Happy Halloween ~ Billy Bones
William Gilkerson— known as Billy Bones on Halloween— was a dedicated pirate historian. But did you know that he was also a pirate at heart? Bones was a true maverick in his own right. He danced to the beat of his own drum, or should I say, bagpipes?
Seeing we are coming up on Halloween, we thought it would be fun to share with you that this particular holiday was my father’s favourite.
Captain Billy Bones himself
Every Halloween, my parents held a Pirate Party at our family home, those invited— good friends and neighbours willing to take part in piratical madness.
We would all dress up in pirate costumes, many of the pieces my mother, Kerstin, had made herself over the years. There were flannel and muslin tunics, knee breeches, sailor pants with the full button closure, leather vests, patchwork dresses and skirts and of course the quintessential tricorn hats. Among heavy chains and costume jewels, there were leather purses, belts and pouches filled with old coins and stained handkerchiefs. Let’s not forget the old muskets and swords that hung from our chests in their casings. All of the costumes were as close to being as historically accurate as possible. We are not talking about polyester or vinyl— these pieces were aged and weathered in all natural fibres and colours of the times we were portraying.
Bill and his merry band of thugs
Outside, in the dark night, with their muskets and swords
Those that were invited to the dinner party that did not come dressed as a pirate, would be forced to strip and wear a blanket wrapped around them. There were dead sailors, famous pirates, Kings, Buccaneers, Viking Queens and even Renaissance characters. One year, David Westergard, came as a pale, long drowned ghost with an anchor tied to his ankle and every year Chip Dickison would remove his false front tooth. It was certainly a band of very colourful and scary characters.
Bill with a skull and a painting of his in the background
A meal fit for a pirate! Home made bread, turkey dinner with all the fixings and lot’s o’ beer and rum
We would eat in the old part of the house that we lived in at the time. It was built in the late 1700’s and had been fully restored by the previous owners back to its historical beauty. There was no electricity, so we ate by candlelight surrounded by my father’s paintings, hung on deep blue velvet wallpaper.
You can imagine it: There were drumsticks to gnaw on, homemade stout drunk from silver goblets, a human skull, a massive pirate flag that hung from the balcony of the front hall, and many terrified children, who so dared wake the crew, with the heavy thud of the heavy brass knocker on the front door, and face Billy Bones himself.
Bill in his favourite tricorn hat and leather vest munching on pork ribs and potatoes
The children were made to swear, with their hands on the old human skull, that they would never tell anyone what they saw, especially their parents. They would be led from the grand hallway into the candlelit dining room filled with several unruly pirates where they had to beg for candy, and so beg they did. Some children were too scared to swear on the skull or ask the pirates for candy and those kids would run out the front door, crying and empty handed, into their parent’s arms. The braver kids would stay, bemused and eyeing their friends “is this even real”?
Older Trick or Treaters swearing on the skull