were, unbeknownst to him, in on the plan. “That is totally on me and I will take all necessary steps to make sure it won’t happen again,” he said at the time.

So, the last six months he has been perfecting his latest technology, which includes GPS trackers, multiple smartphones, wide-angle cameras, fart spray, and glitter. This year he opted for more potent fart spray, that smells “like proper poo,” a test subject explained. (Macaulay was one of the lucky dudes who got to be in on the scent test, btw.) He even got the whole experiment sponsored by Bose, who designed his prop — a product box that supposedly hosted a pair of Bose “Buzz” headphones named after Kevin’s bullyish older brother in Home Alone.

Then, the magic happens. He sends all ten packages out to volunteers around the country, who bait the robbers by placing them on their front porches, giving us a glimpse into what ensured after the porch pirates got ahold of their loot.

Several of the thieves got to experience that nastiness of the messy-meets-stinky glitter bomb. Many of them expressed disgust for the stench, which was apparently really bad. One dude, who clearly had seen last year’s video, eventually realized what was going on, which was hilarious in and of itself. One pathetic guy tried to regift the stolen gift to his girlfriend. (How the hell do you explain that one?) And then there was the volunteer who opted to keep the package for himself. Rober got revenge on him by sending him a a Scientology subscription and totally creepy postcards to his neighbors.

The real winners of the experiment were the honest folk who attempted to return the packages to their owner. Rober gifted each of them with $400, “because that was the opportunity cost for them when they made the right choice,” he explained.

Hopefully this latest fart glitter bomb experiment will scare off some potential porch pirates for good. Because who knows, it could happen to them too!