Sheriff’s deputies in Tennessee on Wednesday posted a friendly warning to county residents that, as Halloween approaches, not everything in their community is as it seems.
Officials with the Greene County Sheriff's Department posted a photo to the department's Facebook page that shows a dummy dressed in men's clothing lying on a driveway, positioned so it looks like the man's head was chopped off by the home's garage door. Red splatters and bloody-looking handprints mark the door above the dummy.
"Attention, everyone! For those of you driving on Chuckey Pike in Green County: THIS IS A HALLOWEEN DECORATION!" the warning reads. "Do NOT call 911 reporting a dead body. Instead, congratulate the homeowner on a great display."
Many of the department’s followers got a chuckle out of both the display and the warning.
“The fact the police department had to make this announcement means more than enough people called,” one man wrote.
Department officials responded to the man's comment, as well as others' questions asking if someone really did call 911.
“The call was given out as a ‘suspicious person lying in a driveway with bloody handprints on the garage,’” the response read. “Officers responded with lights/sirens until the first officer arrived to see this.”
Another of the department’s followers wrote that she and her family did a similar prank one year using the deck of their home.
"We dressed (a) dummy and had it looking like (it was) falling off the deck," the woman wrote. "Got lots of response."
Other commenters did not find the Halloween prank as funny.
“I might be a buzzkill, but I just don’t think this is a good idea,” one woman wrote.
She wrote that pranks like the one pictured could result in someone truly injured being ignored and not getting the proper aid.
"I'm good with pumpkins and such, but I would leave the horror in Hollywood," the woman wrote.
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