Spooky skeletons bring smiles to Flint Hill

‘Fun little attention getter’

Don’t worry, you’re not seeing dead people.

From shady front porches and construction sites to the post office counter, skeletons have started popping up across Flint Hill. Dressed in colorful costumes and staged doing everyday tasks, some are becoming local celebrities. Residents hope the skeletons will bring some smiles, and a little bit of unconventional joy, to their sleepy village.

“I feel like Flint Hill was kind of a forgotten place for a while now…we wanted to make Flint Hill shine and come alive again,” said Kristin Perper, a Flint Hill resident participating in the skeleton craze, staging them in fancy attire on her porch. “The skeletons have been a fun little attention getter.”

Depending on whom you ask, the story of how the whole thing got started changes, but the consensus is that Ralph Dean and his wife, Andrea Herrell, were first to put some on display. Herrell said she can’t even remember when she and Dean first started putting out skeletons, but one day decided to dress them up and have a little fun. She said it’s become a novelty thing they do.

The trend took off and other residents set up displays. “Everyone started jumping on the bandwagon,” said resident Michael Dennis.

Posts about the skeletons started populating Rappahannock Facebook pages, and garnered a lot of local attention. Flint Hill resident and photographer Bruce Geisert has kept pages like Flint Hill Region–Announcements and Rappahannock County Photo Club up to date with photos of the skeletons as they evolve with the changing seasons, trading in pots of gold for bunny ears and spring attire.

“People seemed to enjoy dressing up the skeletons and the [Facebook] posts, so I’d take photos when someone did something new,” Geisert said.

Herrell said that people who previously thought of skeletons as a scary thing, changed their mind driving through Flint Hill.

“Skeletons aren’t really scary,” Herrell said. “It’s just a novelty thing that we do…to bring a smile to someone’s face so when they ride by, they say, ‘hey did you see that?’”

Dennis said the community really cares about the skeletons now, and when wind knocked over his, which sits watch over his historic home that is under construction, the neighbors took notice.

“I’m surprised at how much attention and comment they’ve engendered,” Dennis said. “The wind two weeks ago…blew it in the window. And people were sending messages like, ‘What happened to him? Where’d he go?’”

As for the future of the skeletons, Perper said time will tell, but she thinks they’ll stick around.

“I think it’ll probably be around for a while. Until we figure something else out to do,” Perper said.

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