The 12 ft. Skeleton

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Home Depot's 12 ft. Skeleton decoration first premiered in the fall of 2020 and sold out immediately, the nationwide obsession fueling an underground black market. Memes and tweets made 'Skelly' the hottest Halloween fad of the last three years, and for some reason, the internet's biggest crush. For this episode, we will not only explore how the craze around this big old bone daddy unfolded, but we will also take you through our centuries-long bizarro relationship with human skeletons, both the fake and the very real, and we will consider the role they have played in the development of dark humor, the kind that made Skelly a massive star. Become a Patron or subscribe on Apple Podcasts to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Tell us your teenage tale on our Urban Legends Hotline! Get your tickets for our live show with You're Wrong About American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo Studios Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Voice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	On this podcast we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, urban
0:09.2	legends, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and crazes,
0:13.6	examine the forces that shape our culture
0:17.2	and tell the stories that create
0:19.6	the realities we share,
0:21.6	and sometimes the realities we don't.
0:25.0	I'm your ghost, Chelsea Weber Smith,
0:28.0	and this is American Hisscaria.
0:34.0	I put my eyes on it.
0:35.6	Something changed inside me.
0:37.4	Standing at 12 feet tall, these skeletons are everything this Halloween.
0:42.4	But when I first met the 12 foot skeleton from Home Depot,
0:45.0	it was like, wow, this might actually be the one. Go big this year with the 12 foot giant skeleton with life eyes technology.
1:01.0	Happy Halloween and thanks for shopping at their home depot.
1:07.0	During the fall of 2020, the first 12 foot skeletons were seen towering over the unhinged
1:19.7	humor of our
1:23.0	pandemic-era social media appearing as if from nowhere like the mythic
1:27.0	undead rising enormous from their green suburban graves.
1:32.0	Our decades-long their green suburban graves.
1:33.6	Our decades long national obsession with Halloween skeleton decorations was already very
1:41.0	apparent with various sizes, colors, and accoutra months
1:46.4	found at most every department store, grocery store,
	...

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