A group of Philadelphia real estate investors avoided more than a money pit when one of their properties included a booby-trapped staircase.

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Ekrem Usayler was walking through a Southwest Philadelphia home Jan. 2 with his team when they noticed a small trip-wire covered in glass shards atop a stairway, WCAU reported.

They grabbed a pole, pulled the string and started filming.

An aluminum crutch with a knife duct-taped to it fell to where a person’s head would be, the video shows.

"It's like 'Home Alone,' Delco style, Philly style," Usayler told WCAU. "It could've done a lot of damage, but luckily, we saw it before anybody got hurt."

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez