Halloween decorations at McLaren Vale likened to KKK lynching
A South Australian man has had a visit from police after a neighbour likened his Halloween display scene in his yard to a ‘KKK lynching’.
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Police have paid a visit to a South Australian man after his neighbour likened the Halloween decorations in his front yard to a ‘KKK lynching’.
Daniel Abbie of McLaren Vale has placed what he says are meant to be ghosts in a semicircle around a fire on his property, with a body bag hanging from a tree nearby.
He told the Adelaide Advertiser he had set up the display on Sunday and police arrived the next day, asking him: “What’s all this about”.
Neighbours had contacted police after interpreting the scene as members of the KKK, a racist hate organisation with a white supremacist agenda, dancing around a dead body.
Officers explained the situation to the father-of-three, who said his vision of ghosts dancing around a fire, the nearby body bag only added for shock value, was instantly marred.
“I turned around and said ‘Woah, I can see how people might interpret it that way’,” he told the paper.
“I had absolutely no intention of that at all … obviously people have taken it the wrong way.”
Mr Abbie said there was a crucial difference though – while KKK members wore pointed white hoods, his ghosts had round heads.
Speaking to 7 News later on Tuesday, Mr Abbie said while he had conceded to making some small changes, he had since had an outpouring of support and would be keeping the scene up.
“We did consider taking it down, but after hearing so many people say they loved it we thought we would leave it up and people who don’t like it can continue with their day and drive past and ignore it,” he said.
Originally published as Halloween decorations at McLaren Vale likened to KKK lynching