By Thomas Harding

A Halloween dummy strung from a tree on Route 480 outside of Shepherdstown has caused outrage in the community. The five feet high dummy is visible from the road and hangs from a tree by a house alongside Morgans Grove Park.

The dummy comprises of blue jean work pants, orange, a green Thai-dye shirt, grey-black gloves and a black plastic head.

“I’m very upset,” said George Rutherford, head of the Jefferson County chapter of the NAACP. “It is a big deal, it is the same as if a noose was hanging up there or something from the Klan.”

The dummy has been hung from the tree for over a week.

This incident comes only a few days after three dummies were strung up in a tree in a park in Frederick which caused distress and anger over the Halloween period. Those dummies were taken down after public anger.

“I’m upset because schoolchildren ride past it every day on their way to school and because it is so close to the Asbury Methodist Church,” added Rutherford.

“I am not sure what to make of it,” said Pastor Bropleh of the Asbury Methodist Church. “I don’t know if this is the remnants of Halloween or if the family forgot to take it down or if they are trying to send a message to the community. I don’t want to read too much into it before I know more.”

Over the past 150 years there has been a number of lynchings in the Eastern Panhandle. According to George Rutherford, there was a lyching in Charles Town in the 1930s. According to the West Virginia Department of Culture and History, there was a lynching in Greenbrier County in 1931.

The dummy is hanging from a tree next a home on Kearneysville Pike, a red brick rancher that is tenant occupied. 

Update 1: State troopers have been called to investigate the dummy as a possible hate crime. The tenants told them that they were unaware of the impact of the dummy. The dummy was taken down the next morning.

Photos by Rachel Herbaugh