In April, Jake Levin got a letter from his homeowners association. “The giant skeleton on [the] front lawn needs to be put away,” it said. “Holiday decor needs to be taken down immediately after the holiday.”

The giant skeleton in question was Indiana Bones, the 12-foot Home Depot skeleton Levin, 27, bought from a reseller for $525 amid the madness of last October.

But one does not simply put away a 12-foot skeleton, and so Levin had adapted Indiana Bones to each subsequent holiday: a turkey leg for Thanksgiving, a Santa suit for Christmas, a leprechaun costume for St. Patrick’s Day. This tactic, along with a conspiracy among neighbors to move Indiana Bones periodically from yard to yard, has allowed Levin to avoid any fines.

Nevertheless, he understands that a disapproving HOA is not the only threat to the 12-foot skeleton.

“It kind of loses its wow factor when it’s just there all the time,” says Levin, who lives in Oakland, Florida.

Where do we go from here? It’s a question many people are asking in the aftermath of 2020, but especially those who spent $300 or more last year on gigantic skeletons.

They were the perfect accessory to an extreme year. As life resumes its normal proportions, do you stand them down? Or do you escalate?

For Gerry Harrod, 57, escalation is normal.

“Each year, we try to do a bigger and better display,” he says.

So, he bought two more gigantic skeletons to go with the one he set up last year. Harrod, of Coquitlam, British Columbia, owns a Mini Cooper, which is insufficient to haul giant bones. Last year, he borrowed a friend’s truck. This year?

“We had to buy a truck.”

Hold up, Gerry – you bought a Ford F-150 just so you could transport giant skeletons?

“That’s right. Yes.”

Along with the two additional skellies, Harrod bought an Inferno – Home Depot’s own attempt at escalation.

“It’s like, you’ve always got to one-up yourself every year,” says Lance Allen, decorative holiday merchant at Home Depot. “So that is going to be the challenge of that item.”

Heavy is the head that sources and imports the gigantic skull! Allen is responsible for all of this. He is the man who blessed us with a taller set of femurs than Halloween celebrators knew they wanted. Amid last year’s skeleton craze, Allen understood that recapturing the magic would not be easy.

Instead of going taller, Home Depot went fleshier.

The Inferno resembles the original 12-foot skeleton, but at a slightly less-advanced stage of decomposition. Its frame is still thick with sinew, and there’s some kind of membrane around its chest cavity, which lights up. Also, instead of a human skull, the Inferno’s head is a pumpkin, and its legs are stalks.

I