Despite it being a night focused on having fun, some people take Halloween incredibly seriously. A group of middle schoolers learned that this week after one of their own had the entire internet riding to his defense after a Halloween costume contest upset for the ages. Students at Admiral Moorer Middle School participated in said contest, with a girl dressed as Wednesday Addams taking the top prize. Nothing too controversial, right?


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Unfortunately, the masses felt that while adorable, Wednesday Addams didn’t deserve to win. Instead, the award should have gone to the boy who placed third, for managing to cut himself in half and still keep a smile on his face.



Commenters were united — he was robbed. People suggested the contest was rigged — that it was either a popularity contest or she knew someone on the inside. “Her mama must work at the school cause ain’t no way ,” theorized one user.


FWIW, according to a local reporter, the contest wasn’t solely about costumes: “The judging of a school-wide contest was based not only on the costume, but a long series of interactive activities, including an entertainment skit and interaction with the audience.” It sounds more like a Halloween pageant than a costume contest; either way, that costume should have put him over the line, it’s just that good.


Many more people were baffled as to how he created the illusion that he’d been cut in half.


WARNING/SPOILER ALERT: Look away now if you don’t want the magic ruined for you.



While it’s sweet that the internet came together to support the boy’s excellent costume, the backlash did lead to the school deactivating its Facebook page. A spokesperson for Eufaula City Schools told AL.com that they decided to do so because commenters, many of whom were not from the area, were hurling insults at other contestants who, it should be stressed, are middle-schoolers.


As always, going viral on the internet has its downsides, and outraged online mobs are hardly ever a good thing. As for Third Place Kid and his talent for impressive Halloween costumes, hopefully, this is only the beginning — maybe next year he’ll figure out how to make himself invisible.