Teacher born with one hand makes waves online with gory Halloween make-up

“Halloween is Christmas for us amputees.”

These are the words of April Hill, a teacher who is using her lack of a left hand to spectacular effect this All Saints’ Eve.

April, who lives in Chicago, Illinois, lost her hand due to congenital amputation due to amniotic band syndrome – a complication in the womb in which tears to the amniotic sack cause fibres to wrap around parts of the foetus, prohibiting development of that body part.

“I’ve been doing some variation on gory-left-arm for the last nine years,” April told the Press Association.

“What started as a funny joke for an online Halloween costume contest turned into a full-fledged hobby.”

April teachers children aged three to six but says fortunately they haven’t seen her in her make-up.

“Learning the special effects make-up for my arm enabled me to create other wounds and things on the rest of me,” said April.

“I rarely ever do the gore make-up outside of Halloween so I spend the rest of the year thinking up what I want to be this time.

“It all started with me entering an online Halloween costume contest and I thought a picture of me ‘accidentally’ chopping my fingers off while cutting carrots would be funny. And I’ve been doing it ever since.”

April’s gory pictures have proved hugely popular on Reddit, where her account name is Reaction_On_My_Nub, and many of the thousands who have left comments on her pictures offer new creative ideas.

“I usually go the gore route so there are other things I haven’t considered, like pirate hooks or any of the many Star Wars characters that have lost a hand,” said April.

“It makes me happy to see others with disabilities commenting on what they have done before or what they’ve never thought of doing until now.”