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Armed police were called in after reports of a man in camoflage gear carrying a rifle.

But after responding to the call they were met with assorted stormtroopers, Klingons and Captain America lookalikes - attending a superheroes-themed party.

That was one of a series of fancy dress-related call-outs reported in the Cleveland Police area since January 2013.

Elsewhere, a man wearing a horse’s head and carrying a rifle was just one of 30 surreal fancy-dress related incidents reported over the period.

That mysterious occurrence was logged in July this year after a witness took fright at the sinister sight.

However, it transpired that the person in question was on his way to a fancy dress party and was not, in fact, a nightmarish criminal.

A similar incident was reported in March of this year when a man was spotted leaving a garage and getting into a car with a violin case and a sub-machine gun.

Thankfully the man turned out to be a pretend gangster and was, again on his way to a fancy dress party.

These are just a selection of 479 fancy-dress related incidents recorded by 26 police forces across the country and released to this paper after a freedom of information request.

While on some level the surreal nature of they may seem amusing the severity of these incidents can be great.

They range from children who wander off while wearing fancy dress to premeditated crime via drunks harassing people while on nights out.

Despite this, in the vast majority of cases no crimes were found have been committed.

This information also follows a bizarre spate of clown-related incidents that occurred towards the end of last year thought to be in imitation of a man known as the Northampton Clown who would stand sinisterly in public places.

At the time police released a warning to people to stop copying this behaviour because it was causing genuine distress to members of the public.

Further costume related police incidents on Teesside include an intoxicated woman dressed as a witch who, in October 2013, was given a talking to by officers after offering to fight passers-by.

On another occasion a man dressed as Borat (it is not known whether it was the mankini outfit) was flagged up for "annoying passers-by".

While, on a separate occasion in May this year, another gentleman was escorted home for ‘hanging out’ of his thong on the way back from a fancy dress party.

A Cleveland Police spokewoman said: "In the past we have received a very small number of reports made in good faith of people believed to have weapons on them in a public area.

"In such cases, police would have to adhere to policy that any mention of a weapon being present means that armed response officers (ARVs) would be deployed.

"Very occasionally police arrive at an incident where people present are in fancy dress.

"Officers are expected to deal with every member of the public they come into contact with courteously and professionally.

"Public safety is always paramount and, even though on these particular occasions it was quickly established that the people were in costume and the 'weapons' were toy or imitation, the involvement of ARVs was justified and explained to the person or people present."

Among the other fancy dress reports were...

:: A group of men wearing tutus who were appeared drunk while collecting for charity. No action was taken;

:: Four youths - one in a leotard - made off after complaints were made about them jumping from a bridge;

:: A child was given a verbal warning by officers for "being cheeky to male dressed in fancy dress";

:: An "intoxicated" woman dressed as a witch was "given advice" after complaints that she was trying to fight everyone;

:: Callers heard - but did not see - a group of men in fancy dress (led by Spiderman) chanting as they headed towards the student union;

:: A man who lost his phone while sliding along the floor in fancy dress at a foam party;

:: An ex-army caller reporting that he had seen a man leaving a garage carrying a sub-machine gun and a violin case. It was a toy and he was on his way to a party.

Were you at the party Cleveland Police was called to? Get in touch via email news@gazettemedia.co.uk or call 01642 234262.