The kind of people who spend hours upon hours of their lives creating elaborate Halloween outdoor displays are treasures. Driven by the simple desire to spread joy throughout a neighborhood, these people put their time and money into a public good as basic as making holidays more fun for others.
And yet, a family in Illinois who made a great Stranger Things decoration as part of their Halloween display has had to argue with local authorities to be able to show off their work.
Aubrey and Dave Appel, who make lots of spooky stuff as HorrorProps on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, recently unveiled their Plainfield home’s Halloween decorations. Among their work is a mannequin dressed like Max, rigged up to float in mid-air and replicate those scenes from the show where only the power of Kate Bush can save the teenager’s soul from a goopy-faced monster man.
Because the display is really neat, it drew plenty of attention, including some from a killjoy neighbor. As described in a CBS Chicago article, the Appels received complaints from another resident who was annoyed by the crowds of people stopping by the house to admire the display. Last Sunday, the Appels “decided to take down the levitating Max and the rest of the decorations” after having shown it for only two nights because of this complaint.
After receiving a lot of support from other, non-wet blankets, though, the Appels started “talking with local police and other neighbors, as well as the homeowners’ association” in order to avoid having someone “ruin the fun” and to figure out how to get their decorations up again. They’ve since gotten the go-ahead and wrote in a Facebook post that the display will be open to visitors (along with “lights, music, fog, etc.”) on weekends going forward.
Quite reasonably, Dave Appel said that he “can sympathize that if you’re not comfortable with a lot of people, or a lot of people around your home at all times, it could be overwhelming” and that “if someone’s having trouble with our display, we want to make sure that we can adjust our hours down.”
This is a very considerate and thoughtful response. We only hope the Appels have a similarly kind plan to help everyone who gets “Running Up That Hill” stuck in their heads after checking out the display as well.
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