Hamburg - Police called out by German train passengers who thought they were looking at the victim of a serious assault found instead an inebriated young man returning from a Halloween party. "The passengers were alarmed as the man appeared to be bleeding from the face and hands. He could also not talk," a Hamburg police spokeswoman said Sunday.
A drawn-out battle to wake the 24-year-old from his drunken sleep ensued.
"When he looked up in amazement at the uniformed officers, he said that he had come from a Hamburg Halloween party and that the apparent wounds were part of his scary costume," the spokeswoman said.
An emergency services medic removed the man's makeup to prevent further misunderstanding.
Virtually unknown until the mid-1990s, Halloween has become big business in Germany.
