Coolest Headless Costume

I created this Headless Halloween costume based off a combination of ideas from this website! There were a bunch of headless figures shown, but I’ve always had fun with the medical profession during Halloween and came up with a scary story to go along with my costume.

My character was a world-class neurosurgeon that successfully operated on thousands of patients. Over time she began hearing voices that taunted her and questioned her skills during surgeries. When she lost her first patient due to a medical mishap the hospital committee threatened to end her career. Unbeknown to herself, she was talking and arguing with herself during the botched surgery which was witnessed by the entire surgical staff. However, because of her successful career up to that point she was given one last chance on a very high profile case. On the day of the surgery, 10/31, the surgeon began to hear taunting voices as she operated on the patient, yet she tried to ignore them. Halfway through the surgery the loudest voice proclaimed, we will never leave you alone until kill every patient that walks into your operating room. The doctor pushed through the surgery until the very last suture was in place. Suddenly she screamed, took the largest scalpel from the tray and sliced off her own head. Since that day she can be seen every Halloween roaming the halls of the hospital screaming, moaning and crying for revenge of the voices in her head.

The creation of this costume was a fun challenge and took about 3 hours to put together. The main frame that makes up the shoulders and back of the surgeon was made using 1/2 inch PVC tubing which was cut into 11 pieces and assembled using PVC T connectors. I decided to use PVC due to its relative lightness and ease of use. The entire piece rested on my shoulders and I held onto two front pieces that extended over my shoulders and in front of my chest. This was an easy way to keep the piece in place AND hide my arms. The surgeons arms were crafted using a wire coat hanger in each, so the arms could be bent and hold their place. The arms were then stuffed with quilt batting. I stuffed two gloves with quilt batting as well and sewed them to the bottom of the arms so the arm batting would stay in place. The chest was stuffed with a batting filled tank top, which hung over the topmost PVC pipe, to give the body some depth. The lapels of the lab coat were pinned together around the neck piece. The neck was an overturned plastic container covered with masking tape (an idea borrowed from this site!). The finishing touches were the arms pinned in place above and below my head and a knife I crafted out of cardboard and wrapped with aluminum foil and taped to the glove below my head. I found a real stethoscope that I hung around the severed neck. Lastly I smeared fake blood over the severed neck and all down the front of the lab coat. I had a friend help put the finished piece up and over my head, poked my head through the opening of the lab coat and buttoned it up.

We had a contest at work and I won in every category… funniest, scariest and most creative! You should have seen the looks on the little trick-or-treaters faces when they came up to my door!

Total cost was about $23



Coolest Homemade Costume Contest 2023

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