A Texas family decked their house out with a Clark Griswold-themed Christmas display with a dummy hanging from the roof, panicking at least one passerby who tried to help the man before calling 911.
The Austin family paid homage to the 1989 classic holiday movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation by recreating the scene where Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, hangs from the roof after a failed attempt to put up lights on his house.
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As KVUE reported, Chris Heerlein and his family purchased the dummy online and spent hours searching thrift stores to find clothing to match those of what Griswold wore in the film. The family hanged the Griswold impersonator from the roof and rigged up a ladder to appear that it had been tipped over.
However, the festive scene was too realistic for one man, who tried to help what he thought was an actual person hanging from the roof. Video shows a frantic man yelling for help as tries to adjust the ladder.
“Oh mister, please hold on,” the man said before wrestling with the ladder. “Can you reach it?”
The man made a call to 911 when the dummy didn’t respond.
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“I was trying to get him down any way I can. Except when I started talking to him, he never said nothing!” the man told the news station after learning the dummy wasn’t a real person. “Then I thought, ‘Oh my God I hope he’s not dead, lemme call 911.”
The family now has a sign attached to the bottom of the ladder saying the dummy is part of their holiday display and not to call emergency officials.