![\"Giant](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784112321_276_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe undead are invading L.A.<\/p>\n
They wear Santa hats and sunglasses, American flags and pool floaties. Some stand erect, towering over houses and neighborhoods. Others rot in the California sun, disintegrating into bony fragments. A pelvis atop two legs in a driveway. A skull peering over a rooftop.<\/p>\n
They are, of course, giant 12-foot skeletons. And if they\u2019re not in your neighborhood already, they probably will be soon.<\/p>\n
Released by Home Depot in 2020, the Halloween prop known as \u201cSkelly\u201d has transmogrified from a meme into a movement. At first mostly limited to the month of October and maybe a week or two in November, many skeletons now stay up year-round as their proud owners deck them out with whatever theme fits the latest holiday: Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July, etc.<\/p>\n
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Giant skeletons sit in the yard of a home on N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
(Arwen Clemans \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Some are political: a Putin skeleton<\/a> puppeteering an undead Trump, or a skeleton with a sign<\/a> that says \u201cNot vaccinated, see you soon idiots!\u201d Others are the subject of fights with cities<\/a> and homeowners associations<\/a>. In L.A., they\u2019re everywhere: Highland Park, Venice, Culver City, Westchester, Burbank, Pasadena, Los Feliz, Hollywood and beyond.<\/p>\n They\u2019re loved, they\u2019re hated and they\u2019re a natural byproduct of Los Angeles \u2014 a city filled with the creative and the bohemian, with people who want to make a splash, get a laugh or simply be noticed.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s another uniquely L.A. reason why more and more skeletons are becoming permanent yard fixtures: they\u2019re too big to put away.<\/p>\n As home prices skyrocket, storage space becomes a luxury. Backyards hold ADUs. Large closets become bedrooms. Giant skeletons stand for 365 days a year for the same reason that pianos, treadmills and couches are given away for free: they\u2019re too big to do anything else with. Better up than in.<\/p>\n Bradberry with pants custom-made for Skelly.<\/p>\n (Arwen Clemans \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cHome Depot made a plastic storage bin<\/a> specifically for the skeletons, but even the storage bins are huge,\u201d said Tyler Bradberry, a South Los Angeles resident who has kept a giant skeleton in his yard since 2020. \u201cSpace is expensive. It\u2019s L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n For Bradberry, who works in visual arts, the skeleton is an extension of the inside of his home, where maximalism reigns with psychedelic art \u2014 Pushead, H.R. Giger, Neck Face etc. \u2014 and a life-size E.T. statue.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is so sterile now. Everyone wants their house to look like a square box,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice for things to stick out a bit. Weird stuff gives the neighbors something to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n At least one neighbor has had a bone to pick \u2014 an older man from Central America who told him he was \u201cplaying with death.\u201d<\/p>\n For Christmas, Bradberry dressed the skeleton as Santa Claus, with a six-foot beard. For a haunted frat-themed birthday party, he gave it a toga.<\/p>\n In 2023, he went viral<\/a> for digitally editing a pair of comically large Jnco jeans on the skeleton. Shortly after, with the help of two friends who work in wardrobe design, he brought the meme to life<\/a>, debuting a skeleton with billowing denim at the L.A. culture festival ComplexCon, where artists, designers and rappers converge.<\/p>\n \u201cChief Keef thought it was hilarious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In Atwater Village, photographer Lexi Bonin has had hers up since 2020. What started as a 12-foot skeleton, beaten by years of wind and rain, has withered into a six-foot pelvis on two legs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the house with the legs,\u201d Bonin said.<\/p>\n She lives near the L.A. River Trail, so plenty of passersby take pictures. Bonin tried taking it down last year, but as soon as she did, a father and son drove by to see it and expressed their dismay that it was gone.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were upset, but when we brought it back for Halloween, everyone was stoked,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Businesses are joining the movement as well. Above VCA Burbank Animal Hospital, a skeleton named RIPley reminds incoming pet owners of their pets\u2019 mortality. Manager Alana Jennings-Dunn said it went up last October as a reward for 100% of employees completing a survey on workplace culture, but now it\u2019s a neighborhood staple.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a great way to connect with the community,\u201d Jennings-Dunn said. \u201cWe\u2019ve become known as the hospital with the skeleton.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruce Dow, who lives in the Central Valley city of Turlock, said people drive by his skeleton \u2014 named Mr. Bones \u2014 every single day.<\/p>\n \u201cOut at lunch a few months ago, a stranger recognized me as the skeleton guy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Father\u2019s Day, Dow\u2019s skeleton grilled. Dow spray-painted an inflatable swimming pool black for a barbecue and asked his mom to sew a giant apron.<\/p>\n Giant skeletons, holding the numbers 6 and 7, sit in the yard of a home on N. Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n (Arwen Clemans \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Dow is a member of the \u201c12 Foot Skeleton Halloween Club,\u201d a Facebook group<\/a> with more than 64,000 members where people share their own designs and stories: a skeleton melting after a house fire, or a stolen skull tracked down by police.<\/p>\n A small industry has popped up around the skeletons, including 3D-printed masks and custom repair parts. Dow paid $35 for two shoulder sockets and $40 for custom elbow joints after his broke. He also sprays the skeleton with a UV-protectant coating made for boats to keep the plastic from withering.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a hit around his neighborhood, he says. Dow hasn\u2019t had any pushback from neighbors, but says he\u2019s seen it elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople say they\u2019re making home values drop, or claim skeletons are part of the devil. Crazy stuff like that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s always gonna be those people.\u201d<\/p>\n Around L.A., there are plenty.<\/p>\n Cody Bowers, who lives in Hollywood, said he can see a skeleton from his second-story window.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first it was funny, but the joke wears off quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful neighborhood. Palm trees, beautiful plants, the mountains in the background. And then this massive skeleton.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that it feels like a trend that\u2019s already tired, the modern version of lawn gnomes or flamingos.<\/p>\n Amy Chen walks by a skeleton in Highland Park with her dog every day.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it, but my dog doesn\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cHe starts barking whenever we get too close.\u201d<\/p>\n On the Los Angeles Reddit page, a user posted a picture of a home with a giant skeleton standing on the roof and a pair of skeleton dogs at its side, titled<\/a> \u201cInteresting house today (not Halloween) in West Adams.\u201d Opinions varied.<\/p>\n \u201cwe live in Los Angeles not Halloween town,\u201d one user wrote.<\/p>\n Others supported the bold choice, if for no other reason than it flipped the bird at convention.<\/p>\n \u201cI wear pajamas when I work from home on behalf of those who can\u2019t. This is the HOA version,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n A Westside real estate agent, who asked to be quoted anonymously to not offend potential clients, said she handled the sale of a condo near a house with a giant skeleton out front last year. The listing went up around October, so she figured the skeleton was temporary.<\/p>\n When she hosted open houses in November and December, the tower of plastic bones was still standing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re selling a house, you don\u2019t want anything that could deter a potential buyer,\u201d she said, adding that it didn\u2019t affect the final sale price, but it gave her a few headaches along the way.<\/p>\n They\u2019re probably not going anywhere soon. If anything, they\u2019ll only get bigger \u2014 and louder.<\/p>\n An arms race has already started for this upcoming Halloween, as Lowe\u2019s recently unveiled a 15-foot skeleton<\/a> that could give Skelly a Napoleon complex. It can talk, turn and be activated by sound, motion or footpad.<\/p>\n Fans now wait with bated breath to see Home Depot\u2019s response. Nothing has been officially announced, but a sneak peek video<\/a> suggests that the latest version of Skelly will come with an upgraded speaker and an app to program what it says.<\/p>\n Dow said his skeleton will stay up indefinitely.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s asking what I\u2019m gonna do next,\u201d he said. \u201cI have an audience. I can\u2019t let them down.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"Bradberry](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784112322_874_.jpeg\")
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