Ready for the ScERAS Tour? Iconic New Orleans Halloween skeleton display stars Taylor Swift

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Photos: Taylor Swift skeletons on display at well-known, much-loved New Orleans front yard

Read more: Ready for the ScERAS Tour? Iconic New Orleans Halloween skeleton display stars Taylor Swift

You don’t have to wait until the end of October to see Taylor Swift in New Orleans. You can catch her right now, up on the corner of St. Charles Avenue and State Street, where Louellen Berger has devoted a big patch of her annual Halloween display of celebrity skeletons to the pop goddess.

But be warned, Swift isn’t looking her best these days – at least not in Berger’s front yard exhibit. She’s lost a lot of weight, her face is gaunt, and her eyes are a bit sunken.?

Touring will do that to anybody. But, underneath it all, Swift’s still got great bones … if you’ll forgive the pun.

Horrible puns are at the heart of Berger’s annual display of roughly 80 costumed, plastic skeletons that draw crowds to the fence in front of her St Charles mansion, night and day throughout October. She calls this year’s display “Terror Swift: The scERAS Tour.” Originally, she said, she wanted to call her Terror Stiff, but her grandkids warned her not to be too disrespectful.

“My family censors me,” Berger said, laughing.

Taylor Swift-loving grandchildren know it all

Berger’s grandkids were absolutely crucial to the concept. Sure, Berger said, she’d heard of Taylor Swift, but she wasn’t steeped in swift lore. “I knew her name,” she said, and she knew Swift was a star. "But I didn’t know about Swifties or anything.”

Lucky for Berger, her 11 grandkids – ages 3 ? to 13 – knew everything. They knew so many details of Tay Tay’s music and life, in fact, that one plastic skeleton clearly wasn’t enough. There would have to be 13 Terror Swifts. It was the first time Berger had even considered a whole celebrity suite.

Berger’s granddaughter Ande Tiller sketched out the costume concepts, based on Swift’s album titles, and another two granddaughters, Grace and Lilian Berger, made Swift friendship bracelets of tiny skulls.

As she gave a tour of the display on Monday, Berger pointed out the telling details that Swift fans will immediately decode: the Easter eggs, the heart-shaped eye patch, the number 13, etc. And there in the back, stretching to snag a pass, is Terror’s significant other, "Travis Skelce."

Rising from the grave, again

Regular visitors to Berger’s display needn’t fear. Though Swift rules the 2024 skeleton crew, most of the regular cast is in place as well, the boney musicians, athletes, local notables, and others. Look for newcomer Snoop Dogg Gone.

Berger began creating ever more elaborate Halloween displays back in 2002. She started planning her celebration of Swift a year ago, as soon as the superstar announced that she was adding New Orleans to her tour stops. But the real work didn’t kick in until Labor Day. Berger’s fingers were blistered by hot glue gun accidents and her porch was still scattered with electric cords, random skulls and such.

Berger credits her assistant Manuel Chacon with most of the heavy lifting in the much-loved Halloween installation. Even as Berger and Chacon made final adjustments to the display, a steady stream of onlookers appeared outside the fence, from California, Canada and the surrounding Garden District.

The city loves Taylor Swift

Josh Standefer and Sara Windsor were vacationing from Vancouver, Washington, when they stumbled on the Halloween display Monday morning. “I love it,” Standerfer said as he inspected Swift’s many incarnations. The display, he said, sums up “the spirit of this city.”

One of Berger’s neighbors, Gordon Kolb, paused at the curb in his car, shouting out the window that “What she (Berger) does for the neighborhood is off the charts; all the happiness she brings.”

“I guarantee you that Taylor and Travis are coming by!” Kolb said.

Berger said she’s become a Swift fan and plans to attend the one of her New Orleans shows, along with all of her kids and grandkids.