Meet the man behind Hazelwood's 12-foot-skeleton

Oct. 29—Alex McKay was green with envy over the 12-foot-skeleton craze last Halloween.

He had big dreams of gradually amassing Halloween decor to haunt the yard of his newly-restored historic home on the main drag of Hazelwood Avenue in Waynesville.

And there were no bones about it: he had to find one before next Halloween rolled around to launch his collection in style.

But getting his hands on one of the monstrous skeletons — weighing close to 100 pounds and costing up to $1,000 — proved tougher than scoring a Tickle Me Elmo during the Christmas of 1996.

"There was so much hype around those 12-foot-skeletons, they were hard to get," McKay said.

After months of following the niche 12-foot-skeleton market, his golden opportunity finally arrived. In July, Home Depot announced it would release a limited number of the boney beasts at midnight for a jaw-dropping bargain of $300.

McKay parked himself in front of his computer well before midnight and began hitting the refresh button every few seconds. At midnight on the dot, the skeleton appeared on the site. He added it to his cart and checked out in due haste.

"I was so excited," McKay said. "They sold out within three hours. I was lucky to grab one."

When the ship-to-store order arrived at the West Asheville Home Depot, McKay went to fetch it and realized just what he'd gotten himself into.

"It came on a pallet. It barely fit in the back of my car," McKay said.

McKay is now a proud member of the 12-foot-skeleton Facebook group. Erecting the colossal creep ended up being quite the job. A metal frame mounts to a base that's screwed into the ground, the skeleton casing then goes over it, and it's finished off with a series of guy wires.

Now, he's just got to figure out how and where to store it until next Halloween.