*Detroit woman Larethia Haddon has gotten a kick out of the reactions to the fake dead body she places on her lawn every Halloween – wherever she has lived – for the past 25 years.
The dummy positioned face down this October has prompted repeated visits by police. Haddon says cops rolled up three times Tuesday, the first day she put the body out. The Detroit News reports that police arrived again Wednesday and Haddon notes, “for some reason, it’s getting a lot of attention” this year.
Haddon says she puts the dummy face down in a different location in her yard every morning and watches the reactions from passers-by as she sips coffee. She says some have attempted CPR and “once they find out it’s a dummy, it’s so hilarious.”
“I used to live in Redford Township, and oh God — the police department, fire department, they would come out every day,” Haddon said Thursday night. “Everywhere I’ve ever lived, it’s always been this way. But this year, for some reason, it’s getting a lot of attention.”
Her son, Kendrick Hardaway, said he’s accustomed to the commotion.
“It puts a smile on a lot people’s faces,” he said. “People get a kick out it.”
The annual tradition dates to Haddon’s husband, whose birthday is on Halloween.
“We’re just really into it. And the kids get a kick out of it in the neighborhood and my grandchildren, also,” she said. “It’s something that we always do.”
Haddon said she doesn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I’m trying to bring laughter to Detroit,” she said. “We really need it.”
Others love the mock corpse — so much that Haddon no longer leaves it out at night because the “body” vanished the last two years.
“If you don’t bring him in at night, he won’t be there in the morning. I learned my lesson,” she said. “That’s terrible I have to bring him in at night. But on Halloween, he stays out all night. I just keep my door open until we go to bed.”
