360-pound pumpkin stolen from Wisconsin restaurant

Photo courtesy of Gail Haig.

The 360-pound monster pumpkin that was stolen from Gail's Place in Merrill, Wisconsin.

Police in Merrill, Wisconsin are on the search for some thieves who stole a 360-pound pumpkin from Gail's Place, a local restaurant, this week.

Valued at $300, the ginormous pumpkin was part of a fundraising effort by Gail's Place to raise money for the Wisconsin Trailblazers Sled Dog Club. For a dollar, people could submit their guess of the weight. The winner was supposed to be announced yesterday.

A local couple who are also members of the sled dog club grew the pumpkin themselves in their garden.

"It was a real pumpkin," said Lt. Tim Fisher of the Lincoln County sheriff's office. "Something that big, one would assume that 3 or 4 people would have to come in a vehicle."

The crime may have been premeditated, according to Fisher, and police are asking for the public's help in solving it.

Gail's Place owner Gail Haig said she discovered the pumpkin missing on Monday morning at around 11 a.m. The last time she saw it was the night before.

"We covered it up because it was really cold -- it was about to freeze," she said.

Haig is upset that she won't be able to give the pumpkin to the winner of the raffle, but she's also upset about the loss of what she and her husband used to loving cover the pumpkin the night before the heist: an heirloom quilt that had been in her husband's family for decades.

The thieves took that, too.

Since then, Haig has put up a sign where the missing pumpkin used to sit. It reads: "Who took the pumpkin? Bring the blanket back!"