- "I grew up in Langdon, and even there we knew the stories-- the legends of the mid-west bogeyman. Michael Myers, the little boy who killed his sister, Judith, on Halloween night. Exactly fifteen years later, he escaped and slaughtered over a dozen people. They told everyone he was dead, but they never caught him, never found a body. As children, we even believed he wouldn't die. There were always whispers-- whispers that became screams when summer gave way to fall."
- ―Ryan Nichols[src]
Michael Audrey Myers is the main character in the Halloween franchise. In the movie Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, a retcon was established which removed Halloween 4, 5, and 6 from continuity. As a result, the biography of this Michael is drastically different to that of the one who appears in the previous version. This incarnation of the character appears in Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, Halloween: Resurrection, and a number of Halloween comic books.
As a child, Michael inexplicably murdered his older sister, Judith Myers, on Halloween night. Locked away for his crime, he escaped fifteen years later and embarked on a legendary killing spree in his hometown of Haddonfield. He intended to relive Judith's murder by killing his remaining sister, Laurie Strode, but was stopped by his childhood doctor, Samuel Loomis. Believed to have died after being shot off a balcony, Michael Myers lived on and committed various crimes in the state of Illinois before catching up with Laurie twenty years later. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Although displaying some supernatural characteristics, not unlike his previous incarnation, this version of Michael Myers is more mysterious and psychological. He is able to survive seemingly fatal injuries, but has no apparent connection to the Curse of Thorn; Dr. Loomis has theorized that Michael's primary motive is to relive the thrill of his elder sister's murder, although he continues to believe that Michael is just pure evil. Also, Michael is as dedicated to frightening his victims as much as he is to killing them, and will often stalk a person for a long time before even attempting to murder them.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
Michael Audrey Myers was born on October 19, 1957,[1] as the only son of Donald Myers and Edith Myers and the younger brother of Judith Myers.[2] The family resided in a two-story house at 45 Lampkin Lane in the suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois.[3] Even from a very young age, Michael Myers was a disturbed little boy. The road signs for what would later become a lifelong psychosis had its roots as early as 1961. Young Michael discovered his older sister Judith's diary and defaced it by drawing macabre images of murder. His mother criticized Michael's behavior, but his mind was filled with images of Judith's death.[4] When Michael was four years old, his mother became pregnant again with a girl who would be named Cynthia; Michael would secretly fantasize about killing his baby sister while she was still in the womb. Only Judith seemed to pick up on the disturbing behaviour her brother exhibited.[5] On May 18, 1963, she was forced to bring Michael on a date with her boyfriend Daniel. Driving into the woods near Langdon, Judith left Michael alone to sneak off and make love with Danny in the grass. She was horrified when Michael interrupted them, covered in animal blood.[6]
At age six, Michael Myers murders his older sister on Halloween night
On Halloween night that same year, Michael — dressed as a clown for Halloween — watched his sister and Danny kissing before going upstairs to have sex. Taking a knife out of the kitchen drawer and waiting for her boyfriend to leave, Michael snuck up the stairs and repeatedly stabbed his sister to death. After watching her die, he left the house only to be discovered by his astonished parents, who had just returned home.[7] Following the murder, Michael was believed to be in a state of shock and was unresponsive to police questioning, with authorities instead looking at Danny as their lead suspect. The case took a surprising turn in November, when Danny was proven innocent, and the autopsy indicated that Judith's wounds were inflicted by a child. The Sheriff's Department admitted that Michael was the most likely suspect. However, in February 1964, Michael was found "not guilty by reason of mental incompetence"; Roger Graves, the Myers family attorney, declared that the boy was a "vegetable". Instead, Michael was sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium until his twenty-first birthday, when he would be tried as an adult.[2]
At Smith's Grove, Michael received psychiatric treatment from Doctor Sam Loomis. Upon spending time with the boy, Loomis concluded that it was a hopeless case and that Michael Myers had no humanity left. He pleaded his case that Michael be moved to a more secure facility, but his superiors refused to listen and ordered that he remain in the "adequate" Smith's Grove.[8] Sometimes when Cynthia was very young, Edith took her to visit Michael at Smith's Grove Sanitarium but warned her to never speak of this to her father. In 1965, Michael's parents were killed in a car accident, and his little sister was adopted by the Strode family, who renamed her Laurie.[3]
In 1968, Sam went into Michael's room and told him that it had been five years since Judith's murder and they were not getting anywhere. He continued to tell Michael that everyone thought he was either overcome with guilt or just stupid, but he knew better. He also knew that everything he had learned was useless when it came to Michael. He then took out a gun and laid it in Michael's lap. He said that there was one bullet in the gun and if he needed to kill, then to kill him. Michael did nothing so Loomis grabbed him and asked the boy what was he waiting for. He then calmed down and told Michael that he would not let him harm another person again.
- "I know that everything I've learned is useless where you are concerned. You see, what they taught me was about how to treat people. And I know that whatever it is that drives you -- well, it isn't human."
- ―Sam Loomis[src]
The night he came home[]
Returning to Haddonfield after fifteen years, Michael stalks younger sister Laurie Strode
On October 30, 1978, Michael Myers destroyed his room at Smith's Grove and carved the word "sister" on his door before breaking out. He also released other patients from their rooms.[8] At the same time, Dr. Loomis and Nurse Marion Chambers were arriving at the facility to transfer Myers for his court hearing. Noticing the patients roaming around outside the hospital, Loomis got out of the car to investigate as Michael attacked Marion and sped away in their station wagon. As he drove across Illinois, Michael stopped to murder a truck driver to steal his overalls. Traveling to Haddonfield, Michael returned to his childhood home. The next day, on Halloween, a teenaged Laurie Strode dropped off a key at the Myers house for her realtor father, and was recognized by her brother. Michael proceeded to stalk her and her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok throughout the afternoon. He also stole Judith's gravestone from the local cemetery, and broke into Nichol's Hardware Store to acquire knives, rope, and a white Halloween mask. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis had followed Michael to Haddonfield and warned town sheriff Leigh Brackett of the danger he posed.[7]
That night, as Laurie and Annie were babysitting Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace across the street from each other, Michael watched them from the shadows. He murdered Annie first, strangling her in her car as she left to meet her boyfriend before slitting her throat. Later, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob showed up, only to fall victim to Michael as well. Worried about her missing friends, Laurie crossed the street to investigate, only to find Annie's body arranged under Judith Myers' gravestone and Lynda and Bob's bodies hidden in the closets. Michael lunged at his sister, slashing her arm with his knife, and she ran for help. Michael followed her across the street, and Laurie stabbed him in the neck with a knitting needle and in the chest with his own knife. As Michael rose again to attack Laurie, Dr. Loomis appeared and shot him in the chest six times, causing him to fall off a balcony. When Loomis went to check the body, Michael had vanished.[7]
- "You can't kill the bogeyman!"
- ―Tommy Doyle[src]
Later that night, Loomis found out that Laurie Strode was Michael Myers' younger sister and realized that she was his target. Laurie survived further attacks at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and also grew close with fellow survivor, ambulance driver and EMT Jimmy, while Michael apparently died from an explosion.[3]
Missing years[]
Laurie is haunted by the memories of her brother, convinced he is still alive
Michael had survived, and eventually returned to Nichol's to steal more masks. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode was convinced that her brother was alive and stalking her again. However, the residents of Haddonfield were trying to move on from the tragedy, and dismissed her claims; the only person who believed her was fellow survivor, Dr. Loomis. On May 25, 1979, Laurie was attacked by a knife-wielding clown at a costume graduation party. The man, who she realized was her brother, chased her through the backstreets of Haddonfield before stopping outside Jimmy's house. Laurie watched in horror as the clown entered the house and snapped Jimmy's neck.[6] With the help of Dr. Loomis, Laurie subsequently faked her death in a car accident, taking on the alias Keri Tate and moving away from Haddonfield.[9]
Although Michael was presumed dead, rumors of his existence spread and various violent incidents were unofficially attributed to the "mid-west bogeyman". Authorities often neglected to document events and sometimes went out of their way to cover them up, but Dr. Loomis dutifully continued his search for Michael with the somewhat skeptical help of Marion Chambers. He maintained a home study recording the madman's movements and possible crimes, which ranged from gruesome murders to missing animals and robberies. Loomis' insistence that Michael Myers was to blame for almost every crime in Illinois gained him an unfavorable reputation among the state authorities, who came to regard him like "the boy who cried wolf".[10]
Between 1978 and 1998 there was a spate of murders across the mid-west attributed to Michael
Knowing that Loomis was tracking his movements, on Halloween 1989, Michael played a game with his former doctor. He left a clue on Loomis' map pointing to Haddonfield Elementary School. When Loomis went to the school with Marion, he found a wounded dog with a drawing of himself stapled to it. Loomis recognised Michael's attempt to humiliate him; that he was "like a dog, a stupid obedient fool" for answering Michael's call. At the same time, Michael murdered a teacher inside the school. The woman, who had just advised her students to chase their fears away with a smile, was found strung up on a swing set, her face contorted into a twisted smile with barbed wire.[11] In 1991, Michael stalked a young beauty queen who was named "Miss Haddonfield 1991". Mere moments after she was elected, he attacked her in her dressing room and decapitated her with a knife. Her corpse was found "staring" at itself in her dressing room mirror.[12]
- "I didn't see the work of a killer. I saw the work of an artist."
- ―Patrick Carter[src]
In 1993, photojournalist Patrick Carter was given the assignment to prove that Michael Myers was still alive. Given a photograph of Annie Brackett's corpse by his editor, he became increasingly obsessed with Michael and his victims. To carry out his assignment, Carter began following Sam Loomis in Haddonfield, in hopes that he would somehow lead him to the killer. Loomis soon noticed him and warned him to stay away. Undeterred, Carter broke into Loomis' study and looked through his archives, only to find more images of the many women Myers had killed over the years. One rainy day, while stalking Loomis from a distance, Carter was brought face-to-face with his obsession when Michael Myers appeared in front of him. Michael cut his throat before stabbing him to death. Upon examining his body, the coroners at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital found rolls of film forced into Carter's eye sockets; this film contained the images from his camera, including some of Michael. When Dr. Loomis heard of Carter's death, he decided to take Marion's advice and move with her to Langdon, Illinois.
Michael visits nemesis Dr. Loomis on his deathbed for a final trick-or-treat
In early 1995, Loomis suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. At the same time, his old acquaintance Elizabeth Worthington had come to Langdon from England to reunite with him. Michael found and kidnapped Elizabeth outside Loomis' home, chopping off her hand. At the hospital, Loomis awoke in the middle of the night to find Michael standing over him. When asked why he had come, Michael presented the doctor with a plastic bag containing the severed hand and blood-stained photographs from Loomis' past. Loomis looked up in horror to see Elizabeth tied to a chair in front of him, beaten and gagged. He attempted to stop Michael but was knocked to the floor and forced to watch as Michael removed Elizabeth's eyeball with his knife. Hysterical, Loomis mocked Myers, claiming that his eternal mission to relive Judith's murder was futile since his only other sister had perished in a car crash. Michael left the room, and as Loomis untied his former love, he found the words "Keri Tate" carved into her back. Before dying of a coronary failure, Loomis realized that Michael knew — and had always known — that Laurie Strode was still alive.
- "Your sister Judith, your very first kill - that was it for you, wasn't it? That was the greatest thrill you ever had. A trick or treat on your family and especially on your poor sister. Blood spilled for whatever inhuman force it is that drives you. And you know something else, Michael? You can't repeat it."
- ―Sam Loomis[src]
Family reunion[]
Michael decided that Halloween 1998 would be the night for a family reunion with Laurie Strode. On October 29, he broke into the Langdon home of Marion Whittington (née Chambers) to uncover more information on his believed-dead sister. Marion came home to discover the break-in, and was aided by her neighbors Jimmy Howell and Tony Allegre. Michael murdered the teenagers and Marion herself, before escaping with files regarding Laurie Strode. Police speculated that Michael Myers may have been responsible for the killings and made a call to Haddonfield to be on the alert.[9]
- "- You don't think that after all this time, he'd still be coming after you, do you?
- He sat in a sanitarium for fifteen years waiting for me. And then... one rainy night, he decides to go trick or treating." - ―Will Brennan and Keri Tate[src]
Michael attacking John and Molly
Michael tracked Laurie — now Keri Tate — to Hillcrest Academy, a boarding school in Summer Glen, California where she worked as the headmistress. Her son and Michael's nephew, John Tate, was also a student at the school. As Keri struggled with the memories of her brother from 1978, and John grew increasingly impatient with her paranoia and over-protectiveness, Michael snuck onto the school grounds and stalked his family. Keri had allowed John to go on a school trip to Yosemite, but unbeknownst to her, he and his friends had planned a Halloween party in the empty school. Michael murdered John's friends Charlie and Sarah before attacking John and his girlfriend Molly. The two teenagers managed to fend him off long enough for Laurie and her boyfriend Will Brennan, to come to the rescue, getting John and Molly to safety. Laurie decided to stop running and face her brother with Will's help. She re-entered the school, and they searched for Michael. Upon seeing the school's security guard, Ronald Jones, down the hallway, Will mistook him for Michael and shot him down. Michael then arrived and murdered Will, before Laurie confronted him head-on, stabbing him multiple times and pushing him off a balcony. As he lay unconscious, Ronald, who survived his shooting and believed Michael to be already dead, stopped Laurie from finishing him off.[9]
Off-screen, as the police arrived at Hillcrest, Michael awoke and attacked the paramedic who was about to move his body. He crushed the man's larynx, rendering him mute and unconscious, and switched clothes with him. Meanwhile, outside, Keri was unconvinced that her brother was dead, and proceeded to steal what she thought was his body and drive off with it in the coroner's van, which had the paramedic's body in it. As the confused paramedic regained consciousness in the back of the van, Keri deliberately crashed the vehicle, sending them both crashing down a hill and trapping the man underneath the van. She prepared to finish Michael Myers off once and for all, and after pausing momentarily when the masked man showed a glimpse of humanity, mercilessly chopped his head off with an ax. As all of this went on, the real Michael slipped off into the woods.[1]
Russellville[]
Sometime after his failure to kill Keri, Michael returned to Illinois and began living in Russellville, specifically the remote, former home of Charlie Bowles, the man who had murdered his family with a hacksaw in 1963. One day, a teenage girl named Lisa Thomas was babysitting a boy named Daniel Cole, and the pair of them took a walk through the woods where they stumbled across the derelict house. Daniel ran into the house, and when Lisa followed, she found him lying bleeding in the cellar. As she went down to help him, Michael closed the cellar door and trapped her inside. When search parties were sent out to look for them, Michael killed one of the dogs used to track their scent. Lisa and Daniel were eventually found two days later, both severely traumatized by the ordeal. Although they no longer saw each other, Daniel would send drawings to Lisa every day.[13]
In Russellville, Michael develops an obsession for a girl named Lisa who bears a resemblance to Judith
Michael did not forget about Lisa, in whom he saw a resemblance to his sister Judith. In 2000, shortly before Halloween, Michael murdered Daniel and his parents, and began drawing disturbing pictures to send to Lisa in Daniel's place.[14] When Benjamin McNaughton and Abigail Crawford investigated the Bowles house, hoping to host a Halloween party there, Michael attacked them. He murdered Ben, but Abby managed to escape and run for help. Meanwhile, Daniel's older sister Marcie and her husband Ryan were driving to Russellville, have grown concerned about the lack of contact from their family. They hit Abby with their car, and as Marcie went out to check on her, Ryan watched helplessly as Michael appeared and stabbed his wife before disappearing with her.[15] Ryan brought the injured Abby to hospital where he told Sheriff Matthew Cooper that it was Michael Myers who had attacked them. The inexperienced sheriff was reluctant to believe him, and Ryan escaped to look for Marcie himself.
- "We pray we all make it home tonight... because if the stories are true... we'd be safer hunting the devil himself."
- ―Sheriff Cooper[src]
On Halloween, Lisa skipped school to spend time with her friends Sean Reynolds and Nicola Antonelli.[15] Michael stalked them as they hung out together at the fair, and Lisa looked at more of "Daniel"'s pictures, which included a photograph of Judith Myers. When Nikki had to go home, Michael followed her and murdered her in broad daylight. Later, Lisa was horrified when she discovered a dead cat in her bathroom and came face-to-face with Michael. Michael left and Sean followed him to the cemetery, where he found Nikki's body before being killed himself. Realizing Michael was the one who trapped her two years earlier, Lisa went to check up on Daniel and was met by Ryan. They broke into Daniel's house, only to find the dead bodies of the boy and his parents. Determined to find his wife, Ryan forced Lisa to show him the Bowles house, where they discovered Marcie's mutilated corpse and were attacked by Michael. As Michael cut off Ryan's tongue and dressed him in one of his masks, Lisa hid in the same cellar she had been trapped in. Ryan stumbled outside and was shot to death by the Russellville police, who mistook him for the killer. Michael ripped all of Lisa's clothes off leaving her completely naked. Michael then took the nude and unconscious Lisa and buried her alive in a grave marked "Judith Myers".
Unfinished business[]
Michael watches as Laurie Strode falls to her death, his life's mission finally fulfilled
- "You failed, Michael. You wanna know why? Because I'm not afraid of you. But what about you? Are you afraid of me? Are you afraid to die, Michael?"
- ―Laurie Strode[src]
After killing an innocent man, the guilt-stricken 'Keri Tate' had been arrested and sent to Grace Anderson Sanitarium, where she resumed her old name, Laurie. She was believed to be in a catatonic state by the nurses but was secretly preparing for her brother's inevitable return. Michael finally appeared on Halloween 2001, killing two security guards to get to his sister. Laurie lured him onto the roof of the institution, where he became caught in the trap she had laid for him. Michael dangled over the edge of the roof and Laurie mockingly told him she was no longer afraid of him. As she prepared to cut his rope, Michael feigned confusion, grabbing at his mask much like the paramedic she killed had. Unable to risk taking another innocent life, Laurie hesitated and attempted to remove Michael's mask to be sure. Michael took advantage of this, grabbing his sister and stabbing her in the back. Laurie defied her brother one last time, kissing his mask before falling off the roof to her death. Michael framed an inmate at the sanitarium, Harold Trumble, by giving him his knife.[1]
Sometimes after killing Laurie, Michael began stalking Lindsey Wallace, one of the survivors of Halloween 1978. He taunted the young woman by leaving a jack-o'-lantern riddled with knives in her apartment and allowing her to briefly glimpse him before leaving. Michael eventually returned to Haddonfield and lived in the sewers under 45 Lampkin Lane. In 2002, however, his childhood home was invaded by an entrepreneur named Freddie Harris, who planned to host an Internet reality show in the legendary Myers house. Dangertainment's show involved a group of college students from Haddonfield University spending Halloween night locked inside the house to look for answers as to what drove Michael Myers to murder. Unbeknownst to the participants, Harris had rigged the house with false evidence that Michael had been physically and psychologically abused as a child. He also dressed up in Myers' iconic mask and overalls to give the impression that the bogeyman had returned. However, during the show's live broadcast, the real Michael Myers began murdering the youths on camera, leaving only Freddie and contestant Sara Moyer alive. They escaped the massacre after Freddie electrocuted Michael, causing a fire. Michael's charred body was recovered and taken to the morgue, where he regained consciousness.[1]
Michael returns to Smith's Grove in 2003 to hunt a face from his past, Lindsey Wallace.
Following Michael's visit the year earlier, Lindsey Wallace had been admitted to Smith's Grove Sanitarium due to her claims that Michael Myers was after her. At Smith's Grove, she received psychiatric treatment from Doctor David Loomis, the son of Samuel Loomis. David was fascinated by what Lindsey told him, and, despite his reservations, he began to take over his father's obsession, investigating Michael Myers' history and neglecting his other patients to spend more time with Lindsey. On Halloween 2003, Michael returned to Smith's Grove, murdering a security guard and two nurses in his search for Lindsey. She and David tried to escape the facility, but Michael cornered them both in the lobby. As he cowered in fear under a desk, David watched as Michael slashed Lindsey's legs and took her away. Michael left a cracked picture frame containing a photo of David and Sam in his wake, a message to David that he would be coming back for him. Lindsey's corpse was later found strung up in a pumpkin patch like a scarecrow with various knives stuck into her body.[16]
- "She told me that evil was a person. She told me you couldn't kill the bogeyman. But of all that she said, there was one sentence that would always haunt me -- "One good scare can change your life forever...""
- ―David Loomis about Lindsey Wallace[src]
Michael's current whereabouts are unknown.
List of confirmed human victims of Michael Myers[]
Halloween[]
- Judith Myers: Knifed 9 times
- Christopher Hastings: Chest knifed
- Annie Brackett: Throat slit and strangled
- Robert Simms: Impaled with knife
- Lynda Van der Klok: Strangled with phone cord
Halloween II[]
- Alice Martin: Stabbed in chest
- Bernard Garrett: Hammer claw in head
- Vincent Scarlotti: Strangled with cord
- Karen Bailey: Drowned/scalded in hot water
- Frederick Mixter: Eye stabbed with syringe
- Janet Marshall: Air bubble injected in temple
- Virginia Alves: Blood drained by I.V.
- Jill Franco: Stabbed in back with a scalpel
- Terrence Gummell: Throat slit with scalpel
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later[]
- James Howell: Ice skate stabbed in face
- Tony Allegre: Stabbed in back
- Marion Whittington: Throat slit
- Charles Deveraux: Throat slit with corkscrew
- Sarah Wainthrope: Leg stabbed, crushed/broken by elevator, and knifed repeatedly
- Will Brennan: Stabbed/impaled through back with knife
- Paramedic: Throat crushed, made to pose as Michael Myers, and decapitated with axe by Laurie Strode.
Halloween: Resurrection[]
- Franklin Munroe: Decapitated off-screen
- Willie Haines: Throat slit
- Laurie Strode: Stabbed in back, thrown off roof
- Charley Albans: Neck stabbed with tripod leg
- Bill Woodlake: Head stabbed
- Donna Chang: Impaled on metal spike
- Jennifer Danzig: Decapitated with knife
- Jim Morgan: Head crushed
- Rudy Grimes: Impaled with 3 knifes
- Nora Winston: Killed off-screen and hung on a cable
Animal victims[]
Halloween[]
- Female dog in the Myers house: Slammed against wall and eaten
- Lester: Strangled
Debatable murders[]
Halloween: Resurrection[]
Appearances[]
- Halloween (1978)
- Halloween: White Ghost
- Halloween (Extended Edition)
- Halloween II
- Halloween II (Television Cut)
- Halloween II (novelization)
- Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode
- Halloween: Autopsis
- Halloween: Sam
- Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later
- Halloween: Nightdance
- Halloween: Resurrection
- Halloween: One Good Scare
- Halloween: 30 Years of Terror
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Halloween: Resurrection
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 HalloweenComics - Articles and Memos
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Halloween II
- ↑ Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode #1
- ↑ Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode #1, "Masks and Grotesque Figures"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode #2, "Demons Tormenting Me"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Halloween
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Halloween (extended television version)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later
- ↑ Halloween: Sam
- ↑ Halloween: 30 Years Later, "Repetition Compulsion"
- ↑ Halloween: 30 Years of Terror, "P.O.V."
- ↑ Halloween: Nightdance #3, "A Rainbow in One Color"
- ↑ Halloween: Nightdance #4, "When the Stars Came Crashing Down"
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Halloween: Nightdance #1, "A Shape in the Void"
- ↑ Halloween: One Good Scare