WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – Forget about “The Nightmare on Elm Street.” Each year for the past decade, Walter Laughlin has created a new nightmare of his own on Live Oak Drive in Wrightsville Beach.
“It just gets bigger and bigger every year,” Walter Laughlin said. “The crowds are getting big enough that I thought, maybe we should take advantage of the number of eyes and maybe use that for a better cause.”
For the past three years, Laughlin has tried to promote a nonprofit through his displays. Last year, he included a Halloween display that featured a mini airplane with skeletons on it for “Children’s Flight of Hope” which provides emergency medical air transport for kids.
This year, Laughlin’s display featured a haunted sailboat he found at a junkyard. He covered it in lights, skeletons and spiders. With the nautical theme, he decided to promote a nonprofit that works with North Carolina’s coastline: the North Carolina Coastal Federation.
“They do a lot of things for the coastal waterways of North Carolina,” Laughlin said. “But one of the things they do is they help clear marine debris from the marshes and the waterways.”
He also set up a display that featured just some of the marine debris the federation has found in the ocean. Items like a refrigerator, a plastic chair and a bucket of toys were set up for trick-or-treaters to see. While the kids were given candy, the adults were given a flyer explaining more about the Coastal Federation and how to get involved.
One of Laughlin’s neighbors, David Cignotti, has been on the board of the federation for more than a decade. He says there’s nothing scarier than the thought of people destroying our beautiful coastline.
“I believe that anyone who lives in coastal North Carolina should be an advocate for our coast,” Cignotti said. “We have some serious issues to deal with and if we don’t all work together, we’re going to lose this precious environment that we all love.”
Because of the success of the displays and the awareness he’s raising for important causes, Laughlin says he plans to do it for years to come.
“I think it’s fun for the kids and the adults, and it’s an opportunity to promote a non-profit that I think is important,” Laughlin said.
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