News

Oct 25, 2024

Parents 'shocked' by body bags in Halloween display at kids' play center: 'That can't be what I think it is?'

They should have bagged these body bags. UK parents were “shocked” after an indoor play center for kids put up Halloween decorations that resembled life-size body bags. “When I saw them I did a double

They should have bagged these body bags.

UK parents were “shocked” after an indoor play center for kids put up Halloween decorations that resembled life-size body bags.

“When I saw them I did a double take — surely that can’t be what I think it is?” one of the mothers, who opted to remain anonymous, told Sky News while describing the ghoulish props at the padded playground.

The macabre display had been erected at Rugrats and Halfpints, a children’s activity center in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, that’s “committed to providing a safe, clean and stimulating environment,” per the site.

The facility, where prices run from $7.47 to $15.26 per child, offers a wide range of sensory and “soft play” activities like a padded jungle gym.

Unfortunately, the folks who ran the facility apparently didn’t care as much about “Nerfing” young psyches as well.

The quoted mom entered the play purveyor over the weekend to see some body-sized black plastic bags dangling from one of the play structures, as seen in viral photos.

Some were wrapped with tape bearing the words “caution” and “danger,” evoking imagery straight out of a horror film.

“The body bags were at the back which can’t be seen from the cafe area, only by kids inside,” said the appalled parent. “I just didn’t want to have to explain to my kid what they were.”

After speaking to other parents, she said they also “were as shocked as I was that it was deemed appropriate.”

A spokesperson for Rugrats, which won a Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Award in 2022, has since apologized for the macabre decorations and pledged to remove them as soon as possible.

“This is the first time someone has brought it to our attention, so of course, due to this, we will take them down immediately,” the rep said. “It wasn’t to cause distress and we apologize this is how they have felt.”

This isn’t the first time someone has gotten in hot water over faux body bags.

In 2021, a UK woman was mortified after an errantly placed “corpse” prop prompted a squad of 10 police officers to surround her home on the suspicion that she’d committed murder.