A group of high school students broke into a $2 million Nantucket Airbnb and threw a Halloween house party after being denied access to the vacation rental.
Airbnb host Edith Stone Lentini claimed she received a “sketchy” request from a person who wanted to book her 3-bedroom, 5-bath home for a spooky rager on the Massachusetts island for Oct. 28.
“My daughter wants to throw a little Halloween party for her and her friends and I was wondering if that’s possible,” according to the mid-October inquiry obtained by the Nantucket Current.
The 14- and 15-year-olds planned to “do a fun dress-up get-together to take some pictures” at the home, which is listed for $810 per night.
“It wouldn’t even really be a party. I will leave the house spotless and I’m sure nothing will be ruined,” the message concluded.
The Airbnb host was thrown off by the ending of the unusual request and decided to ignore the booking inquiry altogether.
Lentini, who lives in Armonk, NY, and has owned the home since 2012, didn’t hear about the suspicious gathering until she got a phone call from the Nantucket Police Department on Nov. 1 just after 10 p.m.
An officer asked her if she knew something about a party on her property, which she denied.
“I said, ‘No, there should not be’,” she said. “They said, ‘Well, there’s a house party going on.’ And I said, ‘Oh my God!’ They said, ‘Let us call you back.’”
The local misfits had entered the home through an unlocked window and set up shop to host the elaborate party.
Officers discovered the “host” had set the party up so the local students would arrive at the Airbnb in stages — ninth graders arriving at 9 p.m., tenth graders an hour later until the seniors rounded out the scheme.
“The audacity of it and the fact she staggered the grades!” Lentini said. “But knowing my house was not wrecked, I can take humor from it and say she should really become a party planner. I would hate for this to hinder her in her future.”
The girl who originally contacted Lentini had posted a video to Snapchat capturing her setting up for the party.
Lentini flew out to the getaway island in late November to survey the damage left behind in the aftermath of the party but was surprised that the partygoers took care of her belongings.
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“They took all the pictures and mirrors off the walls,” Lentini said. “They took all the pillows off the sofa and put them in the basement. They moved all the furniture aside, rolled up my white carpet and moved it into the screened-in porch, and moved my TV.
“As much as I’m upset about this, they did take care of the house. The most damage was just sticky floors. They even put ‘do not enter’ tape around the TV stand,” she added
Police were only clued in about the party because of a noise complaint in the area.
“I want to thank my neighbors that they knew enough to call. If I wasn’t in a year-round neighborhood, I don’t know what would have happened,” Lentini said.
The colonial home – built in 1999 – was valued at $2.34 million in 2023, according to online records.
It sits under a half-mile from the south shore and includes a furnished patio, screened-in porch, a full kitchen, dinning room and 5 beds.
The listing, which also costs $5,500 per week during July and August, faced a total renovation in 2024, according to the Airbnb listing.
No charges have been filed yet but police are conducting an “extensive investigation,” Nantucket Police Lt. Angus MacVicar told the outlet.
