I spent hours doing my Halloween decorations before my neighor asked me to take them down, I didn’t understand at first
A HALLOWEEN lover who spent hours decorating her house and yard encountered some unusual resistance to her holiday celebrations.
A neighbor asked the woman to take down her “morbid” decorations – she was confused at first, but then happily complied.
TikToker Salena Webb (@thatsnorthsense) is a mom of four from South Carolina.
She shares videos about her family and vlogs about her life for her 5739 TikTok followers.
In September, the mom decked out her front yard for Halloween, with decorations including two life-size skeletons carrying a casket, a cardboard graveyard, a giant spiderweb, and an inflatable witch.
Soon afterward, she received a knock on the door from the adult son of her elderly neighbors, who live across the street.
She shared a clip of the interaction, taken by her home security camera, which racked up 1.2 million views and 86,000 likes.
The man told Salena that his father had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, and was finding the diagnosis hard.
At first, the mom was confused and said: “What do my decorations really have to do with this?”
The neighbor’s son then asked her to take down the casket, as it was upsetting his father.
That’s when the influencer realized: “This guy is dealing with mortality.”
She immediately removed the casket and relocated the entire skeleton scene to her backyard.
The video caption read: “My family knows I love Halloween and my decorations took me a while to make and put up.
“I had just purchased the skeleton carrying the casket to go along with my graveyard to really set my Halloween decor off this year.”
She continued: “I was a little sad at first but I thought about the bigger picture.
“Me removing my casket isn’t hurting me at all but it may ease and bring my neighbor a little bit of peace as he adjusts to this news. Kindness is free and compassion goes a long way.”
Her compassionate response was applauded online, with many TikTokers commenting their support for her kindness and understanding.
One person wrote that the man “was so gentle about it and that was incredibly compassionate of you.”
Sabena responded: “Exactly, he didn’t come over aggressive because he knew it’s my house and was looking for me to have compassion and that’s exactly what I gave them.”
Another commenter said: “His explanation was so heartfelt. It’s so kind of you to respond in the same way.”
The mom of four wrote in a reply: “He truly was coming to me from a place of love for his father and I couldn’t deny that for them. Always next year.”
The influencer posted a follow-up video showing what she did with the decorations.
In overlaid text, she wrote: “When my neighbor asked for me just to remove the casket…but you care about your neighbor and their mental health so you relocate the whole graveyard scene to the backyard.”
In the caption, she said: “Kindness is free but some of you can’t even afford that.
“What happened to loving your neighbor…it’s a simple request to give your neighbor a little peace of mind during such a hard time.”