Halloween: the real psychopath who could have inspired the character of Michael Myers

One of the most terrifying serial killers in the history of cinema is here, we are talking about Michael Myers, the protagonist of the popular Halloween saga that made him known in 1978. Now “Halloween ends”the third chapter written and directed by David Gordon Green, will close the last trilogy started in 2018 with Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie Strode.

The story of Michael Myers In the “Halloween” saga, he plays a 6-year-old boy who, after killing his sister by stabbing her with a knife, is hospitalized for 15 years. But on a Halloween night, the young man escapes the complex to return to the fictional town of Haddonfield, starting a wave of violence.

Now it is possible that this character is based on a real killer. In the 2003 documentary “Halloween – A Cut Above the Rest”, the creator of the saga John Carpenter he said that as a college student he visited a psychiatric institution as part of a psychology course. It was not just any visit, as it involved seeing patients with severe or violent cases.

And there was this kid, who must have been 12 or 13, with that look… ”Carpenter said.

In the 1978 film, Myers’ gaze is described by actor Donald Pleasence, Michael’s psychiatrist, as a blank, emotionless face with black eyes, as if they were the devil himself. Carpenter explains that this patient’s gaze was truly demonic and would become traumatizing for him, and probably the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

On the question of whether a real killer finished portraying the character of Myers, it has long been rumored that he was Stanley Manziwho allegedly killed his parents and sister at the age of 11, and after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, managed to escape one Halloween night to become the most prolific serial killer of the 1920s.

However, this whole story has not been confirmed by John Carpenter himself and, on the other hand, there is no evidence of the existence of the killer Stanley Stiers, so this speculation would remain as an internet myth, passed by word of mouth by the fans of Halloween and the general public, but without any foundation of truth.

Real serial killers who could fit Myers’ profile

Two cases of known true serial killers are those of and kemper Y Ed Gein. The former, one of the most famous killers in the world, killed his grandmother when she was 16, and later did the same with his wife and grandfather. In 1969 his victims were university students and then his mother.

The second, Ed Gein, was an American murderer, born in Wisconsin. Gein wore masks made of human skin. After his mother’s death at the age of 39, Gein began to fall into a kind of psychosis and an obsession with the female body, which began to prompt him to exhume the human bodies of women from the graves in the cemetery.

“Halloween” was released in October 1978 and grossed $ 47 million in the United States at the box office. Following the box office success, the film became one of the most influential within the horror genre, popularizing the slasher genre in the 1980s. It now concludes with “Halloween Ends”, released on October 13, 2022.