At the start
Forgot to tell you about this scary run on the fells with Todmorden Harriers. At halloween time, about fifty runners dressed up in the scariest clothes you have ever seen and went fell- running in the highest and darkest places there are. Fun, or what. Some folk had two heads, one on the back and one at the front, there were lots of skeletons, including mine which I made myself using luminous pigment, imported from america, of red, blue and green. The only problem with this was that when this pigment becomes damp, as it invariably does when one is running up a hill with a load of black wooly painted garments on, it releases a strong odour of sulphur, ( chemical reaction- this is why – Calcium monosulphide, a white amorphous powder, sparingly soluble in water, is formed by heating the sulphate with charcoal, or by heating lime in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen. It is particularly noteworthy from the phosphorescence which it exhibits when heated, or after exposure to the sun’s rays; hence its synonym “Canton’s phosphorus,” after John Canton (1718-1772), an English natural philosopher. The sulphydrate or hydrosulphide, is obtained as colourless, prismatic crystals  by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into milk of lime. The strong aqueous solution deposits colourless, four-sided prisms of hydroxy-hydrosulphide. The disulphide,  and pentasulphide, are formed when milk of lime is boiled with flowers of sulphur. These sulphides form the basis of Balmain’s luminous paint.)  Isn’t that  just so poetic – milk of lime, with flowers of sulphur; – going to start having it for a sustaining fell-running breakfast.
Flowers of sulphur
Milk of Lime
I had to throw the evil eye head piece away as I couldn’t stand breathing it any longer. About 50 people turned out for this one, and if you watched from a distance , you saw a long line of scary wobbly lights ascending the dark moors. Then to make it more evil, Phil had placed skulls, blood and ghosts in isolated locations to scare us out of our wits.
The scariest costume – don’t ask me who it was
The ghouls making their way onto the moors
A horrible sight at the Bridestones
Ben dies a dreadful death – fellrunning doesn’t get any scarier than this!
The skeleton parade
Please don’t let them get me
And so to the pub
all photos by Phil Hodgson
not at home 