Halloween hanged bin bag man

[DailyRepeatGuarantee]

AIBU told think that this is not tasteful and especially if you have young small kids in the house. Why would you want to show them how to commit suicide? And whilst you're at it the rest of the neighbourhood kids?

I think this is a little different to pirates or axes through the head. In England and Wales about 5.5k people kill themselves every year, over half of them by hanging. Most of those people will have had friends and family. Admittedly a lot of those will have used a method that (not to go into too much detail) doesn't look exactly like the Halloween depictions. But that still means there are tens of thousands of members of the public who have quite recently had someone close to them die by hanging.

Is a pumpkin ok?

What sort of monster are you? It's like you've never heard of allergies.

I don’t think it would affect kids to be honest.

Although I am an adult whose relative hanged and seeing a prop like that is very unpleasant for me, no entertainment just bad disturbing memories. If a neighbour of mine put one up I’d probably ask them to take it down… they might say no but I’d ask.

It might be obvious to an adult who is familiar with that imagery, but I don't think most small children would find it obvious what it is actually, because hopefully they haven't seen that before/are not aware that people hang themselves! Given that it's Halloween and there are decorations around, and it's made of bin bags I think some stuff about it being a decoration/monster etc would be believable to most children tbh.

It's not just small kids though, at the start of lockdown a year 7 boy ended his life this way near me, another year seven boy at my sisters kids school a couple of weeks ago, there's been at least four older teens in my area end their own lives this way in the last couple of years and then there's been a couple of younger kids end their lives different ways.

I can see why this type of decoration would be upsetting to some children as well as adults.

Yes, that is very inappropriate and in poor taste.

It wouldn't bother my kids as they are quite young. It would make me angry though as I know lots of people who have lost loved ones to suicide, and it would be so upsetting for them to see.

Wtf is wrong with people.

The bin bag dead body was popular on Pinterest years ago, it was meant to go with crime scene tape (that's in many high Street shops) and murder for gory Halloween. Usually they were slumped on a wall or hanging out a trash can, or in someone's bath to look like a dumped body bag they'd 'hidden' before a party.

If I saw the decoration described I'd assume someone was trying to display it and hadn't thought it through. Black bags taped up don't look like a person, a hanging would use clothing not a body bag. I wouldn't think of suicide or lynching for bags hanging out a window. I wouldn't do it but wouldn't be calling the police.

I'm struggling to understand why people think this represents suicide. Why would they be in a plastic bag? It represents a murder if anything.

@Jaikers

Oh it’s down now and I hope nobody saw it that was offended by it. Obviously I am aware of the witch hangings but that didn’t occur to me any more than the suicide connection because it was just a witch riding her broomstick made by my 5 year old

You really don't need to take it down. It's absolutely fine.

@DailyRepeatGuarantee

Maybe it's just triggering for me then. Sadly I know of two suicides and some attempted ones.

I think so too.

If I saw some bin bags in the shape of a person hanging out a window I'd think someone tried to chuck their rubbish out and it got stuck.
or wouldn't even think anything and if my kids asked me what it was I'd say I don't know (because I wouldn't have known it was a trend this year), it's a bit weird, shrug shoulders, look at that big spider web over there!

but it is obviously triggering for you and I think you are projecting that it'd be traumatising for every child, everyone.
it'd be for some, but not all.

sorry you are upset

I saw this type of thing on a friends Facebook post, did think it was poor taste. Not sure if it was their house but I know their area goes for gore. To me Halloween is primary aged kids or younger so I don't like the evil decorations, although there was a severed foot at the lids soft play and my DS thought it was great too much Minecraft rotten flesh

We have deviations like these, but I think the gnarly scares horror ones might be easier to come by, even saw some horrid scary horror clown in Asda.

It’s a reminder of death by hanging - historical fact
It’s gruesome but that’s the point if Halloween
I can think of lots of gruesome stuff - disembowelled child??? But that's not Halloween. It's All Hallows' night when the dead rise. So ghosts and ghouls not dying and killing. The movies have hijacked it.

@RavingAnnie

I'm struggling to understand why people think this represents suicide. Why would they be in a plastic bag? It represents a murder if anything.

Because hanging is almost always suicide — I can't think of a time in recent history when I've heard of someone being murdered by hanging, and judicial hanging no longer happens in this country — and death by suicide in the UK is more often than not by hanging. So the link in people's minds is very strong in both directions, strong enough to override details like being wrapped in plastic bags.

Yeah this is definitely in poor taste. Not only is it mocking a common method of suicide, it could also be interpreted as racist depending on where you live. Black bin liner representing the skin colour of someone being lynched? Poor taste, poor taste indeed.

I think that's it for me
All Hallows' Eve: ghosts, ghouls, devils, witches, skeletons, zombies these are all supernatural make believe stuff

Since when did it start to involve real world horrible stuff like murder victims, crime scene tape, gruesome death and injuries and serial killers (someone was dressed as Hannibal Lecter on Strictly!)?

I do not think those are the same thing at all and no-one should be having representations of dead bodies outside their house. Whoever said there isn't enough exposure to the dark side of life have you switched on the news??

@RavingAnnie

I'm struggling to understand why people think this represents suicide. Why would they be in a plastic bag? It represents a murder if anything.

The silhouette is the same, it’s a body hanging by the neck, bag or not.

I’d say I am almost “over” the suicide I encountered but the image of a body hanging like this is still a punch in the gut.

I wouldn’t go shaming anyone for their decorations just to be righteous for the sake of it or anything. And I know it’s a valid approach to get over something horrible by laughing at it too. But knowing what I know I wouldn’t put something like this out to confront anyone who was just walking past.

@CovoidOfAllHumanity

I think that's it for me All Hallows' Eve: ghosts, ghouls, devils, witches, skeletons, zombies these are all supernatural make believe stuff

Since when did it start to involve real world horrible stuff like murder victims, crime scene tape, gruesome death and injuries and serial killers (someone was dressed as Hannibal Lecter on Strictly!)?

I do not think those are the same thing at all and no-one should be having representations of dead bodies outside their house. Whoever said there isn't enough exposure to the dark side of life have you switched on the news??

@CovoidOfAllHumanity

when?
I'd say in 1978. When Halloween was released

I have a life size skeleton which came from Asda with a string on the back of its neck to hang it up. I hung it from my porch roof. Wouldn’t have been pleased if snowflakes had asked me to take it down.

A skeleton is not the same thing at all
A skeleton is not likely to remind people of a death by hanging or a murder scene
I think calling people who may have lost loved ones to suicide snowflakes is a shitty thing to do.

I don't think it's necessary to frame it as "snowflakes" demanding things. My feeling is that people can decorate for Halloween however they like within the law and common sense (e.g. don't have decorations which look like a genuine emergency that needs 999). Scary things, reminders of death, supernatural things, etc. are all part of it. I just also think that it's okay for people to say if decorations cause individuals with particular circumstances to feel distressed, and people don't have the right to demand others stay silent about finding those decorations distressing. If other people say they find certain types of decorations upsetting, you can make your own decision about whether you think that's a genuine distress (as opposed to people virtue signalling about what they think other people might be upset by), and whether having those decorations is worth potential distress to strangers, or maybe people thinking you're insensitive, and you can either choose to display them publicly, or choose not to. You don't have the right to be shielded from the knowledge that there are quite a few people who have had someone close to them die by hanging, and that some of them may find your decorations upsetting.

Having said that, displaying a skeleton by suspending it from a string isn't exactly what we're talking about here.

I would find it upsetting. Both my cousins hung themselves.
It's not just comic or macabre, it's too like real life for many people.

It's horrible. My DS died by banging herself. Last year a local house did it and a lot of people complained s they took it down but not after being called a Karen by the home owner

It's not just relatives & friends, either. I hanged myself as a teenager and was found and cut down by chance, and go through periods of my life where I struggle with obsessive and intrusive thoughts about hanging myself on a daily basis. Seeing hanging imagery doesn't "trigger" me — I don't find it particularly distressing, since I'm pretty much habituated to it — but my difficulties mean that I'm primed to notice references to hanging as they're very salient to me, and it's quite rare to come across casual or recreational references to it. It tends to be reserved for when someone wants to really shock.

I have skeletons at Halloween - that is absolutely in no way akin to a dead body hanging

@flippertyop

I have skeletons at Halloween - that is absolutely in no way akin to a dead body hanging

I agree, that isn’t the same thing at all.