Carnival of Carnage

> "*Finger knives will slice, Machetes will dice, and chainsaws never play nice... when the Carnival comes to*"
> ― Part of the description from Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage
>
>

## Jack's Carnival of Carnage

Image from Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear website

## Group information

### Occupation

Circus
Serial-killer group

### Members

Body Collectors (possibly)
Carey Women's Correctional Facility prisoners
Chance
Dr. Pinetti
Freddy Krueger
Jason Voorhees
Leatherface
Mary Shaw (possibly)
Rat Lady
The Reckless Ones (possibly)
Redneck Carl
The Thing (alien)
Tina
Tiny
Treaks & Foons

**Jack's Carnival of Carnage** also known more simply as the **Carnival of Carnage** is a recurring organization from *Halloween Horror Nights*. It is a criminal circus run by John Schmidt AKA Jack the Clown.

## Description

### Members

* **Brian Brushwood**: A magician in Jack's Freak Show.
* **Chance**: Jack the Clown's primary hench-woman.
* **Clown Dancers**:
* **Dr. Pinetti**: Dr. Pinetti was one of Jack's assistants in the original Carnival of Carnage. After multiple attempts at seducing Chance, Jack burned Pinetti alive before impaling him with ceiling spikes as punishment.
* **Freddy Krueger**: Jack's " Sensational Slasher Artist", an undead dream-based killer able to manifest in the carnival due to Jack feeding guests the drug *Sleepwell*. When Freddy was abandoned by Jack in Hollywood after the first iteration of the Carnival of Carnage, Freddy recruited several monsters and killers to aid him in taking over again. When Jack made his second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage, he appeared to make Freddy and Jason fight as a kind of "Round 2".
* **Jack the Clown**: The ringmaster of the Circus. He is an undead serial-killer clown, summoned via the large prop jack-in-the-box box which contains his corpse.
* **Jason Voorhees**: Jack's "Masked Master of the Machete", is a hulking undead brute from Camp Crystal Lake. When Jack made his second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage, he appeared to make Freddy and Jason fight as a kind of "Round 2".
* **Killer Carnies**:
	+ **Darkness' Minions**: The two tall female minions of the *Lord of Darkness*.
* **Leatherface**: Jack's "Chainsaw Wizard".
* **The Lumberjack**:
* **Maniac Clowns**: A variety of chainsaw wielding clowns have been in Jack's employ.
	+ **Amy the Clown Girl**:
	+ **Austin the Clown**:
	+ **Bingo the Clown**:
	+ **Chet the Clown**:
	+ **Dana the Clown Girl**:
	+ **Janet the Clown Girl**:
	+ **Juggles the Clown**:
	+ **Lee the Clown**:
	+ **Lionel the Space Clown**:
	+ **Tom the Clown**:
	+ **Tony the Clown**:
* **Maniac Prisoners**: A group of female inmates from the *Carey Women's Correctional Facility* in Carey, Ohio.
	+ **Tina**: A female, chainsaw-wielding maniac.
* **Maniac Rednecks**: A number of chainsaw wielding killer "Rednecks" employed by Jack.
	+ **Redneck Carl**:
* **The Thing**: A murderous shapeshifting alien which was seemingly put on display in Jack's carnival within a cage labelled, "What Is It?" carried by a truck.
* **Tiny:** Tiny was a muscular, executioner-like assistant to Jack the Clown. In the second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage, Tiny operated the Big-Ass-Saw.

#### Midway of the Bizarre

* **Chainsaw Drill Team**: They acted as members of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Darkness Minions**: The minions of the Lord of Darkness, who is associated with Halloween Horror Nights. They acted as members of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Masquerade Clown Girl**: She was a member of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Motormaniacs**: They acted as members of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Peacock Girl**: She was a member of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Rat Lady**: She was a member of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Treaks & Foons**: Darkly cartoonish creatures created by the occult surgeon Dr. Albert Caine. They acted as members of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.
* **Troupe Macabre**: A troop of killer clowns and mimes who acted as members of the *Midway of the Bizarre.*
* **Zebra Girl Carnival Stilkwalker**: She was a member of the *Midway of the Bizarre*.

#### Unconfirmed members

* **Bill & Ted**: William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan are a pair of dim-witted rock-musicians/time-travelers who may have performed in the Carnival of Carnage as "Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure". Jack's carnival visited their hometown and Jack had a guitar-pick with the initials "WS" (their band *Wyld Stallyns*) in his possession.
* **Body Collectors**: The Body Collectors are ancient and enigmatic suited monsters who harvest corpse parts. They may have been part of the second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage.
* **The Caretaker**: A poster at Jack's second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage advertised the Caretaker.
* **Cindy Caine**: A poster at Jack's second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage advertised Cindy as the "Pint-Sized Killer".
* **Mary Shaw**: Mary Shaw is an undead ventriloquist from the town of Raven's Fair, Ontario and may have worked in the carnival's theatre tent. More evidence suggesting this would by Raven's Fair circled on the carnival's map with a photograph of her victim Michael Ashen.
* **The Reckless Ones**: Vampires who went rogue from the Vampire elders/council, and started a New York City nightclub to lure away their prey. Some may have worked in a burlesque after dark show at the Carnival of Carnage.
* **The Storyteller**: A poster at Jack's second iteration of the Carnival of Carnage advertised the Storyteller.
* **Transylvanians**: Jack visiting "Transylvania" and having the criminologist dance-move instructions for the Time Warp implies that he may have employed some of the hedonistic alien Transylvanians who visited Earth from the planet *Transexual* in the *Transylvania Galaxy*.
* **The Usher**:

### Features

* **Blair Meats**: A trailer/truck which sold meats for the *Blair Meat Co.*.
* **Burlesque After Dark**: A nighttime burlesque show which may have employed the "Reckless Ones".
* **Ferris Wheel**:
* **Freak Show**:
* **Funhouse**:
* **Jack's Bus**:
* **Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem**: This was a recreation of several past Halloween Horror Nights events and incidents.
* **Knife Throwing Wheel**:
* **Midway of the Bizarre**: Jack's midway freak show which shares its name with the travelling "Midway of the Bizarre" which since 1951 has travelled the country causing various disappearances.
* **Sleep-Well Truck**:
* **Snow Cone Booth**:
* **Theatre**: A (presumably puppet) theatre tent within the original Carnival of Carnage. It may have been the place in which Mary Shaw performed.
* **What Is It?**:

## History

### Background

#### Origins

Jack the Clown was once a member of *Dr. Oddfellow's Grand Circus & Exposition*, a 1920s/1930s circus run by occultist Doctor Rich Oddfellow who later murdered Jack. In 2007, a now undead Jack tracked down Oddfellow, who used an artifact known as the *Cane of Souls* to gain power and extend his lifespan. Jack seemingly murdered Oddfellow (actually only trapping him in the Dark Dimension of the Zodiac) and then claimed the *Cane of Souls* for himself. Using the Cane of Souls, Jack created his own twisted circus similar to that which was once run by Oddfellow.

Around this incident, Jack sent his former Shadybrook psychiatrist post-cards from the Bates Motel, Camp Crystal Lake, 1428 Elm Street, and the Hewitt House, teasing his scheme to assemble the forces of various slasher characters. Jack would go on to recruit slashers such as Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface for his carnival. Krueger would be limited to dreams, however due to the drug, "Sleepwell" which was previously used to prevent nightmares and Freddy's attacks, a side-effect of the drug resulted in Freddy causing waking dreams. Jack's carnival appeared to have a truck, dealing out Sleep-Well.

#### Travelling Circus

A map suggested that in 2007, Jack's circus and bus travelled to: Springwood, Ohio (home of Freddy Krueger), Raven's Fair (home of Mary Shaw), Ontario, Outpost 31 in Antarctica (where the Thing rampaged), Coney Island and Greenwich in New York City (the latter which is location of club Vampyr and the Reckless Ones), San Dimas, California (home of Bill & Ted), Seneca Falls, New York (location of the Shadybrook Rest Home & Sanatorium where Jack was born), Gibsonton, Florida (location of various "Freakshow" performers), and "Transylvania" (here referencing the alien humanoid "Transylvanian" species from the planet *Transexual* in the *Transylvania Galaxy*, though it is possible Jack visited the European region of the same name). The carnival ultimately travelled to Orlando (and likely Universal Studios).

Jack's carnival would also occupy the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood due to their association with the history of horror films. While in 2007, Jack was approached by the Vampire Council member Casilla, after learning of Jack's reemergence when she was in New York City dealing with the Reckless Ones of Club Vampyr. Casilla learned about the origins and apparent demise of Doctor Oddfellow from Jack, whom Casilla had unknowingly met decades earlier when the doctor paraded as a Vampire Council member.

Once Jack was finished with his carnival, he made off for Orlando while leaving behind various members of his carnival including Freddy Krueger. Freddy would return to the Hollywood backlot where he summoned fellow Carnival of Carnage sideshow performers: Jason Voorhees and Leatherface along with *The Strangers*.

#### The Carnage Returns

Jack was mysteriously released from Fear's Lantern (possibly by the ghost, "Bloody Mary"). Jack then betrayed Fear and took over Halloween Horror Nights using his Carnival and Carnage, accompanied by his protegée, Chance. This version the carnival seemed to have Jack make Freddy and Jason fights while Jack had the haunted house, "Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem" which appeared to emulate Fear's similar conglomeration of past HHN incidents at the Universal props department.

Also during this incident, Jack and Chance held a show called "The Carnage Returns" in which they murdered a woman named Amanda on a spinning wheel, her husband strapped to a chair, an internet troll, and finally a man named Phil with a "big ass saw". Not long after this, Jack was stopped and imprisoned within his box and on the June 27 of 2016, Chance was announced by newspapeerers to be institutionalized in Shadybrook where she had a mental-breakdown and amassed a following of patients.

## Appearances

### Halloween Horror Nights

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage (HHN 17)

The Carnival of Carnage was main theme for this Halloween Horror Nights. The website included an interactive representation of the Carnival.

#### Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store

The 2020 Tribute Store had a room themed to Jack's circus.

## Trivia

* Jack's Carnival of Carnage would have tied into the backstory of scrapped HHN 18 icon, Nathaniel Crowe. After the fire burnt down the Caretaker's home in Carey, Ohio, the cursed and barren land would go into the ownership of farmer Nathaniel Crowe. Crowe would only prosper by hosting Jack the Clown's Carnival of Carnage, and return to his struggles once the carnival left. After bleeding onto a piece of paper left by Jack, the blood would form a poem to give Crowe visions of past icons Jack the Clown, the Director, the Storyteller and the Caretaker choosing him to be the next icon and leading to crows ripping his head apart to turn into a jack o'lantern dedicated to Halloween's traditions.