Howard Melrose

*"It looked like something from a medieval painting. All of their bodies were jammed into each other. Everyone became one."*

> -Howard Melrose, SUEZCANALCRAB
>
>

**Howard Melrose** is an American journalist who is famous for leaking documents regarding a mission for Freedom. After he leaked the document, Howard Melrose was exiled to Egypt where he would live for the remainder of his life.

## Biography

Nothing is known about Howard's early years.

### Lincoln Memorial Incident

During a visit to the Lincoln memorial, Howard and several other visitors began hearing scratching coming from the statue. Although the staff told them that a wild animal was likely trapped in there, Howard and a blind girl began hitting the memorial until the marble cracked, Howard then recorded footage of an unknown creature coming out of the statue. He later called a woman named Eunice, and left a recording of his account of the incident on her voicemail.

### Later Years

Howard Melrose was mostly an independent journalist, but he has worked with the Delaware Journal several times before it shut down in 1977. Howard has leaked a document involving a montage of Freedom decapitating ADA members lured into the Grand Canyon. After that, he was sent to live in Egypt. Howard, still living in Egypt, once visited the Cairo Exclusion Zone in 2021, and noted that there were enormous piles of bodies at the Suez Canal Crab.

Howard Melrose has also assisted Alex Casanas with restoring the footage with Operation Pyramid Plasma in 1918.

### "Montyverse"

In an alternate version of 1968 created by the Air Force One Angel following the alteration on the timeline after the Angel spreads its ashes across the universe, Howard Melrose is in his home on the San Francisco Bay when he receives a call from a woman named Eunice. During the call, she reveals she is atop the Golden Gate Bridge, visible from his home. After a short conversation, she tells him to call her whenever he sees something interesting, and that she will listen in Wonderland. She then takes her own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, something Melrose presumably witnesses.

Some time after the death of Eunice Dean and the 1968 Presidential Election, where Eunice's younger brother James Dean becomes Vice-President, Melrose is placed on the FBI's top 10 most wanted fugitives list for his involvement in her suicide. It is alleged that he had verbally assaulted her into the act. Melrose's phone lines are tapped, and special agents led by agent Rod Searling track him from his home to the Hollywood Rockefeller Hotel. Melrose attempts to flee on a plane from LAX to Washington DC, however, special agent Searling discovers his flight plans and informs Vice-President James Dean. Searling tells Dean that the FBI will ambush Melrose in DC, and that there is no need for him to act on his own regarding Howard. Dean disregards Searling’s wishes, taking Air Force Two and intercepting Melrose's flight, and deliberately colliding with it in midair.

Both Melrose and Dean presumably die in the incident, but are met by Cthonaut A in a white void. Cthonaut A informs them that they are monuments, Melrose being Tragedy and Dean being Comedy, and that they hold their universe together. Despite this, they always tear each other apart. Referring to Howard as "Howard the Coward" and Dean as "Dean the Devil", the Cthonaut tells them that he will not let them ruin humanity, and tells them "Try again, fools."

At an unknown point in time, Howard calls Eunice after gaining access to Maize Machines servers and collecting data involving Wonderland. He leaves a voicemail informing her of the fact that Wonderland keeps copies of those who enter into it.

## Notes

### Trivia

* In a de-canonized Q&A, Alex Casanas initially implied that Howard Melrose and Eunice Dean were married. Their relationship and the nature of his phone calls were later re-contextualized in GOLDENGATEGIRL.

## References

1. ↑ LINCOLNLOOKER
2. ↑ SUEZCANALCRAB
3. ↑ GOLDENGATEGIRL
4. ↑ DEANDEVIL
5. ↑ WASHINGTONWANDERER
6. ↑ CTHONAUTC