54° L/RAIN, Wal-Mart removes scary Halloween display
Last Modified: Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 2:02 p.m.
Halloween may be a month away on the calendar, but it came early for 2-year-old Tucker Limburg.
The tot was with his grandmother on Tuesday night at the Hendersonville Super Wal-Mart when a Halloween display seemed to take on a life of its own.
As Hendersonville resident Jan Overcash and Tucker were leaving the store, an employee directed their attention to the display, said Overcash, 47. It seemed harmless at first.
"The head was still on it, but then the arms raised up and lifted the head off the shoulders," she said. "My grandson had a fit. I tried to make it funny for him, but he was terrified. He thought it was a real man because it had a shirt and tie on. I can't get him to go back there anymore. There was also a big sign on it saying 'This is a Wal-Mart disgruntled employee,' and I thought that sent the wrong message as well."
The display was gone Thursday morning when a Times-News reporter went to the store to ask about it. The display was taken down due to a customer complaint, according to managers at the Hendersonville store. Wal-Mart co-manager Jerry Bowen directed all further press inquiries about the display to the company's media department.
But not everyone who saw the display had a problem with it.
Pushing a shopping cart carrying her two sons in the Hendersonville store, Vanessa Garcia said she has seen the same display in the Wal-Mart store in Greenville, S.C., where she works.
"If anything, it's actually helped us sell more Halloween stuff," she said. "People love it. They (her sons, ages 4 and 2) like stuff like that -- it doesn't bother me."
Overcash says that while she does not have anything against Wal-Mart as a company, she is glad the display is gone. Older children probably would be OK with the display, Overcash said, and she would not have said anything if her grandchild had not gotten upset.
Parental choice is at the heart of the issue, she says.
"Apparently, someone else also had a problem with it, because I was not the one who called them about it," she said. "If you choose to let your child see something scary, you can go down a particular aisle or not, but having something in the entrance doorway gives you no choice and I didn't want my grandson to see that. There's enough scary things out there in the world today without things like this adding to it."
Next Article in Top Stories
-
Colleagues share stories of beloved friend
Before the chuckles had subsided from one story, another officer would remember another tale about Jimmy Edney and start to share it....
Events Calendar More Events Submit Event
- Sheriff's Office mourns loss of officer
- 'Antivirus 2009' actually a malicious virus
- Council to consider increasing speed limit
- NC soldier dies after fight over Jimmy Buffet song
- 6-year-old takes family car after missing bus
- Area drenched with rain
- Colleagues share stories of beloved friend
- James M. Edney Jr., 49
- Stan Duncan named interim tax collector
- Jewell S. Daniel
- Falcons wrestle past rival Eagles 0 min ago
- Azerbaijan Bars Foreigners From Use of Its FM Band 1 hr ago
- Obama Warns Trillion-Dollar Deficit Potential 1 hr ago
- CNN Reporter Tops List for Surgeon General 1 hr ago
- Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ Now Out of Sight 1 hr ago
- Data Analysts Captivated by R’s Power 1 hr ago
- When Labels Fought the Digital, and the Digital Won 1 hr ago
- Want to Copy iTunes Music? Go Ahead, Apple Says 1 hr ago
- Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza 1 hr ago
- Israeli Shells Kill 40 at Gaza U.N. School 1 hr ago
Comments
Post a comment | View all comments on this topic.
September 20, 2007 1:25:17 pm
RE: I think some of the prices at Walmart are pretty scary. Does that mean they should give the items to us for free? Heck, Santa Claus scares most 2year olds. Along with the Easter Bunny. What did the Grandma expect. Should they not allow Santa's at the stores now too?
http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...ry_Halloween_display
September 20, 2007 2:11:24 pm
Just a classic example of how some old folks have nothing better to do than BI*** about everything. Guess this old woman decided to make a complaint with the manager then once she got her way she telephoned the local paper to report her service to the community. Sounds like she needs to get a life.
September 20, 2007 6:08:01 pm
My youngest son just said "It's Hallowe'en. All Hallow's Eve. What do they expect?"He's 8. He gets it.
September 20, 2007 6:52:51 pm
Its got nothing to with being weenies. The glorification of violence in this culture is nothing to be proud of. Halloween can be scary and fun without shredded bodies and Michael Myers. The sick curiosity our society is showing with the popularity of all the dead body shows on prime time TV just makes me shake my head.
It seems to just keep getting worse every year.
September 21, 2007 5:23:04 am
Hallowe'en is a holiday that originated from human curiosity about morbidity. Morbid fascination is not new, although we do have newer mediums (cheap plastics and special effects- television) that represent it in a new way.In my opinion, you take opportunities such as this to talk to your child about the way the world and humans work. Morbid fascination is natural, but obsessing about any aspect of life is not healthy.It is important to protect our children, but it is equally (if not more) important to give them â??toolsâ?ť to deal with life.
After re-reading the article, it sounds like they did the best anyone could.
September 21, 2007 5:37:43 am
Since when did Wal-Mart have Judge Judy displays?
September 21, 2007 6:07:20 am
Even more scary than this is walking in to Lowe's and finding that all of their Christmas stuff has been on display for a week...first day of fall is tomorrow!
September 21, 2007 6:09:00 am
I think the funniest part of the whole thing is that our local paper actually wrote a story about her.
September 21, 2007 6:17:05 am
this post is scaring me i am going to have to ask the editor to take it down because it is traumatizing me...........this is another example of how stupid people have gotten......if the kid was afraid then do not bring him over and let him look at it.....duh.....it is a wal mart not a public works building if it bothered her she could have gone to another store. it was not like she was forced to go to that walmart..........
September 21, 2007 6:30:03 am
The display was gone Thursday morning when a Times-News reporter went to the store to ask about it. The display was taken down due to a customer complaint, according to managers at the Hendersonville store
Interesting. One or two complaints and they take this down. How many complaints will it take to ge them to take down SPANISH displays, to stop broadcasting announcments in spanish, or to do something about kids using it as a skating rink? Funny where Wal-Mart's priorities lie!
Post a comment | View all comments