Town ordering man to remove 'offensive' Halloween display, bloody handprints at daycare spark debates
A mother’s concerns about bloody handprints at her child’s daycare and a town ordering a man to remove a Halloween display deemed too offensive have sparked debates worldwide about whether some scary Halloween decorations go too far.
North Carolina resident Scott Feaver has hung a fake body from a tree as part of his haunted Halloween decor for the last three years, but town officials recently ordered its removal for the first time because of its location. Feaver creates the fake body by stuffing and painting a tarp that he then wraps in large chains and hangs with a rope from a tree.
The town of Wake Forest ordered him to remove the Halloween decoration this year after receiving multiple complaints.
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“On Monday, Oct. 28, we received complaints about an offensive Halloween decoration suspended from a tree in front of a residence,” the Town of Wake Forest said in a statement to The Christian Post. “Town staff investigated and determined that the homeowner hung the decoration, not from a tree on his private property, but from a street tree on town property.”
The town informed Feaver that the mummy was on public property and he had until 3 p.m. on Tuesday to remove it, according to the statement. After the man claimed he couldn't remove the decoration from the tree by that deadline, the town removed it for him and left the mummy on his porch.
Feaver has since rehung the decoration from a tree on his private property, CBS 17 reported.
According to Feaver, the inspiration for the mummy came from the cover of a 1995 Sonia Dada album titled A Day At The Beach, which shows a body wrapped in a tarp and chains being thrown from a bridge.
Some residents, however, felt a chained-up mummy hanging from its feet by a rope was "too over the top.” According to WRAL, one person who filed a complaint called it “offensive.”
“Whether you're hung by your neck or hung by your feet, what's the difference?" a resident said. "It's still offensive."
Feaver disagreed with the accusations, arguing that he had set up the same display for years without issue and that people usually ask for pictures of his decorations.
"As residents of the Wake Forest historic district since 2013, and participating in Halloween every year since then, we were disappointed to learn our decorations offended someone,” he said in a statement to WRAL.
Another controversial Halloween display involved a Melbourne mom concerned about a KinderCare class for 3-year-olds decorating a window with bloody handprints. The Australian website Kidspot shared the story, including an example photo of what the mother might have seen at her child's daycare center.
In a Facebook group, the mother said the bloodied handprints adorning the windows belonged to children in the class. The mother noticed that it looked as if someone had dragged their hands down the glass, which suggested “some sort of suffering.”
"I get they want to get into the spirit (again no pun intended) of things,” the mother wrote. “But there are plenty of other decoration ideas they can resort to that doesn't portray some sort of child harm.”
"Not to mention this can be triggering to people to have lived through trauma or abuse,” she added.
One woman who sided with the mother warned that parents shouldn't dismiss certain parts of Halloween as just being “a bit of fun” and should be mindful to protect their children.
"The parents being killed in kids' movies, the dark nursery rhymes, this Halloween ... there is so so much we need to rethink from the way we are all indoctrinated to take part and [normalize] many warped things,” she wrote.
Others, however, didn't see the bloody handprints as problematic, with one person saying that children will likely see far worse when they go out trick or treating. One woman seemed to find the discussion ridiculous, dismissing the idea that the decoration would harm children because it’s only paint.
"Many shops have far worse,” the woman wrote. “Stop hiding your children and teach them fake fun from real-life and they won't get [traumatized] by it."
Another commentator who sided with the KinderCare mom said she should speak out about the bloody handprints in case the center decides to do something “bigger and scarier next year.” The commentator also questioned why anyone would think Halloween is appropriate for children, citing the tradition of taking candy from strangers.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
