If you’ve driven on N.C. 22 near Food Lion, you may have seen a hip joint. Thats the home to a 12-foot skeleton that has been elaborately dressed in various themes since Halloween. Owner Carol Craven says she wasn’t seeking out the giant yard decoration but her daughter urged her to get one. “I had no idea it would be such a hit for everybody,” says Carol. She immediately began getting comments and people stopping to take photos so she decided to keep it up for Christmas – dressed for the occasion, of course.
From there she’s seen it all from people honking to even getting a stamped piece of mail addressed to “Mr. Skelly’s owner.” Skelly, is what he’s known as now and Carol says it’s been a lot of fun. Her partner Buddy Mackey says he’s even had people stop into his store, Eastwood Outfitters, just to ask about Skelly. Skelly has even gained an online following on various local Facebook groups.
“The funniest thing we’ve heard is someone saying ‘it looks like he’s passed out half naked on the porch’ when we were changing his outfit,” says Buddy. Each outfit change takes a few hours because once you’re disassembling Skelly, you’re in it for the long skull.
Surprisingly, Carol has not had to custom order any of the outfits yet. There’s a market out there for this stuff. She recently found an Etsy account that makes joint replacements so Skelly just got elbows. The joints will make it easier for the couple to move him around to different poses and “keep it fresh.”
Other costumes have included St. Patrick’s Day and Mardi Gras. Carol isn’t sure how long she’ll keep up the bit, we’d guess as long as it stays humerus.
Carol and Buddy love to sit on the front porch on nice days and see the joy Skelly brings. Right now you’ll see Skelly dressed for easter sporting a shirt that reads, “Silly Rabbit, Easter is for Skelly,” plus some other festive garb. They don’t mind people stopping to take photos respectfully but keep in mind, it’s a busy road and there’s a skele-ton of cars.
