20 skin crawling images of old-timey Halloween costumes to terrify you

You think you’ve seen some scary costumes in your day, eh kiddo? Well today’s costumes have nothing on the terrifying costumes of yesteryear.

Apparently it was quite acceptable to include a sack over your head for a variety of different costumes and face paint for a clown costume wound up making you look like something straight out of hell.

Ossain Brown took to the photos of the past to collect a book’s worth of anonymous snapshots of the horrifying costumes parents and children alike dressed up in on Halloweens gone past. Here are 20 of the most downright skin crawling photos that will be sure to leave you with nightmares.

For more terrifying images check out Ossian Brown’s book Haunted: A collection of anonymous Hallowe’en photographs, America c. 1875 — 1955.