Disappearing acts are usually kept to the stage and not meant to be replicated in real life. A St. Louis couple was in the process of moving to a different state when their U-Haul vanished into thin air.
The U-Haul, carrying all their belongings, disappeared from a Clearwater hotel parking lot where Stan Brown and his wife were keeping the vehicle. The pair packed all of their possessions into the truck and drove it from St. Louis to Tampa, Florida, at the end of August. They weren’t able to move into their new home until the first weekend of September.
In the meantime, they were staying at their snowbird apartment while paying to park the U-Haul in the parking lot at the Holiday Inn in Clearwater. On September 4, 2022, they went to retrieve the truck to move their belongings to their new home, only to find the truck was gone.
They reported that the truck was stolen to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. At that point, their story was picked up by local news stations and caught the attention of U-Haul.
The company reached out to the Browns, telling them they thought the truck had been abandoned so they picked up the truck and emptied the couple’s belongings at a dump. All of their clothes, furniture and family mementos were completely discarded.
“All of our furniture. All of our kitchenware. All of our clothes. It’s been tough. It’s been especially tough on my wife. It’s been emotional for her. It is for me too.”
Brown did have the truck rented out for a few more days so the company should have checked this first before taking the rashest decision they could’ve possibly made. The family is now working with U-Haul to try and recover some of their beloved items.