TROY, Mich. — A Troy family spent Halloween Eve making repairs to their elaborate front yard Halloween display after vandals were caught on camera tearing it apart overnight.
The incident happened in the Sylvan Glen subdivision near Livernois and Long Lake. The Hudson family has long been fans of Halloween and had collected decorations going back a decade.
"When we were looking for a house, we were specifically looking for a house with a really big front yard because we knew we wanted to make our Halloween decorations even bigger," homeowner Kristy Hudson said.
The display features large, rare animatronics. Just before 1 a.m., what appears to be a group of teenagers ripped down several of the large animatronics and damaged many more.
"My husband had to weld the legs back together those were snapped off at the base," Hudson said.
The larger animatronics were put back in place but no longer work. The family is racing to make repairs before trick-or-treaters arrive.
Hudson said explaining the vandalism to her child has been especially difficult.
"The hard part too is explaining all of this to our 9-year-old who has a lot of developmental disabilities, and understanding that people broke our stuff. He doesn't understand, why did they do that and he's scared they're going to come back, or they might come in the house," Hudson said.
The damage is estimated at a few thousand dollars, which could result in felony charges for those responsible. Hudson said that is not the outcome she is seeking.
"That is not our goal in this situation. We just want accountability and we want them to be able to understand that their actions had some serious repercussions," Hudson said.
Hudson said the neighborhood response has been overwhelming. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Troy Police Department, which is currently investigating.
You can follow along with the Hudson Halloween display on their Youtube channel.
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