In Parma, Ohio, a Halloween display scared the holy hell out of some school kids who encountered it on their way to school. No one really knows what possessed these homeowners to erect this particular set of decorations right next to an elementary school, but people do strange things. Sure, this is in the spirit of Halloween, but knocking the bejesus out of childrens’ psyches is not cool at all. For kids, this holiday should be about crappy candy and Iron Man costumes. Rotten pumpkins and talking skeletons should probably be the scariest thing school-age kids encounter. Instead, they witnessed a lawn full of seemingly dead bodies that look far too realistic for comfort.
As this Cincinnati 19 news report indicates, local residents grew seriously angry about this decor, and for good reason. Highlights of the display include an impaled kid’s body, a crucified adult with syringes sticking out of its neck and an upside down body wrapped up in plastic (with its mouth taped shut). Halloween is meant to terrify in context, say, when one voluntarily visits a haunted house. On a front lawn next to a school, the situation grows dicier.
After a number of complaints, the Parma city council considered taking down the display, but luckily, they didn’t have to go there. The owners of the home relented and dismantled the display. Well, there’s always next year.
(Via Cleveland19 & WCNC)