Antique sex toys taken from brothel

Thieves who took antique sex toys from a famous Montana brothel-turned-museum might have been scared away by a ghost, the museum's curator says.

Rudy Giecek discovered the burglary when he opened the Dumas Brothel in Butte Tuesday for a New York Times reporter who was doing a story on its history, The Butte Montana Standard reported Wednesday.

"I was sick," Giecek told the Standard. The stolen items were "not too valuable of stuff, but invaluable for this piece of history."

The burglars looted the first floor, but left many items in a pile on the second floor - as if they had hurriedly fled.

"I think they got scared out as they were in the process," Giecek said. "I do think a ghost scared them off."

He said thieves who were caught breaking into the brothel in 1992 said they were scared by a ghost on the second floor.

The Dumas brothel was in business for 92 years, closing in 1982.

But there might be a silver lining to the incident. Giecek said the break-in made the New York Times reporter "more interested" in telling the story.

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