A lawyer from Galveston, Texas, caused quite a scene on Monday when he was spotted strolling along a seawall beach disguised as Michael Myers, the blood-thirsty psycho killer from the Halloween films.
He was also carrying what appeared from a distance to be a bloody knife.
ABC13 reporter Mycah Hatfield captured the ominous sighting that happened ahead of Hurricane Nicholas' landfall in Texas, and she posted the footage on Twitter.
Even his staggering gait eerily mimicked Michael Myers.
Well, either that or he had a mean pebble stuck in his shoe.
The police received a call reporting a masked man walking with a bloody knife—an image synonymous with the iconic crazed killer, except this time on the Texas shoreline.
According to Galveston Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Stacy Papillion, officers discovered both the knife and the blood on it were fake when they handcuffed the suspect.
The man was later identified as Mark Metzger, an attorney from the Galveston area and a known prankster.
He had apparently posted pictures of himself on Facebook earlier in the day dressed as the horror movie icon and wrote he was going to be "pranking" Galveston.
Still, his questionable appearance masquerading as everyone's worst Halloween nightmare incarnate ahead of the holiday he is synonymous with raised enough anxiety that afternoon.
He was ticketed for disorderly conduct and later released.
Adam Garrison, an island resident, told the news outlet he thought Metzger's stunt was foolish.
He believed the lawyer did it for attention in the midst of the impending storm.
Garrison did, however, admit he got a good chuckle out of the scene and chalked it up to "another day on the island."
Metzger later wrote another Facebook post at 7:20 p.m., saying he was:
"bringing positive vibes to the gloom and doom out there, generating some laughter, helping people crack a smile, and restoring our faith in humanity through humor."
"So if taking a silly walk down the beach during a storm in a costume, and subsequently being arrested for disorderly conduct accomplished any of that .... then I'd do it again all day every day."
But based on some of the reactions, it seems he failed to read the proverbial room.
"I just don't think they appreciate it that much," he said.
"I guess there's some people out there that don't have a sense of humor or, you know, can't please them all."
Metzger added while he has pulled off similar pranks in the past, Monday's incident was the first that was met with "lethal force."
He was cooperative with the police and compared his arrest to something out of a popular mystery cartoon.
"It felt like a scene out of Scooby-Doo after they handcuffed me and pulled the mask off, like, 'I would have gotten away with it if wasn't for those meddling [entitled women], you know?'"
In spite of his citation, a handful of the public were amused by his next-level cosplay and even snapped photos with him.
Even the beach patrol got in on the joke and played the theme song from the Halloween movie.
The lawyer told the Galveston County Daily News he was "still fuzzy" about what was illegal about his actions that led to his citation.
The curtain may have come down for Metzger's creepy performance on Monday, but the "real" Michael Myers will make his return to theaters in the latest film from the slasher franchise.
Halloween Kills will be the twelfth installment in the film series that will reunite the masked killer with his original target, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
The anticipated movie is the sequel to 2018's Halloween, and after a delay from its original October 2020 release date due to the pandemic, it is now scheduled for release on October 15, 2021, in theaters and on Peacock Premium.
@GregAbbott_TX/X
