Buck Vernon

***This page contains spoilers for the newly-released Vide Noir film. It is highly recommended to watch the movie before reading.***

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Ben Schneider ("Fool For Love")Daniel Wilkenson ("The Night We Met")

Victor Mascitelli ("Vide Noir)

### Appears in

"Fool For Love" music video (Buck Vernon Band)"The Night We Met" music video

Clips from *Vide Noir* in *Products of the Universe* and *Alive From Whispering Pines*

**Buck Vernon** is a man who would do anything for love. He is a guitarist and fiancé to Lee Green. He struggles with intense hallucinations, is a persuasive liar and is good at storytelling. Because of these qualities, he may not be a reliable narrator - his songs seem to be embellished and altered versions of his life experiences.

## Description and appearances

Vernon is sometimes depicted wearing a dark suit and light colored shirt with a bolo tie. He also sometimes wears a brown or white felt hat. He drives a white 50s-model Buick. In the *Vide Noir* film, he wears jeans, boots and a white shirt with either a brown bomber jacket or navy blue Harrington jacket. He drives a white 1967 Impala. He is resourceful, inquisitive and occasionally violent to advance his quest. He has a .22 rifle, which he says his cousin Fritz gave him for shooting squirrels, and he carries a knife.

Vernon is initially described as a washed-up rockabilly and country singer from the late '50s and early '60s era. He drives a white car and is known to perform at George's Place. His depiction varies significantly between the *Strange Trails* and *Vide Noir* eras, adding uncertainty to his story arc. He is depicted as a young man in the film, which is set in the late '60s.

Louisa has been seen talking sweet to Buck Vernon.

Given the number of songs he is credited with on *Strange Trails*, it is evident that his character arc plays a major part in the narrative of the album. It is likely that several songs on Vide Noir are from his perspective. However, authorship of the majority of those songs is not verified.

    Vernon is credited in the music video for “The Night We Met”, where he is shown driving his car while drinking and dozing off at the wheel. He is shown remembering or hallucinating Louisa along the side of the road and in the backseat. In clips during the *Alive From Whispering Pines* sessions he is seen encountering Johnnie Redmayne's body on the road and possibly fixing to bury him, but when Vernon rolls the body over, Redmayne is still alive. These events are similar to the narrative in Vernon’s song “Dead Man's Hand.”

    Buck Vernon is the main character in the Vide Noir film. It depicts his journey through late 1960s LA looking for his missing fiancée, Lee Green. On the way Vernon consults Lady Moonbeam, a fortune teller who advises him to "follow the emerald star." Through this advice, he finds a club where he encounters Frankie Lou, who gives him information about the drug, Vide Noir, and tells him that Z'Oiseau has his girlfriend - Green - hooked on it. After finding Johnnie lying in the road, is in "Dead Man's Hand," Vernon also speaks with him about how Z'Oiseau had him black-brained, in an attempt to kill Johnnie off. Johnnie's urging and guidance leads Vernon to coincidently reencounter Lady Moonbeam, who is at the World Ender's clubhouse. She admits that she isn't psychic and tries to dissuade Vernon from continuing his quest, but ultimately her information leads Vernon to Z'Oiseau's home and Green.

## Music

### Unspecified album

* "Dead Man's Hand"
* "Fool for Love"
* "Cursed"
* "Louisa"

### Cover versions

From Lord Huron's *Strange Trails*:
* "Dead Man's Hand"
* "Fool for Love"
* "Cursed"
* "Louisa"

## Trivia

A poster of Buck Vernon can be seen on the wall in Tubbs Tarbell's control room in *Alive From Whispering Pines*.

## Questions and fan theories

* The story in "Fool for Love" may be a fictional version of Vernon's connection to Louisa. In "Louisa" he sings "I'll write your name on my skin, as a promise that we'll never be apart again" and in "Fool for Love," the protagonist and antagonist both have tattoos of the name "Lily."
	+ Both these songs are likely to be about Lee Green
* Given the events of the *Vide Noir* film, it is likely that Vernon was later inspired by his experiences to write songs about them. The lyrics of his songs tell heightened fictionalized versions of these events. It would seem that his experiences with Vide Noir and interaction with Z'Oiseau, who is fascinated with legends, caused Vernon to think about himself in a more poetic way in order to create his own legend.
* If Vernon later becomes famous and a Midnight Movie is made based on his story, it makes sense that his portrayal would be different in *The Night We Met* because the audience would be more familiar with his public persona.

## Trivia

* In the teaser for *Strange Trails*, a man who resembles Vernon is seen getting into a car like Vernon's at a parking lot with the voiceover narrative: "he didn't know where he was headed that day." The liner notes have a similar image of the man and car in the Frozen Pine Motel parking lot with the subtitle: "The bravest men return with darkened hearts and phantom pain," a lyric from La Belle Fleur Sauvage.

## Gallery

Vernon with GreenVernon experiencing the effects of Vide NoirVernon with his gunVernon in WBUB's *Dead Man's Hand*Buck Vernon's car as seen in the video for "The Night We Met"Buck Vernon Band in the "Fool for Love" music video
## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 NPR interview
2. ↑ Lord Huron official account reddit AMA
3. ↑ Lord Huron Fanclub Facebook Q&A 22. Q: "Is the dead guy from Dead Man’s Hand the World Ender?" Ben Schneider: "No, but he is a World Ender, that is, he is (was?) a member of the gang. He’s also the subject of the song 'Hurricane'."
4. ↑ Vide Noir press release
5. ↑ IMDB cast and crew