Scroll down to find out how to display your Halloween decorations without getting in trouble with your local council
COUNCIL killjoys have forced a family to tear down their Halloween decorations after neighbours complained about pretend body bags hanging from a tree.
Mum Caroline Ashley, 41, placed two life-sized props upside down dangling above plastic gravestones to welcome trick-or-treaters in Liverpool, Merseyside.
But she was stunned when a council worker knocked on her door to demand she remove the “offending” display.
It followed a visit from a “really upset” local who turned up on Caroline’s door to say she was “triggered” by the decorations.
Caroline was forced to take them down as the props had been hung from a tree on a patch of council-owned grass in front of their home.
The worker even returned the next day on September 25 to check they’d been removed.
Baffled mum-of-two, Caroline, of Liverpool, said: “I’ve always loved Halloween, I’ve been decorating my house for six years.
“I started getting a few bits and it’s just got bigger.
“I don’t want to offend anyone – that wasn’t the intention. It’s just a Halloween decoration.
“A neighbour was really upset, it obviously triggered something. It’s the quickest the council has come out for anything.
“The council came and said ‘you’re going to have to take them down because it’s not on your land’.
As the two inflatables were hanging from a tree on a patch of council-owned land in front of her property, Caroline says she was obliged to take them down.
The hospitality worker previously shared pictures of her display on Facebook, asking: “Are the body bags too much?”
They’ve since gone viral, racking up nearly 4,000 ‘likes’.
One woman jumped to Caroline’s defence, posting: “Not too much at all! If you don’t get at least one Karen calling your display ‘too scary’ or ‘tasteless’ you have failed.”
Liverpool City Council has confirmed that a complaint was received and was acted upon.
