Bridgewater has its own famous The Addams Family, and it's not Morticia and Gomez! The Bridgewater Adams Family consists of parents Jim and Joann and their children, Kyle and Sara. And fully representing their namesake theme song:
Their house is a museum,
Where people come to see 'em.
They really are a scream—
The Adams family!
Every October, Bridgewater's Adams family entertains thousands of visitors with their remarkable 13 Skeletons exhibit. The Halloween montages on their front lawn host as many as 13 skeletons engaging in various shenanigans.
“My wife and I used to decorate with typical fall decor," Jim says. "We used hay bales, corn stalks and pumpkins. Thirteen years ago, I decided I wanted to have a little fun and add some magic to our front lawn.”
Jim discovered a way to position seven pumpkins to create the illusion that they were supernaturally balancing on top of each other. From there, he developed the idea to stack skeletons as well.
Jim couldn’t figure out the perfect placement for his skeletons, though, so at night he would go out and tinker with the display, trying to perfect it. Being prominently located on Route 202/206, a school bus drove by daily, and one child noticed that the skeletons were in new spots on the lawn every morning. She told her mother that she believed that the skeletons were alive and sneaking around at night. When word made its way back to Jim, an idea was born.
"What if the skeletons really did come to life at night?"
The skeletons now emerge from the ground one by one for 13 days and run amok on the lawn until Halloween. Each day, the skeletons appear in new positions, acting out a story.
Last year, Jim elevated the display even more by creating an actual mine on his front lawn for visitors to walk through. Trick or treaters were tasked with entering the mine to rescue the skeletons that were “trapped underground.”
Throughout the years, multiple people have commented to Jim that the display would make for a great children’s book, which sparked yet another idea. Maybe they could share the magic of 13 Skeletons with families everywhere?
Cowritten by Jim and Joann and illustrated by Colleen Finn, 13 Skeletons Circus of the Night, is based on one of their most popular displays. The book tells the story of a boy’s dream of an unusual skeleton circus.
Debuting Oct. 1, this year’s theme is called Bedtime Stories. You can drive past the Adams family's home, located at 948 Route 202/206, daily in October to see what kind of mischief these devilish skeletons are getting themselves into.
To learn more about 13 Skeletons, be sure to visit 13Skeletons.com.