CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Every night, Sarah Garcia and her crew set up a new scene for the Bones Family, their big Halloween skeleton display. Friday night was no different as they were arranging for the Boneses to do a wine tasting.
The next morning, Garcia went to check on the display, and from a distance, she saw that things were out of place. At first, she thought the wind had knocked some things over.
But it wasn’t the wind: The Bones Family display had been vandalized.
“They flipped over the tables that we had set, they pulled skeletons down, and whatever they couldn’t pull down because they’re zip-tied in two places, they broke,” Garcia said.
In a Facebook post, Garcia wrote, “We have pulled the Bones for their safety. We invite people to please come enjoy our graveyard, but at this moment, for their safety, Bones will not be displayed.”
Garcia said she and her team considered closing it all down.
“We made the joke that our people survived the Potato Famine, we survived the Dust Bowl, we survived the Wild West; we can survive a couple of vandals,” Garcia said. “I cannot lose the Boneses the same year I lost my father.”
On Saturday, the Boneses were back at it, this time in the Emergency Room, recovering from a wild and scary night.
“We like to keep everything positive with the Boneses; that’s one of the reasons why we tried to turn what happened into something so positive.”
Garcia told Clarksville Now one of the skeletons was stolen, many others were damaged, along with several set pieces, raking up hundreds of dollars in damage. But she said it isn’t just about the money.
“The thing that hurt the most was the fact that we spent months building this, and it’s not necessarily the money, even though there’s a lot of money that goes into it, but the man hours that go into it and to see it all get wiped out not by a storm, but it was an act of someone else.”
Garcia said they had cameras, but the lights surrounding the set had obscured the view. They do know the destruction took only a few minutes. A neighbor’s camera picked up footage of a light-colored pickup truck, but they were unable to glean specific details.
She encourages people to check their social media in case the vandalism was publicized, and for those who may know more to reach out on the Bones Family Facebook page or by email at thebonesfamilyofclarksville@gmail.com.
The Bones Family is on display through the month of October at 2679 Elkmont Drive, off of the Sugar Tree subdivision on Needmore Road.