Hector and Henrietta have been in South Milwaukee for nearly two years.
They love to dress up for various holidays and support the state’s sports teams like the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers by wearing fan gear.
But when South Milwaukee couple Sean and Laura Oster got a letter from the city informing them that Hector and Henrietta – who are two 12-foot tall skeleton decorations in their yard – have to go, they didn’t find it too “humerus.”
The Osters moved to South Milwaukee in July 2024 and set up one of the large skeletons in their front yard along North Chicago Avenue about two months later. Sean Oster said his wife loves Halloween and the plan was always to leave the skeleton up year-round.
The second skeleton came later from Bay View. It had been damaged in a storm, but Oster said he bought it for a good price and fixed it up himself. It was the community taking note and taking photos that caused word to spread about the skeleton spouses.
“The public named them, we didn’t,” Oster said, calling the names sticking “disturbingly organic.”
Eventually, Oster set up a Facebook page, Hector and Henrietta of South Milwaukee, to showcase the various costumes and extra bits of the display he and his wife would add or change over time.
That may be coming to an end.
Oster received a letter on May 20 from South Milwaukee’s inspection department. In it, the city’s code enforcement inspector said the city had received a complaint about his property. The letter included a bulleted list of issues:
News spread after Oster posted about the notice on social media with many residents in support of keeping the skeletons up.
Did someone just have a bone to pick with the skeletons?
South Milwaukee Alderwoman Lisa Pieper is an administrator of South Milwaukee Town Hall, a private Facebook group not officially affiliated with the city. When she saw Oster’s post about Hector and Henrietta, Pieper reached out to Oster and asked for a copy of the letter.
Pieper said she believes it’s one of the jobs of an alderperson to mediate issues and she hoped she could help resolve this amicably. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the code enforcer looked at the whole picture “and those skeletons happened to be part of the junk in his vision at the time.”
“It was never about the skeletons, ever, it was about the junk,” she said. “The skeletons really are an enjoyment for the city, as weird as it sounds.”
Pieper said there’s a chance Oster could negotiate with the code enforcer to keep the skeletons if the other things are property addressed.
What is the line between junk and art?
Oster said when he first got the letter he was irritated. However, he admitted some elements of the complaint were valid, such as the non-operable cars. His issue was calling out his skeleton decorations and having them first on the list.
“That’s just the most ridiculous, far-reaching thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, noting the letter was the first negative thing he’d heard about the skeletons. “Everyone else has been really nice and supportive, then all of a sudden this came at us.”
Oster said there’s a fine line between what someone may call junk and another might consider art.
“What’s art and what’s not?” he asked. “It’s all subjective.”
Hoping for a bone-afide compromise
As of June 24, 2026, Oster said he has addressed all the issues in the letter but one: Hector and Henrietta. They’re still standing. He said he wished the city would’ve called him before mailing the letter and still wants to negotiate to maybe make the skeletons a photo destination for South Milwaukee.
“I’d be willing to work with them, and we could probably do something beneficial to both of us and not have them look like clowns,” Oster said, noting many residents have spoken out against the removal order.
A Change.org petition called “Save the South Milwaukee skeletons” has garnered over 230 signatures as of July 25, 2026.
“And I’m not any of them,” Oster said with a laugh. “But we appreciate all the support. It’s just really bizarre; I wanted none of this.”
Contact Erik at erik.hanley@jrn.com. Follow his Facebook page, The Redheadliner Erik S. Hanley, and follow him on X @Redheadliner.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Art or junk? South Milwaukee couple hopes to keep 12-foot skeletons up
Reporting by Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
