'Bone Iver' and bony Taylor Swifts: 12-foot skeletons delight across Minnesota
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When Pamela Eklof assembled her skeleton army, there was one question — what would they wear?
She was stumped, so she asked her book club. There was a consensus: Taylor Swift costumes, of course. Eklof got to work dressing her two 12-foot skeletons and eight human-sized ones with outfits from her sister, neighbors, Goodwill and Amazon to represent each of Swift’s eras, based on her tour. And, every skeleton has the coveted friendship bracelet. They stand together outside her south Minneapolis home.
“Everyone loves it,” Eklof said. “Parents and grandparents say their kids take a walk every day to see the display, delivery drivers get a kick out of it and stop to take photos and the high schoolers nearby too.”
In 2020, Home Depot changed the spooky scene by debuting the 12-foot legend. Every year, it sells out almost immediately.
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In Bemidji, Minn., Erin Shaw Murray had been patiently waiting earlier this year for her 12-foot skeleton to arrive.
She already had two normal skeletons in her yard, and she drives around with a skeleton in the front seat of her car during Halloween season, but that wasn’t enough.
When she first said she wanted one, her husband asked the logical question — where would they store it? She laughed.
“I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to store it. We are going to dress it up and move it around the yard all year,’” she said.
A trained seamstress, Shaw Murray got to work on costumes for 12-foot Inês de Castro, named after Portugal’s only queen who was crowned after death. For her first summer, she sported a sunflower skirt and crown and for Halloween, a black tulle skirt.
Melissa Olson in Woodbury, Minn., was one of the lucky ones. She pre-ordered in 2021 for her 12-foot skeleton, Bone Iver, named after the band Bon Iver.
He moves inside once the snow starts but maintains his holiday spirit dressing up for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Midsummer and even announcing Olson’s pregnancy last fall.
“My joke is that we’re going to get our money’s worth out of the skeleton. We use it for everything,” Olson said. “When our daughter came home on the 29th we took a picture of all of us in skeleton onesies and she is wearing the one Bone Iver held in her baby announcement, so it just kinda came full circle.”
West St. Paul Council Member Lisa Eng-Sarne’s 12-foot skeleton was a spooky part of her campaign in 2022 as he held a sign for her election. This year, he is beyond politics and instead simply greeted neighbors for his “raising” on Sept. 30.
Eng-Sarne hosted a party for her “spooky season kickoff,” greeting guests with chocolate skeleton-shaped cookies.
Like many giant skeleton owners, she says Halloween has always been an important part of her life.
“As I get older, I see other adults not as willing to participate in the magic of Halloween,” she said. “I love to connect with my neighbors and other people in the community and I think Halloween is just a beautiful example of that, especially where I live.”
Eng-Sarne has found her match in the nearly 300,000-member Facebook group for people who own the 12-foot skeleton, often called Skelly. Members post photos and discuss decorations and concerns.
Adam Stevens of Hermantown, Minn., is also a member of the group, and a former employee of Home Depot. He attested that the stress of purchasing a 12-foot skeleton is real.
“Even as employees, trying to get them when they first rolled out was hard,” Stevens said. “We would see them get off the truck and people already special ordered them. We had some in-store knowledge and got to the store one day at 6 a.m. right when they opened and got ours and five minutes later, they were gone.”
While the cult following of the 12-foot skeleton grows, Home Depot isn’t sure if they’ll stick with it. In a phone call with MPR News, a spokesperson said fans will have to wait until next summer to see if it is included in their 2024 fall collection.
