Rothwell family horrified after their Halloween display was ruined by mean spirited ‘trick or treaters’

A Rothwell family is devastated after a nasty ‘trick or treater’ vandalised and stole from their Halloween display, just hours after adding the finishing ghoulish touches.

When Megan McLachlan stepped into her frontyard on Monday morning, she thought she had been transported into a horror movie.

Her carefully cultivated Halloween display was cruelly torn apart with items stolen in the dead of night.

The mother from Brisbane’s northside has been working on her display for months, having only added the finishing touches over the weekend.

“We turned the lights on for the first time (Sunday night) and even had a neighbour come over with her little kid and he was so happy,” Ms McLachlan said.

“It’s all programmed with the lights to run and turn off, so we closed the door and went to bed and then when we got up, and I said the witches hats are gone.

Rothwell resident Megan McLachlan has been left shattered after her Halloween display was destroyed by vandals, this skeleton pictured has also done a runner. Picture: Contributed.

“I went downstairs and just saw all these different things missing.

“Seriously, one night was all we got out of it before they came into the yard.”

Ms McLachlan said a lot of the decorations were cable-tied so it would’ve taken some effort to remove them, with the bill estimated at around a few hundred dollars.

“They’ve ripped off a full life-size skeleton, they left the lights,” she said.

“We’ve got a big archway at the front of the house that leads to the door so there’s all lights there.

“We just built this year a gingerbread house and we’ve installed a roller door on it so we could turn it into a giant gingerbread house, that’s where the pumpkins, skulls and a witch were.

“It’s not the value of the things taken, it’s more that you’re doing something nice for the community.

“We were all set to have the display up for the week leading into Halloween.”

The ‘Hallow-queen’ is calling on ‘Michael Myers’ or one of his spooky pals to return the items – but she knows that’s probably just ‘witchful thinking’.

“My daughter had made some paper mache’ pumpkins … she spent weeks doing that and they took those,” she said.

“My husband has gone out and bought a security camera to install now.

“That’s what really disappointed me, we do it for such a good cause … we just wanted to bring some joy into everyone’s lives especially with Covid and everything happening.”

Whether the culprits were just ‘dying to have fun’ or ‘under a spell of sorts’, Ms McLachlan hopes the vandalism doesn’t ruin the spirit of Halloween for the neighbourhood.

“It makes me nervous because we do a big Christmas display every year as well,” she said.

“We thought this year let’s add Halloween in because it’s getting bigger and bigger in Australia and kids are loving it.

“People walk past and just don’t appreciate that and think that it’s ok to take that stuff.

“We’ll definitely keep going we don’t want them to win or have them discourage me.”