History Main / RansackedRoom

* JamesBond in ''TheLivingDaylights'' walks in on Kara Milovy trying to tidy her room, which was thoroughly ransacked by the KGB.

* A RunningGag with the MistakenForSpies protagonist in ''Gotcha'' (1985).

* A RunningGag with the MistakenForSpy protagonist in ''Gotcha'' (1985).

* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', [[TheProfessor Mohinder]] comes home and surprises a [[{{MIB}} Company]] agent searching (and bugging) his apartment. The agent claims to be an exterminator, and protests "this man pulled a gun on me" to a neighbor witnessing the ensuing fight. Of course, the gun holster exposed under the agent's jacket makes this lie [[ImplausibleDeniability rather obvious]].

-->-- ''[[TheUniversalGenreSavvyGuide The Evil Henchman's Guide]]''

* Taken to extremes with Light in ''DeathNote''. He hides the titular ArtifactOfDeath in a false bottom in his drawer (rigged to incinerate the Death Note if it isn't opened properly. He also pulls the handle of his door upwards after leaving, along with putting a piece of tape on the door, because he knows that if his mother, father, or sister were to enter the room, they'd trip the tape-defence. When he finds the tape still on, but the handle moved, he knows that his room has been searched by pros.

* ''Outrageous Fortune'' plays this straight, then spoofs it. First, the two women go to Shelley Long's apartment ''while it's being ransacked''. After a daring escape, they head to Bette Midler's apartment to find it a complete mess as well. Long panics and tries to run, but Midler grabs her and says "No, this is normal."

* On BurnNotice, CIC agent Jason Bly has Michael's apartment searched. It's a subversion in that Michael is there at the time. Also, Bly doesn't expect to find anything; he's just doing it to mess with Michael.

* ''EstateOfPanic'', similar to the above, but with adult contestants ransacking a haunted mansion filled with booby traps and unpleasant animals to find cash.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Comics]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

** After Indy reaches Venice both his and Dr. Schneider's rooms are turned upside down. It turns out that Dr. Schneider's room being ransacked was [[spoiler: {{Invoked}}, as she was a Nazi spy and the ransacking was staged]].

** After Indy reaches Venice both his and Dr. Schneider's rooms are turned upside down. It turns out that Dr. Schneider's room being ransacked was [[spoiler: staged, as she was a Nazi spy]].

* Another IndianaJones example. In ''The Last Crusade'', it turns out that [[spoiler: the room being ransacked was staged, as its inhabitant was a Nazi spy]].
** Even before that, Henry's house was ransacked.

* Another IndianaJones example. In ''TheLastCrusade'', it turns out that [[spoiler: the room being ransacked was staged, as its inhabitant was a Nazi spy]].

* In ''[=~Gotcha!~=]'', both the CIA and the KGB ransack Jonathan Moore's apartment. They don't find the film spool he smuggled out of East Berlin because he kept it in one of his pockets the entire time.

* ''OutrageousFortune'' plays this straight, then spoofs it. First, the two women go to Shelley Long's apartment ''while it's being ransacked''. After a daring escape, they head to Bette Midler's apartment to find it a complete mess as well. Long panics and tries to run, but Midler grabs her and says "No, this is normal."
* ''TheTallBlondManWithOneBlackShoe'': a team of government agents are following a man pegged as a super-agent whistleblower by an interdepartmental rival - they sneak through his apartment while he's out, photographing all his persomal effects and planting bugs. [[spoiler:The man, however, is an innocent regular guy randomly picked as a decoy, and his day-to-day activities are feverishly scrutinized by the agents.]]

* In DorothyGilman's ''[[MrsPollifax Mrs. Pollifax On Safari]]'', Mrs. Pollifax packs her case with great care and always in the same way. Because of this, she can pick up the subtle shifts that proved someone had searched it and repacked it, very neatly. (Note that tradecraft makes JamesBond and {{Travis McGee}} carefully arrange things to alert them if they've been searched--Emily Pollifax is just a neat elderly lady. But that's the point.)

* Played with in ''{{Hard-boiled Wonderland}}''. Two men deliberately break into the [[TheAllConcealingI main character's]] apartment when he's there to both intimidate him and search/ransack the room.

* In one ''NickCarterKillmaster'' novel, the title character actually breaks the fourth wall concerning a search, telling people how James Bond ruined the "hair on the doorjam" technique, that he now used a new one, and that we were crazy if we thought he was going to reveal it in a lousy 95 cent paperback.

* OutrageousFortune. Happens several times through the series.

* In ''[[JeevesAndWooster The Code Of The Woosters]]'' Jeeves and Bertie search Stiffy Byng's room because Bertie reads a detective novel containing the trope that the top of the cupboard is "every woman's favourite hiding-place." They find themselves [[http://wodehouse.ru/cover/e/59-11.jpg treed by an Aberdeen Terrier. ]]
** 'Are you afraid of a tiny little dog, Jeeves?'
** He corrected me respectfully, giving it as his opinion that the undersigned was not a tiny little dog, but well above the average in muscular development. In particular, he drew my attention to the animal's teeth.

* The beginning of ''IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' - Sophia's office has been searched, with items thrown everywhere. However, they missed her necklace, which was the only thing of value she kept in there.
** Besides the Orichalcum bead, you mean. To be fair, they only look like small copper balls that glitter like fire, and contain enough energy to [[spoiler:rearrange your DNA]].

-->''Ransacking hotel rooms is probably safe,''

* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', [[TheProfessor Mohinder]] comes home and surprises a [[MenInBlack Company]] agent searching (and bugging) his apartment. The agent claims to be an exterminator, and protests "this man pulled a gun on me" to a neighbor witnessing the ensuing fight. Of course, the gun holster exposed under the agent's jacket makes this lie [[ImplausibleDeniability rather obvious]].

* In ''TheGame'', Nicholas returns to his house to find it's been ransacked. Luckily, the pistol he hid in a hollowed-out book is still there, but [[spoiler: it was a trick set up to make him think they didn't find the gun. They did find the gun and replaced the bullets with blanks.]]

* ''Outrageous Fortune'' plays this straight, then spoofs it. First, the two women go to Shelley Long's apartment ''while it's being ransacked''. After a daring escape, they head to Bette Midler's apartment to find it a complete mess as well. Long panics and tries to run, but Midler grabs her and says "No, this is normal."

* In ''The Game'', Nicholas returns to his house to find it's been ransacked. Luckily, the pistol he hid in a hollowed-out book is still there, but [[spoiler: it was a trick set up to make him think they didn't find the gun. They did find the gun and replaced the bullets with blanks.]]

* Played with in ''Hard-boiled Wonderland''. Two men deliberately break into the [[TheAllConcealingI main character's]] apartment when he's there to both intimidate him and search/ransack the room.
* JamesBond's hotel room in ''Casino Royale'' is ransacked by {{Mooks}} looking for a cheque. They don't find it because [[spoiler: he's hidden it behind the room number - on the ''outside'' of the door]].
* In one ''Nick Carter - Killmaster'' novel, the title character actually breaks the fourth wall concerning a search, telling people how James Bond ruined the "hair on the doorjam" technique, that he now used a new one, and that we were crazy if we thought he was going to reveal it in a lousy 95 cent paperback.

* Subverted in Rob Grant's ''Incompetence''. Harry intentionally keeps his apartment messy, but takes photographs before he leaves, reasoning that any fool can ransack a tidy room and replace it as it was, but it takes a professional to ransack a messy room without being noticed.
* In ''The Code Of The Woosters'' Jeeves and Bertie search Stiffy Byng's room because Bertie reads a detective novel containing the trope that the top of the cupboard is "every woman's favourite hiding-place." They find themselves [[http://wodehouse.ru/cover/e/59-11.jpg treed by an Aberdeen Terrier. ]]

* Outrageous Fortune. Happens several times through the series.

[[AC:Film]]
* Another IndianaJones example. In ''TheLastCrusade'', it turns out that [[spoiler: the room being ransacked was staged, as its inhabitant was a Nazi spy]].
** Even before that, Henry's house was ransacked.
* In ''[=~Gotcha!~=]'', both the CIA and the KGB ransack Jonathan Moore's apartment. They don't find the film spool he smuggled out of East Berlin because he kept it in one of his pockets the entire time.
* JamesBond in ''TheLivingDaylights'' walks in on Kara Milovy trying to tidy her room, which was thoroughly ransacked by the KGB.
* In ''{{The Last King of Scotland}}'', Nicholas Garrigan comes home to find his entire house (provided to him personally by Idi Amin) ransacked and his UK passport replaced with a Ugandan one.
* ''Outrageous Fortune'' plays this straight, then spoofs it. First, the two women go to Shelley Long's apartment ''while it's being ransacked''. After a daring escape, they head to Bette Midler's apartment to find it a complete mess as well. Long panics and tries to run, but Midler grabs her and says "No, this is normal."
* ''TheTallBlondManWithOneBlackShoe'': a team of government agents are following a man pegged as a super-agent whistleblower by an interdepartmental rival - they sneak through his apartment while he's out, photographing all his persomal effects and planting bugs. [[spoiler:The man, however, is an innocent regular guy randomly picked as a decoy, and his day-to-day activities are feverishly scrutinized by the agents.]]
* In ''The Game'', Nicholas returns to his house to find it's been ransacked. Luckily, the pistol he hid in a hollowed-out book is still there, but [[spoiler: it was a trick set up to make him think they didn't find the gun. They did find the gun and replaced the bullets with blanks.]]

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* Taken to extremes with Light in ''DeathNote''. He hides the titular ArtifactOfDeath in a false bottom in his drawer (rigged to incinerate the Death Note if it isn't opened properly. He also pulls the handle of his door upwards after leaving, along with putting a piece of tape on the door, because he knows that if his mother, father, or sister were to enter the room, they'd trip the tape-defence. When he finds the tape still on, but the handle moved, he knows that his room has been searched by pros.
** He's also got the pencil lead on the hinge that breaks when the door is opened (the pros didn't find that).
* Happens to Chiaki at the very beginning of ''DarkerThanBlack''. [[spoiler:They weren't actually trying to find anything, though; it was just to send a message.]]

[[AC:Comics]]
* {{Tintin}}'s flat is ransacked in ''The Secret Of The Unicorn'' after his {{MacGuffin}} is stolen. He doesn't discover the PlotCoupon which was formerly hidden inside it until afterwards -- it had rolled under a chest, where the vandals failed to find it.
* There was a ''MadMagazine'' satire once, which showed a picture of a room before being searched by the Queensland police, and then again after. It was very neat before, totally trashed afterwards. It was a puzzle: 'How many differences can you spot between this pictures?'. The correct answer, of course, was 'none'.

* JRRTolkien's ''LordOfTheRings'' has an inn room ransacked by the Nazgûl, and by ransacked, I mean beds that were stabbed multiple times with {{BFS}}es. The hobbits, expecting trouble, had slept elsewhere and left bolsters in their beds.

On the other hand, the character can be in the room (by day) or wake up (by night) -- or return unexpectedly and surprise the searcher. Drama, and often violence, ensues. However, the searcher can, very likely, escape. [[{{Villain Exit Stage Left}} Easily.]]

* In Dorothy Gilman's ''[=~Mrs. Pollifax~=] On Safari'', Mrs. Pollifex packs her case with great care and always in the same way. Because of this, she can pick up the subtle shifts that proved someone had searched it and repacked it, very neatly.(Note that tradecraft makes James Bond and Travis Mc Gee carefully arrange things to alert them if they've been searched--Emily Pollifax is just a neat elderly lady. But that's the point.)

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