Halloween event forced to apologise to parents over display depicting ‘murdered’ baby dolls
>
Halloween event organizers have been forced to apologize after their haunted ‘dead doll’ window display of ‘murdered’ babies next to a ‘bloody’ meat cleaver infuriated residents.
Frightmare, which hosts its 20th annual Halloween festival in Gloucestershire, received an angry note on its window on Saturday asking for a haunted crime scene to be removed.
The note from ‘concerned local parents and residents’ complained about the display of dolls with their limbs in flexed positions and ‘MURDERED BABIES? DEAD DOLLS?’.
Georgia Wilson, 27 – who made the screening – told MailOnline the team wasn’t meant to offend anyone and the “dead dolls” part of the note made them giggle because they were “never alive from the start.”
Halloween event organizers have been forced to apologize after their haunted ‘dead doll’ shop window displaying ‘murdered’ babies next to a ‘blooded’ meat cleaver infuriated residents
The note from ‘concerned local parents and residents’ complained about the display of dolls with their limbs in flexed positions and ‘MURDERED BABIES? DEAD DOLLS?’
The note stated that locals did not want their children to see the ‘inappropriate’ scene and urged festival organizers to remove it.
Images show the shop window full of old book clippings drenched in fake blood.
Several baby dolls lying mainly on their faces with their arms and legs bent in different directions are shown with prosthetic blood spatter on their backs.
Some of the dolls appear to be burnt as they lie between a ‘blooded’ meat chopper.
Miss Wilson, who works for Frightmare, was eventually forced to remove the dolls from the crime scene and later apologized to the residents.
The first complaint note, typed and taped to the window, read, “MURDERED BABIES? DEAD DOLLS?
Frightmare, which hosts its 20th annual Halloween festival in Gloucestershire, received the angry note on its window on Saturday asking for the removal of a haunted crime scene
“We don’t want our children to see this inappropriate window scene. Please remove as it is not suitable for all passers-by to see.
‘Thank you. Concerned local parents and residents.’
The organizers later added their apology above the post, writing: “Dear concerned residents and residents,
“We’d like to clarify that no babies (or dolls) were harmed in the making of this showcase.
However, we apologize for the inconvenience caused and have removed the doll parts as requested.
“Happy Halloween.”
The organizers later added their apology above the post, writing: ‘Dear concerned residents and residents, we would like to clarify that no babies (or dolls) were harmed in the making of this showcase’
Miss Wilson, who works for Frightmare, was eventually forced to remove the dolls from the crime scene and later apologized to the residents
Frightmare posted a video to TikTok and Facebook showing the announcements, writing: “Public apology.
“Georgia is no longer allowed to do shop windows.
“We sent her to the mirror room so she can take a good look at herself.”
The video has received more than 38,000 views and comments from viewers who were shocked by the complaint.
One person said, “Please post some adult mannequin body parts, perhaps with a sign that reads concerned neighbors and parents are here.”
Another wrote: ‘Ridiculous! We live there and we love Frightmare!’
A third added, “Give Georgia a raise!”
While another commented, “I loved that sort of thing as a kid, I became normal!”
The video has received more than 38,000 views and comments from viewers who were shocked by the complaint
Speaking to MailOnline, Miss Wilson said: ‘It was my first time doing the window, I was pretty excited. We had four and I did two.
“It was actually the other one that worried me more. It was a hellscape and I put a cross with nails in it, so I thought, “I wonder if that’s going to be sensitive?”
“I found some really cool biology textbooks and rusty tools, so I thought it would be interesting to make it look rustic. We had some dolls left and I thought of chopping off the arms and legs and putting them on the bottom so it would cover the lower part.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Once we got the note, I didn’t want to apologize as I thought it was worded quite strongly.
“I mean, murdered babies was never my intention and dead dolls made us giggle because they were never alive to begin with.
Speaking to MailOnline, Ms Wilson said: ‘It was actually the other one that I was more concerned about. It was a hellscape and I put a cross with nails in it, so I thought, “I wonder if that’s going to be sensitive?”
She said: ‘We had some leftover dolls and I thought to cut off arms and legs and put them on the bottom so that it would cover the lower part’
“We thought we would appease and remove the locals like we used to do the festival on a farm and have just moved to the city center so we don’t want to irritate the people here. We have a window full of coffins, so I thought that would be even worse.
“We just put away the parts of the doll and they wrote on our note saying thank you and they came back and deleted their note so I deleted ours.
“I think you know we’re a Halloween festival, so there was always a little bit of protest about something.”
Several other showcases at the event include a hellethrone made from plastic skulls, a coffin with nails hammered into a crucifix, and overflowing containers for biohazardous waste.