SUMTER, S.C. — As Halloween approaches, a Sumter woman’s yard is capturing some attention in a bid to attract trick-or-treaters to her house this year.
“They have names,” Twin Lakes resident Amanda Bell explains about the two skeletons in her yard. “So his name is Jon Bone Jovi. Her’s is Oprah Skinfrey.”
Bell says she is hoping to spread the spooky spirit to others in her community.
“I just love to see the little kids get so happy and so excited. I mean, it just makes my day. I don't have any kids but anything I can do to make them smile or just bring a little bit of joy into their lives in, you know, today's world, everybody needs a little bit of something to make them happy,” Bell says. “This really lets me be creative.”
It’s why she got a skeleton last year for her yard and changed its position every three or four days. This year, Bell got a few other decorations and has been changing up her yard regularly.
“Oh, I think it's great!” Bell’s neighbor, Janet Osterhof, exclaims.
Osterhof says her and her neighbors look forward to seeing the new set up each week.
“When we looked out, there were these people standing out in the yard and I thought she was having company,” Osterhof remembers about seeing the decorations for the first time. “From a distance away and I thought, ‘Oh, she's got company.”
This year’s theme is dynamic duos, with Bell taking hours to come up with each new pair from Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift to pizza and beer. She shares each new display not only with her neighbors, but also her Facebook friends. After getting a good reaction last year, Bell says she decided to leave the skeleton on her porch year round.
“He was dressed up for Valentine's Day, for St. Patrick's Day. My birthday is in May, so he had a little birthday outfit and we dressed him up for Pride Month and, you know, little things like that throughout the year,” Bell details.
Now that halloween is here, Osterhof says she would like to see trick-or-treaters stop by to see the decorations and get candy.
“When we first moved here 10 years ago, there were probably 90 to 100 children that would come,” Osterhof recalls. “But each year, it has gotten a little less thanks to the churches who have inside parties and the likes. But it's still fun. To me, it's a children's time.”