A Kentucky man's gory Halloween costume was pretty good — so good that he was pulled over and held at gunpoint by police.
Bryan Gibson of Falmouth, Ky., really wanted to win the $50 prize for Best Costume at his workplace Halloween party Oct. 28.
So he decided to become the "grill master" — a backyard barbecuer whose propane tank had exploded in his face.
He blackened his face, sprayed his hair into a wild pattern, splashed fake blood all over himself and used latex to create the illusion of scorched, mangled flesh, according to a story in the Cincinnati Post.
"You kind of pick and peel at it so it looks like shreds of loose skin hanging off," he explained.
He tossed an oven mitt and a spatula into his car, then began the 30-mile drive north to his Cincinnati office.
After a little while, Gibson started hearing sirens.
"I keep looking in my rearview, but I never did see any flashing lights," he related to the newspaper. "So I keep driving, doing the speed limit, stopping at all the lights."
He finally made it into town, crossing the Ohio River (search) and pulling off the highway onto city streets.
"Next thing I know," Gibson said, "this guy whips out in front of me ..., blocks me off and jumps out of his car with his gun pulled on me."
He said the gunman was in plainclothes and didn't show a badge.
"He's yelling at me, 'Get out of the [expletive] car! Raise your [expletive] hands!'" Gibson said. "And I'm freaking out, thinking, 'What in the world is going on?'"
The man forced Gibson out of his car, then flipped him onto the hood, spreading his arms and legs.
"He said I was in a world of trouble and that I'd stirred up a hornet's nest because he'd been getting complaints about me all the way into town," Gibson said. "And I'm saying: 'Sir, we're having a costume party today at work. Please don't arrest me.'"
As this was happening, two Cincinnati police cruisers blocked off the street and the adjacent freeway exit.
"It was just a mass of police cars surrounding this guy, who looked like he was wearing a wolfman head or something," said local radio personality Mark Perzel (search), a witness to the incident. "I'd been listening to [a] helicopter traffic guy ... describing somebody in a bloody Halloween outfit who was turning heads all the way up [highways] 27 and 471."
The plainclothes cop demanded to see Gibson's wallet.
"I took my hand off the roof of my car to point to where my wallet was, and the guy flips out again," Gibson said. "I told him my name, then he asked where I lived. When I told him I live in Falmouth, he said, 'Oh [expletive], it's a Halloween costume.'"
"Then he said, 'Man, you got me. Now hurry onto work,'" Gibson continued. "And I'm thinking, 'I got you? Who's going to pay the laundry bill for my pants?' But he let me go."
Gibson never found out the name of the officer who'd pulled him over. A Cincinnati police officer told the Post he wasn't familiar with the incident.
"If you're going to a Halloween party in Cincinnati," said witness Perzel, "wait until you get there to put on the makeup."
For the record, Gibson did win the $50 Best Costume prize.
— Thanks to Out There reader Paulette F.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A lion attacked a man who jumped into the animal's enclosure and shouted "Jesus will save you!" at the big cat Wednesday at the zoo in Taiwan's capital.
Cable TV stations showed the lion ripping a jacket off the man as he stood in a grassy enclosure that held two of the animals.
Without panicking, the man fell back on a stone ridge, and the lion then jumped at him, biting him in the arm. The lion then clawed at his trousers before retreating.
The man then calmly stood with his arms outstretched in front of the two animals.
An eyewitness, Hsu Li-jen, told cable station CTI that the man shouted "Jesus will save you!" at the animals.
Guards drove the lions away with water hoses, and police shot the animals with tranquilizer darts. The man, identified only by his surname, Chen, then picked up his jacket and climbed out of the pen himself. He was taken to the hospital for tests.
"He had bite marks both at the front and back of his leg," Doctor Wang Yao-ching told CTI.
Another doctor said Chen, 46, also had psychological problems. "He took this dangerous action today because he imagined he heard voices," psychiatrist Teng Hui-wen told reporters, saying his case was still being investigated.
— Thanks to Out There readers Kris P. and Erich W.
Man Calls in Bomb Threat Over Bad Food
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man unhappy with the food service on Amtrak (search) was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for making calls from his cell phone saying there was a bomb on the train he was riding.
"I apologize for the actions that I did and I'm sorry," Michael Conwill, 35, of Anchorage, Alaska, told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb before she sentenced him Tuesday. He was also ordered to pay more than $28,000 to Amtrak to cover its costs.
Conwill had pleaded guilty in August to making the threats July 6, saying he was angry at being served food that contained hot peppers. He said they caused an allergic reaction.
The judge sentenced Conwill to three years and 10 months in prison — the upper limit under sentencing guidelines — for what she called a "stupid, stupid decision."
The five calls came as the train, en route from Seattle, rolled through Sauk and Juneau counties. It was stopped in Portage and passengers were taken to a school for several hours while the train was searched. No bombs were found.
Conwill was arrested when the train arrived in Chicago, after the FBI traced the calls to his cell phone, authorities said.
Defense attorney Joseph Sommers had asked that Conwill receive a sentence at the lower end of federal guidelines, which range from 37 to 46 months.
"It's a heck of a lot to pay for a crime that was only a threat," he said.
The judge ordered Conwill to undergo a mental health evaluation in prison and receive counseling during three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Stranger Walks Into House, Grabs Beer, Leaves
BEVERLY HILLS, Fla. (AP) — A thirsty stranger grabs a beer as he walks into a Citrus County home.
Deputies arrested Philip Michael O'Donnell after a couple told authorities he walked into their home Friday, opened the fridge and took out a Bud Light beer.
The couple was inside their home as the man entered the house through a door in the garage.
The woman said the man might be one of her husband's friends, but she did not know who he was.
The stranger walked out the door after taking the beer and rang the bell of another house.
Police were then called and a deputy found O'Donnell walking down the street.
He was arrested and booked into the county jail.
His bail was set at $15,000 dollars.
Robber Asks for Directions to Next Bank
POWAY, Calif. (AP) — A woman robbed a credit union of at least $3,000 and then asked a teller for directions to another bank, authorities said.
Around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, the woman handed a note demanding money to a teller at the Great American Credit Union (search) in Poway, according to San Diego County Sheriff's Department Lt. Rick Figueroa.
The note also asked for directions to a nearby San Diego County Credit Union (search) branch in San Diego, the sheriff's department said.
Deputies searched the area around the Great American Credit Union but were unable to find the suspect. They notified the San Diego County Credit Union that the robber had asked for directions to that site.
The FBI is investigating.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Dr. Andrea Shaer wanted to vote before she went to the delivery room to give birth to her third child, so she and her husband went first to their polling station at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's (search) fitness facility.
But more than 100 people were already in line, so Shaer went to the delivery room, gave birth, and returned to vote Tuesday night 30 minutes before the polls closed, intravenous drip in tow.
"Knowing how close the race is in Pennsylvania and being a mom, with all the issues there, I just had to try" to vote, Shaer said.
Shaer, a nephrologist, or kidney doctor, at the medical center, awoke at 5 a.m. Tuesday when her water broke. She gave birth to a son, Jack.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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