For Halloween night this year, I returned to Scary Perry... I succeeded at spooking many people. Some examples:

• There were a couple of teens (and I mean late teens, like 18-19), who were about to walk past. One guy wouldn't get near me, so the other tried to drag him over, eventually putting him in a headlock. The scared one broke free, and still refused to get close.

• I had at least one instance in which a little kid would just stand there grinning, but the mom got spooked.

• Quite a few times people thought I was some sort of animatronic or dummy (even though I wasn't trying to pretend to be a machine), and they'd just start to get sufficiently comfortable with me not being "real", that just suddenly turning to look at them, or raising my arms, would be enough to send 5 or 6 people leaping back at once.

• Of course, I also got the usual "Oh my god! It's looking at me! Ahh! It's still looking at me!!!"

It's all in how you move, of course, combined with the darkness. You don't need an elaborate costume.

At the end of the evening I received some compliments from the other costumed "scareactors" on the street about staying in character for a long time.

Unfortunately this year I was fighting a nasty headache, so I didn't think I did nearly as well as in 2004. But I still got just as many good reactions.

Here are some pictures, starting with me and my girlfriend: