Storyteller

**Elizabeth "Elsa" Strict** better known as **The Storyteller** is one of the icons of *Halloween Horror Nights*.

## History

### Background

#### Origins

The origins of the Storyteller are largely a mystery, though she is known to go by the names of Elsa Strict and Elizabeth Strict. She appears to be an old woman with a grandmother-type personality who has vast supernatural abilities. She also appears to be capable of transforming into a winged, demonic form.

One story which she told is sometimes interpreted as a potential origin story. This story involved a young girl being visited by a winged creature which wanted to skin her, only for the little girl to eat the creature. After this, the little girl absorbed the creatures powers and evil, leading her to ripping the stuffing out of her dolls and murdering her own mother with a hammer.

The Storyteller makes her home in the *North Hollow Household*, an inconspicuous house located in the North Hollow region of the nightmarish fantasy realm *Terra Cruentus*. A rift in the land made by the ocean, and possibly the Storyteller's influence, split the North Hollow away from the South Hollow of Terra Cruentus. Her house would be used by Terra Cruentus' ruler, the Terra Queen, as one of her two *Trials of Fears* to determine who was worthy of sacrifice as they would be exposed to monsters of childhood brought forth by the Storyteller.

#### Sightings

The Storyteller has also had many appearances outside the realm of Terra Cruentus. A painting of the elderly Storyteller may be hung up in the mysterious ghost town of Lightning Gulch, which disappeared off the face of the Earth in 1872.

A portrait of the Storyteller also appeared in the Wyandot Estate of Carey, Ohio constructed by Malcolm and Lydia Wyandot in the 1920s before the Halloween of 1929 when Malcolm killed his wife, thirteen guests, and then himself.

Following his death on the July 24th of 1958, photographer Charlie McPherson may have had a photograph of the Storyteller within his nightmare house while trapped in the mirror realm of Bloody Mary.

#### Tales of Terror

> "*No one will live happily ever after*"
> ― HHN 15 Slogan
>
>

At some point (possibly the year 2005), the Storyteller told a tale of Terra Cruentus' Terra Queen seeking out new victims to sacrifice. This appeared to cause several people (possibly guests of Universal Studios) to be brought to Terra Cruentus where they faced the realm's horrors. The Storyteller herself let monsters like the bogeyman loose in her home to test these victims for the Terra Queen. Strict also appeared to have kidnapped a man and bound him to a bed of nails before dropping an anvil on him.

#### The Arrival

In (presumably) the year 2006, the Storyteller was summoned by the demonic being the Lord of Darkness to celebrate the sixteenth cycle of Halloween Horror Nights, along with the Caretaker, the Director, and Jack the Clown. Elsa was summoned through a giant hardcover book titled "The Storyteller" with the *Terra Cruentus* symbol on its cover. After being brought forth, she exclaimed that for her next tale she required a tongue and used a pair of pliers to rip out the tongue of a man bound to a chair before sealing the man in her giant book.

#### Dungeon of Terror

At some point (possibly around 2006), the Storyteller purchased an old haunted-house tourist-trap called "The Dungeon of Terror" in Rabun County, Georgia which was closed down in 1991. She created "Codes and Commandments" for this dungeon, and would brutally murder guests who disobeyed these rules.

#### Twenty Years of Fear

In 2010, the paranormal-investigator organization *Legendary Truth: The Collective* inadvertently released the ancient deity *Fear* from his lantern prison at Universal Studios. On September 24th, Fear took over Universal to celebrate his, "Twentieth Cycle" and summoned five heralds, one of whom was the Storyteller as his Herald of Legend.  Truth launched a mission to oppose Fear, and were ultimately able to trap him within his lantern along with his heralds and various other monstrous supernatural entities.

At some point in time, the Storyteller appeared within the haunted Wyandot Estate when it was investigated by the Spirit Seekers, a division of *Legendary Truth*.

#### Captured

When imprisoned in Fear's Lantern, the Storyteller continued to tell her tales, torture and murder people, and terrorize some humans who entered the lantern.

## Appearances

### Halloween Horror Nights

#### Ghost Town: The Curse of Lightning Gulch

A portrait of the Storyteller appeared in this house.

##### Where Evil Hides

This house was themed to the Storyteller's home.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16

##### The Arrival

The Storyteller was summoned by the Lord of Darkness.

##### Dungeon of Terror: Retold

The Storyteller was main-antagonist of this house.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Reflections of Fear

##### Dead Exposure

A photograph of the Storyteller supposedly appeared on a wall in the office scene.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear

##### Fear Revealed

The Storyteller appeared as Fear's herald of Legend.

##### Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate

The Storyteller appeared in the Wyandot Estate as a pepper's ghost effect, reading her books and as a portrait.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 30

##### HHN Icons: Captured

The Storyteller had her own section of this haunted house where she turned into a winged monster.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 32

##### Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Shop

A framed black-and-white photograph of the Storyteller appeared.

## Trivia

* The Dungeon of Terror is a reference to the only haunted house from Fright Nights.
* The Storyteller and the Crypt-Keeper‏‎ are both Halloween Horror Nights icons who were central characters to iterations of the *Dungeon of Terror*.
* A bloody note left by the Storyteller over a photograph of the Lord of Darkness at the Festival of the Dead Parade said "Of all creatures great and small this is my favourite".

## External links

* *The Storyteller on the Halloween Horror Nights wiki.*

## References

1. ↑ Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16
2. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2023/09/halloween-horror-nights-shop-opens-at-orlando-international-airport/