From: 01sybok@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: alt.peeves
Subject: Re: the Devil's Day (and the Devil's Night)
Date: 5 Nov 92 10:36:20 -0400
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Well, it was certainly a fun Halloween.

It started the was Halloween in Halifax ALWAYS starts; we all went off to 
watch the Rocky Horror Picutre Show.

!Peeve: Sitting in the middle of a bunch of screaming maniacs throwing things at
each other. There's something wonderfully primal about the whole thing.

After that, the crew I was with dragged me off to a party.

Peeve: getting dragged off to a party where you are sure you aren't going to 
know anyone.

!Peeve: Discovering you actually know everyone at the party you've been dragged
off to. High on the list of amusements were two friends of mine dressed as 
frumpy pregnant grocery store workers reinacting the dance club scene from
_Basic Instinct_. You had to see it to believe it.

After the party, everyone went downtown, and that's when things got REALLY
interesting.

See, when a person from Halifax says "I'm going downtown" what that person 
usually means is,"I am going downtown to go to a bar. I am going to indulge in
some hardcore debauchery until my senses fail."

Halifax has more bars per capita than any other place in North America and
our reputation as a party town is second only to Montreal's.

Haloween is the biggest party night of the year for Halifax. It's the night
of the Mardi Gras. Everyone gets dressed up and goes downtown. Most of the 
downtown area is closed to vehicular traffic, and every cop in Metro is on duty.
The usual crowd numbers between 50 and 200 thousand, depending on the 
temperature.

My friends and I hit downtown. I wasn't planning to go, so I hadn't dressed
up. As a last second thing I broke open one of those GLO STICKS and war 
painted my face and hands. I figured I could claim I was a replicant from 
Bladerunner (remember Pris?)

So there we are. there are about 10 of us, most of whom had decided to go as 
devils, and me, with a glowing face.

That's when we encountered the Jesus Freaks.

Some of them were handing out leaflets. I thought it was part of an elaborate
costume or masquerade, and so I took one (laughing all the while). One fellow is
standing on the sidewalk screaming at absolute top volume about how we're all
cavorting with the Devil. Behind him is this guy dressed as Jesus (those robes
must have been awfully chilly, what with the cold October air and all), but 
that wasn't the best part. He was bearing a cross.

Yes, the fellow is standing there, in late October, in a climate KNOWN for
its fridgity, in a bedsheet, with what looked like a real hawthorn crown on his
head, bearing a full size solid wooden cross while his buddy screams at a crowd
of about 50,000 mostly drunk people that they're all heading to Hell.

On the whole, quite an impressive sight

Now remember, EVERYONE who is downtown is dressed up, so at first this didn't 
strike me  as odd, until I realized these people are for real.

Then they noticed my crowd. There were about 10 of us. Most of us were 
dressed as demons, and I was glowing. Apparently that made us prime material.

The preacher/screaming moron points over to us and starts screaming about
how the whole lot of us are going to hell. Even better, he looks right at me
and said "BEHOLD! THIS ONE BEARS THE MARK OF THE BEAST!"

Who, Me?  


HE BEARS THE MARK OF THE BEAST! HE IS A SINNER AND A FORNICATOR! LOOK HOW HE 
CAVORTS WITH THE DEMONS!

Actually, I think I was just standing there with my mouth open. There wasn't 
much cavorting going on. Honest.

I started to get an idea. It worked for the old lady on the bus. I figured
one Jesus Freak must be just like another...

I walked up to Mr. Psycho Preacher, looked him straight in the eye and gave
him my "Bug Eyed Soul in Eternal Torment" look, threw my head back and gave
my best Killer Bob yell. Hell, I even scared myself! Then I recited that little
rhyme I heard in Twin Peaks:

Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chance out between two worlds
Fire... walk with me

Then another Killer Bob yell.

Then I gave him my "I too have been touched by the devilish one. A tattoo here,
on the left shoulder" Speech, while showing him the tattoo. By this time, 
he'd stopped screaming. What with the crowd he'd gathered, and the people 
who'd come to see what the screaming was about, quiet a crowd had drawn. At 
the sight of the tattoo, he drew back in fear (pagan symbols and flames will 
do it to a Jesus Freak every time, guaranteed. I have to say I'm getting a lot 
of mileage out of it). I stepped forward, smiled at him and said. "I know who 
you are. I know what you've done.I'll see you in Eternity."

And kissed him on the cheek.


If I had doused him in lighter fluid and lit a match, I couldn't have hoped 
for better results.


He screamed as if burned and fell to his knees. He kept screaming and screaming
as if all the demons in hell were after him. It pretty much put the kibosh
on his little display. The crowd meanwhile went nuts. They were laughing and 
cheering.

Not wanting to spend the night in the drunk tank, my friends and I made 
ourselves scarce. I was disappointed, on the whole. No mention of the incident 
was made in the Sunday paper. Oh, well.

Next year, my friends and I are going to the Mardi Gras as characters from 
Revalations. I can hardly wait.

!Peeve: playing mind games with the emotionally frail.

Mike