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Don't Worry, Those Aren't Dead Horses Hanging In An Antelope Yard

ANTELOPE (CBS13) — A shocking sight for many drivers in Antelope prompted calls to animal control as passersby thought they were seeing animal cruelty.

What appeared to be dead horses hung up from their hind legs in the backyard of a home was actually something much less cruel.

The drive along Elverta Road near Antelope features horses grazing peacefully in pastures, but drivers recently got a shock they weren't expecting—what appeared to be two dead horses hanging from their hind legs in the backyard of Eric Hagood's home.

"We started seeing there were all these cars piling up and stopping traffic and people getting out, and then some people came over and said 'ya know, are those horses real?' and we were like 'No, no, these are props, of course they aren't real.'"

Some drivers were so upset they called animal control.

It turns out Hagood is the co-owner of Callson Manor, a haunted house held every year at the Placer County Fairgrounds. The hanging horses drivers feared were a case of animal cruelty were instead props used in the new zombie Western-themed portion of the attraction.

"I know there's a lot of controversy with things going on right now with animal cruelty things, so that's probably why it's been such a thing that kinda blew up so quickly, but yeah, we are all animal lovers here," he said.

Hagood showed the hanging horses are nothing more than styrofoam and paint.

"It's all part of the show all part of the storyline," he said. "Our apologies, we weren't trying to cause any trouble."

The horses have since been moved to a less visible spot until the haunted house opens in October.

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