A Taylor Swift fan went viral on TikTok with a video of her Halloween front yard display — 10 skeletons dressed in the star's classic looks.
Katelyn McLaughlin, a Wisconsin-based mother of two boys, spent months planning the Eras Tour-themed yard display but told Insider she had "no idea it was going to blow up." As of Wednesday, a video of the Halloween display that was posted to her @witchyswifty account on October 1 has 1.4 million views.
McLaughlin told Insider she first came up with the idea in August this year, after attending the star's Eras Tour date in Chicago.
She said she has listened to Swift since high school; "I feel like I've kind of grown up with her and her music," she said.
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Her favorite moment during the show, McLaughlin said, was when a row of 10 of Swift's past outfits from her different musical eras were brought onstage in glass cases.
Later on, while planning Halloween decor months in advance, she said she remembered this moment and was inspired to recreate it.
McLaughlin already had two Halloween skeletons at home from the previous year, but bought another two herself, she said. Luckily, decorating for the season is a family tradition, so she was able to borrow four more skeletons from her mother-in-law and two from her sister.
She told Insider she spent months researching the costumes by trying to find TikTok uploads from users who'd attended the Eras Tour concerts, searching for glimpses of each outfit.
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"It was usually after the kids went to bed. I'd be like, okay, I'm going to go through and look for the right sunglasses for this single outfit," McLaughlin said.
At first, Mclaughlin tried to replicate each look using pieces from her closet or by thrifting them. A yellow fringed dress became the look for the "Evermore" skeleton, with a rainbow skirt from one of her past Halloween costumes becoming the jacket for the "Lover" look.
"I had to buy the 1989 cheerleader costume, since it was so unique to the 'Shake It Off' music video," McLaughlin said.
She added that the costume that took the most time to replicate was Swift's "Reputation" bodysuit. An asymmetrical one-piece bodysuit designed by Roberto Cavalli, the look features the designer's signature snake design in red and black beading.
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"I found this amazing sparkly bodysuit at Goodwill, and it was only $6. I was like, 'Oh my God, this is it,'" McLaughlin said. Cutting up two red jackets to form the snakes, she said she spent days on this piece alone.
Another significant part of the display was the "Look What You Made Me Do" skeleton, featuring a cat mask and black hoodie with custom patches attached that she ordered online.
This outfit was initially meant to be McLaughlin's own Halloween costume. "It's so perfect, so I ended up sacrificing my Halloween costume to my skeletons," she told Insider.
McLaughlin estimates that spent between $400 and $500 on the display in its entirety, including the wooden display boxes which her husband constructed for her.
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Before even putting the skeletons in the display in her front yard, a video she posted of the boxes on October 1 had gained more than 100,000 views on TikTok.
McLaughlin added that a neighbor later helped the family put up rainbow lights and speakers on the display, with a button to activate music from each skeleton's musical inspiration.
"Every night when we finally turn the lights on, there's car after car that just stops and looks at it to take a picture," McLaughlin said. She said hundreds of people have since come to see the skeletons.
Though she plans to take down the display at the beginning of November, McLaughlin said she'd be sad to let her hard work go to waste, and has offered it to a local pumpkin patch — though she told Insider she'd happily sell it to another Swift fan.
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