Jackson, NJ Halloween display with KKK-like ghost gone, another goes up
JACKSON — It's a whack-a-mole of controversial Halloween displays with a new display popping up as another is modified.
The first display on Toms River Road (Route 571) in Jackson featured several ghosts hung from trees including one that some thought resembled a KKK robe as a Confederate flag flew overhead.
A spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said it was working with Jackson police after the display was reported by NAACP Toms River chapter president Bahiyyah Abdullah.
After investigators spoke to the homeowner, he voluntarily removed the ghost. The homeowner told authorities that he has flown the Confederate flag at his home for years.
Abdullah on Thursday did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's requests for comment about the removal of the ghost.
No fan of Democrats
Another display in Jackson has appeared that could also draw controversy.
A photo of the large display on Frank Applegate Road features the head of President Joe Biden sticking out of a bag that lies on an alter-like table with a body wrapped in a garbage bag. To one side of the table is a tombstone that reads "RIP Biden" and on the other side "RIP Harris."
Several pro-Trump flags are in the yard including one that reads "Trump is my president, Jesus is my savior" and another that says "Trump 2024."
There's a row of tombstones in another photo with the names of New York U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Peolsi, Biden, Harris, Rep. Jerold Nadler and the phrase "Let's Go Brandon," a vulgar reference taken to mean "f--- Joe Biden."
Pictures show skeletons in the yard and bloody "baby ghosts" hung from trees
There's also a Volkswagon with blood on it with Biden's head in the window with legs out the window
"Hate has no home in Jackson," Mayor Mike Reina said of the displays, adding that police have not received complaints about either one as of Thursday afternoon.
Anti-Biden Halloween Display in Jackson, NJ
Controversal displays of the past
New Jersey is no stranger to controversial and questionable yard displays.
A figure of a man with a burlap bag over his head in a noose hanging on a Salem County porch got the attention of the county's NAACP chapter during the 2017 Halloween season.
A Clifton dentist kep his "Babes of Christmas" lawn display with sexy mannequins despite media attention in 2019.
It was a "parody of the pressure of retail forcing us to shop 12 days of Christmas," in an effort to "bring levity to all the pressure of the season," Dr. Wayne Gangi told New Jersey 101.5.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ