Jack the Clown

Jack the Clown, is a fictional character created by the Universal Studios Florida design team as an Icon character for Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. He is an insane former circus clown and serial killer who murdered his victims according to his twisted sense of humor. He was introduced as the first original icon for the event during its tenth year, and became so popular that he has been used several more times over the years.

Inspiration

Jack is an evil clown, and was inspired by examples of coulrophobia both real life and fiction, most notably of urban legends of Phantom Clowns who in the early 80's were supposed clowns or men dressed partially like clowns in vans attempting to lure and abduct children. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy also seems to be a major inspiration.

Appearance

Jack's appearance is a twisted variation on the traditional clown getup. His wild tuffy hair resembles fire, and green makeup on his white face above his eyebrows suggests an unfriendly attitude. Evil, yellow eyes glare out of dark sockets, and he grins with a green-rimmed mouth of yellowed, protruding teeth under a big red nose. His fingernails are long and dirty, and his polka-dotted costume is stained with blood.

Backstory

Jack the Clown was the first icon with such an elaborate backstory, and his success prompted the creation of more ICONS for future events.

Jack Schmidt was a carnival performer who loved to entertain children with his practical pranks and prat-falls during his stint with Dr. Oddfellow’s Carnival Of Thrills. He had escaped a poor and highly abusive family years earlier to "run away and join the circus", leaving behind his younger brother, Eddie. But underneath the greasepaint and clown nose, he was a twisted [...]. He was wanted for the abduction and disappearance of several small children throughout the Southern states. Police officials and the F.B.I. soon caught on that the missing children followed a pattern that led them closer and closer to the traveling freak show. On Halloween 1920 the police were closing in on the Clown killer. Fearing capture, Jack revealed his sinister secret to Dr. Oddfellow in the hopes of possible concealment. The doctor, himself wanted by the police for the accidental death of several patrons in a freak circus accident years earlier under a different name, was not sympathetic to Jack’s cause. He quickly admonished him for potentially bringing the police down upon the entire band of miscreants. He asked Jack to show him what he had done with the bodies of the children. Jack revealed the bodies of thirteen children hidden in the confines of three small trunks that were kept in his traveling coach. Fearing the worst, Dr. Oddfellow had Jack murdered and his body hidden within the traveling carnivals House of Horrors as an exhibit, along with the bodies of the children. Years later the Carnival was sold by Dr. Oddfellow, and the various dark rides and exhibits were split and sent to various owners around the states, including the House of Horrors and it’s grisly secret. Sixty years later, in the Fall of 1980, a television crew from the BBC was documenting the great Dark Rides of America. They journeyed throughout the eastern seaboard looking for forgotten carnival rides and attractions and stumbled upon the House of Horrors as it sat abandoned in a Louisiana junkyard. The crew asked permission to film the interior, and pried open the doors of the forgotten relic to step inside. The smell of decay was overpowering as the bright camera light illuminated the darkened corridors. Moving past the faded walls and hanging fabric, the smell began to increase. The cameraman retched as he panned his camera towards a series of trunks. Behind the trunks was a large wooden box stenciled like a children's toy. One letter filled each side of the box, J-A-C-K. The cameraman steadied his camera as the host of the show investigated the box. He found a large crank on the side of the box and turned it. It started to move with some resistance, but after a few twists, it freely moved in a clockwise rotation. A clanky musical melody played out as the host turned it. Suddenly, however, the Music stopped and wouldn't start again with his continued rotations. The camera light suddenly died and then the crank rotated a few spins on its own. The top of the box flew open and a form sprung out. Affixed to a giant spring was the decomposing body of Jack Schmidt. After a thorough police investigation, the bodies of the thirteen children as well as the body of Jack were shipped to the local Louisiana coroner's office for further examination. Around midnight on Halloween the van carrying the body and box of Jack disappeared into the Louisiana swamp in a freak accident. Later that week the bodies of the BBC cameraman and host were found as the victims of a grisly and unsolved [...]. Throughout the following years urban legend re-tellings of the tale started, with a corresponding story AbOUT the decomposing body of Jack [...] again. The legend states that Jack is searching for Dr. Oddfellow, in a thirst for vengeance. The legend also states that Jack will reward anyone who releases him from his toy tomb by turning the crank with a very special reward. In 2000, Universal Studios bought the old props from the old House of Horrors, including what was sold as the box that Jack was trapped in for so many years. Apparently some poor fool tried to test this claim, and Jack was unleashed on the unsuspecting Halloween Horror Nights guests for the first (but certainly not last) time. Jack's presence lingered in some form throughout the years until he was resurrected along with other Icons for HHN's Sweet Sixteen celebration. Jack was soon caught by the authorities and committed to the Shady Brook Asylum For The Criminally Insane, an institution that had suffered an inmate escape a few years earlier. Though often isolated in the Maximum Security Ward, Jack's mere presence seemed to have an adverse effect on the unstable population, who started emulating the crazed clown, much the staff's dismay. Eventually, the inmates started a mass riot, gruesomely tortured the hospital staff, and put Jack in charge of the facility. During the chaos, Jack found records that his former boss and [...], Dr Oddfellow, was still alive and running a small traveling carnival. Jack left Shady Brook, traveling to the depravity of Dr. Oddfellow's Dark Carnival and Emporium. In the Dark of night, Jack stalked into the tents and took his long-overdue vengeance. When he emerged, he was changed. During incarceration, Jack got a taste of what it was like to run the show, and he desired to be the ringmaster of his own carnival. He dressed himself in the bright red coat and boot of a proper Ringmaster. He also adorned himself with a crude top hat and terrible trinkets of his liking. He completed the transformation with Dr. Oddfellow's prized possession: a silver-headed cane of souls. Putting the Carnival on hiatus, Jack spent the next months traveling the world to find the right sideshow acts for his deadly Carnival of Carnage. He gathered a plethora of monsters, mutants, madmen and maniacs, many with egos nearly as large as his own, luring them with promises of fame, fortune, show business, and plenty of fresh victims. After nearly a year of preparation, Ringmaster Jack opened his dark Carnival of Carnage in Orlando, Florida.

Appearances

His first appearance was for HHN X, as icon and overall presence in the park and haunted houses, as well as his own show called "Jacked Up". He was reincarnated several times after the event. For HHN XI, he replaced his brother Eddie when he was deemed too gory for a post-9/11 event. He appeared alongside The Caretaker, The Director and Eddie in the HHN XIV house "Horror Nights Nightmares", and also appeared as the MC of "Rat Run" during HHN XV. He was once again an icon during HHN XVI along with the other three returning icons to rule over the event, and appeared in the haunted house, "Psychoscarepy: Maximum Madness". His backstory was added to for the seventeenth year. In Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage, he became the ringmaster of a traveling carnival after murdering Oddfellow. He took the doctor's "Cane of Souls" and made the carnival his own Carnival of Carnage.