All Hallow’s Eve

This is me with Ann Roberts in 1999. The name tag on my jacket says "Murray," so I told people my Uncle Murray was buried in this uniform.
This is me with Ann Roberts in 1999. The name tag on my jacket says "Murray," so I told people my Uncle Murray was buried in this uniform.

As Hallowe’en approaches, I am tempted to conjure up a costume and dress up, at least for some part of the day. It’s on a Monday this year, which is normally my day off. I might go make some images at the local safe house anyway, since I think it will make good pictures. I also moved my class to Tuesday because some of the students had kids they wanted to take trick-or-treating.

I have no idea what kind of costume might suit me. When I was seven I wanted to be a blob. When I was 24, I came to a costume party as a photographer. There have been a few times I actually dressed up, and it was always fun.

This is the Norman gang and me in 1997. In the front row are Anna as a black-eyed pea and Anne as a hiker. In the back row are Michael as Dilbert, David as an evangelist, Thea as an Arab Sheik, and me as Joe Barron in 1976.
This is the Norman gang and me in 1997. In the front row are Anna as a black-eyed pea and Anne as a hiker. In the back row are Michael as Dilbert, David as an evangelist, Thea as an Arab Sheik, and me as Joe Barron in 1976.
David Wheelock wears one of his wife Brenda's dresses at this 1993 affair; I am dressed in SCA attire that makes me look at least somewhat like a pirate. The pose? I don't know. Something about that dress was irresistible.
David Wheelock wears one of his wife Brenda's dresses at this 1993 affair; I am dressed in SCA attire that makes me look at least somewhat like a pirate. The pose? I don't know. Something about that dress was irresistible.
Halloween 1996: I am a toothless hillbilly, Anna is a slut, Anne is a lion tamer (I guess), and Thea is the notorious rat eater.
Halloween 1996: I am a toothless hillbilly, Anna is a slut, Anne is a lion tamer (I guess), and Thea is the notorious rat eater.

Once I was Jesus. Another time I was a VietNam veteran in a class-A uniform. After bringing home some of my dad’s 70’s-era clothing from Florida (where he had been “saving” it), I actually dressed up as him in the 1970s. Michael and Thea fixed me up as a pirate one year using some of Michael’s SCA apparel.

There was a period in the mid-1990s when David Martin began to conjure fictional tales about Thea and her penchant for eating rats, usually in secret. He even wrote some short fiction about it. Thea may or may not have actually been sneaking off into supply closets at her office to secretly eat rats, but she never denied it, and when she dressed up like the “rat eater” in 1996, her costume was perfect.

So if you have any cool ideas for costumes for me, put them in the comment field. Let’s have fun!

On the left is David Wheelock dressed in the hospital scrubs he wore the day his first daughter was born. I am in the middle dressed as Jesus. Brenda Wheelock is next to me in a ghost costume with a bunch of extra eye holes. The punch line? We are father, son and holy ghost.
On the left is David Wheelock dressed in the hospital scrubs he wore the day his first daughter was born. I am in the middle dressed as Jesus. Brenda Wheelock is next to me in a ghost costume with a bunch of extra eye holes. The punch line? We are father, son and holy ghost.

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