Four horsemen are said to appear before the end of the world, they are the bringers of the apocalypse will cause chaos on earth before its end.

Four horsemen

The first of the four rides a white horse, and the most speculation surrounds him. He goes out into the world wearing a crown and with the intent of conquest, and it is assumed that he is evil based on how he is introduced as part of the group that is very clearly evil. But still, he is different from the other three in some way, and everyone has a different take on what he truly is. Some claim that he is the antichrist, others say he is representing civil war, and another belief is that he is Christ himself, the second coming. That he could be there to sort out the wicked from the good.

Riding atop the red horse, is the second horseman of the apocalypse; war. It is pretty clear from his large sword the fiery color of his steed that his purpose is only for one thing; the killing of men, by men.

The third horse is black and the horseman who rides it represents famine. With him he has weighing scales, which were often used to weigh bread before it was distributed during famines. He also seems to be the only horseman who speaks. It is not indicated that it is famine speaking, but the voice that comes from the general direction of the four speaks of bread, wine and oil; things that would only concern him.

The final horseman, riding the ‘pale horse’ that insinuates something like the color of a corpse; is death. Though in some versions he carries a scythe (suggesting that he himself is the grim reaper) in most he carries nothing with him, and is instead followed by Hades.

With them comes the destruction of the world, and with them leaves all that was in it.

Adieu, my friends. Adieu.
-Black Widow

Grim Reapers

The Grim Reaper; the one who comes to take your life during your final hour. For years this has been a Halloween costume staple. The robe with long sleeves (frayed on the edges), and a hood with optional face camouflage. Of course it wouldn’t be complete without a tall scythe to…. do what with? We don’t exactly know. Possibly for popping off heads, but what does the guy in a grim reaper costume really need heads for? All he should need is your soul.

Regardless, just because it’s been overdone doesn’t mean you can’t do it. With some creativit, even the most common Halloween costumes can gain renewed life and a serious wow-factor. When you already have such a fearsome thing to work with, the options should be endless.

The first route you could take is to work with what everyone commonly understands as being ‘how the grim reaper looks’. Some good ways to spice it up would be to first get a really nice robe. Something that doesn’t look like it was made from cheapy-cheap Halloween fabric, but of some kind of thick heavy material. It should be a little too big on you and have very wide sleeves, to give the illusion that underneath is something made of bones, or perhaps nothing at all. That would raise the question as to whether or not he was some kind of formless entity. The second thing you should take care of is the scythe. If you could find a good tree branch or pole and create your own scythe from it, that would make for something 100 times better than the plastic ones you can buy at the store for a few dollars. After that, you’re basically set. You could add accessories, like a rope or chain belt, or a sand timer hanging from around your neck. Perhaps maybe even a clasp for your robe made to look like someone’s bones.

There’s always the option of being a more casual modern grim reaper as well. You could simply put on black clothes and paint your face to look like a skull. Make sure you still have that awesome scythe with you though, to help fellow party goers differentiate between you and the other guy that just came as a skeleton.

When you think of a guy in an executioner costume, what image comes to mind? For most of us it is the image of a large man wearing a black hood with eyeholes cut in, standing on a platform with a sharpened axe in his hand. But generally executioners were either military men, or simply a person whose job it was to carry out what the law had decreed. An executioner was generally given a warrant that authorized him to carry out the sentence without becoming a murderer himself, and traveled around an area to perform executions when needed (which was not very often). He would specialize in the task of executing, but if they should need him for torture or other non-lethal punishments he wasn’t too far away.

Execution by guillotine

During the French revolution, the guillotine was heavily used, and the job of executioner was taken up by a few men. Usually the job was handed off to a close friend, relative or a son when the executioner chose or was told to step down from his post. The executioner was not one that was shunned by the public, he was more of a popular figure. At one point in time there were postcards made featuring the current executioner carrying out the task via guillotine. (This is how one little boy found out that one of his relations was the current executioner of France. That must have been a confusing day for him.) Until 1977 executions continued in France, but they were formally abolished in 1981.

Enabling the cold sharp steel of an axe or guillotine blade to slice through a person’s flesh, spine and throat; that is what these men made a living off of. With a job description so gruesome though, they still managed to live fairly normal lives. They married, raised children and grew old. But who knows what type of a person it takes to complete these tasks over and over again and live the rest of their lives peacefully afterward. Or were they tormented by the grim truth of what they had done? Nobody can say.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow