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- Home Depot's 12-foot-tall skeleton was a favorite last year, and it's going viral on TikTok again.
- People are scrambling to buy the skeleton, and some are listing for triple the original price on eBay.
- Ten stores Insider called said they sold out of the skeletons as soon as they got them.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The 12-foot-tall Home Depot skeleton that helped fuel record sales in 2020 is becoming a viral sensation again this year and is selling out of stores as people scramble to get their hands on the coveted Halloween decoration.
Third-party sites now list the skeleton for over three times the original price, hashtags about the skeleton have raked in over 15 million views on TikTok, and Facebook groups dedicated to finding the skeleton have accumulated tens of thousands of members.
The 10 Home Depot stores that Insider contacted all said they were sold out of the massive skeletons and typically ran out of supply as soon as they recieved a new shipment.
Though the skeleton costs $299 – if you're lucky enough to find one in a Home Depot store – the skeletons are being listed on eBay for double or triple the original price, with some sellers listing the item at as much as $1,200.
The massive skeleton has LED eyes that light up to watch passerby and is posable, which has led social-media users to invent creative Halloween lawn displays, including showing normal-sized skeletons bowing down in front of the 12-foot-tall decoration or showing the large skeleton supervising as smaller-sized skeletons run each other over with lawnmowers.
"It is amazing to see all the fun it brings to our customers," Lance Allen, Home Depot's decorative holiday merchant and the mind behind the giant decoration, told Insider. "His (the skeleton's) social media presence has taken him to a whole other level, he really has taken on a whole life of his own."
One Facebook group titled "12 foot skeleton group" has over 32,000 members where people share how they pose their skeletons, offer to trade skeletons, and discuss their travails in procuring one of the much-sought-after decorations.
"I FINALLY got my hands on one! I'm 7 months pregnant and cried like a baby seeing him in all his glory," one user said.
Home Depot first re-introduced the 12-foot skeleton in July this year along with its cousin - the 12-foot "inferno pumpkin" skeleton - which has a pumpkin-like head instead of a skull. Home Depot said it sold out of its early release of Halloween products almost immediately.
The skeleton dominated TikTok and Twitter in September and October of 2020, and Allen said he was inspired by similarly oversized Halloween decorations at haunted houses and trade shows.
"The 12-foot skeletons are very popular again this year," Allen said. "While many of our popular Halloween products are already sold out online, customers could be lucky enough to find the skeleton along with other Halloween décor in stores."