The culmination of October, Halloween, encapsulates so much that is beloved. Ghosts, goblins, monsters, treats, spooky happenings, pumpkin-flavored sweets, and complete freedom to thematically decorate. Those who decorate for Halloween lean into their spooky preferences, favoring skeletons or Jack-o-lanterns to enhance their house’s appearance. Aside from mummies or vampires, Halloween decorations may come across as insensitive or downright offensive. Which ones are the worst?

1. Beheaded Jesus

The award for shock value goes to Vic Miorana for last year’s religious horror presentation. The Bucktown, Louisiana, resident touches on religion in his yard displays, not in a judgmental way, rather in a humorous tone. Last year’s spectacle featured Satan holding Jesus’ bloody, decapitated head. Miorana explained the display showcased lighthearted humor while others thought the image was blasphemous and disgusting. 

2. Merging Religion

Branching off Miorana’s situation, it’s best to leave church or religion out of Halloween decor. Follow the government's rules of separating church and state. Just replace state with Halloween decorations.

3. Puns

Save the puns for greeting cards. Puns stress lighthearted humor between two things with a similar sound or meaning. Halloween enthusiasts report that they cringe more from Halloween puns than gruesome decorations. A repeat offender includes “you look gourd-geous” set to a backdrop of pumpkins and gourds. 

4. Horror Icons

Sticking an animatronic Hannibal Lecter in the front yard denotes a weird fascination with idolizing serial killers. Fictional, yes, though based on real events and cases. Glorifying serial killers, fictional or not, diminishes their wickedness by equating their crimes to celebrations. 

5. Making Fun of Tragedies

It should go without saying that tragedies are not a basis to create Halloween decor around. Yet, people still choose to make fun of real tragedies, adorning their lawns with ornaments boasting information from real tragedies. One person threw severed limbs around his lawn, draped a body with a stake through his head on top of the roof, and spilled fake guts all around the yard. Promoting these exhibits suggests violence is a laughing matter, used for the punchline of a joke, not a reality many people deal with on a daily basis. 

6. Gnomes

What is the obsession with gnomes as Halloween embellishments? I understand adding the garden creatures to a flower garden or yard for aesthetic purposes, but what do they have to do with Halloween? The garden protectors do have roots in Scandinavian Christmas, not the spooky season.

7. Misspellings 

Nothing is scarier than a misuse of grammar on a Halloween sign. Before writing out a clever slogan, learn the difference between there, their, and they are in addition to your and you’re. Avoid future embarrassment. 

8. Comments on Politics

Plenty of Halloween decorators say to keep politics out of decorating. Others think commenting on the political climate is a cute way to express the homeowners' political views. A house demonstrated their political alliance with a choice decoration featuring the red-spraypainted text “Keep America great. Purge and Purify,” highlighting racist beliefs prevalent in the household. In a different house, a skeleton sat in front of a cardboard computer reading “Signing up for Obamacare.” Flexing political views through decorating deters trick-or-treaters from approaching the house. 

9. Too Busy

I live next to a house that fills every inch of free space with Halloween decorations. They wish to spread Halloween joy to everyone who meanders past their house or chooses to trick or treat there, although the overcrowding of decorations is an eyesore. With too many kinds of decorations flooding the yard, you don’t know where to look, and you grow unexplainably irritated and overwhelmed. 

10. Inflatables

Complaints about inflatable decorations are nitpicky. A lot of people believe inflatables appear as tacky attempts to celebrate the Halloween spirit, thus falling flat thanks to the strange design. When half-inflated, inflatable decorations appear as lazy, swaying, bordering creepy decorations. Most people claim inflatable decorations are a cop-out. 

11. Blood Everywhere

Tragedies, emergencies, and some Halloween decorations all have one thing in common. Blood splayed everywhere. Media influences consumers to believe blood equals spookiness, adding bonus points to the metaphorical Halloween house display. We blindly follow this ideation with fake blood, squirting drops onto Halloween costumes and lining our decorations with fake liquid. However, using blood for decorations is insensitive to several groups of people. Those who experienced tragedies, have had a traumatic medical experience, or don’t like the sight of the red goo. 

12. Too Realistic

Realistic decorations (ones displaying true crime or death) leave a sour taste in visitor’s mouths. Halloween Decorations allow us to unleash creative expression through spooky and cute decorations, yet realistic decorations scare off kids and make adults do a double take. There’s something inexplicably eerie about a plastic decoration mirroring real life. 

13. Police Tape

Yellow caution tape stating do not enter crisscrosses the outside of a house. Any ignorant passersby could mistake the caution tape for an emergency situation,, leading to an uncomfortable conversation with the homeowner. We suggest avoiding any decorations that double as forensic evidence. 

14. HELP!

Haunted houses play into horrifying or true crime stories, using caution tape and upping the antics of scary situations for entertainment purposes. But you need to use caution when decorating for a kid-friendly holiday. One house decided to put up bloodied signs displaying HELP in capital letters. Not only does this decoration call for help, it makes light of tragic situations where people in need actually need help. Using devastating situations as humor outlines poor judgment on the owner’s behalf. 

15. Grounded the Kids

Grounding kids results in taking away privileges or freedoms due to bad behavior or disrespect. This idea goes a little further, staking a sign reading “grounded the kids” in front of three (fake) buried bodies. The assumed children’s lower halves stuck out of the ground, insinuating the parents buried them alive as punishment for poor behavior. 

The decoration points toward a dark flair of comedic value, though several issues arise with this decoration. For one, someone passing through the neighborhood might think the decoration is real or reveals a sinister side of the homeowner. The other idea perpetuates a theme of abuse: a horrible idea to spread to children roaming through the neighborhood on a trick-or-treating expedition.