Twisty

Twisty
"I'm a good clown Mama said so."
Portrayed by	John Carroll Lynch
Details
Species	Human
Occupation	Clown
Cause of death	Stabbed
Relationships	Gloria Mott (employer) Dandy Mott (employer, accomplice)
Appearances	Monsters Among Us Massacres and Matinees Edward Mordrake: Part 1 Edward Mordrake: Part 2

Twisty is a retired clown who is unhappy with the arrival of the freak show and seeks ways to make their lives a living hell. He is a character in Freak Show portrayed by John Carroll Lynch. He wears a mask at the bottom of his face hiding his terrifying nature.

Background

Twisty was literally dropped on his head as a baby, resulting in minor mental disability. He left Jupiter to work as a clown with Rusty Westchester's Traveling Carnival. Jealous of his popularity, the carnival's freaks (led by two cruel dwarfs) spread the lie that he is molesting children. He is no longer able to find work as a clown (though this doesn't stop him from wearing the costume and makeup) and he returns to Jupiter to build novelties from garbage scrap. Upon his return to Jupiter, he finds that his alcoholic mother has died. Efforts to sell his "whirlygigs" to the local toy store are met first by disinterest and then fear at his crazed desperation and rage against the rumors of his past. Despondent, he blows off his lower jaw with a shotgun in an attempted suicide. He then decides to make the children love him again and keep them "safe" from their parents.

Personality and Appearance

Twisty wears a frightful grinning mask which serves as a prosthesis over his missing jaw, a filthy clown suit, and carries a sack that holds his juggling pins.

The clown happens to be a kidnapper and serial killer. His purported motivation (as he revealed to ghost Edward Mordrake) is to save children from their mean, chore-giving, candy-denying parents. Though some of his murders (i.e. the toy store owner) are likely more personal.

Twisty strongly believes that kids do indeed still like him, and fails to realize he scares them.

Story

Needing a babysitter for the children he intends to collect, he finds Bonnie Lipton at a lakeside picnic with her boyfriend. He kills the young man and then subdues the fleeing girl. He then kidnaps Corey Bachman after murdering the boy's parents.

The two are imprisoned in an improvised cage in the back of an abandoned bus. Attempts to entertain his captive audience with a rattle and a failed balloon animal only further increase their terror, which in turn sends the clown into a destructive rage.

Twisty returns to the toy store and vengefully murders the owner who had refused him in the past. Interrupted by an arriving employee he hides among the mannequin displays and then stealthily kills the young clerk just as he discover's his boss' decapitated head.

Returning to his bus in the woods, he is approached on the road by Gloria Mott. She solicits him for a private children's party to entertain her son. In the manor's playroom he meets Dandy who finds his silence provocative but rudely demands to be amused. When the spoiled rich-boy sticks his nose into Twisty's bag of tricks, the clown brains him with a juggling pin and leaves.

Twisty unmasked by Bonnie.

When he returns to the bus he again tries to entertain his prisoners, this time with a wind-up robot from the toy store. When that fails he terrorizes them with the beheaded store clerk. Bonnie hits him with a secreted weapon and she flees with the boy into the woods. The clown goes after them and catches Corey. He returns to find Dandy has subdued the girl and he playfully chides the clown regarding the quality of his prison.

On Halloween, Twisty stalks trick-or-treating children and is spotted by the young girl Jessie. He follows her family to their home. Perhaps sympathetic to her fear of clowns he abducts her cruel, candy-stealing older brother, (Master) Mike. He drags the teen into the woods and finds Dandy, in clown costume, excited for this new potential for fun.

Bonnie makes another escape and Twisty catches her at the road. They are seen by Jimmy and Maggie, who follow the clown and his captive back to the bus where they are subdued from behind by Dandy.

Twisty plays toy piano while Dandy attempts to saw Maggie in half for an audience of Jimmy, Bonnie, Corey, and Mike. When Jimmy stands and knocks Dandy unconscious his bound "lobster claws", the killer clown solicits applause. Jimmy encourages the others to flee and Twisty puts him in a stranglehold. He takes him to the bus and intends to stab him but is interrupted by the arrival of Edward Mordrake.

At Mordrake's demand and with a little ghost magic, the clown tells his sad story of slander, attempted suicide, kidnapping, and murder. Mordrake's demon head names the clown the one that it seeks and Twisty is killed with his own shears. Then his ghost is invited to join the Edward's menagerie of freakish spooks.

Quotes

• Twisty

  I'm a good clown.

• Edward Mordrake (regarding Twisty)

  I have met many a craven killer, many a sniveling coward in my time, but every one of them could admit the blackness in their own hearts when the hour came.

Notes

• Twisty had many similarities with Pennywise, the iconic evil clown from the novel It by Stephen King. He had also comportment and psychology very similar to Leatherface from the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
• He may be based upon real life serial killer John Wayne Gacy who regularly dressed as a clown named Pogo for children's birthday parties.

Gallery

Twisty The Clown A Dead Silence

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References

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