If you’ve driven down Kerth Road in recent years, you might recognize the Pauks’ home. Since 2020, Tim and Hannah Pauk have become known for being “the house with the skeletons in the front yard” — an ever-growing collection of skeletons that they decorate for every holiday, set up in themed poses.
Right now, the Pauks’ skeletons are dressed and posed for the Winter Olympics, and each day, Hannah adds a new sport to the front yard. This is the second time they’ve done a Winter Olympics display; they’ve decorated their skeletons for the summer games in the past, as well.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it,” Hannah said. “If we can bring a little bit of joy to the world when there’s a lot of negativity, it’s worth it.”
The skeleton displays started around September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pauks were working from home like so many others, and they noticed more and more neighbors walking up and down Kerth Road. They decided, when October rolled around, they would change their small, front yard skeleton decorations every day and see how long it took people to notice.
“It only took a couple days, but people loved it,” Hannah said. “They were looking forward to it, and they were stopping in their cars.”
Hannah started with two skeletons and a simple display. Now, the displays have grown in their intricacies, and her skeleton collection has expanded. Her husband, Tim, estimates they own over 50 skeletons.
“I won’t count,” Hannah said. “I refuse to count.”
And skeletons aren’t the only thing they’ve collected. Since the skeleton displays began, Hannah has racked up approximately 131,000 followers on her Facebook page, @SkeletonsonKerthRoad. Her Instagram account, @kidsonkerthroad, has over 59,000 followers, where she posts the skeleton displays along with content of the family’s goats. To learn more about the Pauks’ goat business, check out prior reporting by The Call.
Hannah recently quit her full-time job as a database administrator, and now she focuses on content creation for her social media accounts. It’s a time-consuming task — she says that setting up for the Winter Olympics skeleton displays takes her about two hours each day, depending on the intricacy of the costumes and poses.
“(Full-time is) the only way I can do it,” Hannah said. “I decided it was time to do something I enjoyed and that people love.”
The Pauks’ front yard has skeletons doing figure skating, lifting a bobsled — made of chicken wire — on their shoulders, curling and skiing. The display grows each day with new events. There’s even a Snoop Dogg skeleton, dressed in one of his Olympics-themed outfits, down to the minute details.
Hannah says a new development this year is the skeletons’ costumes, which she tries to make resemble the real uniforms worn by Olympic athletes. Most of the costumes are made from plastic tablecloths and packing tape.
People ask them if they have a storyboard or a schedule of their ideas. Tim says that isn’t the case. They’ll be sitting together, watching the Olympics, when Hannah points out a new idea; he calls her “extremely creative.”
“It’s utter chaos,” Tim said. “We’ll brainstorm. We’ll throw out 20 or 30 ideas, and none of them stick. Then, that 31st idea, (Hannah)’s like, ‘Yes!’ And I’m like, ‘That’s the hardest one!’ And she’s like, ‘I know.’”
“I always challenge myself, and I always one-up myself,” Hannah laughed. “It’s starting to get extremely difficult.”
But the community response is worth it. The Pauk home is right next to a stop sign, so people will come to a stop, roll down their windows and look at the displays — the Pauks call them “lookie-loos.”
“The best part about it is the minivans or SUVs with kids in the back,” Tim said. “The kids’ jaws just hit the floor. ‘Oh my God, look at that, look at that!’ It’s a little novelty on the way home from school.”
When The Call spoke with Tim and Hannah, they were gearing up for Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day. With the slew of upcoming holidays, Hannah will be hard at work in her front yard, setting up skeletons and making her neighbors smile.
