Community feature | Budd Lake, New Jersey

The Family Behind the Skeleton House: How a Love of Halloween Became a Community Tradition

From a 12-foot skeleton and a garage full of free costumes to a new Halloween community map, the Adams family of Budd Lake has found a way to share their love of the season with neighbors near and far.

In Budd Lake, New Jersey, there's a house that has earned a name of its own among local children: the skeleton house.

It's home to Skully, a 12-foot skeleton who first appeared on the Adams family's lawn for Halloween in 2021 and never quite left. Over the years, he's dressed for different holidays, greeted passing neighbors and become something of a local celebrity.

For Minerva and Christian Adams, however, the best part isn't having one of the most recognizable decorations in the neighborhood. It's seeing what that skeleton has brought into their lives and the lives of others.

Their children have become known at school as the kids from the skeleton house. Bus drivers and teachers have complimented their displays. Newspaper articles about the family's activities have even been hung at school, giving the children something to be proud of.

And what started as a shared love of horror movies and Halloween has grown into free costume giveaways, children's fundraisers, seasonal activities and, most recently, a website helping families find Halloween displays and events throughout the area.

Two Horror Fans and a House Full of Ideas

Long before Skully arrived, Minerva was a teenager fascinated by the things that went bump in the night.

Her first introductions to horror literature were Stephen King's It and The Exorcist. From there, she developed a fondness for A Nightmare on Elm Street and an interest in special-effects makeup and creature creation.

Halloween offered something that ordinary days didn't: the freedom to become absolutely anyone.

That love continued into adulthood, but Minerva says it wasn't until she met Christian, an artist with his own lifelong enthusiasm for horror, that the ideas in her imagination began taking shape around their home.

Their creative partnership is a little unconventional.

Minerva tends to come up with the big ideas, sometimes several at once. Christian, who prefers a coordinated theme, figures out how to bring them together.

She describes herself as the one who runs around putting things up haphazardly while Christian offers suggestions, redirects her efforts or simply takes over and fixes things.

It's a division of labor they've come to embrace. Christian brings his artistic eye and attention to detail. Minerva brings an almost endless supply of ideas and the determination to make them happen.

Their elaborate Trunk or Treat displays have earned awards three consecutive years, while their home has received Spook the House recognition twice.

Even those events are family productions. Minerva plans characters for each child and the adults, with Logan often playing the hidden surprise character that visitors never see coming.

For the Adams children, Halloween has also become an opportunity to create something with their hands, develop ideas and spend time away from electronic devices.

Minerva admits that last part may be the hardest challenge of all.

The Skeleton That Started Something Bigger

When the Adams family brought Skully home in 2021, they were simply looking for something fun to add to their Halloween decorations.

But taking him down after the holiday seemed unnecessary. So Skully stayed.

Over time, the family began dressing him for different occasions, from holidays to birthdays. He's appeared in an Easter bunny outfit and even survived being blown over and damaged in 2023.

As Cheryl Conway reported in Mt. Olive Online that May, Minerva was determined to repair him, even if it required duct tape and rods.

Skully soon became the familiar face of the family's growing collection of community activities.

In 2023, the Adams family planted approximately 150 pumpkin seedlings and offered the resulting pumpkins to neighbors free of charge.

The family hadn't set out to create a public pumpkin patch, but once their crop began growing, sharing it felt natural.

In the September 2023 newspaper coverage, Christian explained the spirit behind the effort:

“We believe in sharing the love with our community.”

Mt. Olive Online

That philosophy continued well beyond fall.

In 2024, the family and neighborhood children began selling lemonade and other refreshments to raise money for charity. By August 2025, the children's second annual lemonade fundraiser, supported by neighboring families, had raised $1,270.

The children selected No Kid Hungry as their charitable cause, learning how their own work could help other children.

In spring 2025, the Adams family also established a free seed-sharing stand, inviting neighbors to take seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers or leave extras for others.

For Minerva, these activities are about teaching the children something they can carry into adulthood.

She wants them to understand the value of giving and to recognize that their interests and talents can become something meaningful when shared with others.

A Costume Closet That Outgrew the Porch

Perhaps no project better illustrates how a small family idea can grow than Skully's Costume Closet.

In 2024, Minerva realized the family had accumulated costumes that were no longer being used. Rather than pack them away, she decided to offer them to anyone who might need one.

The first costume closet was simple: clothing and accessories displayed on the family's front porch, free for anyone to take.

What happened next surprised even Minerva.

Neighbors began donating their own costumes. Then came more donations, more sizes and more people looking for something to wear.

By the second year, the program had outgrown the porch and moved into the family's garage. Now in its third year, the collection has expanded across additional garage space, requiring more racks and a fair amount of rearranging.

Minerva laughs that the biggest change has been having to continually find more room.

One especially meaningful contribution came from Once Upon a Child, which donated a large supply of costumes. Infant and toddler sizes had been difficult to keep in stock, and the donation helped fill that need.

Today, Skully's Costume Closet offers costumes and accessories for infants, children, teenagers and adults. There is no charge, and donations are accepted throughout the year.

The rewards are often simple.

Minerva loves receiving pictures of children wearing costumes they found through the closet, particularly when families tag Skully in their Halloween photos.

It's a chance to see the costumes enjoying another Halloween instead of sitting unused in a storage bin.

And it reminds her why the effort matters.

As she told Mt. Olive Online in its October 2025 coverage:

“Halloween should be fun for everyone, and no one should have to skip out on dressing up because of the cost.”

Mt. Olive Online

For the Adams family, the closet has become a year-round project built largely through the generosity of neighbors who share the same goal.

When a Cancelled Contest Inspired a New Idea

This fall, Minerva found herself facing an unexpected disappointment.

For the previous two years, Mount Olive's Recreation Department had held a Halloween decorating contest. To Minerva, the contest offered something beyond recognition for the decorated homes.

It gave families a way to find displays they might otherwise never know existed. It also connected people who shared an interest in decorating, building props and exchanging ideas.

When other homeowners began asking her about this year's contest, Minerva expected to share the information once it became available.

Then she learned there wouldn't be one.

She was disappointed. Christian, she recalls, was even more disappointed on her behalf.

But Minerva wasn't ready to let the idea disappear.

She told Christian, “Don't worry, let me see what I can do.”

She began by posting in the community and asking homeowners to contact her if they wanted their decorated properties included on a list.

What started as a collection of addresses soon became something much larger.

Minerva created Hauntfinder, a free community website that helps people locate Halloween displays, home haunts, trick-or-treat stops and seasonal events.

The site allows visitors to search by ZIP code and distance, view information about participating locations and plan outings to the places they would like to see.

Unlike the decorating contest that initially inspired it, Hauntfinder doesn't rank houses or award winners.

Its purpose is to help people find one another.

The idea also came from a frustration Minerva had noticed in local community groups.

Each Halloween, she sees homeowners posting that they've purchased plenty of candy, decorated their homes and waited for trick-or-treaters, only to have very few children stop by.

Sometimes the houses are tucked away from busier neighborhoods. Sometimes families simply don't know they're participating.

The Adams home has faced a similar problem. Despite its decorations, the location isn't an obvious stop along many trick-or-treating routes.

Minerva wanted homeowners to have somewhere to let families know they would welcome visitors.

She also hopes the website helps local events reach more people during a season when families have a hard time keeping track of everything happening around them.

What began in Mount Olive has expanded to include surrounding communities, giving families an opportunity to explore displays and activities outside their immediate neighborhoods.

For Minerva, Hauntfinder is another expression of the same idea that inspired the pumpkin patch and costume closet: people may already have something wonderful to share. Sometimes they simply need a way to connect.

Halloween at the Adams House

Despite the family's growing collection of projects, Halloween night itself remains a family affair.

Typically, Minerva or Christian stays home to greet visitors, hand out candy and manage the door while the other takes the children trick-or-treating.

When the children return, they sort through their candy, save some favorites and contribute the rest to the family's giveaway bowl.

Any candy remaining after Halloween goes to local offices seeking donations.

It's a small tradition, but one that reflects the larger lesson Minerva hopes her children are learning.

Giving doesn't always have to mean organizing a fundraiser or creating an elaborate community program. Sometimes it means sharing a little of what you have.

The children also see the pride that comes from creating something other people enjoy.

Being recognized at school, hearing compliments from teachers and watching younger children react to their decorations have made the family's efforts personal for them, too.

Those experiences matter to Minerva as much as any award or recognition the displays might receive.

Always Room for One More Idea

Ask Minerva why she continues adding projects to an already busy household, and she doesn't offer an elaborate explanation.

“I've never been known to slow down or relax,” she says. “I do it all and I am always 'extra.'”

It may explain why a skeleton became a year-round decoration, why a handful of leftover costumes grew into a free community closet, and why a missing Halloween contest resulted in an entire website.

But there is something underneath all that energy.

For the Adams family, creativity is something to share.

Their home displays give them an opportunity to build and imagine together. The costume closet gives unused items a second life. The fundraisers teach the children how to help others. And Hauntfinder extends that same spirit beyond their own front yard, giving other families and homeowners a place to participate.

Minerva hopes that when her children are grown, they'll remember the experiences, the people they met and the pleasure of creating something that made someone else happy.

And perhaps they'll take a little of that spirit into their own lives.

As for Skully, the 12-foot skeleton who helped start it all, he's still part of the family.

There may be more displays to build, more costumes to hang and more ideas for Christian to help bring under control.

But that's what happens at the skeleton house.

There's always room for one more.