Happy Halloween, everyone! As Manhattan's upper crust gleefully celebrates the day by adorning their mansions with "bloodied bodies hanging from the balcony, skeleton heads, a giant inflatable ghost, swinging bats and a life-size, clothed skeleton affixed to a tree on the sidewalk" or "a giant inflatable coffin from which a vampire pops up every few seconds" without fear of reprimand, the holiday is traditionally marked by absurd cases of neighborly beefs over decorations. In Boone County, Ind., for instance, one Iraq War veteran is causing a stir with his "masked President Obama hanging from a noose in his front yard." "I won't be voting for Obama. I guess you can say by him being out there hanging it is time to get rid of him," he says, adding, "I am married to an African American woman so I guess it would be hard to say I am a racist against black people." While neighbors support his freedom of speech, one woman reasons that "you don't have to go to that extreme to get your political views out there. He has enough decorations already why does he have to have that one." Some more:
Photo via The Press-Enterprise
Leesburg, Va.
A homeowner used 8,500 lights to set up a timed show to the smash-hit Korean pop sing
Gangam Style. The spectacle, choreographed to a super-long remix, runs for 25 minutes, yet the mastermind won't actually tell anyone where the property is "for fear of an actual gang showing up and pissing off the neighbors," according to Curbed DC.
Watch the video. New York, N.Y.
Someone
snapped pics of a front yard bedecked in tombstones that read "Colin Sick" and "Anna Rexic." As one Glamour.com commenter
puts it, "colin sick is funny, but that one is a little off-color.
but i mean..you *can* die from anorexia. i don't know." Simi Valley, Calif.
A Los Angeles judge has
upheld ordinances that "keep sex offenders from turning on outside lights, decorating their homes, and answering their doors to trick-or-treaters," according to the
L.A. Times. The city had previously
been sued for violating 1st Amendment rights.
Houston, Texas
One family has
heralded Halloween "with a full-scale Haunted Valley Cemetery in the front yard," opting for "bloody sheets, dismembered body parts, scary masks and figures sprawled across the grassy lawn in various states of undead." While some neighbors find this "disturbing," others say it "makes the neighborhood different." The homeowners are just excited that passersby "spend 15 to 20 minutes here taking pictures with their families."
Riverside, Calif.
The house that rose to fame for its timed rendition of LMFAO's "Party Rock" last year has gone dark this year, as new homeowners association rules outlaw "extreme" holiday lights. Kevin Judd, who "spent five years conceptualizing and perfecting his light display and its complex programming," said his neighbors actually
liked the show and may ignore the HOA's new demands. According to
AOL Real Estate, the city's mayor has even "offered to assist Judd in the streamlining of cleaning efforts, traffic control, porta-potties and police presence during the 2012 festivities."
Berkeley, Calif.
The fraternity Theta Delta Chi
hung a "zombie from the house's third story window," a move that was seen by many as a racially charged nod to lynchings. Although the zombie has since been removed, it was "another incident that convinces me and my community that this campus and society is not post-racial and racist is alive and well," said a rep from the Black Student Union. A Theta Delta Chi rep has commented, "There was no intention whatsoever as to present it as a black person and
it was a poor choice of head to use because it was a dark grey color." · A Nightmare on Park Avenue [NYT]
· Obama Halloween decoration causing stir [NBC-2]
· Simi Valley sex offenders needn't post Halloween signs, judge says [LAT]
· House in Leesburg Rides in Gangam Style [Curbed DC]
· Kevin Judd's 'Party Rock Anthem' Halloween House-Display Banned by HOA [AOL Real Estate via Curbed LA]
· Dismembered body parts for Halloween decorations unnerve a West Houston neighborhood [CultureMap Houston]
· Fraternity's Halloween decoration prompts outcry [The Daily Californian]
