Thanks for for the kind words with palms! Those are always a thorn in my side when it come to halloween. I like your view/take on it. Never thought of it that way.
We landscaped our front yard as Mediterranean and back, tropical. We used cold hard palms where we are but yeah, understand your comment, and they do frame the yard theme at Halloween time. Great for pirates theme especially or jungle or Egyptian mummy, particularly with yards with Canary/date palms.
Always found diseases that have epidemic possibilities and those that disfigure are scary to think about. One of the saddest and most memorable diseases I remember reading about as a kid that stuck in my mind was Leprosy in James A. Michener's "Hawaii". Hansen's disease was such a terrible personal disease (And lepers were banished to Molokai for over 100 years) and I was always struck by the thought of disfigurement and death happening in Paradise. Last night we caught two old X-Files episodes on Chiller, "Nisei & 731", which involved a Hansen research lab so your Black Plague doctors fit right in with our TV viewing. Also believe I recently saw some news articles on the black plague so timely topic too. Do you have lots of rats in your display?