Teddy Gallows Jr.

**Theodore C. "Teddy" Gallows Jr.** is a business tycoon, fledgling politician and heir to the Gallows family fortune. He serves as a major character and antagonist in *Killer Frequency*. He is voiced by Joshua Manning.

## History

Teddy Gallows Jr. was born in 1950 into the influential old money Gallows family, which founded (and named) his hometown of Gallows Creek sometime during the American Frontier era. By the time of his birth, his father Theodore C. Gallows Sr. was a local business magnate who owned the Gallows Creek Waste Disposal, almost all the residential buildings and business properties and the Gallows & Sons factory, which employs a significant amount of Gallows Creek's citizens, with over 200 of the town's 1000 inhabitants working there in 1987. As such, many residents are fearful of offending his family, lest their careers be brought to ruin.

In his teens, Teddy attended Gallows Creek High School, where he was known as a stereotypical jock active in several different sports, having been a batter for the baseball team and a starting quarterback in the football team. During this time, Teddy became the best friend of Ricky, his teammate on the football team. Teddy particularly prides himself for setting the school's homerun record, to the point where he references the fact in his political career nearly 20 years later.

Despite being the very definition of "peaking in high school", Teddy would have little to say of his time on the football team, due to the events that transpired on the night of their team party in his senior year. Teddy had noticed that the scheduled date coincided with the ten year anniversary of the disappearance of Edward Marshall Mooney, a serial killer who stalked the town in the 50's as "The Whistling Man" and took this as a great opportunity to haze the newcomers on the team, with a special focus on George Barrow, apparently out of plain jealousy on Teddy's part because George had scored the winning throw during a match before joining the team, thus outshining Teddy in his own element. Together with team captain Chuck Brody, Teddy enlisted the help of several of the more seasoned football players, exluding Ricky due to his "big mouth", to aid him in organizing an elaborate staged attack that would trick the partygoers into believing that the Whistling Man had returned to finish what he started, something that Teddy dubbed "Whistling Night". Teddy and Chuck shared the role of the Whistling Man in order to scare their prank victims more effectively and cover more area once the other students split into different directions. To make for a convincing start, Teddy even recruited offensive linesman Jason Parker, who happened to be George's best friend, to play the part of a stabbed victim. That night, the prank started off as planned, with a bloodied Jason being propped up in the trees and either Teddy or Chuck jumping out from above in front of George, who fled into the woods with his girlfriend Marie Campbell, tailed by both Whistling Men. The couple got separated during the chase, with Teddy continuing his pursuit of George, even as he runs up Whistling Point, a tall cliff with only one ascendable slope. What happened next is subject to debate. Teddy states that George kept backing up after being cornered and realizing this, Teddy reached forward with his arms outstretched to catch him from falling, which instead startled George, causing him to lose his footing and fall. George's girlfriend, however, who saw the event from the foot of Whistling Point, claims that Teddy had in fact pushed George, though he insists that she misinterpreted his save attempt from her position below. Either way, George ended up drowning in the river, with his body being discovered by a jazz-runner, Sandra Sharpe.

Teddy immediately returned home and told his father about what happened, begging him to not let this ruin his promising future. His father whole-heartedly agreed and to prevent his son from facing legal issues, Theodore Sr. sent an employee of his, Clive Elforth, to handle a coverup to change the details about George's death. As part of this, Clive threatened Teddy's complicit teammates by saying that if they ever spoke of the incident or implicated Teddy in any way, they would also face serious charges that would lead to prison time. Unlike them, Teddy was wholly unaffected by the tragedy, neither professionally or emotionally. In fact, Teddy blamed the entire situation on George, later stating that it was his fault for not realizing it was all a prank and dismissively referring to him as an insignificant "blip". He did keep in contact with Ricky, who was scarred by the events of that night and fell into alcoholism. Teddy actually helped Ricky off the bottle by his own account and very likely financially aided his rehab program, though despite his claims of this having been done out of decency, Forrest suspects that he only did this to keep Ricky under control so that he wouldn't speak about what he saw that night to anyone.

Teddy presumably graduated the next year in 1969 and took over the family business after his father died. In 1987, Teddy decided to branch out into politics, intending to become mayor of Gallows Creek, with delusional hopes of making it to governor and perhaps even the White House. As part of this, Teddy presented himself as a classic conservative, all-American patriot with a focus on family and Christian values, hoping to beat out the current mayor Linda Cartwright by questioning her decisionmaking and calling her "un-American and unstable", usually failing to scrounge up any valid criticism against his opponent or to make any real promises if he's voted into office, besides "keep[ing] Gallows Creek a good American town". Teddy's campaign is extremely PR heavy, however, with him trying to drum up support by referencing his sports achievements during high school in his slogan "Take a swing for Teddy Gallows Jr." and having made a deal with KFAM's manager Reggie Scott to broadcast his paid ad, as well as having him visit the station on occasion as a sort of constituent meeting.

On the 3rd of September 1987, at around 2 a.m., after Murphy is saved from a devastating fire at the Gallows Creek Waste Disposal set by the Whistling Man, Teddy eventually calls KFAM 189.16 - The Scream to "offer thoughts and prayers" during this crisis. As Forrest asks whether he actually has an emergency, the host is cut off as Teddy begins to make a long-winded speech about how Gallows Creek needs law and order through well-equipped police and as if he hadn't already made it clear that he's essentially just making a live political advert, Teddy then "thanks" Forrest for "stepping up to bat for us" and "taking a swing for Gallows Creek". Either Forrest or Peggy calls him out for his blatant self-promotion, clogging up the emergency line and preventing listeners from staying informed about the stab-happy lunatic rampaging through the streets. Teddy claims to just be a concerned citizen who cares about the safety of his neighbors and is about to go on about how his family has been the lifeline of Gallows Creek's economy before Forrest bluntly tells him that he's being cut off unless there's an actual emergency. Teddy pauses before he says that there is a problem he has, one that is ruining the entire town. Ignoring Forrest entirely now, Teddy launches into a rehearsed tirade about "that woman" or rather current mayor Linda Cartwright, with a very frustrated Peggy calling Teddy out on his hypocrisy and evident superiority complex, whom he simply dismisses as hysteric. Before Teddy can go on a "moral decay" speech, he is cut off by Peggy at Forrest's wishes.

At the beginning of the Whistling Man interview, Marie reveals that she has kidnapped and gagged Teddy, intending to make him confess on air. This reveals to Forrest that the person dressed as the Whistling Man in his studio isn't Marie, but her accomplice, her son Henry Barrow. The mention of "Barrow" riles Teddy up as he realizes who his abductor is, having remembered her as George's girlfriend. Marie forces Teddy to admit to his wrongdoings, hitting him whenever he acts out of line, such as speaking without permission, or when his story doesn't line up with what she remembers. Forrest tries to buy time for police to arrive by having Teddy talk about what he recalls about the night. When Forrest brings up vital info that contradicts Marie's knowledge, Teddy will regularly back up what Forrest says, typically leading to her having noticeable, if only slight, pangs of conscience before she rationalizes her actions for tonight. Teddy stays consistent until he gets to the part where George dies, at first simply calling it "nothing" and then claiming that he was just an observer to his fall before Marie counters that he was with George at the place of his death and accuses Teddy of killing him. Teddy reacts with adamant denial and asserts that George fell because he was afraid and jerked backwards when he tried to grab his hand to prevent his fall. Marie calls him a liar, causing Teddy to lose his composure and yell that it wasn't his fault and insults George by saying that he was just too stupid to get he was being pranked. Teddy goes completely mask-off as he attempts to appeal to Forrest to understand his line of reasoning, saying that "people like us" were "bred for bigger things" and that even if it was a tragedy, he wasn't going to let the death of someone as insignificant as George affect the rich future that was guaranteed for himself. Teddy is of the opinion that George's death stopped being of importance after Clive "cleaned it up" and sneers when Forrest brings up how Sandra was pressured into changing her testimony by his father with threats of an unaffordable rent, saying that "it's Gallows Creek, not Sharpe Creek". Marie proceeds to angrily kick Teddy after recalling how his family prevented every one of her attempts to get the truth unearthed and gets lost in thought imagining how George will be avenged in the place where they first met during his winning match. The correct answer is the School Gym. Marie decides to leave Teddy alone for now since she got what she wanted from him and waits to receive her next guest.

In case of Teddy's survival, given the partial admission of guilt broadcasted over KFAM, it can be safely assumed that Teddy was arrested and tried in the death of George Barrow for manslaughter, since there is only the unsubstantiated implication for intent or premeditation.

## Possible death

* If Forrest incorrectly concludes that Marie and Teddy are on the Football Field or the Roller Rink, Teddy will butt in and insult Forrest's intelligence for not realizing that they're in the school gym. Marie, having gotten a full confession out of Teddy, reminds him that she told him not speak unless spoken to and slits his throat for Forrest to hear.
* If Forrest refuses to help Marie or lets too many callers die, she will call Henry in to kill Forrest, where she presumably kills Teddy and Peggy, leaving the duo to escape.

## Trivia

* Teddy is referred to as a "family man" in his ad, making it likely that he has a wife and children, though there are no mention of any family outside of his father in the game.
	+ On that note, the name of his factory "Gallows & Sons" opens up the possibility that Teddy has a brother or more, though it could also be a leftover name from long before Theodore Sr. owned the place.
* Peggy and Forrest will have additional dialogue when playing Teddy's campaign ad after the man himself calls, when Forrest says that Teddy's ad is a reminder why every vote counts, while Peggy spoonerizes his slogan as "Take a swing *at* Teddy Gallows Jr.".
* Teddy is the only possible victim that is identified by his full name on the ending corkboard.
* At the end of his political ad, Teddy himself can be heard saying "My name is Teddy Gallows Jr. and I approve this message". Though it can be seen as a personal note from Teddy, as a political phrase, it is actually a legal statement that only came into being following the "Stand By Your Ad" provision, which was introduced in 2002, 15 years before the game's events.
* Teddy Gallows Jr. can be considered the overarching antagonist of the game, as it was his prank-gone-wrong that sparked the chain of events leading to the second Whistling Night.
* Saving Teddy yields the Steam achievement "Took a Swing for Teddy Gallows".