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Spooked Out

DW staff (sp)October 29, 2007

A German Halloween reveler dressed as a blood-splattered zombie caused more than his fair share of frights when panicked passengers on a train mistook him for a murder victim and called the police.

https://p.dw.com/p/Bxq0
Halloween
Wonder how the passengers would have reacted to this?Image: AP

Maybe it had to do with the fact that celebrating Halloween is a relatively recent phenomenon in Germany despite the ghoulish festival's roots in Europe. Passengers on a regional train in Bad Segeberg in northern Germany had certainly never heard of it when they mistook a Halloween reveler for victim of a bloody crime.

The man in question was lying in a drunken stupor, dressed in a spooky costume and seemed to have what looked like blood smeared on his hands and face. The horrified passengers called the police after they failed to revive him.

Officers and a first aid team called to the scene soon cleared up the confusion after they shook the 24-year-old awake.

Halloween Festival auf Burg Frankenstein
Witches and ghouls feature in Germany's Walpurgisnacht festival tooImage: dpa

"He explained he was coming from a Halloween party in Hamburg and that his wounds were part of his gory outfit," a police spokeswoman told news agency dpa.

A paramedic scrubbed the makeup off the man's face and he was allowed to continue his journey.

"Bad Segeberg is in a rural area and Halloween isn't very well known there," the police spokeswoman said. "So people weren't expecting anyone to be dressed up in the train."