You and the family pile into the trusty Subaru Outback and drive around Plaza Midwood to check out everyone's Halloween decorations.

Oh, honey, look, you tell your wife. The Smiths each carved a pumpkin for their porch. (They always do the sweetest things together.)

The Johnson family transformed their front lawn into a cemetery, complete with cobwebs and bats hanging from trees. How adorable.

Then you pull up to a backyard and notice something, perhaps a scarecrow? Fun and super festive, you think. You, the kids and the Mrs. peer out the window to get a closer look. Hmm, looks like a person's face is on top of that dummy. Is that a rope around his neck? OH MY GOD. THAT'S PRESIDENT OBAMA WITH A NOOSE AROUND HIS NECK. The kids start screaming. Your wife erupts into tears. You step on the gas and hightail it home.

Jon Gunn, a Plaza Midwood resident, noticed the "decoration" in one of his neighbor's yards, according to the Charlotte Observer. It is in the backyard, not front, the story notes, but visible from a public-access point in the neighborhood.

Visible from the street or not, tying a noose around a black dummy's neck and hanging it from a tree is racist, disgusting and flat-out ignorant. But that it's in someone's backyard makes it all that plus totally perverse. Is this really a Halloween decoration or something these people plan to keep out during barbecues and birthday parties? Will they invite friends and family over for some hot cider and good ol' fashion lynching parties? Or, maybe it's part of the family's plan to dress like the founding members of the KKK for Halloween. After all, little Billy would make a perfect Nathan Bedford Forrest.

In Plaza Midwood? Sigh. There goes the neighborhood.

Read the Observer's story here.