Jacquelyn Torne

* Monster
* Human

**Jacquelyn Torne** is the titular character and anti-hero of the 2018 short horror film *The Terrible Tale of Jacquelyn Torne*. Once the wife of an abusive farmer, she was stabbed to death after making him an unsatisfactory pie and buried in the pumpkin patch outside the house. On the one year anniversary of her death, Jacquelyn's spirit possessed the pumpkins in the patch to make herself a physical body, came back to life, and murdered her now ex-husband. Now, her spirit lies in wait, waiting for someone to call her forth and punish their abusers.

She is portrayed by Grace Montie when she is alive, and George Schichtle as a monster.

## Physical Appearance

### Current

After she comes back from the dead, most of Jacquelyn's body has rotted away and her clothes are in even more tatters than they were before. The front of her dress is torn open to reveal her decaying torso and ribcage. There are vines and leaves wrapped around her body and arms, and she has a rotting pumpkin for a head with sharp teeth and glowing yellow-green eyes.

### Human

As a human, Jacquelyn was a middle-aged Caucasian woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a tattered white dress, brown flats, and a brown apron tied around her waist.

## Characteristics

In life, Jacquelyn appeared to be a very soft and timid woman. She was constantly walking on eggshells so as to not upset her husband, Peter, whose temper could be aggravated at the drop of a hat, though she silently despised him. When her husband came after her for the final time in her life, she realized how much she really meant to Peter and decided to fight back. After her death, Jacquelyn became vengeful and hungry for blood. Nevertheless, she does not appear to be a truly evil character, as she only attacks those who are abusive to their loved ones.

Though they were married, Peter did not appear to care much for Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn reciprocated this lack of care, at the very least in death, calling him monstrous.

## Background

Some time before the events of the film, Jacquelyn married a man named Peter Torne. Peter would treat her like a slave for the duration of their marriage.

## Crypt Monster Universe

### The Terrible Tale of Jacquelyn Torne

When she was alive, Jacquelyn was little more than a servant to her husband, Peter, who kept her in chains and forced her to bake him pies all day long. Despite her making him hundreds of perfect pies in the past, Peter came after Jacquelyn that night due to her accidentally leaving four seeds in his pumpkin pie. Jacquelyn, realizing that her life meant more to her than being a servant, came after Peter with a knife. Unfortunately, Peter wrestled the knife from her and stabbed Jacquelyn to death for her disobedience. He then tossed her body in the pit where he put all the rotten crops and left her there. In the pit, Jacquelyn's spirit festered and grew angrier with each passing night.

On the one-year anniversary of her death, Jacquelyn's vengeful spirit possessed the rotted vegetables in the pit, forming a body composed of her skeleton and rotted pumpkins. The hellish creature stumbled through the garden and forced its way into Peter's house, where it cornered him and stabbed him to death whilst cackling "You haven't kept me very well, Peter!".

In the present day, a girl named Beth is telling the story of Jacquelyn to her friends. She tells her friends that once a year, Jacquelyn can be brought back to life to take vengeance on those who abuse those who do not deserve it. Her friends, not taking her seriously, partake in the ritual and are horrified when Beth takes out a knife and slices her palm. As Beth's friends watch in horror, Jacquelyn's shadow appears behind their friend.

Later that night, Beth goes back home to her trailer, where her abusive alcoholic father is asleep on the couch in front of the television. As Beth stands over her father, she is revealed to have a pumpkin for a head, as she is now possessed by Jacquelyn. The possessed Beth stabs her father to death, and in the next shot she leaves the house after decapitating him and turning his head into a jack o' lantern.

## Powers and Abilities

### Skillset

* **Baking Skills:** Jacquelyn was a very skilled baker while she was alive, having made hundreds of flawless pies before she was killed.
* **Superhuman Strength:** After coming back to life, Jacquelyn gained superhuman strength, being able to break down the door of her home with seemingly little effort.

### Unique Abilities

* **Possession:** Jacquelyn can possess inanimate objects, such as the rotted pumpkins in the pit where she was thrown, and even living humans such as Beth.

## Relationships

### Peter Torne

Peter was Jacquelyn's husband while she was alive. He was horrible to her, treating her like a slave and keeping her shackled inside the house all day. Jacquelyn may have loved him once, but that love was lost when she learned of his true abusive nature. The lack of love and respect was mutual, as Peter himself thought so little of Jacquelyn that he killed her over an undercooked pie.

## Victims

### List of Victims

 **Beth's Father** | Stabbed to death by Jacquelyn, who was possessing his daughter, and was decapitated and had his head turned into a jack o'lantern.

## Trivia

* She is inspired by the wife in the nursery rhyme "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater". Additionally, Jacquelyn makes reference to the poem by telling her husband that he hasn't kept her very well, a reference to the line "Had a wife and couldn't keep her".
* Her name is a play on the word "jack o' lantern".
	+ Incidentally, jack o' lanterns in the Crypt Monster Universe are named as such to honor Jacquelyn's story.

## References

1. ↑  *The Terrible Tale of Jacquelyn Torne* (dir. Tate Steinsiek; October 31st, 2017)