My brother loved Halloween. Not for the usual reasons, though. The thing he loved most was handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and scaring the bejeezus out of them. He was pretty good at it.

I remember one costume in particular, and to this day it stands out as one of the most terrifying costumes I've ever seen. Of course I was about six when I saw it, so take that into consideration.

What my brother did was this: For months before October 31, he saved up all the dryer lint he could. He had whole grocery bags full of the stuff. And when the magic day rolled around, he proceeded to glue it to an old raincoat. He also glued it to gloves and to a rain hat as well. Lastly, he glued it to a ski mask.

For eyes, he cut out two cups from a styrofoam egg carton. He drew pupils on them, I believe with red marker. These he glued to the rain hat, above the slits where his own eyes would be.

I'm not sure what he did with his legs, but on his feet he wore black snowmobile boots with all kinds of straps and buckles on him. When he put the whole thing on, he looked like Grover's evil twin. A giant, grotesque mascot animal ready to pull your soul out right through your face. Everything Jim Henson did to stop kids from being afraid of monsters, my brother erased every time he opened the door to hand out a furry fistful of candy.

I remember him stepping out of the basement wearing his completed ensemble, proudly showing it off. I remember everyone in the family laughing. And I remember walking out of the yard to go trick-or-treating, almost being bowled over by terrified kids bolting from my house, screaming as if they were being butchered.

I almost would like to recreate that costume some year, just to see what it looks like again. But, unlike my brother, I know how flammable dryer lint is. That stuff is like cottonballs soaked in napalm.

Luckily, he didn't find that out the hard way.