A Hallowe’en costume in Mérida, Yucatán, yesterday was so successful it almost landed a local man in jail after he gave citizens a serious scare.

When staff at a hair salon at a shopping mall in the Yucalpetén neighborhood spotted a very white-faced man with a large kitchen knife and dressed as Michael Myers — of the Halloween series of slasher films — they were alarmed.

One went out to investigate but returned to the salon terrified when “Myers” remained motionless. So they called the cops to report “a serial assassin.”

Then a pedestrian was equally startled by the apparition and flagged down a police patrol vehicle.

Before long, there were three police patrols at the scene. When the officers approached the man from either side, hands on their weapons, he realized that his arrest was imminent and revealed himself.

He dropped the knife and took off the mask, at which point the hair salon staff recognized him as the owner of another nearby business.

Alejandro Moya explained his Halloween costume and expressed surprise that no one recognized the Halloween character, suggesting that in Yucatán it’s more common to celebrate Hanal Pixán — a Mayan name for Day of the Dead — than Halloween.

Moya handed out candy to his neighbors and the police, who filed their report and went back on patrol.

Source: Milenio (sp), Diario de Yucatán (sp)