Hello. Brian here.
I am incredibly proud to announce that Smilio and Smilia made an appearance in B and B Halloween! Sure, their only big part in The Halloween Party of Eternal Doom, but hey? I'm not complaining. [Smilia somewhat complained about how she was depicted in terms of her excessive fangirling on Bowling Ball, but to be honest, it was the exact truth, and the only farfetched part was the curse.]
B and B Productions, of which I am a co-founder, did the comic. We were thinking about doing a Frankenstein-esque story all set in Schnickle Hospital, although it might've had a bit more relation to Herbert West -- Reanimator. We should've done that, but we didn't have the time. Maybe I will do that at some other point - it seems like a wonderful inking.
Perhaps, though, it would be better to do a Dracula comic based in Schnickle. I am a HUGE fan of that Bram Stoker novel (much more so than Frankenstein) and many aspects of Grinnigore can be traced to the Count himself. What do you think?
The next section contains the history of Schnickle Hospital, which is a bloody, violent one. If anyone is weak-stomached, this next section is for MATURE AUDIENCES. Be so advised to those who read on. Brian O'Connell is not responsible for anything that gives you nightmares (but he will admit he's creepy).
But Schnickle's history is horrific enough in itself. This institution was once a place of death, suffering, and madness. This has atmosphere has dogged the place since it was built, since Erik Muhlheim was brutally murdered there, his blood being poured into the mix and his drained corpse being immured in the walls. It is assumed that this has cursed the place, and it has gone down as the Muhlheim Curse of Schnickle.
On that very spot, in the 13th century, the place was a torture castle for the Nuremquistion, a well-intentioned but grotesque and horrifying society that brought suffering to many people because they thought that they were saving their souls from the flames of the Pit.
In the late 1800s/early 1900s, Schnickle Hospital was the respectable mansion of Andre Wellington (and one of the workers at Schnickle is his great great great grand nephew). Wellington was an elderly, rather obese rich man. He was renowned throughout the town. But, when he was walking home late at night, he crossed paths the infamous serial killer Alexandre the Slasher who...well...slashed him. The body was then literally dragged across the rough gravel roads and was propped up in the basement, sitting up, with a bottle of Amontillado in one hand and a book of horror stories in the other. Written on the inside cover was one of the Slasher's signature two-verse poems. The rhyming scheme is poor, and the handwriting of the killer was very shaky and difficult to read. As a result, no one knows what the poem exactly read, but this is a common rough translation:
Wellington the rich
Dragged through a ditch
Slashed bit by bit
Couldn't care a bit.
But he's gone now
No use mourning
He was fat as a cow
This is a warning.
- Alexandre the Slasher
The Slasher was never caught. It is still being debated on who he was. Not a piece of evidence has survived.
When the hospital first opened, a patient who people now known as the Scather Man escaped with an axe into the nearby woods. They hear him chanting there at night. And the worst part is when the man celebrates the Celtic Festival of Samhain. He and his fellow cultists will make bonfires, throw in livestock, wear animal skins, and chant to the old gods. What a blasphemous, monstrous deed! It is offensive to me, and I am sure it is equally offensive to you, whoever you are.
Then there was the well-known, recent incident of the patient who drove the keeper crazy. This tale has been disputed as an urban legend; it is nothing of the sort. In most cases a garbled account makes it's way into the public - in this case, the perfectly intact story has survived with no embellishments. But the story is very popular among the prepubescent boys of the town. The keeper's hair went dead white, and, in the confusion, the patient pushed the keeper down the elevator shaft.
The Muhlheim Curse of Schnickle has seem to have taken new form in Grinnigore, who is, apparently, starting up his own Nuremquistion, in which he is the Grand High Nuremquisitor! This is dreadful news, but worse is that the Scather Man and his cult are participating in this unholy rebellion. And, to top it off, Cadaver (you can learn about him in the upcoming file on Puffy) is being assistant to Grinnigore. Somewhere, these monsters are building a torture tower, in which they are incorporating medieval machinations along with new diabolical devices.
One last thing. Over all this period of time, the Muhlheim Curse of Schnickle has never once affected me. And chances are it never shall. No, it NEVER shall. You want to know why? Because Erik Muhlheim spoke to me in a dream, and he said - "The curse upon your institution may continue forevermore, but never shall it affect thee. I have taken a liking to thee, and wouldst not hurt thou." That was all.
Smilio and Smilia are in their midnight quarters - but the entire place is light with lanterns, candles, and electricity. Schnickle never sleeps, and Smilio and Smilia certainly aren't, as they are working on their overview of Patient File #?: Puffy - a post that will be posted as soon as everything is in order. There you will learn of Cadaver. But enough of that for now, and enough of this dark history. There are still hours for me to be awake. Goodnight.
