For 15 years, the Deck family has been scaring neighbors and trick-or-treaters at their annual haunted house. But this year, the boogey man turned out to be code enforcement. "When I came home from work, they posted a No Entry sign over my sign, that no one's allowed to use it," said homeowner Paul Deck.
The town posted a "Unsafe Structure" notice, which states that no one is allowed to go inside. "They want me change all my displays to the outside so people could just walk around it," said Deck.
Deck designed this house of ghouls and ghosts with his three boys. They spent over 40 hours constructing it to be like a maze inside and he says its too late to rebuild the whole thing.
"Its approximately 1200 square feet. Its built with over 300 2x4s, 400 feet of plastic. Its got between 12-15 displays. Its got everything from Freddy, to Jason, to Hannibal Lector," he said.
Deck's neighbors are disappointed. This haunted house is something they look forward to every Halloween. "I think it's a shame. The kids are really disappointed. Every year he does a great thing for the kids, they love to come, they love it, come in twice sometimes if they can," said neighbor Scott Hummel.
"Obviously somebody complained and they came and shut it down," said neighbor Phyllis Vogt.
What's the big safety problem? Hanging plastic. It's flammable, you know. Also, bureaucrats hate fun. And so we lose just a tiny bit more of our freedom to an overly officious government bent on protecting us from ourselves.
