Haunt Darling
Meet Trixie 
Name: Trixie
Age: 20s
Location: West Central Florida
Type: Clown Ballerina
Appearances: Howl-O-Scream Tampa 2018 (Crash Test Clowns), Ghostfest 2025 (Circus Eternal)
"All I ever wanted to do was dance."
Trixie was once a featured performer at Sparky's Maniac Midway, a circus that frequented the southern United States in the late 2010s. As the Midway's Clown Ballerina, she delighted audiences with her pratfalls and clumsy choreography. Trixie was never good on her feet. Before joining Sparky's clown troupe, she yearned to be a ballerina dancing on a grand stage, but her lack of poise and discipline didn't get her far. At Sparky's, her gaucherie was welcomed and even encouraged. She finally found a place where she felt like she belonged.
One autumn night, while the Midway set up shop in Tampa, Florida, Trixie and her fellow clowns decided to take a joyride through the swampy Florida marshland. Everything was going swell... until their clown car careened off the road, crashing into one of the cabins at Camp D.O.A., a summer camp closed for the season. During the off-season, Camp D.O.A. played host to a family of murderous mutants that called the surrounding woods home. They did not take kindly to trespassers or lollygaggers.
As Trixie and her fellow clowns fought their way out of the wreckage, Camp D.O.A.'s bloodthirsty residents emerged from the woods and gruesomely made meals of Sparky's clown troupe. The next thing Trixie knew, she awoke as something not human, something that craved blood and guts rather than popcorn and cotton candy. A zombie!
Rather than putting the newborn zombies out of their misery, Sparky smelled a new business opportunity as rancid as the dead flesh rotting on his clowns. He transformed the Midway's beloved bumper cars attraction into CRASH TEST CLOWNS, giving his clowns to hunt for their prey in a whole new way. This way, the clowns could be fed, guests could be entertained, and Sparky could earn more money to keep his Maniac Midway running. It was a win-win for everyone!
Trixie barely remembers who she used to be. But even as she rots and succumbs to her hunger for flesh and gore, she never forgets to give the crowd a show they'll remember forever...
...that is, in their last moments!
Trivia:
- I originally played Trixie in the Crash Test Clowns attraction at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's 2018 iteration of Howl-O-Scream. Years later, I brought her back for the Circus Eternal maze at the May-Stringer House's Ghostfest event in 2025.
- During HOS rehearsals, I originally named Trixie 'Alouette' because I'd dance around whilst scaring in the plaza. I dropped this idea when show directors told us to act like zombie clowns instead.
- A cast mate I was friends with named Trixie.
- Trixie has connections to two HOS Tampa Icons - Trickster (from 2012's 'Dark Side of the Gardens' event) and Sparky (a clown character that frequently showed up in advertising during the 2010s). Trixie wore Trickster's mask on the final night of Howl-O-Scream 2018.
- The costume I wore as Trixie is still used by Busch Gardens today, usually in clown or carnival themed scarezones and roaming hordes.
Trixie's Tunes: