Body Collectors

**The Gentlemen** also known as **the** **Body Collectors** or more simply as **The Collectors** are recurring characters in *Halloween Horror Nights*. While treated as original characters to *Halloween Horror Nights*, their appearance and names come from the TV series *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997-2003).

## Description

The Gentlemen are an ancient group of suited monsters with smiling, corpse-like faces. The Gentlemen function by harvesting corpses to strip down the body parts of, while being perfectionists who will dispose of body parts even slightly damaged upon removal such as having scalpel scrapes. In our world, they are known to cover-up their crimes by committing them amongst wars, serial-killings, plagues and mass-disappearances. While it is unknown if this is the Gentlemen's primary motive for their body collection, they are known to place body-parts in burial-sites of the realm *Terra Cruentus* to feed the roots of the Gorewood Trees of Gorewood Forest, which are central and sacred to Terra Cruentus' realm (though unknown if the corpse matter harvested in the normal world is also used in Terra Cruentus).

The Body Collectors are known to have a presence in Terra Cruentus as well as the normal world, though their industrial factory is located in Terra Cruentus' Gorewood Forest. Here, their body collection is treated as a business with several ranks of Gentlemen and who will strip down the corpses of humans sacrificed for the Terra Queen during the *Season of the Queen* every 15 years. The Gentlemen are sometimes assisted by apprentices, sublings, assistants with stitches in their scalps, muzzles and straight-jackets. The Gentlemen have a journal called "The Rendering and Collection of Bone, Flesh and Effluence" containing their rules, schedules, notes, methods, and diagrams of surgical procedures.

Only official Body Collectors are allowed to remove and prepare human skulls from bodies to bury in Gorewood Forest. This is tied into one of Terra Cruentus' sacred *Terra Tools*, "The Gorewood Skull", which is a singular skull produced from the Cemetery Miners harvesting the skulls which the Body Collectors bury to fossilize.

The Gentlemen are identified as belonging to the *Kerezans* legion of the Legions of Horror, defined by being undead, slow and dedicated to singular goals. In addition to the Terra Queen, the Collectors have been known to serve other prominent supernatural entities (particularly "Icons") such as Dr. Mary Agana AKA Bloody Mary, the murderous psychiatrist turned ghostly ruler of a *Mirror* realm where the Body Collectors existed within the land of "Myth",

## History

### Background

#### Origins

The Body Collectors have been active for Millenia and have a past shrouded in mystery. They have used multiple historic plagues, mass disappearances, serial-killings and wars as distractions for their corpse collections.

#### Whitechapel Murders

It is believed that between the 3rd of April in 1888 and the 13th of February in 1891, the Body Collectors were active in Victorian London. Here, the Body Collectors and their assistants used the paranoia surrounding mysterious serial-killer "Jack the Ripper' to commit murders and harvesting corpses of the Rippers' victims. It is known that there was some corruption surrounding the Whitechapel Murders, as coroner/murderer George Chapman (1865-1903) conducted the autopsies of Elizabeth Stride and Mary Anne Nichols with falsified death certificates.

During this time, the Collectors were active inside of the *Aiello & Roddy Barbershop* of the Whitechapel District, where they commit more murders and corpse desecrations. The Body Collectors also stalked and murdered in the surrounding alleyways and *Whitechapel Inn*.

#### Shadybrook Asylum

At some point in the late 19th century, the Gentlemen made an attack on the Shadybrook Asylum during a blizzard. Here, they harvested corpses of the patients killed by the asylum, while also committing murders of the staff for additional parts. They also appeared to commit crimes such as slicing a man into vertical pieces, and craft a candelabra of human remains.

#### Tales of Terror

During one Season of the Queen (presumably in 2005), the Body Collectors processed the corpses of human sacrifices to the Terra Throne. They may have been observed by mortal guests of Terra Cruentus.

#### Horror Comes Home

In 2006, the Body Collectors were amongst several creatures (including those of *Terra Cruentus*) summoned for celebration of Halloween Horror Nights' Sixteenth Cycle. It is believed that this may have been connected to the powers of the demonic *Lord of Darkness*.

#### Reflections of Fear

By 2007 (at latest), the Body Collectors had a presence in the *Mirror* realm of psychiatrist/serial-killer Dr. Mary Agana who had turned into the realm's ghost ruler "Bloody Mary" following her death in 1958. The Body Collectors had a presence within the Myth section of the Mirror, ruled over by the Halloween god Samhain. Within this domain, the Body Collectors were used to embody the fears of Dr. Christian Kubsch, a rival psychiatrist to Doctor Agana who was the grandson of murderous *Jack the Ripper* suspect George Chapman. Doctor Kubsch had a fear of corpses and of surgeries, partially connected to his heritage which lead to Doctor Agana getting revenge on him in 1958, by kidnapping him, trapping him in a room of mirrors and the corpses of her past victims, then murdered him by drilling through his gut.

In the August of 2007, the paranormal-investigation group Legendary Truth: The Collective performed an investigation into deceased Dr. Mary Agana leading to the 50-year anniversary of her death. During this investigation, some diagrams of murder victims from the time of the Whitechapel Murders suggested that the cuts implied the work of the Collectors. At 11:03 pm on the August 27th of 2008, the ghost "Bloody Mary" materialized in the mortal world from the mirror realm where she had been bound for decades. Bloody Mary then turned Universal Studios Orlando into a portal to her Mirror realm with the goal of luring "Halloween Horror Nights" park-goers into her realm.

A Legendary Truth mission to defeat Bloody Mary and stop her evil scheme was organized, which involved crowd-sourcing online to find more information while also sending various agents and volunteers into her realm, uncaring of if they would be harmed. Those who entered the park encountered the Body Collectors, recreating their Victorian murders. After collecting more details on Mary Agana and her patients' origins, Mary was defeated and trapped within her mirror.

#### Twenty Years of Fear

In 2010, the god Fear had his 20th cycle and escaped his lantern into Universal Studios Orlando. The Body Collectors were amongst the many monsters seemingly released on the park by Fear.

#### The Carnage Returns

When the undead murderous clown John "Jack the Clown" Schmidt was released from Fear's Lantern (possibly by Bloody Mary), the Gentlemen may have been recruited to his Carnival of Carnage. This may have been connected to how Jack the Clown was a baby within Shadybrook Asylum when it was attacked by the Body Collectors in the 19th century.

### Development history

The Gentlemen were originally depictions of "The Gentlemen" from the TV series *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997-2003)'s episode, *Hush*. In said TV show, the Gentlemen were demons known from fairy-tales who steal voices in order to harvest hearts. In 2001, the costumes used to depict the Gentlemen appeared in *Nightmare Alley* at Halloween Horror Nights XI. In Halloween Horror Nights 15 in 2005, the costumes

## Appearances

### Halloween Horror Nights

#### Halloween Horror Nights XI

##### Nightmare Alley

The Gentlemen from Buffy appeared in this area along with other intellectual-property based monsters.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Tales of Terror (HHN 15)

##### Body Collectors

This haunted house revolved around the Body Collectors' factory in Terra Cruentus.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16

##### Horror Comes Home

The Body Collectors appeared in this scarezone.

#### Halloween Horror Nights: Reflections of Fear (HHN 18)

The Body Collectors acted as henchmen to Bloody Mary.

##### Body Collectors: Collections of the Past

This haunted house revolved around the Body Collectors.

##### Streets of Blood

The Body Collectors were present in this Victorian Era scarezone.

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

During the lead-up to Twenty Years of Fear, the faces of the Gentlemen, Billy the Puppet and Knightmare could be seen in Fear's Lantern.

##### HHN: 20 Years of Fear

The Body Collectors appeared in this scarezone.

##### Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past

One scene recreated *Body Collectors: Collections of the Past*.

#### Halloween Horror Nights 25

The Gentlemen may have been identified as part of Jack's circus.

##### Body Collectors: Recollections

This Haunted House revolved around the Collectors' attack on Shadybrook.

#### Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store

A framed black-and-white photo of a Body Collector appeared in the HHN 30 Tribute Store.

## Trivia

* Jack and Eddie Schmidt were babies within Shadybrook Asylum when the Body Collectors made their attack on the institution.
* The haunted house *Body Collectors: Collections of the Past* was inspired by 1846/1847 penny dreadful *The String of Pearls* and its 2007 Tim Burton musical-film adaptation *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street*.

## External links

* *Gentlemen on the Halloween Horror Nights wiki.*