The Legions of Horror also known as the Dark Legions are a recurring organization/series of organizations from Halloween Horror Nights. They are seven legions of monsters and figures associated with the horrific, six of which are used to categorize the different figures similarly to archetypes.
Description
The Legions of Horror are seven legions of monsters, villains, and others associated with the paranormal. Each of the legions has a different, "Totem" which they may be drawn to and if assembled can create a kind of supernatural portal.
The paranormal-investigation organization Legendary Truth: The Collective used the legions of horror to classify both their enemies and their own members. The Collective also has a history of monitoring, assembling and safe holding the legions' totems.
Note: Not all characters mentioned as belonging to certain legions are necessarily cannon to the Halloween Horror Nights shared continuity.
The Iniquitous
The Baccanoids
The Baccanoids are defined by being intellectual, stealthy, disciplined, and obsessed with problem-solving (sometimes causing amoral experiments).
Members
Historic figures
- Confucius:
- Edgar Allan Poe:
- Empress Jia Nanfeng:
- Jack the Ripper:
Film/literary/TV characters
- The Invisible Man:
- Professor James Moriarty:
Theme-park characters
- Bloody Mary:
- Boris Shuster:
- The Caretaker:
- Dr. Richard W. Steerington:
- The Dogs of War:
- Guderalle:
- Paige Steerington:
The Cerebins
The Cerebins are driven by primal animal instinct with great physical capabilities.
Members
Historic figures
- Attila the Hun:
Film/literary/TV characters
- Darkness:
- Flying Monkeys:
- The Gill-Man:
- Grendel:
- Velociraptors:
- Werewolves:
Theme-park characters
- Eyegore:
- Knightmare:
- Knucklegrunts:
- Nightingales:
- Rat Lady:
- Tree:
The Kerezans
The Kerezans are undead, slow and dedicated to singular goals.
Members
Historic figures
- Ramesses II:
Film/literary/TV characters
- Aaron the Moor:
- Frankenstein's Monster:
- Imhotep:
- Mary Shaw:
Theme-park characters
- Antonio Cabot:
- Charlie McPherson:
- The Gentlemen:
- Elizabeth Hawthorn:
- Frightanic Crew:
- Jonathan Hawthorn:
- Plague Doctors:
- The Sentinel:
- The Usher:
The Maschorians
The Maschorians are hierarchical and have strong attachment to their weaponry and their, "Packs".
Members
Historic figures
- Caligula:
- Ivan the Terrible:
- Lizzie Borden:
- Marquis de Sade:
Film/literary/TV characters
Theme-park characters
- The Black Guard:
- Blood Abbey Monks:
- Calvin Thorncastle:
- Carey's Women's Correctional Facility Prisoners:
- Chainsaw Drill Team:
- Eddie Schmidt:
- Eelmouth:
- Fire Demons:
- Ice Demons:
- Ore Mongers:
- Robert L. Strickland:
- The Storyteller:
- The Terra Queen:
The Morphans
Morphans are figures of horror who are corrupted forms of childhood iconography. Many of them are diminutive and have playful personalities.
Members
Historic figures
- Blackbeard: An infamous historic pirate captain. It is not exactly clear why he would be categorized as a Morphan, though could be that in the 20th-21st century pirate iconography could retroactively be identified with children and children's media. It could also be that as a pirate he had a darkly joyous personality.
- Richard III:
Film/literary/TV characters
Theme-park characters
- Chance:
- Cindy Caine:
- H.R. Bloodengutz:
- Jack the Clown:
- The Orfans:
- Skoolhouse Students:
- Treaks and Foons:
The Strengoits
The Strengoits are driven by passion and quenching, "hungers", while often being elegant. Many of the Strengoits are vampires or vampire-like creatures.
Members
Historic figures
- Lady Bathory:
- Lucretia Borgia:
- Vlad Tepes:
Film/literary/myth/TV characters
- Count Dracula:
- Dracula's Brides:
- Incubus:
- Norman Bates:
- Nosferatu:
- Sirens:
- Succubus:
Theme-park characters
- Cantina Demon:
- The Director:
- Lady Luck:
- Lust:
- The Tau Sisters:
History
Background
Origins
The Case of the Terrible Totems
On the October 25th of 1948, the Baccanoids totem was left at Shuster's doorstep at his apartment/office in New York City. In this same incident, a ghoul murdered a woman from the 201 Empire Modeling Agency in Shuster's building then attacked Shuster in his office, where Shuster shot the ghoul dead. This totem lead to Boris Shuster investigating the world of the supernatural and becoming more of a paranormal investigator. Boris Shuster dedicated himself to locating the totems of the other five Legions of Horror.
Shuster found the Egg and Bear Trap totem for the Maschorians legion from a warehouse where he was attacked by killer mannequins. He found the glowing Cerebin legion's Summoning Cube where he fought a monster which had murdered at least two people. In the NYC Public Works Delancey ST & 7th Ave sewers he fought a pair of Moss Men and recovered the glowing Kerezan legion's summoning cube totem.
The vase totem for the vampiric Strengoit legion was located in New York City's Kitty Kat Club where it turned the female performers into, "She-Devils". During the performance of Madame Murie, the She-Devils murdered various patrons of the club. Boris fought these corrupted women and recovered the legion's totem.
The Cerebin legion's cage totem was found in the basement of, "Sly Tony" where Tony's head was ripped off and left in a cage while a wendigo was unleashed in the room. The Morphans legion doll totem brought the doll of a girl named Rosie to life where the doll murdered Rosie's parents. In 1957, Shuster found that the various totems (including the Kerezan legion's Jar Totem) had been brought together in police station no. 5 where they were forming a portal to the world of the supernatural bringing forth a zombie and tentacle monster. Shuster retrieved the totems and dismantled the portal before hiding the totems in the attic of a New Jersey building.
Shuster wrote detective novels based on his adventures and experiences. Amongst these stories were: "Terrors of the Tenement", "Murder by Mannequins", "Massacre at The Museum", "Murder by Moss Man", "The Lustful Alibi", "The Beast Unleashed", "Death by Dolly", "Evidence to the Contrary", and, "Case of the Terrible Totems". In the 1960s, Shuster founded Legendary Truth: The Collective which at some point would categorize its members through the use of the Legions of Horror.
Case Files Unearthed
In 1991, a conspiracy-theorist named Tim Foyle used the books written by Boris Shuster to locate the attic in New Jersey where the totems for the Legions of Horror were kept. On the Halloween of that year, Foyle assembled the totems and inadvertently opened up a supernatural portal. The outcome of these events are unknown.
Evil Takes Root
One night in 2010 five teenagers who were the children of different Legions of Horror were taken into a forest where they were to be murdered by an unknown entity. Doctor Steerington's daughter, Paige Steerington, was a, "Pure" member of the Baccanoid legion and before the deaths occurred, he knew she would be amongst the dead. Because of this, Steerington sent Paige away to Salzburg, Austria, saving her.
The night that the five teenagers died, Steerington went on a fishing-trip with Captain Lawrence B. "Lazy Bastard" Manely to Amity Island where Steerington died/disappeared. The circumstances of Steerington's death are a mystery, with some saying Manley killed him, and Steerington's daughter Paige believing that the death was orchestrated by Ignatia Himmel. Calvin Thorncastle would again become CEO after this disappearance. Paige would also come to believe that her father saving her cost him his own life.
Appearances
Halloween Horror Nights
Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth
This haunted house followed the books in which Boris Shuster documented finding the totems of the Legions of Horror. Ultimately, conspiracy theorist Tim Foyle found and assembled the totems, only to open up a portal on the Halloween of 1991.
Halloween Horror Nights 22
This was a park-wide Scarezone experience featuring characters from the Legions of Horror.
Halloween Horror Nights XXIII: What Evil Has Taken Root?
The story surrounding Paige Steerington involved the revelation that children of members of each Legion of Horror had died in the woods and that Paige was the next target as she belonged to the Baccanoid legion. This HHN in 2013 had a game about investigating the Legions of Horrors' totems from the previous year. Dr. Calvin Thorncastle made a live appearance at the end of this event.[1]
Halloween Horror Nights 24
This event had a digital game about members of Legendary Truth gathering the seals for the different legions of horror by going to different haunted houses/scare zones and filling a Spectrum Response Gauge on the app T.E.S.T. (TACTICAL EVALUATION OF SPECTRUM TERRORS).
In other media
Legendary Truth the Collective Case Investigation: Boris Shuster
Trivia
- Certain horror characters relevant to the parks have yet to be identified as belonging to particular legions such as Fear, Freddy Krueger, King Kong, the Shark, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Betelgeuse, Doctor Oddfellow, the Pumpkin Lord, Samuel Meetz and Major Sweets.