Skulls & Skeletons
One of the classic motifs of Halloween is the skeleton or skull - representing the final stage of decomposition before passing to dust. They can be a low-gore scare for smaller kids and seem to lighten the mood a bit since they are always smiling. Dad jokes aside, you can still take a plain skeleton and add more to it to bring it back a step or two in the stages of decomposition in a process known as 'corpsing'. You can also modify a skull and add some servos and a controller to turn it into a talking animatronic known as the three axis skull. Some skeletons are posable, and others are not, but may be coaxed into holding a position. Many of the posable skeletons can be coaxed into standing on their own for menacing, creepy, or humorous displays.
There are many types of skeletons that are known to haunters by various names such as the inexpensive, blow molded plastic 'blucky' skeleton at the low end, and go up to the anatomically correct teaching skeletons used to train medical students. You can even 3D print skulls and skeletons.
Skeleton Types
Anatomically Correct, Life Size Skeletons
The original sources of the best quality skeletons - Anatomical Chart Company and Bucky's Boneyard - are no longer in business. But there are other sources available for life size, realistic skeletons, such as:
Amazon, of course, has everything
Posable Skeltons
Lately, these have been a staple at big box retail outlets and hardware stores for Halloween. They are a lot less expensive than the anatomically correct skeletons, far lighter, and much easier to pose because they are made with joints that will (usually) stay in the position you set them in at the jaw, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle; giving you great flexibility in posing your skeleton in just the right position. Most come with a black cord loop at the top of the skull for hanging, which can be easily cut off if you like. They generally also have light up, red, LED eyes operated by battery, located in the back of the skull.