A front yard on Bocage Boulevard in Baton Rouge is once again packed shoulder to shoulder with plastic skeletons dressed as pop stars, athletes and cultural icons, and this year the bone-filled crowd tops 200. The display, known as the Skelebrity Graveyard, features characters like Slay-lor Swift, Travis Kill-ce, Dolly De-Parton Too Soon and Spider Woods standing watch over the lawn, alongside an ESPN College Graveday set starring Pat McAfreak and Nick Satan.
The Harrod family and family friend Olivia Robe built the display, which is now in its second year and has become something of a neighborhood tradition, according to WAFB. Robe told the station the pair divide up the work, crafting Halloween-themed puns for each skeleton's name, and that the whole project takes lots of hours of crafting, thrifting and painting. She said the idea traces back to the famous skeleton house in New Orleans.
That inspiration has deep roots. Rebecca Harrod has pointed to New Orleans’ long-running Skeleton House as the spark for her own display, telling 225batonrouge.com she wanted to put a Baton Rouge spin on the idea. The outlet reports the Harrod family home quickly became Internet famous last year for its curbside graveyard, and the magazine notes it first took shape on a whim in early October of last year, when Harrod ordered more than 150 plastic skeletons and, with help from family and friends, named, dressed and installed the entire display in just a week.
From 150 Bones to a Full-Blown Cast of Characters
The project has only grown since. Per the magazine's reporting, seeing how much fun visitors had with the skeletons last year pushed Harrod to go bigger this time around, and she said she started this season with 50 additional skeletons and expected to need more: “So we just started with 50, and I’m going to have to buy more.” The expansion shows in the numbers — a visitor to the display estimated it now holds 250 to 260 skeletons, not even counting the ones perched in the trees, according to WBRZ.
WBRZ reports the display sits at 7425 Bocage Blvd. and will remain on view through Halloween, with Harrod and her husband behind the setup. The station also notes the cast includes College Grave Day, the couple's skeletal take on college football game day. The 225batonrouge.com piece adds that the characters span pop culture icons such as Slay-lor Swift, local celebrities including a figure the magazine names Joe Burrow-ed alive, and even children’s book characters like Hearse-y Jackson.
A Visit After a Scary Movie Got Too Intense
Not every visitor comes looking for laughs first. WAFB reports that a girl named Caroline and her grandmother ended up at the graveyard after a Halloween movie night watching Ghostbusters became too intense for comfort — and the grandmother admitted the drive over had them a little rattled, too. Once there, Caroline settled on a favorite: Slay-lor Swift.
The attraction's growth mirrors a broader regional tradition. Thousands gather each year on the sidewalk outside Louellen Berger's skeleton display in New Orleans, which the nola.com reports began more than 20 years ago with a single reclining skeleton in an oak tree and has since expanded to more than 80 costumed figures, including a pun-named Dolly Parton character. The Baton Rouge display carries that same spirit, which the theadvocate.com has described as being in the spirit of the famous St. Charles Avenue skeleton display.
With the display drawing crowds and already being called a local hit by lsureveille.com, Harrod has suggested the yard may need to grow again next year, telling WBRZ, “we'll have to go bigger,” since she expects fans would be disappointed if the graveyard didn't return even larger than before.
