Nathaniel Crowe was an unused icon concept for Halloween Horror Nights: Reflections of Fear. He was replaced by Bloody Mary. He would appear as a static victim in the The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin haunted house during Halloween Horror Nights 30 and would later a minor appearance in the game over screen Halloween Horror Nights Mobile Game during Halloween Horror Nights 31.
Backstory[]
In a wideswept, desolate land, Nathaniel Crowe would attempt to grow and sell pumpkins, though these would invariably rot quickly whenever he picked them. He eventually meets Jack the Clown, who tells him that the land is cursed and that nothing will ever prosper there. Jack pays Crowe for the rights to put his carnival on the land for Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage. Eventually, Crowe is seduced by the horrors of the carnival; the sights, the sounds, and the smells invigorate his soul and give new purpose to his existence. One by one, many of those who visit the carnival disappear, but Crowe does not, and instead he witnesses more acts of horror and madness. When he asked Jack why he does not die while others do, Jack says, ”You’ll see.” When the carnival leaves town, Crowe goes back to tending his dry, barren soil. He becomes filled with hate. Upon coming across a tattered poster advertising the old carnival, he begins to bleed from sheer rage, and the blood composes itself into a mysterious rhyme on the poster.
Forgotten are the ways of old
Traditions blood black and cold.
Up through dirt roots grow and burst,
Evils’ return, you’ll see what came first.
When ravens and crows made the night black,
Pumpkins were carved to keep the evil back.
When the howl of the wind sent shivers down spines,
Graves of our dead covered in vines.
When the black cats crossed paths and wolves howl,
True witches did more than laugh and scowl.
Your time has come, Nathaniel Crowe,
Outside the box you’ll think, you’ll grow.
Terrors traditions in ways you will demand,
Halloween‘s true self is at hand.
The blood quickly returned to Crowe’s body as he imagined the possibilities of the rhyme he just read. He continued to hear it in his mind, and then sees many of the icons approach him, whereupon he awakens in a field of his own pumpkins. Crowe saw that the pumpkins had all been carved into weird, freakish faces with candles inside. Above the now lit pumpkins were dead trees filled with perched crows with glowing red eyes staring at him. As he tried to stand, cursed roots from the tree wrapped around him and pulled him back to the ground, a prisoner of the land. The moon rose above the clouds and the crows flew down to attack him. Digging and clawing, they tore his eyes and tore away his flesh, replacing it with rotted chunks of pumpkin, the trees roots moving to hold them in place. When the roots pulled away his jaw, Crowe placed a lit candle inside the bottom of his skull.
Nathaniel Crowe would have been the embodiment of Halloween. All of the most sinister fables and tales from the past millennia would be wrapped inside this grotesque body. The icon's purpose would be to be present Halloween from centuries ago to shock and terrify guests, as the reborn Crowe.
Aiello's Draft of Crowe's Backstory[]
Listen closely and it can still be heard. Within the wind and the cold, dark tonal notes dance. Inside the fog's memory, maniacal laughter reverberates. Wooden wagon wheels have etched trails into the earth leading off towards oblivion. It was here on this crimson field where horrors beyond comprehension flourished. But for now... the Carnival is gone.... but not forgotten.
Nathaniel Crowe, remembered it well. He remembered it well. He remembered the day he met that Ringmaster. The clown, whose face was masked in the shadows of night, simply asked for the use of his land. He said that this place "just seemed right" for a good old-fashioned carnival. But this land wasn't "right". It had a long and bloody history. Used for early pagan rituals, many lives were sacrificed on it in the name of Samhain. For centuries since then, no living thing has prospered while making its home here. Wars had been fought with both sides killing each other. Crops were grown and died instantly. And just prior to Nathanial owning the property, a number of townspeople burned down the funeral home of a murderous, grave-robbing caretaker killing him inside.
Now this land serves only as a home to rotting pumpkins sold for 10 dollars a piece, by Mr. Nathaniel Crowe. "How's business, Crowe." The clown said through his mangled teeth. Nathaniel suddenly struck with the tiniest twinge of fear- "Slow", he responded. "This land is cursed" the clown said. Nathaniel surprised at the statement. not because he didn't feel that it was true but that it was normally exclaimed as a question. "Always has been. Always will be." Nathaniel said with a sigh. "I haven't sold a pumpkin-hell, I haven't sold, grown or built anything on this land since the day I bought it. And that wasn't for lack of trying either so you can put on your little carnival but don't be surprised if the outcome of it all is just like those pumpkins...rotten and dead." For the first time Nathaniel caught a good glimpse of the the Ringmaster's face in the moonlight as he spoke, "On that Nathaniel Crowe, you can count on!"
His twisted, toothy smile promised him wonders no man has ever encountered. He told Nathaniel that the land he has put blood sweat and tears into would finally pay him back with unimaginable power. Sensing nothing more than theatrics on the clown's part Nathaniel, left the deformed clown to his business.
As though it happened overnight, the Carnival opened. The wonders the clown spoke of were amazing to Nathaniel, in the way hell is wondrous to those who wish nothing else but to see its evils and bask in its flames. The dark carnival seduced Nathaniel in ways that cannot be explained. Temptation and sin filled his soul with sights and sounds of the devil himself would consider morbid. It opened his mind to evils no man should want to survive through. But Nathaniel did survive. While all other patrons of the Carnival of Carnage were meeting untimely deaths, Nathaniel always walked away unscathed. "Why do you allow me to live when all around me perish at your hands?" Nathaniel asked of the Ringmaster. "You'll see, Crowe! You'll see!" The Ringmaster replied, with a laugh.
Those words echoed in Nathaniel's mind as he gazed upon his now empty field. Patches of soil now only show where tents once were. His fists clenched in anger. "He promised me," he whispered through his teeth. Hatred filled his soul as he lamented on power and wishes the clown prince vowed him and he had not received. For the first time he felt the cold. His hands now bled from being clenched so tightly. Feeling the dark liquid down his psalms and drip onto the soft soil below, Nathaniel's eyes caught a faded carnival poster flapping in the breeze. A large gust ripped it from the bloodstained telephone pole it was attached to. Nathaniel followed the tattered poster with his eyes as it drifted effortlessly in the wind. Up and down the poster flew until finally resting in the psalm of his bloody hand. However now to Nathaniel's surprise the poster was blank. No longer did it advertise the "Carnival of Carnage". Instead, he noticed his blood soaking into the parchment. Like running down glass, his blood fanned along the paper's fibers, forming letters:
Forgotten are the ways of old
Tradition's blood, black and cold
Up through dirt, roots grow and burst
Evil's return, you'll see what came first
When Ravens and Crows made the night black
Pumpkins were carved to keep evil back
When the howl of the wind sent shivers up spines
Graves of our dead, covered in vines
When Black cats crossed paths and wolves howled
And true witches did more than laugh and scowl
Your Time Has Come, Nathaniel Crowe
Outside the box-you'll think you'll grow
Terror's Tradition, its ways you will demand
Halloween's true self is at hand
The poem's final words echoed. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of what he had just read. Looking down at the parchment once more time- the letters turned back into liquid and raced back into his psalms. Nathaniel's mind raced with visions...
"...Think outside the box....."
The Ringmaster cranks a Jack in the Box.
"We are the four..."
"...You will be my finest work..."
A film director lines up his shot.
"But five we'll become."
"...true tale of terror..."
An old woman brandishes a pair of scissors.
"...Nathaniel Crowe..."
A Caretaker produces a pocket watch.
"YOUR TIME HAS COME"
The final vision Nathaniel saw was his own face. Displaying the most evil expression, Crowe's eyes disappeared and blackness replaced them. His jaw fell agape and candlelight appeared deep in his throat. The last thing he heard was raven's shrill ear-piercing call. Nathaniel awoke, lying in the cursed field he owned. Lifting his head and looking forward, Nathaniel saw something unreal. Hundreds of the pumpkins he once sold had been positioned in front of him. All brandished carvings of faces in pure terror. Each lit from the inside, the candles burned in varied hues of red and orange. Just behind the rotting patch, hundreds of crows were perched atop a broken wooden fence. Their eyes glowed red-all focused on Nathaniel. And just as the moon crept from beneath the clouded sky, every bird in unison cried out and leapt from their perch towards him. Instinctively Nathaniel tried to get up, however his cursed land had something different in mind. Mangled and porous roots shot through the ground with great force and stabbed through Nathaniel's appendages pinning him. The chorus of crows flying towards him muffled his cries of pain. Landing on top of Nathaniel, the crows began pecking at his face, at his clothing and flesh. Digging and clawing away, the crows tore deep into Nathaniel. He was being transformed. For every crow that removed a piece of flesh, large or small , another was at the ready to replace it with a piece of rotten pumpkin and straw. Quickly and meticulously the crows ripped and replaced Nathaniel's body. The roots and earth that had once imprisoned Nathaniel now had begun wrapping into his hands and feet- creating earthy claws. While a crow pecked out his left eye the ground forced Nathaniel into an upright position. Looking now like a grotesque marionette the birds continued to peck away. His screams slowly transformed from a gritty liquid sound to deep resonating bellow as a root ripped through his neck, grabbed his jaw and jarringly broke it forcing it downward towards his chest. The skin around stretched and tore as another crow placed a candle from a nearby pumpkin into his mouth. The candle's flame ignited a bright orange , its flickers lit the inside of his head which now appeared more pumpkin than human.
One by one the crows left the form that once was, Nathaniel Crowe and returned perched atop the rotten pumpkins. Landing, they gazed at what they had created- Halloween itself. All the fears, blood, revelry and traditions that make that Eve so Hallowed was infused into the body of a man. The roots finally lowered his body to the ground as two crows carried a large brown duster that once costumed an average scarecrow not far away. Nathaniel Crowe was no more. Now, only Crowe, he was reborn. His land, which contained the souls of Halloween's past, had given him the great power he was promised. His only purpose...to let non forget the true terror that Halloween once was centuries ago. Simply put, to make the spirit of Halloween terrifying once again and uphold Terror's Traditions.
Terror's Tradition , it's ways he will demand
Halloween's true self is at hand.
Appearances at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando[]
- The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin (2021) (Static-Figure)
- Halloween Horror Nights Mobile Game (2022) (Trivia Game Over Screen)
Pictures[]
Trivia[]
- Nathaniel Crowe was a concept icon written by Mike Aiello as a follow-up to Carnival of Carnage and linked to various icons of the past events.
- Crowes' origin story would have played out in a long version on the Halloween Horror Nights website and abridged version in commercials.
- Even though marketing and co. ended up going with Bloody Mary for Halloween Horror Nights 18, the idea of the houses and zones tying-in to a story was used for Bloody Mary as it would have been done for Crow. They would have used the interactive website and promotional material to enhance his storyline for 2008's event.
- His body could be found in The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin haunted house during Halloween Horror Nights 30, with crows pecking at his corpse.
Sources[]
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALCnBThNl_8- At some point this talks about the Crowe backstory.