\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMost homes decorate for Christmas with lights, wreaths, maybe a few reindeer.But Ron Levine\u2019s house? It\u2019s rocking nearly 50 skeletons, some towering up to 12 feet tall, at 1926 Viscaya Parkway. Some say the house looks straight out of a “Nightmare Before Christmas”: Cape Coral edition.There\u2019s a skeleton hot cocoa bar, a \u201cdead gift exchange,\u201d a crew of skeletal construction workers, and some lawn ornaments that even move.”It’s called Cape Skeleton,” said Levine. “It’s a resort for snowbird skeletons, basically. They start showing up in September…There’s a few of them that are here year-round.” Levine used to work with a haunted house in New York, and when he retired to Cape Coral, he brought his spooky talent with him. Levine said it started small, with two skeletons and a dog. But small didn\u2019t last long.\u201cFirst thing I saw was this lawn,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd my brain went into overdrive.\u201dNow, the display has become something of a local landmark. Cars honk. Families stop to take pictures. Levine says even police officers slow down to get a look.\u201cWe have to take a breath,\u201d Levine jokes. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re not breathing\u2026 we might end up here.\u201dA Christmas hit or Halloween that won\u2019t die? Some neighbors absolutely adore it.\u201cThe elaborate displays, the way he changes it from Halloween to Christmas \u2014 I think it\u2019s outstanding,\u201d said neighbor Marcia Dunn.\u201cSo many kids stop by and see it. So many people love that he does it.\u201dBut others would rather save skeletons for October.\u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d said neighbor Joey Guidice. \u201cRight now it\u2019s Christmas. I\u2019d rather see Santa Claus, his elves, not skeletons.\u201dThe reason for the holly-jolly boneyard? Levine says, it’s simple.\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find that spark of joy sometime in the day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I hope to do. Whether someone\u2019s heading to work or coming home from a bad day.\u201dWhether you think it\u2019s festive, freaky, or fantastically Florida, one thing is certain… You\u2019ll never drive past this house without slowing down.Levine doesn’t have any code violations on record related to his lawn decor. In fact, the city says there’s nothing in its code of ordinances that regulates holiday decorations.”Cape Skeleton” might not be the Christmas tradition you expected, but it\u2019s definitely the one you\u2019ll remember.DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Most homes decorate for Christmas with lights, wreaths, maybe a few reindeer.<\/p>\n
But Ron Levine\u2019s house? It\u2019s rocking nearly 50 skeletons, some towering up to 12 feet tall, at 1926 Viscaya Parkway. Some say the house looks straight out of a “Nightmare Before Christmas”: Cape Coral edition.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a skeleton hot cocoa bar, a \u201cdead gift exchange,\u201d a crew of skeletal construction workers, and some lawn ornaments that even move.<\/p>\n
“It’s called Cape Skeleton,” said Levine. “It’s a resort for snowbird skeletons, basically. They start showing up in September…There’s a few of them that are here year-round.”<\/p>\n
Levine used to work with a haunted house in New York, and when he retired to Cape Coral, he brought his spooky talent with him. <\/p>\n
Levine said it started small, with two skeletons and a dog. But small didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst thing I saw was this lawn,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd my brain went into overdrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the display has become something of a local landmark. Cars honk. Families stop to take pictures. Levine says even police officers slow down to get a look.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to take a breath,\u201d Levine jokes. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re not breathing\u2026 we might end up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Christmas hit or Halloween that won\u2019t die?<\/p>\n
Some neighbors absolutely adore it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe elaborate displays, the way he changes it from Halloween to Christmas \u2014 I think it\u2019s outstanding,\u201d said neighbor Marcia Dunn.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many kids stop by and see it. So many people love that he does it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But others would rather save skeletons for October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d said neighbor Joey Guidice. \u201cRight now it\u2019s Christmas. I\u2019d rather see Santa Claus, his elves, not skeletons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reason for the holly-jolly boneyard? Levine says, it’s simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find that spark of joy sometime in the day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I hope to do. Whether someone\u2019s heading to work or coming home from a bad day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether you think it\u2019s festive, freaky, or fantastically Florida, one thing is certain… You\u2019ll never drive past this house without slowing down.<\/p>\n
Levine doesn’t have any code violations on record related to his lawn decor. In fact, the city says there’s nothing in its code of ordinances that regulates holiday decorations.<\/p>\n
“Cape Skeleton” might not be the Christmas tradition you expected, but it\u2019s definitely the one you\u2019ll remember.<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most homes decorate for Christmas with lights, wreaths, maybe a few reindeer.But Ron Levine\u2019s house? It\u2019s rocking nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,44468,211,210,44464,30187,44467,104,28,1179,503,5052,213,44466,44463,16480,44465,221],"class_list":["post-79464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-edition","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-christmas-cheer","tag-code-violation","tag-display","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-gulf-coast-news-app","tag-halloween","tag-house","tag-late-news","tag-lawn","tag-ron-levine","tag-skeleton","tag-twist","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}