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Caretaker5

Dr. Albert Caine, better known as The Caretaker, was the second original icon developed and first used for Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear in 2002, Fear gave him control of the 12th annual Horror Nights. His signature weapon is a pair of shears.

Backstory[]

One who knows nothing can understand nothing…[]

Once a well-respected surgeon, Dr. Albert Caine became the caretaker of Shady Oaks Cemetery in Willamette Valley. Caine later converted the Victorian-style mansion he and his family lived in into a mortuary and funeral parlor.

For years during his career as a surgeon, Dr. Caine was intensely interested in the inner workings of the body, what happened to the patients he couldn't save, what happens to a person when they die. Caine and his family eventually used the deceased of the town as guinea pigs in unnatural and bizarre experiments. His demented "extended family", made up of both blood relatives and deranged assistants, dug up the bodies of both the recently and not-so-recently dead and used them for either Caine's experiments, their elaborate "parties", or as house decoration. Caine performed these experiments in an attempt to discover the nature of the soul.

For fresh specimens, Caine would go into the nearby town to find homeless people, and, in what seemed like a charitable offer, invited them to his mansion/funeral home until they got back on their feet. Instead of helping, though, he would perform horrifying surgeries on them, carving them open on the operating table while they were restrained and often fully conscious and without anaesthetic. Caine occupied his time performing acts of the most base cruelty: chemical injections, brutal amputations, live dissections, castrations without anesthesia, electroshock, even organ removal. Caine kept notes and audio recordings, but as time went on and his madness increased these became rambling discussions often delving into the philosophical.

A few of Caine's assistants would sometimes thieve body parts during the surgery when he wasn't looking to use as dinner ingredients, even going so far as to use corpses as playthings in elaborate funeral parlor parties. He also performed experiments in fear, and wished to see how much the human mind could endure before succumbing to madness and death, which resulted in at least one person being buried alive.

The terrible sight was seen by two teenagers who decided to take a walk through the cemetery telling ghost stories. Walking past the gravestones and various monuments they heard music carried on the wind. Following the sound they came across the Shady Oaks Cemetery where they witnessed the Caine family dancing with the rotted remains of decaying corpses.

There is so much to learn… you understand so little[]

"I made the news today." -Dr. Albert Caine, taken from audio recordings from the Caine Funeral Home.

Word of the grisly goings-on quickly spread and the Police launched a massive investigation, Chief Brockett giving the order to place all individuals at the crime scene under house arrest. Instead of resisting, Caine gladly cooperated with the sickened authorities, and even seemed eager to show the results of his "research". Reports of what was found inside during the investigation made headlines that shocked and mortified the nation. The local townspeople, mostly comprised of the relatives of the deceased used in the Caretaker's experiments took matters into their own hands, forming a mob and setting fire to the Victorian mansion and the whole area with the Caine family still trapped inside.

Darkness is the heart’s true essence[]

Investigating the remains, investigators were unable to find the body of Caine or his demented family, save for the supposed body of Caine's young daughter Cindy. However, they did find an elaborate network of tunnels running for miles under the graveyard that started in the cellar, which allowed the vandals to retrieve bodies from below. Among the ghoulish evidence was a "Kitchen filled with body parts", "...a large kettle on the stove that contained boiled body parts...", "...a corridor filled with intestines, an eyeball on the stove, boiling brains...", "...a collection of skulls...", and audio recordings, some of which were Dr. Caine's notes, others from his live surgeries, and some that appeared to be an audio diary of sorts. Before the torching of the site, four victims were positively identified and over 2,000 graves were estimated to have been tampered with.

This world has been connected... tied to the Darkness[]

One year later, the Shady Oaks Cemetery had been off limits for all comers until the charred ruins of the Caine Funeral Home were set to be demolished, until the discovery of three unidentified decomposing bodies on the premises. Not long after, people who were last reported in the vicinity of the site began to go missing. Several research teams were sent to the to reopened cemetery to investigate reports of strange noises emanating from the ruin and the Shady Oaks Cemetery, which may be connected to the terrible secrets of its horrifying past. With three teams already gone missing, the question remains: Could Albert Caine and his family have escaped that fire?

The Door to Darkness[]

While it is not confirmed if he is undead or has been alive all along, he still in a sense “lived on”. With the help of his real god, he took control of various creatures such as The Treaks and Foons, the Nightmare, and Carnage; and together, they plunged the Islands of Adventure into a world infected with Albert’s darkness. He still resides in his abandoned mortuary tampering with the brains of his victims to test their capacity for fear.

The Power of Resurrection[]

In 2006, The Lord of Darkness summoned the souls of four icons of evil, The Caretaker among them, to return to partake in a birthday party celebrating years of horror. Albert Caine himself would perform a dark ritual that would bring his dead daughter back to life with the help of his “Society”.

I am DEATH...[]

When Fear was summoned, he chose The Caretaker as one of his minions: DEATH. The Caretaker now has strange markings on his neck, as with the other icons, linking him to Fear.

Later, Bloody Mary and Jack broke him out of the Lantern to participate in the 25th year. During the 30th year, he and his fellow Icons fought within Fear's Lantern to see who would reign supreme.

Appearances at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando[]

Marketing[]

He appeared in a couple of commercials by Dean Karr in 2002; two of which were in Shady Oaks and one in Sting Alley. The first two had him playing with dead bodies and the third had him stalking a couple in New York. He had plenty of presence in print, such as posters and brochures. There was a interview by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper where he chatted about fears. He introduced the Art of the Scare Documentary (which also revealed his actor's name to be Bryce Ward).

Port Aventura had him as the Icon for their Halloween event in 2003, and reused his commercial dubbed in Spanish.

According to James Keaton, he and 3 other characters (one of which was Dr. Fear) appeared in NYC for a publicity stunt in a news for Halloween Horror Nights XIV.

He was shown among the other Icons for Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16. He was the one who cut the cake in the commercial, and had a little jump scare in the hotel commercial that year. While he himself wasn’t a part of 2006 in Hollywood, his mortuary was present in the Director’s ad, as well as a shot of the shears.

At the Event[]

He first appeared on the screen for the Port of Evil scarezone in 2002, where he would speak of the creatures that lurked in the event, and was seen in the flesh as a stiltwalker/ barker in Town Square of Tortured Souls. He also had his own icon house that year titled Screamhouse.

2003 is where Port Aventura has him as the icon for their Halloween event that year, appearing as a scareactor that year. According to Dr. Jimmy and angelixgutz, he still was used for other Halloween events in that park even after their Universal license was revoked, though in some years he had an axe instead of the shears.

2004 had him in the Horror Nights Nightmares haunted house. 2006 featured him in the Arrival and Sweet 16: The Director's Cut shows, and featured Screamhouse: The Resurrection where he tried to resurrect Cindy. 2009 featured him in the unofficial Shadows of the Past scarezone. In 2010, he appeared in the Main Gate video (a slightly edited version of the Warehouse eXXperience vid from the website) and had him in front of his hearse in Fear Revealed. He also appeared in the Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past haunted house that year.

In 2013, he made a cameo appearance as a statue in the Cabin in the Woods haunted house. Finally in 2015, he returned to celebrate the 25th Halloween Horror Nights year by appearing in both the Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem haunted house and the ICONS: HHN scarezone.

In 2021, The Caretaker would appear alongside his fellow icons and have his own section in the HHN Icons: Captured haunted house.

The Caretaker's Poem[]

Tall, gaunt and deadly,

Albert Caine loves this

Of course

He delights in the process

Of prepping a corpse


Caring for the graveyards

Tending each plot

Preparing bodies for burial,

Ready or not

He looks upon you each,

With a judgmental eye

Sizing you up for

Just the right coffin

When it's your time to die


But the Caretaker is impatient

And he will not wait,

For circumstances to deliver

Your final fate

He'll act on his own

If given the chance

In moves that are silent

In a last macabre dance


Design[]

The Caretaker appeared as a tall and withered old mortician with a sunken skull-like face and dressed in a tattered suit with matching top hat, often seen with his signature weapon, a large clamp/claw that was a cross between a hedge clipper and a surgical clamps.

Personality[]

While Dr. Albert Caine may have once been passionate about saving lives, by the time he began his expeiments that statement could not be further from the truth. His diaries showed that he was a doctor who had gone mad with the power he had over first the dead, then his living patients.

Appearances at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando[]

Quotes[]

  • "Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe, catch a body by the toe, if he hollers, cut him low, eenie, meenie, miney.... moe."
  • "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy should have stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef, and this little piggy was all alone."
  • "Your time has come."
  • "Bring the non-believer to me!" (Islands of Fear Opening Show)
  • "I know what evil lurks in the hearts of men!"
  • "Ah, the smell of Death gives you a chill. It is even stronger from a fresh kill. Try to run from me and lose your way. I'm right behind you, here to stay." (Screamhouse queue video)
  • (Preparing his autopsy on a still living man) "Here is something you seldom see: a living, breathing, autopsy."
  • (after removing organs) This person has no heart." (The Arrival)
  • "They say I shed innocent blood, but what is blood for if not for shedding." (Sweet 16: The Director's Cut)
  • "Sticks and stones....will give me your blood and bone!" (In a scrapped Islands of Fear commercial)
  • (his thoughts on Jack the Clown) "He's very impressive." (Television promo interview for Twenty Years of Fear)
  • (his thoughts on The Usher) "He smells like DEATH! No, I think I smell pretty damn good." (Referencing a quote by the Usher when he made an appearance in a news report)
  • (when told that he isn't blinking) "No, I'm not. I don't want to miss anything."
  • "Hush little baby, don't say a word/ Daddy's going to buy you a mockingbird/ And if that mockingbird don't fly/ Daddy says it's time to DIE!"
  • (jokingly after a cooking accident) "I don't think that was supposed to happen!"
  • "Are you scared of the dark? What about your nightmares? Have you ever imagined yourself being... dismembered? Just what is your capacity for fear? I think it's time we find out. I'm Albert Caine, and I am the Caretaker. Tonight you will be my... very special guest for the most intense night of terror on Earth: Halloween Horror Nights! (The Art of the Scare special)
  • Join me, on a journey through your fears, as I transform Islands of Adventure into one disturbing nightmare after another. Your time... has come." (The Art of the Scare special)
  • "For all you non-believers, I know what evil lurks in the hearts of man. Your time has come." (ICONS: HHN Stage Kill)
  • "You, and you. ALL OF YOU come here. I missed you. Come closer. Closer, I want to show you something. Something you never imagined in your whole life." (ICONS: HHN Stage Kill)
  • For tonight, I will be performing, a living, breathing, live autopsy. Hush little baby, don't say a word, daddy's going to buy you a mockingbird. And If that mockingbird don't fly, daddy says... IT'S TIME TO DIE!!! ( ICONS: HHN Stage Kill)
  • "The Caretaker is here, and your time has come!" (HHN Icons: Captured)
     

Pictures[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • The Caretaker was portrayed by Hank Stone in the commercials: https://archive.fo/UszGJ.
  • In 2012, it was revealed that he's a member of The Baccanoid Legion, most likely due to his intellect and love of "experiments".
  • The Caretaker had his own icon video segment called "Hush Little Baby..." alongside the other icons in the HHN 16 Icon Video on the Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16 Behind the Screams section of the page.
Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear
Characters: The Caretaker (Event Icon) • Cindy Caine (Scrapped Icon) • Carnage  • Treaks and Foons  • Dr. Burton  • Dino-Men  • Nightmare
Haunted Houses: Fear Factor  • Maximum Carnage  • Project Evilution  • Scary Tales II  • Screamhouse
Scarezones: Boo-Ville  • Island of Evil Souls  • Island Under Siege  • JP Extinction  • Treaks and Foons • Port of Evil
Shows: Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Fountain of Evil  • Studio 666  • Town Square of Tortured Souls
Halloween Horror Nights XIV
Characters: The Asylum Patient (Event Icon)  • Eddie Schmidt  • Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • Gunter Karl Dietze  • Jeffrey Dietze  • Robert L. Strickland
Haunted Houses: Castle Vampyr  • Deadtropolis  • Disorientorium  • Ghost Town  • Horror Nights Nightmares  • Hellgate Prison  • Horror in Wax
Scarezones: Field of Screams  • Fright Yard  • Midway of the Bizarre  • Point of Evil
Shows: Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Festival of the Dead Parade
Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16
Characters: Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller (Event Icons)  • The Projectionist  • The Inmates of Shadybrook Asylum  • Eddie Schmidt  • Cindy Caine  • Norman Bates
Haunted Houses: All Nite Die-In: Take 2  • Dungeon of Terror: Retold  • People Under the Stairs: Under Construction  • PsychoScareapy: Maximum Madness  • Psycho Path: The Return of Norman Bates  • Run: Hostile Territory  • Screamhouse: The Resurrection
Scarezones: Blood Masquerade  • Deadtropolis: Zombie Siege  • Harvest of the Souls
Unofficial Scarezone: Horror Comes Home
Shows: The Arrival  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Robosaurus  • Sweet 16: The Director's Cut
Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear
Characters: Fear (Event Icon)  • Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller  • The Usher  • Cindy Caine  • Eddie Schmidt  • Chance  • The Inmates of Shadybrook Asylum
Haunted Houses: Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate  • PsychoScareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook  • Hades: The Gates of Ruin  • ZombieGeddon  • The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes  • Havoc: Dogs of War  • Catacombs: Black Death Rising  • Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past
Scarezones: Esqueleto Muerte  • The Coven  • Saws N' Steam  • Zombie Gras  • Fear Revealed  • HHN: 20 Years of Fear
Shows: Brian Brushwood: Menace and Malice  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure
Halloween Horror Nights 30
Characters: Jack the Clown (Event Icon)  • Beetlejuice  • Bent-Neck Lady  • The Bride of Frankenstein  • Leatherface  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller  • The Usher  • Lady Luck  • Chance  • Fear  • Tooth Fairies  • Pumpkin Lord  • Boris Shuster  • Eddie Schmidt  • Terra Queen  • The Controller
Haunted Houses: Beetlejuice • The Haunting of Hill House  • Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  • HHN Icons: Captured  • Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland  • Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth  • Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience  • The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin  • Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
Scarezones: 30 Years 30 Fears  • Seek and Destroy  • Crypt TV  • Gorewood Forest  • Lights Camera Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge
Shows: Halloween Nightmare Fuel  • Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory
Other Experiences: Jack'd Up Experience  • Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store  • Chucky's Good Guys Toy Box Photo Op
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