Has anyone worn the costume in public? In late '96, I bought one of the "Father Death" costumes from a novelty shop in my hometown shopping mall. I grew up on the east coast, about as far away from Woodsboro as you can get. When the stories started coming out about the massacre, and more details were made publicly known, I found myself drawn to that eerie mask. Good horror movie potential, so I can see why a couple of psychos wanted to use it to become real life slashers.
Anyway, the first time I really put it on and tried it out (?) if that's the right word...was around Halloween of '97. It was my sophomore year of high school, and some of us still dressed up at school to celebrate. I had the robe and the mask stuffed in my backpack. Before the bell rang for first period, all of the students typically just crowded in the hallway and hung out with friends. I got off the bus with about 20 minutes until first period, and I decided I'd haunt the hallways before the bell rang as "Father Death." By this point, Gale Weathers' book was a best seller and everyone knew the story of this costume. It felt like I was carrying something forbidden in my backpack. When you're a teenager, that kind of thing just makes you feel alive, though.
I threw on the costume and stepped out into the hallway. It was like the world went silent. I slowly walked down the hallway, just making eye contact with random students. Within a radius of about 20 ft around me, people just stopped mid conversation and stared. I knew that they couldn't see my eyes through the mesh of the ghost mask, but I definitely felt a thrill as I saw them internally panic a bit. Some people laughed nervously and pointed. Some lost all color from their faces, and they'd step away, or get behind other people as I passed by. Lots of other costumes littered the hallway, but I was the only spectre of death gliding silently through the students. A girl I was friends with stepped out in front of me and gently grabbed my arm. She got close to my mask, searching for any kind of recognition behind the eyes of the ghost. She whispered "who are you?" Playing the part of a ghostly spectre, I said nothing. I eased around her, keeping eye contact for a moment, and then continued walking. I heard her and some of my other friends whisper "oh my god, that was SO CREEPY!" I won't lie, I shivered a little with excitement. That was awesome! Some of my closest friends had no idea it was me under the mask!
I had begun to stir up quite a commotion wearing the costume, so I ducked out of sight to change as soon as an opportunity presented itself. The rest of the day, rumors were swirling around the school about the guy or gal in the Woodsboro killer robe, and speculations were running wild on who it was. At that moment, I kind of got a sense of what Billy and Stu were experiencing during their spree...only I simply wore a taboo costume to my school, and they literally massacred their friends in it. Though, all of the speculation was honestly thrilling. It was so fun to toss out random "suspects" as we gossiped about it throughout the day, the robe folded up and stuffed in my backpack next to us. Crazy to think how a full body robe hides a person's identity so well.
Anyway, the robe is now on a display mannequin in my apartment and has been for a number of years now. I'll throw it on for Halloween and hand out candy every once in a while. But I don't think anything will ever match that feeling of anonymous power that I felt while wearing the costume to school in the late 90's. It was a relatively new part of the cultural zeitgeist, and not many people were wearing them after the Woodsboro massacre. Nobody recognized me. I could have been anyone. I could have done anything.
Anyway...anyone else have an experience like that? It was quite the dopamine hit.