Frighteningly Festive

Auckland’s Whitcoulls Santa statue, which was built in 1960, is the world’s most unintentionally creepy Christmas ornament according to American humour website Cracked. Before a 2009 makeover, the statue had a sly winking left eye and a disturbing “come hither” moving index finger. The Santa originally lived outside the old Farmers department store, now the Heritage Hotel, in Hobson St in downtown Auckland. Since 1998, he has spent every Christmas outside Whitcoulls on the corner of Victoria and Queen Streets. “Unsurprisingly, residents of Auckland were uncomfortable with being beckoned to by something that looks like it wants your attention so it can ask if you’re comfortable with being followed home,” Cracked said.