As long as secrecy and mystery were to be effective in dealing with the Negroes, costume was an important matter.

These disguises varied with the locality and often with the individual.

High cardboard hats, covered with white cloth often decorated with stars or pictures of animals, white masks with holes cut for eyes, nose and mouth bound with red braid to give a horrible appearance, and frequently a long tongue of red flannel so fixed that it could be moved with the wearer's tongue, and a long white robe--these made up a costume which served at the same time as a disguise and as a means of impressing the impressionable Negro.

Horses were covered with sheets or white cloth held on by the saddle and by belts, and sometimes the animals were even painted.

Skulls of sheep and cattle, and even of human beings were often carried on the saddlebows to add another element of terror.