What is it about vintage costumes that makes them so much more bizarre—and so much scarier—than their modern equivalents? Were people really that much stranger back then, or do they only look absurd in hindsight? Anyone fed up with the animal-ears-and-a-bra option that—no matter how many times everyone rolls their eyes over it—seems to be the prevailing trend year after year, should look for inspiration in vintage photography. I scoured the web for the wildest, weirdest costumes of yesteryear, and came up with everything from toadstools to telephones, and one guy in "fancy dress as a side of bacon."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/martians-at-the-halloween-sock-hop-photos-of-bizarre-vintage-costumes/263929/#slide2