Halloween decorations raise eyebrows
Dead baby display prompts call to mayor’s office
How far is too far? Mike Carr unabashedly loves Halloween. The 39-year-old is going to dress as a scary clown for his favourite holiday.
The St. Catharines man just bought his first house, and has his own yard for the first time. The chance to go all out and make his home as frightening as possible was too much to resist.
There are tombstones, danger signs, ghosts, too many pumpkins to count — and a baby doll hanging by a noose formed with a chain. The doll is clad in a real diaper with blood and brains in its hair.
“I was looking around Canadian Tire for Halloween decorations, and they want $60 bucks for some of their stuff, so I decided to make my own,” Carr said.
“We just watched the movie the Hills Have Eyes, and it gave me the idea. I got this doll for my kids from my mom a couple years ago, but my daughter didn’t want it. So I decided why not? I decided to use it for decoration.
“You see a lot worse stuff than this in movies. People drive by and give me the thumbs up.”
One St. Catharines woman didn’t give him the thumbs up. She was shocked by what she saw as she travelled down Westchester Crescent on the way to work.
“I drove past it, and I was appalled,” she said. “When somebody puts a bloody baby in their front yard, what message are you sending?
“I love scary stuff and Halloween, but I think the person has gone too far.
“I don’t understand why someone would do it. It looks so realistic. There is a diaper on it. Little kids will be walking down the street trick-ortreating. What have we become when this is OK?”
She has no problem with the tombstones and other decorations. She loves Halloween too, but the baby disturbed her. She didn’t want her name used for fear of retribution by Halloween loving ghouls. Devil’s Night is just around the corner.
“Halloween is for kids,” she said. “It’s about the kids that come to your door. I posted a picture of it on my Facebook Page. Everyone agreed it went too far.”
She also contacted Mayor Walter Sendzik’s office, wondering if the display broke any city bylaws.
Julie Hughes, Sendzik’s administrative assistant, responded by email.
“On behalf of Mayor Sendzik, I’d like to acknowledge your email,” she wrote. “Although I agree with you that this lawn ‘decoration’ is offensive and in very poor taste, the City does not have the bylaws intact which would give our staff permission to go on private property and remove this object from this yard.
“It is such a shame that people don’t exercise better judgment.”
Sendzik was in meetings all day and unavailable for comment.
“All my life I have loved horror movies,” Carr said. “I remember watching my first horror flick when I was seven or eight years old: Halloween with Michael Myers. My birthday is this week, and I am going to have a Halloween bash. I put a picture of the display on Facebook as I was making it and I got 65 likes. People were saying it is gross — but they loved it.”
He also has a message for his critics.
“Relax, it’s the season,” he said. “It will all be gone the day after Halloween.”