THE DOCTOR OF DEATH
HE TALKS!
HE FLIES!
HE KILLS!
HE HEALS!
LIFE?
MAN?
BIRD?
MONSTER?
DOCTOR?
DEATH!
From the streets of Montauban, the once street artist
decides to step up and delight everyone with his
fantastic act
Fall prey to fear and tension when this man,
No! This monster raises the dead from their graves!
Don't miss it
The following is a page from a publication entitled To the Circus Born: Herman Fuller's Menagerie of Freaks. The identities of neither publisher nor author have been established, and scattered pages have been found inserted into Circus-themed books in libraries across the world. The person or persons behind this dissemination are unknown.
Doctor Death
it's for kids, and that's why it has effects. The effects look so that when the dead come in you can only see enough to know that they are not moving, so you don't have to show the children and their parents any more than necessary. Trust me, it was a complicated act to sell to the parents, and the last thing we wanted for them was to leave in the middle of the show screaming for their money back.
Once the Shadow Assistants had finished moving the cart with the dead man to the middle of the tent, the Doctor of Death would let out a big, crow-like squawk, but louder, almost like a roar. The lights moved quickly to point him at the top of the acrobat's pole, and with his large wings spread, he flew over the audience, sometimes giving away some cotton candy to some lucky kid, and landed in the center of the tent, just behind the dead man. He would bow once to the audience, and once to the corpse.
After putting his wings under his hood - don't ask me how they fit in there - he would pull a bag of black burlap out of his sleeve, open it, and take out all kinds of tools, from small knives and swabs to saws and cutting lasers, how did everything fit into a bag the size of his hand? How did he have lasers that cut bones in 1923? Don't ask me either.
The Doctor always seemed to just do anything with the body. Random cuts and syringes everywhere, all while posing for the audience. He didn't usually take too long, and when he closed the body with a black ribbon, he spat something out of his mouth which, when it touched the ground, filled the center of the tent with black smoke for a few seconds, then the Doctor would open his wings, stretch his arms out to the audience, and ask them to shout with him, "Oh, Death, Dear Death, Let Me See Him With Live Once Again!" The smoke would go up in flames and disappear, and in the center of the tent, with the Doctor still with his arms and wings open for the audience, he would shout "Life!", and the dead man would rise, taking a great breath, and moan a great moan to the audience.
The children, and the adults, went crazy. Applause, candies, and sometimes even money were thrown in between cheers. That was the act that marked a before and an after in his career. That was the act that made him part of the circus.
But despite his great debut, things didn't go so well soon afterward.
You see, in an art form like the circus, there are many factors that define your success. One of them is novelty. The Doctor began in a big way, he had many more acts after his debut where he repeated exactly the same thing with the same results. But since his seventh performance, things have changed. The tickets stopped selling so much. The audience had become tired. The Doctor was getting boring. And with what Fuller was spending on his act, both on publicity and food and hiding bodies, he wasn't going to let the numbers turn red.
First it was just a talk. Asking the doctor to change the formula, and he did. The next night he showed up with a slightly different routine, bringing two dead people to life, but the results were not as expected.
Another talk, this time at the top of his lungs. The Doctor was now bringing three dead people to life, and making them dance later, but the audience was not impressed. The act was over and the Doctor was dragged into the little red tent of the Circus. In the rain, I heard him scream, like a man and a bird, and then he was thrown into the mud. I tried to help him when Fuller and his Bully walked away, but he refused.
That same night, he didn't sleep. He spent hours and hours making noise in his tent. Making up things to add to his act and practicing. At least four nights were like that, with him doing a bigger and crazier act than the last, people not responding, and Fuller taking him to the red tent.
Before we continue, let me explain a couple of things to give you more context.
Doctor Death
Nacidos del Circo
The Doctor began to suffer from something like that. First, he stopped sleeping, then he stopped eating, and then they stopped feeding him. He began to obsess about doing an act that would bring back the cheers of his debut. When I finally managed to convince him to stop and talk to me for a moment, he said something I will never forget: "I want to see the surprised eyes of the children on me again. I want to see the adults get up from their seats and applaud. I want to feel my heart beat again and be excited by the smiles of an audience that has had the night of their lives."
He told me he had a great plan. His next performance would be on Tuesday the 13th, which was perfect for his horror-themed act, and he asked for my help. I said yes, and we got down to business.
The night finally came.
As usual, everything began with the dead man's cart being pushed into the center of the tent, with the spotlights following it and the effects covering it up. The Doctor gave a great squawk, the lights were pointed at him, he spread out his ever huge and now six black wings, four of them false, and began to fly over the audience. As he flew, he gave away sweets that he kept in his bag to the children. No child was left without a piece of candy in his possession.
The Doctor landed behind the cart, bowed to the audience, and then bowed to the body. In a quick motion, he threw many of his tools into the air, spread his wings once more, and in the air, caught them all one by one before they fell on the audience. The people, still somewhat frightened, applauded and were amazed at his speed and accuracy. He returned once more behind the cart, raised the tools in his hands to show them to the audience, and with a great kick threw the body into the air. With several quick lunges in his flight, the Doctor prevented the body from falling to the ground while he operated. Every time he used something on the body, he would strike a pose in the air.
When he finished with the body, he dropped it, and caught it shortly before it hit the cart, to let it rest on top slowly. The audience kept applauding him. The Doctor then spat out three black fumes. Then, the moment of truth came. Drum rolls, low lights, and only one spotlight pointed at the body and the artist surrounded by smoke. Without asking, the crowd at the Doctor's unison began to say his mythical phrase, "Oh, Death, Dear Death, Let Me See Him Once More Alive!"
The body rose, and as the Doctor spun the smoke around the tent with his large wings, he moaned a great moan to the audience.
They went mad.
Applause, money, sweets, I even think I saw a watch, being thrown at the Doctor as they shouted and clapped. Amidst cheers, amidst gifts, amidst the flashing columns of fire beside him, the Doctor bowed and then collapsed.
When they gave him medical attention, they discovered that the ligaments in his legs and arms had been torn, that the bones in his real wings had been broken, that his left foot had been twisted, and that he had irreparable damage to his brain from bruising and lack of sleep.
When the Doctor finally managed to wake up, the circus had already packed up everything to go to its next destination. Fuller himself gave him the news; the circus no longer needed him. Fuller had had his wings clipped before he woke up, so he wouldn't follow us.
Without wings and strength, the Doctor could do nothing.
My god, Doctor. I should have done more for you. I should have helped you more. But it was impossible with Fuller. I just hope that, if you continue to live, you'll continue to do what you love most and never let your spirit be broken. If you ever read this, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
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