Drug-sniffing bunnies, beat-up Dallas fans and other Philly-inspired costumes

If there's something strange in your neighborhood … then you probably just live in Philadelphia or one of its equally weird suburbs, which are the inspiration behind this crop of locally based 2017 Halloween costumes.

A candidate who seriously proposed getting drug-sniffing bunnies for Phoenixville's police department at a mayoral forum this month had a bad hare day when borough residents — who did what he didn't do and Googled his proposal — informed him that it was based on a hoax.

This weekend in Phoenixville, two men got their costume inspiration from local politics. Dave Strunk scrapped his initial costume idea and instead dressed up as mayoral candidate Dave Gautreau, who proposed the police bunnies. Strunk carried around a stuffed rabbit with a police vest that had an anti-marijuana patch on it.

"My audience was well-informed locals with a great sense of humor, and there were lots who complimented me on the idea … although some quick background was needed for a few people," Strunk said.

Resident Jeff Kenney took it a hop and a step further and dressed as a drug-sniffing police bunny, with ears, a vest and a badge.

"I was inspired to go with that costume by our local mayoral candidate who thought drug-sniffing rabbits were a thing that existed," Kenney said. "I wanted people to see how ridiculous such a thing actually looked."

Kenney said he frisked a couple people during the evening but was as "ineffective as a drug-sniffing rabbit and couldn't locate any contraband."

This is an amazing costume based on an amazing Philly artist, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, co-founder of the Roots. It's creative, clever and cool. Speaking of which, have you seen this video of Black Thought freestyling with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson back in Philly in the 90s?

Chester County funeral director Caleb Wilde is an author who shares the wisdom and comedy of death with his more than 20,000 Twitter followers. A picture he posted on the social media site this week shows that he brings the same sense of humor to his Halloween costumes, with this play on the name of Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Philadelphia for six years.

Twitter user Victoria (@lilmizmouse08) dressed as a Dallas Cowboys fan who wandered too far into Eagles territory. We know the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry is strong — so strong, breweries are making alcohol out of it — but we hope it never actually gets to this point.

For children of the 80s, the game show Double Dare — which filmed three of its seven seasons in Philadelphia — remains a milestone in pop culture. Javier Morris said he didn't undertake the physical challenge of making his own costume, but rather found it at a Spirit Halloween costume store.

"I don't want the misconception that it was a costume made from scratch, but I do think it was an absolute must-have," he said.

Given that the area code on this cab is for Alberta, we're guessing this photograph was not taken in Philadelphia, but the costume and moves are so spot-on we had to share. Twitter user @Anthonyjohnc21, who tweeted the photo, did not respond to a request for more information, like: How did the Fresh Prince get to Canada?

Jackie Phillips of Port Richmond said she went as the scariest thing she could think of  — I-76, also known as the Schuylkill Expressway.

"Nothing beats the anxiety and sheer terror of rush hour on the Schuylkill," she said.

Well played, Jackie. Well played.

In May, a mural of a squirrel eating a SEPTA token went up in North Philly to much fanfare. Krista Guerrieri, a transportation planner, public-art proponent and West Philly resident, used the mural as the inspiration for her costume this year. We hope she ran into someone dressed up as the pretzel-eating raccoon from a Port Richmond mural.

Well, this costume is so local — and so meta — it was inspired by the very site you are visiting right now. Spooky!

Andrew Leshak, national digital sales specialist for Philadelphia Media Network, the parent company of Philly.com, the Daily News and the Inquirer, decided to support local journalism by dressing up as Philly.com's metered subscription model for Halloween.

"Content creators and contributors should be compensated for the work they do, regardless of if it is in print or digital," Leshak said. "If you subscribe today and support journalism, this will be the last time you see the meter!"

Does your child have the ultimate Halloween costume this year? We want to see it! We're looking to collect photos of the spookiest and cutest costumes from the community that we'll share in a photo gallery on Philly.com. To contribute a photo, just email it to us at audience@philly.com and tell us where you're from and what neighborhood you went trick or treating in this year. Happy Halloween.