Child’s Play Chucky is Hollywood’s best-known killer doll, but he was once a human serial killer named Charles Lee Ray, aka The Lakeshore Strangler.
Chucky made his first appearance in the film Child’s Play in 1988. The series continues for seven more films, the last one being in 2019. An American horror media franchise created by Don Mancini. Chucky the doll was born due to a voodoo ritual performed by killer Charles Lee Ray. After suffering a gunshot would in a police chase, Charles transfers his soul into a nearby good guys doll. Pretending to be an inanimate object, Chucky later is given to a young boy and begins terrorizing the family, even when they realize that he is alive. Child’s Play 2 & 3, Chucky continues his pursuit of the young boy, Andy before moving on to the Bride of Chucky.
The backstory of the doll is based on serial killer Charles Lee Ray. When growing up had a loving family but suffered from a severe case of sadistic and homicidal urges. When he was seven, after returning home from Halloween trick-or-treating, he checked his candy and found an apple with a razor blade stuck inside it. He bit into it anyway and smiled after the razor blade cut into his mouth causing him to bleed. At the time the news reported the Hackensack Slasher, a serial killer loose on the radio. Sometime later, the Hackensack Slasher broke into his home and killed his father right in front of him. Attempting to hide from him, Charles and his mother hid in the closet. However, when Hackensack Slasher found them, he was surprised to see that Charles had stabbed his mother to death, claiming to have helped. Impressed by the boys actions, Hackensack gave him advice on how to always cover your tracks.
After his parents deaths, Charles was placed in the Burlington County home for wayward boys. He received therapy from a woman named Mixer. But instead of helping young Charles she encouraged him to embrace his homicidal tendencies. One day, after tracking mud through the hallway, he was yelled at by the Janitor, who he killed by slitting his throat.
Later, after fleeing the orphanage he was involved with the deaths of nine people and injuries of another five. He was the chief suspect in a recent kidnapping and also shot a police officer who tried to stop and question him.
A few years later Charles picked up a couple of woman from a nightclub and brought them back to his hotel. The two women engaged in foreplay with Charles until he pulled a knife over the red-headed one. To his surprise she instructed him to go through with it. Ray then choose to kill the other woman instead, stabbing her and then passing the knife to the redhead who joined in. After killing her together, the couple kissed passionately on the bed where the redhead told him her name was Tiffany.
The two relocated to Chicago, during which he had a double life as a serial killer and regular civilian. He studied voodoo under the guidance of a practitioner in an attempt to learn how to cheat death. He continued to commit a series of ritual murders and eventually becoming known as the Lakeshore Strangler.
While at a neighborhood BBQ, a mutual friend introduces him to a woman named Sarah and her family. Charles becomes obsessed with Sarah and wanting her for himself. Later Charles drowns the man friend and makes it look like a accident. He attends the funeral and proceeds to kidnap Sarah shortly after.
Around the same time, tensions rose between Charles and Tiffany when Tiffany found out he was killing people without her. Tiffany then made an anonymous call to police, telling them the whereabouts of the Lakeshore Strangler. The police found where Charles was holding Sarah, thinking it was her who called the police he angrily stabbed her in the stomach, which would leave her unborn child paralyzed from the waist down. Not long after a chase ensued between Chucky and Detective Mike Norris.
Here’s a Chucky doll you can add to your horror collection.
