Dana Turner

**“***This is Dana Turner on location. I've just been informed that we're stuck here. Someone has wrecked our van and we CAN'T GET OUR FUCKING PIZZA LUNCH promised by my producer. Is Anthony Smith, executed in the electric chair in 1985, back from the dead, and out for revenge for anyone who enters his house? Find out soon if, we don't get the FUCK out of here!***”**
— **Dana's Pulitzer-worthy special report**

**Dana Turner** is a supporting character in *Murder House*.

## Description

### Appearance

Dana Turner is an adult Caucasian woman with long, dark brown hair styled in a bun. She wore a blue, floral patterned dress and black flats. Her fingernails on both hands are painted with purple polish and in her right hand, she typically carries a TV microphone with a Channel 9 logo.

Dana's alternate outfit has her wearing a white dress with a V-neck and short skirt.

### Personality

Dana is shown to be a very stuck-up person, as see herself as a big fish in a small pond, tending to disregard the opinions of her peers and believing herself to be made out for greater things in the world of journalism, hoping to one day report news from the comfort of a renowned, high-paying desk job, essentially making her the antithesis of the archetypical intrepid reporter. That is not to say that she doesn't possess an investigative edge and dauntlessness typical for those in her work, as she is constantly on the lookout for the scoop of a lifetime, which will surely secure her a spot in the limelight. Unfortunately, Dana has the vanity to match her ambition, being most concerned with how she looks on camera, focusing more on presenting herself than the actual report. Typically out to avoid ruining her carefully styled appearance, her most frequent complaint to Gary are the conditions she works under, usually pointing to the decrepit state of the house and how creepy it looks. In her idle chatter, she bemoans the condition she has to work under and typically has nothing but open loathing for the shoot and her job. Of the crew, Dana is the most vulgar, which humorously contrasts with her mostly deadpan news-speak monotone.

Although arrogant to a fault, Dana is marginally more friendly with her assistants than her boss is, freely conversing with Emma once she's completed all her given tasks, even opening up to her a bit and planting the idea of combing the Murder House for some real newsworthy material that might get both of them some local fame, viewing the sensationalist amateur documentary they are supposed to be shooting as little more than a cheap exploitation film.

### History

Dana is a reporter for the news network of Channel 9, a minor TV station near Monroe, Michigan. She used to be a news anchor, but she had been recently relegated from that position due to an unspecified incident involving a poodle and is now relegated to on-site reporting, which she despises, working under her producer Gary, with whom she had deveolped a mutual hatred.

## *Murder House*

On May 1st, 1988, Dana and her colleagues, comprised of her producer Gary, their cameraman Tom and an intern named Emma, arrive at the destination Murder House, a countryside manor belonging to a now executed murderer known as the Easter Ripper, to shoot a piece on the killer's story, a documentary titled "*Silenced Tears - Inside the home of serial killer Anthony Smith*". While still in the van, she immediately voices her distaste for the site, with Gary responding that she is lucky to have kept her job after the poodle incident, although she claims that it "could have happened to anyone". Dana and the rest of the crew waits outside as Emma looks for a way to open the front door from the inside, as Jerry, the real estate agent Gary had bribed, was not present as agreed. Once inside, they film the intro sequence of their story, which, although acceptable, briefly sparks an argument between her and Gary over their creative differences regarding the documentary's presentation. After shooting the segment, the crew gets a break and Dana asks Emma to get her a glass of water, giving her a key in return and instructing her to search the house ro find something that she could use to get noticed by a bigger network. The crew then move to the basement and film the second sequence, in which Dana unenthusiastically buys into Gary's sensationalism and acts the part by pretending to "notice an energy pass behind [her], with a spectre, played by Emma in a white sheet, running past in the background during the bit.

Emma is sent out to get them some food from the city during the break, but she comes back shortly after, saying that the property had been locked up and their van destroyed, with a note threatening death at the hands of the Easter Ripper. Dana is outraged, but her boss insists they shoot the final sequence, in which Dana, at the end of her nerves, goes off-script and rants about their probable impending demise and being denied her much-deserved pizza lunch in a profanity-laden tangent. Emma leaves to look for Tom, who had gone on for a bathroom pause, while Gary and Dana stay with the equipment.

### Death

After Emma returns with a key for the attic, Dana runs out of the room calling for help. The Easter Ripper then appears behind her, grabbing Dana by the head, lifting her up, before chopping off her right arm with a single cut from his sickle, followed by a decapitation in two more swings. Her headless corpse can be later found in the hallway and her head on the table with an egg, fittingly embossed with the Death Tarot, referring to both her literal death and Dana's wish for positive life changes, stuffed in her mouth that Emma takes.

### Reveal (Extended ending)

In the end whole event was revealed to be part of the film. Dana's actor Kelsey is found in her trailer, sitting in the tailor's position at the table section, rehearsing for her newest role, Queen Xion in *Bikini Babes on Werewolf Planet*. Sarah helps her by listlessly reciting the lines of one of her underlings and passes on praise for her somewhat hammy performance. Afterwards, Kelsey will say that she has it on good faith that the next flick will be her big break.

## Murder House: The Book

Dana remains largely the same, besides a few additonal scenes that give her backstory and characterize her more extensively, including the previously unspecified poodle incident.

* Dana only lost her position as news anchor days before the documentary shoot. After refusing to film it the previous week, Gary pressured her into hosting a report about show dogs, despite her immense dislike for them. She chose to only interact with the poodle, believing it to be the most well-mannered looking of the dogs, but due to their sensitve hearing and Gary's incessant noisemaking, things went awry quick.
* Gary states that the reason why the network had her do the trained dog bit in the first place was because of the general consensus of viewers, who saw her as robotic and unpersonable.
* Although only subtly indicated, Dana is frequently implied to only be standoffish on the surface and that she is a lot more caring of her coworkers than she may let on, trying to dial back during an argument with Gary when Emma shows up and being aware of Tom's reclusive homelife.
* TBA

## Trivia

* Dana had a different face model in pre-release footage and images, which was designed after her voice actress, Kelsey Puckett.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/puppetcombo/status/1319676373196296195