A garden full of skeletons brings the “scEras Tour” to New Orleans.
This Louisiana home, known as the “Skeleton House” on Yelp and Google Maps, is owned by Ruthen and Darryl Berger. This eerie nickname comes from Ruhlen’s extensive collection of skeleton replicas. Every fall, Louellen takes out all the skeletal spirits stuffed in her garage and scatters them all over her garden.
The dead are brought back to life in fun costumes made by seamstresses. The Berger family has installed hundreds of laminated signs that include puns on “humerus” such as “lazy bone,” “attached to the hip,” and “dry bone.”
Berger is known among her family and local residents as the Queen of Halloween. Her terrifying exhibits have themes, and past concepts have included “Maison Masquerade” and “ET Born Home.” All the skeletons in her closet have clever names, like “King Gorege,” “Rolling Bones,” and “Snoop Dogg Gone.”
To celebrate Swiftmania coming to Caesars Superdome at the end of October, Luhlen performed “Terror Swift: The Sueras Tour” on his lawn stage.
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“It was a serendipitous moment,” she said over Zoom. “I read in the paper that Taylor Swift plans to include New Orleans on the second leg of her tour.”
The Bergers have been planning their bejeweled, devilish marriage since the summer of 2023. A 12-foot-tall skeleton of Swift, dressed in her best, most fearsome ruffled gown, stands alongside an 8-foot-tall Travis Skales.
From Swift’s first album of the same name to “The Tortured Poets Division,” every era exists. A skeleton in a black-and-red snake bodysuit from “Reputation” menacingly holds a cherry-red phone cord. The head of the phone dangles like an ominous warning. Below that is a sign that reads, “Reputation is not answering the phone at this time. Why? Oh…because she’s dead.” Another skeleton dressed in gold with a braided ponytail reminds me of “Evermore”. The two signs read “No Body, No Crime” and “Time to Go,” two songs from Swift’s ninth studio album.
On Berger’s desk is a poster of sketches and notes outlining every era designed by one of his precocious granddaughters.
“I was a corporate fashion director for a major department store, but I left in the mid-’80s,” Ruhlen says. She sewed dresses and costumes during the summer. “It was great to be able to get back to the sewing machine and make a lot of costumes.”
The grandmother of 11 worked to the bone for three weeks after Labor Day. She shows us the burn marks from the hot glue gun and laughs.
“The Lord has given me a lot of energy,” she says. “I can work 14 hours straight with just a health bar or a light lunch.”
Berger expects thousands of Swifties to show up at the front door of her French colonial home during her stay from Oct. 25 to 27, wearing fun light-up lanyards and friendship bracelets. We plan to give away thousands of them.
“My granddaughter and I made friendship bracelets out of little skulls. Oh, they’re so cute,” she says.
Berger doesn’t expect Swift to stop by, but the invitation is open and she promises to have a great time.
“If she did that, I would faint,” Luren laughs. “I hope she understands that this is our family’s way of thanking her for coming to New Orleans and sharing her incredible talent.”
Skeleton House is located on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The display will be put away the day after Halloween.
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USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter Brian West on Instagram, TikTok, and X as @BryanWestTV.