The Pumpkin Pie
The pumpkin and its dessert avatar, the pumpkin pie, each have histories to narrate. Reuters

In a theft that will surely have people scratching their heads, a 300-pound pumpkin was stolen from a farm in Peoria, Ill.

The great pumpkin was housed at Hammer’s Farm Market, and Roger Hammer has no idea how someone managed to steal it, let alone why they would want such a large pumpkin.

Hammer’s brother told ABCNews.com he was the last person to see the pumpkin on the farm around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. By the time Hammer’s Farm Market opened for business on Monday at 10 a.m., the pumpkin was nowhere to be found. The pumpkin was grown in a farm in Northern Illinois and was being used as a farm attraction.

Getting the pumpkin to the farm was no small feat. Speaking to ABCNews.com, Hammer said, “We had to use the bucket of the tractor to move it. We had to use the tractor to roll it off onto the pallet."

Due to its massive size and weight, the Hammers did not believe anyone would want to steal the pumpkin. The family took no extra precautions to tie the pumpkin down and the farm is not too far away from the road.

Hammer believes that more than one person had to be involved with the theft and needed a tractor or an SUV. The Hammers have are asking the city for help in recovering the pumpkin.

The family is naturally troubled and saddened by the theft of their prized pumpkin. No rewards have been mentioned by the Hammers. They remain generous despite this sad turn of events and are willing to trade a smaller pumpkin for the great pumpkin’s return.

The theft raises eyebrows for other reasons. Aside from what one would do with 300 pounds of pumpkin, the vegetable's actual value is only around $40. This is not in the same league as the recent Dutch museum art heist that saw thieves steal paintings worth millions of dollars.