Legions of Horror

Banners of the seven legions

The **Legions of Horror** also known as **the Dark Legions** are a recurring organization/series of organizations from *Halloween Horror Nights*. They are seven legions of monsters and figures associated with the horrific, six of which are used to categorize the different figures similarly to archetypes.

## Description

The Legions of Horror are seven legions of monsters, villains, and others associated with the paranormal. Each of the legions has a different, "Totem" which they may be drawn to and if assembled can create a kind of supernatural portal.

The paranormal-investigation organization *Legendary Truth: The Collective* used the legions of horror to classify both their enemies and their own members. The Collective also has a history of monitoring, assembling and safe holding the legions' totems.

**Note**: Not *all characters mentioned as belonging to certain legions are necessarily cannon to the Halloween Horror Nights shared continuity.*

### The Baccanoids

The Baccanoids are defined by being intellectual, stealthy, disciplined, and obsessed with problem-solving (sometimes causing amoral experiments). The Baccanoids' totem is a metal urn baring the symbol of a dragon, and which is accompanied by a dagger.

#### Members

##### Historic figures

* **Confucius**:
* **Edgar Allan Poe**:
* **Empress Jia Nanfeng**:
* **Jack the Ripper**:

##### Film/literary/TV characters

* **The Invisible Man**:
* **Professor James Moriarty**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **Bloody Mary**:
* **Boris Shuster**:
* **The Caretaker**:
* **Dr. Richard W. Steerington**:
* **The Dogs of War**: Insane super-soldiers which were engineered by the Shadowcreek Enterprise.
* **Guderalle**:
* **Paige Steerington**:

### The Cerebins

The Cerebins are driven by primal animal instinct with great physical capabilities. The Cerebins' totem is a rusty cage.

#### Members

##### Film/mythology/literary/TV characters

* **Darkness**:
* **Flying Monkeys**:
* **The Gill-Man**:
* **Grendel**:
* **Velociraptors**:
* **Wendigo**:
* **Werewolves**:
	+ **The Wolf Man**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **Eyegore**:
* **Knightmare**:
* **Knucklegrunts**:
* **Nightingales**:
* **Rat Lady**:
* **Tree**:

### The Iniquitous

The Iniquitious are not a legion which figures of horror are sorted into as is the case of the other legions. They are "Patrons of Death" who rise from their ancient cemetery to summon the other Legions of Horror. Members of the Iniquitious are tall, skeletal, dress in black hooded cloaks, and have black wings protruding from their backs.

### The Kerezans

The Kerezans are undead, slow and dedicated to singular goals. The totem of the Kerezans Legion is a jar containing a preserved hand in fluid.

#### Members

##### Film/literary/TV characters

* **Aaron the Moor**:
* **Frankenstein's Monster**:
* **Imhotep**:
* **Mary Shaw**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **Antonio Cabot**:
* **Charlie McPherson**:
* **The Gentlemen**:
* **Elizabeth Hawthorn**:
* **Frightanic Crew**:
* **Jonathan Hawthorn**:
* **Moss Men**:
* **Plague Doctors**:
* **The Sentinel**:
* **The Usher**:

### The Maschorians

The Maschorians are hierarchical and have strong attachment to their weaponry and their, "Packs". Their symbol is a scorpion made to resemble a wailing face. The totem of this legion is a double-mouthed bear-trap with a Fabergé egg inside.

#### Members

##### Historic figures

* **Caligula**:
* **Ivan the Terrible**:
* **Lizzie Borden**:
* **Marquis de Sade**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **The Black Guard**:
* **Blood Abbey Monks**:
* **Calvin Thorncastle**:
* **Carey's Women's Correctional Facility Prisoners**:
* **Chainsaw Drill Team**:
* **Eddie Schmidt**:
* **Eelmouth**:
* **Fire Demons**:
* **Ice Demons**:
* **Ore Mongers**:
* **Robert L. Strickland**: The sadistic and murderous farmer warden of *Hellgate Prison*.
* **The Storyteller**:
* **The Terra Queen**:

### The Morphans

Morphans are figures of horror who are corrupted forms of childhood iconography. Many of them are diminutive and have playful personalities. The totem of the Morphans Legion is a blue-skinned baby-doll with yellow eyes.

#### Members

##### Historic figures

* **Blackbeard**: An infamous historic pirate captain. It is not exactly clear why he would be categorized as a Morphan, though could be that in the 20th-21st century pirate iconography could retroactively be identified with children and children's media. It could also be that as a pirate he had a darkly joyous personality.
* **Richard III**:

##### Film/literary/TV characters

* **Chucky**:
* **The Phantom of the Opera**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **Chance**:
* **Cindy Caine**:
* **H.R. Bloodengutz**:
* **Jack the Clown**:
* **The Orfans**:
* **Skoolhouse Students**:
* **Treaks and Foons**:

### The Strengoits

The Strengoits are driven by passion and quenching, "hungers", while often being elegant. Many of the Strengoits are vampires or vampire-like creatures. Their symbol is a spider which resembles a vampire's face. The Strengoits' totem is a pitcher of blood.

#### Members

##### Historic figures

* **Lady Bathory**:
* **Lucretia Borgia**:
* **Vlad Tepes**:

##### Film/literary/myth/TV characters

* **Count Dracula**:
* **Dracula's Brides**:
* **Incubus**:
* **Norman Bates**:
* **Nosferatu**:
* **Sirens**:
* **Succubus**:

##### Theme-park characters

* **Cantina Demon**:
* **The Director**:
* **Lady Luck**:
* **Lust**:
* **She-Devils**:
* **The Tau Sisters**:

## History

### Background

#### The Case of the Terrible Totems

On the October 25th of 1948, the Baccanoids totem was left at Shuster's doorstep at his apartment/office in New York City. In this same incident, a ghoul murdered a woman from the *201 Empire Modeling Agency* in Shuster's building then attacked Shuster in his office, where Shuster shot the ghoul dead. This totem lead to Boris Shuster investigating the world of the supernatural and becoming more of a paranormal investigator. Boris Shuster dedicated himself to locating the totems of the other five Legions of Horror.

Shuster found the Egg and Bear Trap totem for the *Maschorians* legion from a warehouse where he was attacked by killer mannequins. He found the glowing *Cerebin* legion's Summoning Cube where he fought a monster which had murdered at least two people. In the *NYC Public Works Delancey ST & 7th Ave* sewers he fought a pair of Moss Men and recovered the glowing *Kerezan* legion's summoning cube totem.

The vase totem for the vampiric Strengoit legion was located in New York City's *Kitty Kat Club* where it turned the female performers into, "She-Devils". During the performance of Madame Murie, the She-Devils murdered various patrons of the club. Boris fought these corrupted women and recovered the legion's totem.

The *Cerebin* legion's cage totem was found in the basement of, "Sly Tony" where Tony's head was ripped off and left in a cage while a wendigo was unleashed in the room. The *Morphans* legion doll totem brought the doll of a girl named Rosie to life where the doll murdered Rosie's parents. In 1957, Shuster found that the various totems (including the Kerezan legion's Jar Totem) had been brought together in police station no. 5 where they were forming a portal to the world of the supernatural bringing forth a zombie and tentacle monster. Shuster retrieved the totems and dismantled the portal before hiding the totems in the attic of a New Jersey building.

Shuster wrote detective novels based on his adventures and experiences. Amongst these stories were: "Terrors of the Tenement", "Murder by Mannequins", "Massacre at The Museum", "Murder by Moss Man", "The Lustful Alibi", "The Beast Unleashed", "Death by Dolly", "Evidence to the Contrary", and, "Case of the Terrible Totems". In the 1960s, Shuster founded *Legendary Truth: The Collective* which at some point would categorize its members through the use of the Legions of Horror.

#### Case Files Unearthed

In 1991, a conspiracy-theorist named Tim Foyle used the books written by Boris Shuster to locate the attic in New Jersey where the totems for the Legions of Horror were kept. On the Halloween of that year, Foyle assembled the totems and inadvertently opened up a supernatural portal. The outcome of these events are unknown.

#### Evil Takes Root

One night in 2010 five teenagers who were the children of different Legions of Horror were taken into a forest where they were to be murdered by an unknown entity. Doctor Steerington's daughter, Paige Steerington, was a, "Pure" member of the Baccanoid legion and before the deaths occurred, he knew she would be amongst the dead. Because of this, Steerington sent Paige away to Salzburg, Austria, saving her.

The night that the five teenagers died, Steerington went on a fishing-trip with Captain Lawrence B. "Lazy Bastard" Manely to Amity Island where Steerington died/disappeared. The circumstances of Steerington's death are a mystery, with some saying Manley killed him, and Steerington's daughter Paige believing that the death was orchestrated by Ignatia Himmel. Calvin Thorncastle would again become CEO after this disappearance. Paige would also come to believe that her father saving her cost him his own life.

#### Universal Studios

At some point (possibly 2012), the Iniquitious arose from their ancient buried cemetery into *Universal Studios Florida*. Here, they summoned the other Legions of Horror to feast and partake in a night of carnage.

#### P.S.

The late Doctor Steerington's daughter, Paige, was anonymously give GPS coordinates tucked into the wiper of her car. These lead to a cabin in the woods where the other children of the Legions of Horror had died. Inside there was a cellphone and bags of items connected to paranormal and true-crime history as a warning about a, "rooted evil" being released. Paige used the online alias, "PS" to reveal these items online while also investigating her father's death and corruption within the Legendary Truth Collective. During this time, Paige became paranoid that something was watching her.

Amongst the items which Paige received were:

* **June 27**: Cell-phone footage of encountering the *Cabin in the Woods*.
* **July 8**: Blood stained sketches of the Necronomicon, Kandarian Demon burying a man, and a pentagram.
* **July 22**: A ring-box containing a severed human ear which was severed post-mortem. This item was an allusion to the ear on the necklace of Daryl Dixon in *The Walking Dead* continuity.
* **August 2**: The SD card for a wildlife camera with footage of a young ghost girl, presumably connected to La Llorona, a monstrous spirit from Latin American culture said to have drowned her own children and become a bogeyman-like monster after.
* **August 6**: A 1920s Justice magazine, ring of keys and knife stained in blood which related to the 1933 electric-chair execution of serial-killer Bobby "The Blade" Galletta in Carey State Penitentiary (in the aforementioned Carey, Ohio). Paige's research revealed that something paranormal occurred at the event which traumatized those who attended the electrocution.
* **August 7**: A pair of handcuffs, a railroad spike, a whistle, and a lock of dark hair related to how a military transport train carrying super-soldier, "Dogs of War" made by Shadowcreek Enterprises crashed in Carey, Ohio and went on a rampage before the government covered it up.
* **August 13**: British coins and, a microcassette tape with footage of werewolf David Kessler's rampage in London during the 1980s.
* **August 23**: Items relating to the City, "Raccoon City Destruction Incident" of Resident Evil continuity, including a chain/collar for restraining a zombie, and footage of the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City amusement park.

On the November 3rd of 2013, Paige confronted Ignatia Himmel who refused to comment on any involvement and told Paige not to contact her again. On this same day, Paige realized the truth about how her father saved her from being killed in the woods like the other children of the Legions of Horror. Paige's further fate is unknown, though it is possible she encountered or was even killed by whatever entity killed the other teenagers in the woods.

Around this year, the Collective seemed to recruit several members to investigate the Legions of Horror while testing the recruits. Doctor Thorncastle made a live appearance to acknowledge these recruits' efforts.

## Appearances

### Halloween Horror Nights

#### Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth

This haunted house followed the books in which Boris Shuster documented finding the totems of the Legions of Horror. Ultimately, conspiracy theorist Tim Foyle found and assembled the totems, only to open up a portal on the Halloween of 1991.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 22

This was a park-wide Scarezone experience featuring characters from the Legions of Horror.

#### Halloween Horror Nights XXIII: What Evil Has Taken Root?

The story surrounding Paige Steerington involved the revelation that children of members of each Legion of Horror had died in the woods and that Paige was the next target as she belonged to the Baccanoid legion. This HHN in 2013 had a game about investigating the Legions of Horrors' totems from the previous year. Dr. Calvin Thorncastle made a live appearance at the end of this event.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 24

This event had a digital game about members of Legendary Truth gathering the seals for the different legions of horror by going to different haunted houses/scare zones and filling a *Spectrum Response Gauge* on the app T.E.S.T. (TACTICAL EVALUATION OF SPECTRUM TERRORS).

#### Halloween Horror Nights 24

##### ICONS: HHN

The Iniquitous appeared in this Scarezone.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 30

##### Lights Camera Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge

The Iniquitous appeared in this Scarezone along with other members of the Legions of Horror, summoned by the Maschorian, Eddie Schmidt.

### In other media

#### Legendary Truth the Collective Case Investigation: Boris Shuster

This record covered the lore of the various legions.

## Trivia

* Certain horror characters relevant to the parks have yet to be identified as belonging to particular legions such as Fear, Freddy Krueger, King Kong, the Shark, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Betelgeuse, Jigsaw, Doctor Oddfellow, Carnage, the Crypt-Keeper, Ghostface, Pyrock and Blizzrock, the Pumpkin Lord, the Thing, Samuel Meetz, Bone, and Major Sweets.
* There has yet to be an official Halloween Horror Nights icon identified as belonging to the Cerebins Legion. The unofficial icon of HHN VII, Eyegore, has been identified as a Cerebin, however.

## External links

* *The Legions of Horror on the Halloween Horror Nights wiki.*

## References

1. ↑ https://behindthethrills.com/2013/09/legendary-truth-the-collective-deciphering-the-games/
2. ↑ https://insidethemagic.net/2013/08/legendary-truth-begins-halloween-horror-nights-2013-game-as-universal-orlando-weaves-online-in-park-mystery/