Benjamin Richter is a hooded serial killer named Mr. Jingles[1]. He is a character in 1984 primarily portrayed by John Carroll Lynch.
Background[]
Benjamin Richter was a Vietnam veteran who had been discharged dishonorably. In 1970, Richter worked at Camp Redwood as a janitor and befriended Margaret, who framed him for the massacre of nine campers and collecting their severed ears as souvenirs.[2] Margaret later claimed that she was the sole survivor and was a key witness during his trial. Richter was sentenced to being imprisoned in Red Meadows Asylum , a facility for the criminally insane. His supposed murders are still told as a horror tale, and earned him the moniker of Mr. Jingles because of the jingling keychain on his belt.[3]
After 14 years at the asylum, Richter receives a visit from Donna Chambers, a PhD psychology student with an interest in the recent rise of violence and serial killers, who wants to study him in his natural habitat and helps him escape.[4]
Personality and Appearance[]
Benjamin was a good, kind-hearted man who was wrongfully framed for many murders by Margaret Booth. He was often bullied and had a crush on Margaret. When he was Mr. Jingles, he has a unkempt beard with scruffy grayish hair. He kept a key chain and a chain of ears as his trademark. He wore a leather jacket with military pants and boots. He had glasses and was tall and overweight. As Mr. Jingles, he was a violent, vengeful and bloodthirsty killer, killing his victims without mercy, ironically embodying the characteristics he was falsely framed for. Ritcher's wrongful imprisonment appeared to be the cause of his mental breakdown.
After being Mr. Jingles, he was a better and a more kempt human being. He had a wife and child and he was overwhelmed by his brother's death and he blamed himself. He was only a terrible person due to be being influenced by Margaret and Karen. Even though his mother hated him, he was still kind to her.
Story[]
At Red Meadows Asylum in 1984, Richter pretended to hang himself to lure in an orderly, whom he strangled to death and looted keys from. Three hours later, Art, an administrator, tells Dr. Hopple that Richter has escaped and hit the master release for all the cells on his way out and the inmates are running amok. Dr. Hopple finds a newspaper clipping in the cell announcing the reopening of Camp Redwood.
Once away from the asylum, Richter kills a gas station attendant in the town of Red Meadows and later arrives at Camp Redwood where he kills the hiker and chases Brooke Thompson in the woods surrounding the campsite.[3]
When his psychiatrist, Dr. Karen Hopple comes to Camp Redwood to warn Margaret Booth about Richter’s escape, he follows and kills her. He later murders Blake by stabbing him through the head while he was spying on Trevor Kirchner in the shower before going on to attack Rita in the infirmary.[5] Once the group tries to escape, Montana, Trevor, and Xavier go in a cabin but are stalked by Benjamin.
Montana, Xavier, and Trevor are attacked by townies but the townies are killed by Benjamin. Pete later talks to Benjamin thinking he is one of his friends but Benjamin spares him. Benjamin hears Rita's screams and he kills her.
Benjamin walks into the mess hall where Bertie makes him a sandwich but when he hears Xavier he tried to kill him. Bertie stops Benjamin but he attacks her and he placed Xavier in an oven. Benjamin goes to kill Brooke but he kills Ramirez but while this happens, Brooke escapes. Benjamin goes to kill Margaret and Margaret explains that she is Mr. Jingles. Benjamin goes to kill her but Margaret shoots him. After she stabs Trevor she turns around to see Benjamin escaped.
Donna talks to Benjamin while he digs out bullets from his chest and Donna begs for him to kill her but he won't. Benjamin starts choking Margaret out but he is killed by Xavier. Margaret kills Xavier and leaves. Ramirez asks Benjamin if he wants Satan as his leader and Benjamin agrees. Ramirez and Benjamin at dawn steal a cop car and drive to L.A.
Benjamin and Ramirez kill people in L.A. and Benjamin gives a old woman a newspaper with Ramirez's face and she screams and Ramirez is beaten and arrested and Benjamin drives past him tired of being his side kick. Benjamin moves to Alaska and gets married and has a kid, living under the name "Donald". He has a great job at Videoshack. One night, he eats dinner and watches TV with his wife when Redwood pops up and he watches it instead of changing the channel. One day, Benjamin comes home from work to find Lorraine's dead body and a note from Ramirez. Benjamin takes Bobby to Lizzie's house where he says goodbye. Benjamin goes to Redwood.
Benjamin notices Pete and he finds out he is a ghost. Benjamin is attacked by Keith and Larry and they take him to the rest of the ghosts. Benjamin is captured by the ghosts and Benjamin says that his mother is the Lady in White. Xavier takes him to his mother. Benjamin talks to his mother and she explains that she also caused him to become Jingles and she leaves telling him that she hates him. Benjamin sits at the dock where his brother died and his mother gives him advice that if he kills himself, he can kill Ramirez and not die. Benjamin kills himslef and becomes a ghost.
Benjamin attacks Ramirez but Benjamin is run over by Bruce. Benjamin comes back and he and Joans talk about being ghosts and dying again. Xavier takes Bruce and Ramirez to Benjamin's body but Benjamin kills Xavier and Benjamin is shot by Margaret. Benjamin comes back and the ghosts tell him how they feel and Xavier, Keith, and Larry stab him, tie him up, put him on a boat and send him in the lake. Benjamin sees Montana and he is taken under the lake by Bobby. He is in his Heaven with Lavinia and Bobby.
Bobby II comes to Redwood and Benjamin saves him from Margaret and tells him goodbye. Benjamin is last seen saying goodbye to his son with Bobby and Lavinia.
Quotes[]
- To Margaret: "I am the monster that you made me!"
- To customer: "You shouldn't watch horror movies. There's too much violence in this society."
- To Lizzie: "Darkness will always walk with me."
Notes[]
- Benjamin is the third character portayed by John Carroll Lynch. For a complete list of his characters, see Cast.
- Mr. Jingles is a mouse in the The Green Mile, a 1996 serial novel by American writer Stephen King. It's the pet mouse of one of the inmates at Cold Mountain Penitentiary.
- Mr. Jingles' childhood flashbacks introduce several small continuity errors, most notably because he tells Donna Chambers that he has never killed anyone outside of his military service before his escape from the asylum in 1984, but he is later shown killing his mother Lavinia in 1948. He is also stabbed in the leg during this sequence, apparently to provide an explanation for his limp, even though such a disability at an early age would have excluded him from military service. This contradiction suggests that Lavinia and the Camp Golden Star massacre were added during a rewrite and that the earlier scene with Donna was not rewritten to match.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Swift, Andy (September 15, 2019). AHS: 1984: Everything We Know So Far. TV Line.com.
- ↑ Episode: True Killers
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Episode: Camp Redwood
- ↑ Episode: Slashdance
- ↑ Episode: Mr. Jingles
| American Horror Story Characters | |||||||||||
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| Murder House | |||||||||||
| Asylum |
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| Coven | |||||||||||
| Freak Show | |||||||||||
| Hotel | |||||||||||
| Roanoke |
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| Cult | |||||||||||
| Apocalypse | |||||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||||
| Double Feature |
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| Delicate | |||||||||||