HUBERTUS, Wis. — It's not really Halloween until you've been to one of the most unique displays in southeastern Wisconsin, the Holy Hill Skeletons.
Holy Hill Skeletons
This year it took Jimmy Zamzow, the creator of the display, more than 100 skeletons to create The Hubertus Halloween Festiskull featuring Bonnie Bingo. Zamzow has been doing this for 23 years. Past iterations of the display include 'Til Death Do Us Part, A Dead Man's Party, and Surfin' USA.
"This year I had to change my plan at the last second because I ran across a bingo board, and I recently lost my mother, my number one fan, about two years ago and her favorite thing in life was to play bingo," Zamzow said.
She also loved her son's Halloween display. So Zamzow dedicated this year's creation to her. She is 'Bonnie Bingo' in this display. She's the one sitting at the bingo board calling out numbers. Zamzow got the bingo board and a dunk tank from a church rummage sale.
Also in the display is a tiger's den with its victims, people bobbing for apples, skeletons eating corn that's going right through them, a killer band, and a bounce house that people
are dying to get into.
- Donate to the Holy Hill Skeletons on Venmo at @jimmy-zamzow or leave a tip while visiting
"Oh, she would love it. Even towards the end when she was having a hard time walking and stuff, my brother would bring her out here and she was my number one fan," Zamzow said.
Large Crowds
The Holy Hill Skeletons are also enjoyed by thousands of people every year. Along with their pilgrimage to the church and to see the changing fall colors, people drive down Holy Hill Road for Zamzow's spooktacular display. People from all over the world have seen the skeletons in his closet.
Two young brothers, named Choua and Adam Moctar, who were too excited to take turns speaking spoke over one another in a nearly indiscernible manner saying, "We liked it! And it was cool! It was creepy, and it was cool! It was creepy cool!"
That tends to be the reaction of everyone who stops by. And Zamzow takes pride in the fact that he has inadvertently created a Halloween tradition for many people. What started as just one skeleton in his front yard mowing the grass, turned into 3 skeletons cutting the lawn, to a display of more than 100 skeletons.
"It is really neat, and even when they do discover me it's like people can’t get their phone out fast enough to prove that they were here and say I've got pictures in front of your display," he said with a smile.
Zamzow said a special shoutout goes to his neighbors Jim and Mary, who he shares a driveway with. When they bought the house, the first thing Zamzow's wife Sandy asked them was 'how do you feel about Halloween.'The neighbors have been great sports and even offered Zamzow to put his display on their side of the driveway lawn so people can use Zamzow's side for parking.
Organ Donations, Rainbow Bridge, Donald Driver
While the display changes every year, there are three things that remain constant: the mission, the Rainbow Bridge, and Donald Driver.
The mission is to spread smiles and give people a fun thing to do. Plus, Zamzow hopes that his display encourages people to become organ donors.
"Everybody looks around they’ll see there are no organs here. And at some time we're all going to become skeletons. And we're not taking our organs with us. And a lot of people think that's not for me, but if it was you or your son or your daughter, you would immediately think twice and say why don’t more people donate, you know."
There's also a Rainbow bridge. It's a bridge that symbolizes the transition pets make to the afterlife. It serves as a commemoration of their lives.
"We actually have some people that come out and post pictures of their beloved pets that they’ve recently lost up on the board," he said.
Finally, there's Donald Driver. Zamzow has been putting a skeleton in a Packers helmet and Donald Driver jersey. He finds a way to incorporate the legendary wide receiver
in some way for every display.
You can see the display until one week after Halloween.
