Behind Dem Bones: the punny skeleton house on St. Charles Avenue

Louellen Berger sets up her annual parody skeleton garden on St. Charles Ave. and State Street in New Orleans on Monday September 30 and Tuesday October 1, 2019 with the help of Manuel Chacon. The pun-dead skeletons rib national and local celebrities and pop culture in an effort to tickle the funny bone. Berger hopes to have Dem Bones completed for viewing by later in the week and they will be on view through Halloween. She tends to keep the more colorful skeletons in the shade so they don’t fade in the sun. Once a few years back, Hurricane Nate was initially forecast to come through the area and she was on the fence on whether or not to take the display down for the storm. A family member suggested it won’t be good for recovery efforts after a storm for a random skull to be found in somewhere else in the city, so she took them down. Fortunately, the storm passed without incident. She says her grandchildren help come up with some ideas and the puns and funny sayings help the younger children learn language and idioms. Photo by Matthew Hinton

Behind Dem Bones: the punny skeleton house on St. Charles Avenue

The display can be seen at the mansion from the first week of October through Halloween, and Berger says her grandchildren help her come up with some of the jokes.

by Matthew Hinton | October 2, 2019

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It’s one of the more humerus things you’ll find on St. Charles Avenue during the spooky season of Halloween.

Every year the Uptown home of Louellen Berger becomes the focal point of a lot of punny jokes, when the front lawn is transformed into a skeletal wonderland poking fun at national and local celebrities alike.

The display can be seen at the mansion on St. Charles Avenue and State Street from the first week of October through Halloween, and Berger says her grandchildren help her come up with some of the jokes.

Check out this years display:

Matthew Hinton

Matthew Hinton is a New Orleans area freelance photographer whose work has been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism Awards in 2014 and 2016, and by numerous awards from the Press Club of New Orleans, including the Hal Ledet President's Print Photography Award, the highest honor the Press Club can bestow upon a photographer.
Matthew Hinton has previously been a staff photographer at both of the daily newspapers in New Orleans. His work has appeared nationally and internationally through freelance work with the Associated Press and AFP, Agence France-Presse.