Woman shares compassionate response after being asked by neighbour to take down Halloween decorations

‘This is how neighbours should be,’ one person said of her gesture

Salena Webb is such a Halloween lover that she hung up decorations around her house back in September.

Her front yard was filled with various graveyard-type items complete with tombstones as well as two skeletons next to an open casket. But one day, one of her neighbours knocked on her door asking her to take the decorations down.

According to an interview with Insider, the son of her two elderly neighbours explained that his father was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. She had been friendly with the couple before, noting that although they aren’t native English speakers they’ve interacted through simple exchanges such as handing out vegetables from her garden.

“He starts to tell me that his father was diagnosed with lung cancer,” she recalled her neighbour’s son saying. “And then he started to talk about my Halloween decorations. I’m like: ‘What do my decorations really have to do with this?’”

Webb said it took her a second to fully understand what was being asked of her, as she was specifically asked to take down the casket. The interaction between the two of them appeared to come from a security camera in front of Webb’s house and she decided to take her decorations down, which she later uploaded to TikTok.

“I was a little sad at first but I thought about the bigger picture,” Webb wrote in her TikTok caption. “Me removing my casket isn’t hurting me at all but it may ease and bring my neighbour a little bit of peace as he adjusts to this news. Kindness is free and compassion goes a long way.”

Since first being posted on 5 October, her TikTok has received over one million views with over 3,000 comments. Many of the comments applauded Webb’s willingness to take her decorations down as well as her neighbour’s bravery to ask in the first place.

“He was so gentle about it and that was incredibly compassionate of you,” one commenter wrote.

Another person in the comments section agreed, writing, “His explanation was so heartfelt. It’s so kind of you to respond in the same way.”

“Wow. Thank you for your kindness and so thankful he expressed himself kindly too. This is how neighbours should be,” a third commenter pointed out.

The TikToker responded to some comments on the video explaining that she hopes her actions “encourage others to do the same and be more understanding”.

“He didn’t come over aggressive because he knew it’s my house and was looking for me to have compassion and that’s exactly what I gave them,” Webb responded to another commenter who thanked her for her kindness.

Webb later decided to take her neighbour’s request one step further. In a follow-up video posted on Wednesday 11 October, she filmed herself relocating her entire graveyard set-up to her backyard, so it would be out of view from her neighbours, despite only being asked to remove the casket.

Text across the screen in the video explained that she made the decision because she “cares about her neighbour and their mental health”.

The Independent has contacted Webb for comment.