'Untied States Fun House': History professor's Halloween display embraces political chaos

Houses across the country transform into scary attractions with witches, ghosts, and all sorts of terrifying relics around Halloween, but one Connecticut home owner put his own twist on scary.

"I've always done something for Halloween. I started with the old witch flying into the tree thing, and sort of progressively built up from there. But political Halloween, for me, began in 2003," Matt Warshauer, a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, told USA TODAY.

Warshauer's West Hartford home, nestled along a main road between two popular shopping areas, has become a tradition that hundreds stop by to see. This year, drivers couldn't help but gaze at the "Untied States Fun-House" display lamenting on today's state of political affairs.

It's hard to know what grabs a passerby's attention first: The large drawing of former President Donald Trump dressed as a clown, the array of guns displayed next to shot skeletons, or the burning earth display.

The history professor has been turning his Halloween displays into political commentary for 20 years. Previous years featured his take on the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 response, the Vietnam War, the invasion of Iraq, and the war in Ukraine. Unlike past years, Warshauer said he had a hard time picking this year's theme.

So he went all out, tackling a multitude of controversial recent events surrounding former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

"It's controversial. Not everybody's gonna love it," Warshauer said of his display.

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The 'Untied States' fun house

On first glance, one would think Warshauer's display reads "United States" but instead there's a typo – it's the "Untied States," a phrase that the history professor said perfectly represented the current political landscape.

"I could not figure out a single theme, because our society is moving too fast. And the politics and the culture wars are moving too fast. One thing that's up one week is gone the next week," Warshauer said. "So all kinds of things going through my head. And so when I ultimately decided this is a circus, that was it. It's the Untied States funhouse."

The phrase was a reference to an incident in 1999 where senators were given pens with that typo during Bill Clinton's impeachment hearing. All the pens were handed out, before the misspelling was caught.

The center of the display features Trump dressed as a clown with the phrase "if you elect a clown, expect the circus."

A merry-go-round also features a section depicting Trump in jail, with mention of the various crimes the former president has been charged with. The display includes small details like Trump's hands.

Another section takes aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – it refers to the GOP presidential hopeful as "Ron DeSatan" – and displays commentary on the GOP governor's "Don't Say Gay Bill" and feud with Disney.

A wall of guns on top of skeletons who appear to be shot, including a baby, tackle America's growing gun violence epidemic.

Another section features a large display of a burning earth and climate activist's Greta Thunberg's famous quote: "Our house is on fire. The main solution is so simple that even a small child can understand it."

The final display is what Warshauer described as "the stupidity section."

"Just a bunch of quotes about stupidity and my favorite one is from Edith Sitwell: 'I am impatient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it,'" Warshauer said.

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Interactive games

Those passing by the display don't have to just get caught up on the most recent history, they can also play with some of the interactive toys that are part of the display.

They can look at themselves through a crazy mirror or play on a skee-ball machine. They could also test out a hammer strength machine or take a family photo next to a traditional Halloween cutout.

The most interactive part is the large cutout display where people can write comments. Just 10 days after coming up, the wall was already filled. While most of the comments were encouraging of Warshauer's display, some voiced their disagreement and discontent.

Team effort that didn't take too long to build

Warshauer said people are usually surprised to learn that these installations don't take him as long to build as they might anticipate. This year's display was a team effort. The history professor made a GoFundMe to crowdfund for some of the materials used for the installation.

Most of the items used were garbage, or reused from previous displays. Additionally, he worked with neighbors who were engineers to build the merry-go-round. All in all, he said it took him about a month's worth of weekends, or eight days, to make the entire display.

A conversation starter

Warshauer said that his displays have garnered attention in the past, but his goal isn't to change anyone's stance. He wants to express his political views, and have conversations with those who come across it.

In the past, he's received death threats and attacks over his designs but while it does raise some concerns, he has kept going.

"That's why it's absurd, right? The adults come and see everything and go 'oh my God'," said Warshauer, who noted that he intends the display all in good fun. "The kids don't see that. They just see creepy scary stuff,"

But it's unclear how much longer the professor will keep up with this long standing tradition.

"I'm not getting any younger, so I don't know how much longer I'll be doing political Halloween. This very well could be the last year," he said. " I'm not saying I'm not going to do anything for Halloween but I've been doing it for 20 years. I enjoy speaking with people. I enjoy trying in a creative way that doesn't hurt anybody else to express my and other peoples' concerns and viewpoints but I can't not admit that it can be stressful."