Poorly Worded Craigslist Ad Leads to Family Losing All of Its Possessions [VIDEO]

The Georgia Family Had Already Lost Its House to Foreclosure

Members of the Vercher family, of Woodstock, Georgia, were already dealing with the loss of their home of two decades, thanks to a foreclosure. But when they placed a Craigslist ad offering some unwanted items to strangers, things went from bad to worse: the Verchers ended up losing nearly everything they own.

The cause: a poorly-worded ad on Craigslist and a greedy crowd that broke into the Verchers' home and looted their possessions.

As the Verchers prepared to move out of the home they had lived in for the last 20 years, they posted an ad on Craigslist Tuesday night, offering some furniture and a few other household items free for anyone who wanted to pick them up from their driveway Wednesday morning at 10, 11alive.com reports.

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But, with the family not at home, crowds showed up early on Wednesday, broke into the house and began leaving with everything inside, including furniture, the family's clothes, personal mementos like photo albums and books.

The Verchers returned to find a house in complete disarray, with most of their belongings, save a few books, missing.

Michael Vercher came home from work at 10 a.m. -- planning to supervise the giveaway of the items he had intended to offer to people -- and had to call 911 when he found people looting his home.

"Everyone was inside the house; they were taking out items," he said. "There were cars around the block. It was like ants in and out of the house … They came in and just tore the place up."

Vercher's fiancée was most distraught about the loss of her guitars, which had been gifts from her father.

"There's two guitars that really mean a lot to me," she said. "They were my dad's, and that's irreplaceable to me. That's really the only thing I want back. I hope somebody has enough courage and respect for other people to bring the stuff back. I mean it's like the only thing he gave to me. It really means a lot to me."

The ad that led to the Vercher family loss:

"Fairly large, free yard sale. Moving and we want everything to go for free. So come over and take whatever you want and how much you want. Here are a couple of items that will be there: Couch, chairs, lots of household and kitchen items, appliances, a wardrobe, desk, recliner, movies, lots of books, lamps, women's and teens' clothing, etc. And also a box of free food with lots of cans. Please take only if you need it. We're starting at 10 a.m., October 24th, and we'll finish when everything's gone."

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Michael Vercher says he understands how people misunderstood and thought the ad meant they were welcome to everything outside and inside the home, and as more people started arriving and saw others taking things from the house, they did it themselves, which was the scene he was greeted by when he arrived home Wednesday morning.

Now, the family, who is moving into the basement of a family member, is making an appeal to people to return their keepsakes and their clothing.

"Lived in this house for 20 years, my whole life," he said. "It's our family home. We have to get out because of the foreclosure. We don't have much and now we have even less. You'd like to think there's good people. I mean, I hope they would have a good enough heart to bring our stuff back. We don't hold any grudges against them, we just want our stuff back. I mean, some of that stuff is irreplaceable.

"We're not asking for handouts," he said. "Just for what means so much to us to be returned to us."

Watch a local news report on the Verchers below: