American Horror Story: 1984: Mr. Jingles could have a twisted backstory that caused him to snap twice
'American Horror Story' fans are asking a lot of questions about the recently premiered season 9, '1984', and the most common and prominent one out of those has to be what could have possibly made Mr. Jingles snap.
Mr. Jingles, the villain this season, has escaped from a psychiatric facility after tricking the guard by staging his own suicide and then beating him to death. As the police are on the lookout for the villainous man, we find out that he is the same masked murderer who went on a killing rampage at the lakeside Camp Redwood some 14 years prior to the season's current plot. The only survivor from his killing spree was a girl called Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman), who has now returned to reopen Camp Redwood with her group of camp counselors.
It is around the same time that Mr. Jingles escaped the psych ward, and returns to the campsite to haunt and terrorize the camp goers once again, with his prime target being the girl who survived - Margaret. Now, it could be a killer's thirst to finish what he had started that spurs him to begin his rampage on the camp now that Margaret has reopened it. But the question about what could have been the possible killer's motive the first time around, or whether this could go beyond Margaret's survival is still unanswered.
'American Horror Story' veteran John Carol Lynch plays the role of the deadly ax-murderer Benjamin Richter, aka Mr. Jingles in this season. In the season premiere that aired last Wednesday, September 18, it was revealed that Richter, before he became Mr. Jingles, had served in the Vietnam War, where he allegedly had the highest kill rate. For some reason, he was dishonorably discharged, following which, the only place he could find a decent living was at Camp Redwood.
Speculations along the lines of Richter thirsting for the bloodshed he committed in the war and thus taking it out on innocent campers the first time around wouldn't be wrong. The recounting of his horrors told viewers that after committing his first set of murders, he cut off body parts like ears and eyeballs from his victims and tied them on a string to resemble a necklace of sorts. The moniker Mr. Jingles was coined because of the jingling of his set of camp keys that he always carried on his person, but knowing Ryan Murphy's twisted horror, there has to be more of a trigger in his backstory or even the present day that led to him snapping.
Find out more on the second episode that airs this Wednesday, September 25 at 9 pm only on FX.