Meet the People Who Keep Up Skelly Year-Round
There are two kinds of people at Halloween: those who put a bowl of candy on the porch and call it a day, and those who go all out, turning their yards into veritable haunted houses with the showcase often being a gargantuan 12-foot skeleton leering down over it all. Actually, there’s also a third group of folks: those who love those giant skeletons, nicknamed Skellys, so much that they make them part of the family and keep them up all year long.
And that last group of people? “They are the best kind of people,” says Lia Flynn, my neighbor who owns four 12-foot Skellys, nearly three dozen 5-foot skeletons and many other bone-accented lawn decorations. And Flynn would knowshe’s part of a Facebook group for people who really love their Skellys. They post pictures, trade items to personalize their Skellys, brainstorm ideas and share bits and pieces of their lives along the way. “There’s just something special about someone who loves a giant plastic skeleton that much,” she says.
Flynn introduced me to some of these Skelly-loving souls, the small percentage of people who keep theirs up year-round. Flynn would be a part of this number, except that her husband, Patrick, won’t agree to keep them up past Thanksgiving. In fact, Flynn loves her Skellys so much that she changes up the “scene” in her front yard every four days, culminating in a grand finale for Halloween. But come November, they are boxed up and put into their own special storage room. Yes, the skeletons have their own room.
Read on to meet some of the people who love giant Halloween skeletons and get answers to all your burning questions about being a Skelly fanaticincluding what Flynn’s big Halloween Skelly finale will be this year.
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What is a Skelly, exactly?
In 2020, Home Depot debuted the 12-foot Giant-Sized Skellyan 85-pound Halloween lawn decoration that cost $299. Whether it was mass hysteria brought on by the pandemic or just a previously untapped love for the macabre, the skeleton sold out in record time. And it’s sold out every single year since then.
Once customers get Skelly to their home, they have to assemble it and set it upa process that makes putting together an artificial Christmas tree look like child’s play.
What do people do with Skelly for Halloween?
You’d think the answer to this question would be a no-brainer (literally), but it turns out that die-hard owners often do more than just set up their ginormous skeletons in their front yards. In fact, they frequently get Skelly, the Halloween decoration, its own Halloween costume. Yes, you read that right.
“My skeleton’s name is Indiana Bones. I’ve had him about 14 months now, and he stays out year-round,” says Ashley Harter, of Seminole, Florida. “I try to decorate him for every holiday. So far, my favorite holiday is Halloween. I go all out and dressed him up as Batman this year!”
But that’s just the tip of the costume iceberg: For Easter, Indiana Bones was an Easter bunny; Christmas saw him as Buddy the Elf and even as Santa one year. He has also been dressed festively for New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, football season, graduation, back-to-school, birthdays and summer. “I generally DIY all his outfits,” Harter says. “This Christmas, he is going to be the Grinch!”
Why do people want to “adopt” a 12-foot-tall skeleton?
Of course, the simplest answer is that it makes them happy. There’s a joke in the community that you don’t choose the Skellythe Skelly chooses you. And that was true for Damien and Rosa Hernandez of Chicago. “Our Skelly boy is named Bonifacio,” Rosa says proudly. “Our oldest was away at college in Ohio and sent us a picture of a 12-foot skeleton that she had seen in the wild and suggested that we get one. We loved it, as Halloween is our favorite holiday and we always go all out with our decorations. So we looked it up and laughed at the ridiculous price.”
They laughed until Damien showed up with one a few weeks later. Rosa accepted the new family member immediately and did what any proud new parent would do: “I was so starstruck that I went online and ordered ‘Proud Parent of a 12-Foot Skelly’ merch for us.”
Bonifacio hasn’t come down since he first arrived, becoming “an integral part of our family and community.” The Hernandezes change his outfit every month. Over the past year, he’s been a Pilgrim, Santa, an angel of love, a leprechaun, an Easter bunny, a graduate and Uncle Sam, to name a few. He even got his own poncho and hat for Mexican Independence Day in September so he could celebrate it along with his adoptive family. “That one is probably my favorite of all,” Rosa confesses, “but I honestly enjoy piecing together all the different outfits from what we have and can find. It takes a lot of time and creativity to put it all together and make it look good.”
How do you name your Skelly?
Every Skelly has its own name, and Skelly parents put just as much thought into naming it as parents do human babies. “I’ve been a Deadhead for close to 50 years, and I’ve named many things after Grateful Dead songs,” says LesLeigh Williams of Peckville, Pennsylvania. “I’ve had a camper named Bertha and a van named Stella Blue, so it was only fitting that I name my Skelly Althea.”
The 67-year-old admits that she needed some extra help from family and friends to get the extra-large skeleton home and set up, but since that moment, Althea has remained a year-round fixture on her lawn. “I have had so much fun with Althea,” she says. “I enjoy thinking ahead to what little costumes or details to come up with for each season or holiday.”
What is Althea up to at the moment? Since Halloween is right around the corner, she is holding a bouquet of black roses and bats, and has an orange flame glowing in her chest and purple and orange lights behind her.
What do the neighbors think of Skelly?
You’ve probably read stories of cranky neighbors and threatening HOA members who aren’t fans of people keeping their Skellys on display year-round. But every single one of the people I interviewed said that their neighbors adore their Skellys, including Amber Carmichael of Beverly Hills, California. “We call her Emma Bonelike ‘I’m a bone,’ get it?” she says. She got the idea of a year-round Skelly after seeing friends post about it on social media and decided she wanted in on the fun. “I’ve dressed her up for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July and even back to school,” Carmichael says. “I get so many compliments on her. Everyone stops me when I’m outside and comments about her, especially when I’m changing her outfits.”
Harter adds: “My neighbors love Indiana Bones! The families send me texts or messages about how much they look forward to seeing what he will dress up as next. The kids all come to take photos with him!”
How does Skelly help the community?
It turns out that Skelly, despite its empty chest cavity, has a very big heart, spreading love and cheer throughout the neighborhoods he lives in and bringing communities together. This was the case for Dawn Ward and Cheyenne Young, both of West Lafayette, Ohio. Young originally bought the Skelly, named Moe, as a gift for her toddler daughter, Gracelynn. The little girl was tragically killed while in the care of a babysitter.
Around that same time, a boy about Gracelynn’s age started coming to visit Moe. “Bryant fell in love with Moe!” says Ward, who is Bryant’s grandmother. “No matter how many skeletons we took him by, there was something special about Moe that he kept coming back to!”
So when Young decided it was time to finally take Moe down, she called Ward and offered Moe as a gift to Bryant, in honor of Gracelynn. “How could we say no?” Ward says. “So we brought him home and set him up by the pool. That gave me the idea to make him a lifeguard, so I ordered the accessories and shirt.”
That began the adventures of Moe and Bryant, which continue to this day. They even took “first day of school” pictures together!
Is it safe to keep Skelly up year-round?
Not much scares Skellyhe’s already dead after allbut weather can do a lot of damage. While Skelly comes with a base and stabilizers, along with cables to attach him to the ground, you should put him away if there are going to be high winds or severe storms. Home Depot specifically notes that Skelly is not billed to stand up to intense weather events, though he is water-resistant.
“We got hit hard by the hurricanes here in Florida, so we had to take him down,” Harter says. “Today, we spent all day cleaning the yard so he can come back out. He is bringing a girlfriend and a dog, Clifford the big dead dog! We are so excited!”
How long will the Skelly trend continue?
The trend shows no sign of dying down, so expect to see the skeletonsand similar decorationsin your neighborhood for the foreseeable future. If you live in St. Louis, you may see the incredible Skelly display put on by Hannah and Tim Pauk. “The ‘skeleton crew’ has become so popular that we have a Facebook page dedicated to them with a following of more than 21,000 people,” Hannah says of her family’s Skelly page.
All of this makes sense to Flynn. “My neighbors have actually told me they feel like they don’t have to decorate for Halloween because my yard is so elaborateit basically encompasses the whole neighborhood,” she says. Currently, her 40-plus skeletons are doing push-ups with a large Skelly drill sergeant (a nod to her military vet husband), but come Halloween night? “This year, I’m doing a huge Where’s Waldo?scene, and the kids will be able to search for him, but I’m not saying any more than that! It has to be a surprisethat’s part of the magic!”
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AtReaders Digest, were committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on the people who keep up their Skellys year-round, Charlotte Hilton Andersen tapped her experience as a longtime journalist who specializes in human-interest stories. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, ourcontributorsand oureditorial policies.
Sources:
- Lia Flynn; in-person interview, Oct. 13, 2024
- Ashley Harter; email interview, Oct. 13, 2024
- Hannah Pauk; email interview, Oct. 13, 2024
- Rosa Hernandez; email interview, Oct. 13, 2024
- Amber Carmichael; email interview, Oct. 13, 2024
- Dawn Ward; email interview, Oct. 13, 2024
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