Introducing the ‘scEras Tour!’ The Famous Skeleton House in New Orleans embraces a Taylor Swift theme
A yard filled with skeletons is celebrating the “scEras Tour” in New Orleans.
The home in Louisiana, often referred to as Skeleton House on Yelp and Google Maps, belongs to Louellen and Darryl Berger. The eerie name comes from Louellen’s extensive collection of skeleton replicas. Each autumn, she takes the plethora of skeletal figures stored in her garage and decorates her yard with them.
The skeletons come alive with playful costumes made by Louellen, who is known for creating unique looks. The Berger family also displays hundreds of laminated signs featuring amusing puns: “lazy bones,” “attached at the hip,” “bone dry,” and more.
Regarded as the Queen of Halloween by family and locals alike, Berger designs her spooky displays around themes. Previous themes have included “Maison Maskquerade” and “E.T. Bone Home.” Each skeleton in her collection boasts a creative name, such as “King Gore-ge,” “Rolling Bones,” and “Snoop Dogg-Gone.”
To commemorate Swiftmania’s arrival at the Caesars Superdome later in October, Louellen has transformed her yard into “Terror Swift: The scEras Tour.”
“It was an epiphany,” she shared during a Zoom call. “We saw in the newspaper that Taylor Swift would be stopping in New Orleans for the second leg of her tour.”
Since the summer of 2023, the Bergers have been busy crafting their sparkling and whimsical decorations. They feature a 12-foot tall skeleton of Swift in a dazzling frilled gown, alongside an 8-foot tall Travis “Skelce” skeleton.
The display represents every era of Swift’s musical journey, from her debut album to “The Tortured Poets Department.” There’s a skeleton clad in a black-and-red snake bodysuit from the “Reputation” album, ominously holding a cherry red phone cord. Below, a sign reads, “Reputation can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh because she’s dead.” Another skeleton, dressed in gold with a braided ponytail, represents “Evermore,” and features signs reading “No body, no crime” and “Time to go,” referencing songs from Swift’s ninth studio album.
On Berger’s desk lies a poster filled with sketches and notes for each era, designed by one of her talented granddaughters.
“I was the corporate fashion director of a big department store until I retired in the mid-’80s,” Louellen recalls. She spent the summer creating all the costumes and outfits. “It felt great to return to my sewing machine to craft so many costumes.”
The proud grandmother of eleven spent three tireless weeks after Labor Day preparing her display. She proudly shows off some of her hot glue gun burns with a laugh.
“The Lord has given me a great deal of energy,” Louellen remarks. “I can work for 14 hours straight with just a health bar or a light lunch.”
Berger expects to see thousands of fans outside her French colonial home while Swift is in town from October 25-27. She plans to distribute thousands of light-up lanyards and friendship bracelets.
“My granddaughters and I made the friendship bracelets adorned with cute little skulls,” she adds.
While she doesn’t expect Swift to visit, the door is always open, and she promises a fantastic time.
“I would be so surprised if she came,” Louellen chuckles. “I hope she knows this is our family’s way of showing appreciation for her coming to New Orleans and sharing her wonderful talent.”
The Skeleton House can be found on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The Halloween display will be taken down the day after Halloween.
