Twisty the Clown

"I'm a good clown..."

- Twisty to Edward Mordrake.

Twisty (also known as Twisty the Clown) is the secondary antagonist of the 4th season of anthology horror TV series, American Horror Story. Twisty is a retired clown who is a serial killer and kidnapper. He wears a mask at the bottom of his face hiding his terrifying nature. He was seemingly the primary antagonist of Season 4, but was soon revealed to be a plot to hide the true main villain.

He was portrayed by John Carroll Lynch who also played Sheriff Bob Ryan and Machine.

Personality
At first, Twisty exhibits traits of no remorse, and seems like a remorseless, contumacious, and insubordinate killer, murdering people sometimes for no reason at all. However, later it is learned that Twisty was delusional and pretentious, so he was not aware of the atrocities that he was committing.

Appearance
Twisty has strange facial features, his face being parts of a mask and then scars on different sides. He is always wearing a dirty and muggy clown suit, and usually is carrying around a sack that holds his juggling pins.

History
Twisty's background is a major topic explored in Edward Mordrake: Part 2 as a baby his mother dropped him on his head. Twisty was a very popular childrens clown in 1943. Two midgets who work along side Twisty, were jealous of Twisty and told him that the children were telling the cops that he was touching them. Confused, Twisty runs away and is unable to find work anywhere. He returns to Jupiter Fl, and tries to sell toys to children, but is met with fear and disgust. So he decides to kill himself by shooting himself with a shotgun. He fails at that and only disfigures himself. He then decides to make the children love him again and keep them "safe" from their parents.

Story
Twisty's first known captive was Bonnie Lipton, a girl local to Jupiter, FL. He came upon her while she was having a picnic with her boyfriend. His entertainment of them both turned to terror when Twisty knocked the boy and girl unconscious with juggling pins. Later, she awoke to find Twisty had fatally stabbed her boyfriend. She tried to flee, but Twisty took her captive.

He also murdered Corey Bachman's family in a similar manner, taking the young boy hostage.

Lipton and Bachman are held captive in an improvised cage in the back of an abandoned bus. Twisty proceeds to try and entertain them, but they only gave him looks of horror. He tried from a different angle and blew up a balloon and tried to make a balloon animal. But he rushed it and ended up popping the animal, distressing the two captives and causing Twisty to become enraged. He threw jars on the floor and banged on their cages, and pulled the bunting and the streamers down.

Twisty also decapitated a toy store owner and his clerk, lurking in plain sight to capture the latter. He carried the young clerk's head with him in a sack.

Gloria Mott encountered a walking Twisty roadside. She pulled alongside, asking if he does private parties for children. She offered to pay him handsomely to cheer her son, Dandy. Dandy tried to entertain Twisty with a marionette show. Twisty was not amused, though Dandy wanted Twisty to take a turn amusing him. Dandy more closely observes Twisty, but said that the clown will have to earn his keep to stay. After a knock to Dandy's head, Twisty ran off. Later, Bonnie and Corey were trying to escape when Twisty entered the bus (unknowingly followed by Dandy) and sat opposite them before offering the toy that he took from Dandy's house. When the toy stopped moving, Twisty got up and Bonnie hit him with a nailed board, ripping off his mask and revealing his disfigured mouth, allowing them to escape. However, Corey was recovered by Twisty and Bonnie was caught and taken back to the bus by Dandy, who wanted to see them tortured 'for fun'.

During Halloween, Twisty stalks a young girl and followers her to her home, where he kidnaps her brother.

A short while later, Twisty is attacked once again by Bonnie and he captures her as she tries to escape once again. Jimmy Darling and Maggie Esmerelda see this from a distance, and follow him to try and help Bonnie, but end up being knocked out by Dandy. Dandy then tries to put on a show for the captured victims by attempting to saw Maggie in half, with Twisty clueless and cheering from the sidelines. Jimmy escapes captivity and punches Dandy. Twisty cheers, thinking it is a part of the show, but Jimmy punches out Twisty afterwards. Jimmy is captured by Twisty, and as Twisty is about to kill Jimmy, Edward Mordrake arrives, and demands Twisty's tale.

Twisty eventually takes his mask off, once again revealing his disfigured face, and tells Edward his story about how he was a children's entertainer, who was confused and tricked by his jealous coworkers into making him run away. Afterward, Twisty had tried to sell recycled toys, but is denied out of fear and disgust. Twisty had then attempted suicide with a shotgun, but instead disfigures his lower jaw. He tried to entertain customers at the Freak Show, but is once again denied. Twisty then attempted to "save" kids from their parents, and got them a "pretty babysitter" (Bonnie) showing that he did not know that he was not aware that he had done wrong when he had kidnapped and committed the murders.

Edward claims that "The Demon" wept for his tale, and that his story was unique. He invites him to join him and the other souls he had collected, Twisty then stands up and is stabbed to death by Edward and his collected souls. Twisty's spirit then gets up, no longer disfigured, and joins Edward's group. Jimmy, having viewed the whole event, was credited for killing Twisty.

Twisty does not appear again until the season finale ("Curtain Call") where he appears alongside Edward Mordrake when they visit Elsa (who was performing on Halloween, a ritual the freaks normally avoid in order to prevent summoning Mordrake).

Trivia

 * Twisty is based on the infamous real-life killer John Wayne Gacy, who is known as "killer clown". Interestingly enough, in American Horror Story: Hotel, John Carroll Lynch portrayed the ghost of Gacy himself.