Imagination is great—until it means buried treasure in your backyard.

One suburban neighbor drew the line when a mini Captain Jack Sparrow turned their lawn into a digging site.

And now? They’re the villain of the story.

Let’s find out how this drama escalated so quickly.

AITA for not letting my neighbor’s kid ruin my lawn in the name of imagination?

I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood with your standard backyard, some grass, a few old trees, a weathered shed. Nothing fancy, but I try to keep it tidy.

I’m on polite-but-not-close terms with most neighbors. We wave, sometimes chat about the weather, and that’s about it.

There’s a family two doors down with a boy who’s maybe 9 or 10. Lately, he’s gone full pirate mode. I mean fully committed. Eyepatch, cardboard sword, yelling “ye be cursed” at squirrels. Honestly? Pretty wholesome.

At first.

The plot thickens…

Then I started noticing small holes in my yard. Just little ones near the fence.

I assumed it was raccoons. But then the holes got bigger.

One morning I went out and found the ground behind my shed completely torn up, with clumps of grass tossed around and a “map” pinned to the tree with a stick.

Eventually I caught him out there mid-dig.

I asked him what he was doing and he straight up said, “I’m hiding my treasure. No one must know. This is the perfect hiding spot.”

Excuse me?

I told him calmly, “Hey, this is my yard. You can’t dig here.”

He got a little huffy but ran off. I figured that was the end of it.

Nope.

Next day, there’s a new hole. Bigger. A tin lunchbox half-buried behind the shed.

I dig it up and it’s full of Pokémon cards, fake jewels, toy coins, and a few crumpled five dollar bills.

She said WHAT?

I bring it to his mom and explain what’s going on.

She immediately gets defensive. No apology. Just a heavy sigh and a “Well he’s just using his imagination. I think it’s sweet.”

I told her I didn’t mind the creativity, just not in my yard.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Can’t you just let him have this? It’s not like your grass is that nice anyway.”

That one actually stunned me.

This is a LITTLE over the top, no?

I said, as politely as possible, that I didn’t want holes being dug on my property by someone else’s kid. I handed over the box and left.

That night, she sends a long text telling me I humiliated her son, crushed his imagination, and “created an environment where children can’t feel safe being children.”

She said he cried for over an hour and now thinks I’m “the villain in his story.” (Her words.)

Enough is enough!

I didn’t reply.

I get it, he’s a kid. I didn’t yell, I didn’t shame him, and I even gave the stuff back. But I’m not thrilled about my yard being turned into a sandbox and getting insulted for not being okay with it.

So… AITA for drawing a line and not entertaining a pirate storyline that involved my yard getting wrecked?

This is an example of why fences make good neighbors.

Reddit’s sure to dig into this one.

Most people sided with OP.

This person thinks the Mom is really not teaching her kid any good lessons here.

That OP has EVERY right to do as he did.

Every pirate needs a shovel…but not the neighbor’s permission, apparently.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.