Our Twisted History

~ From Humble Beginnings to Heinous Ends ~

Meet the Family! (You'll Wish You Hadn't)

THE DESCENT TIMELINE
1948
1956
1963
1967
1968
1948: First Encounter

The circus master meets the farmer's daughter. A romance blooms around a rigged ring toss. Their eyes meet over a stuffed bear that no one was meant to win. Mordecai Barlow slips Martha Johnson a marked card—his personal invitation to "after hours." Neither realizes they've been selected for something far greater.

The beginning of the bloodline...

1956: First Disappearance

The Bellman family vanishes after attending the newly formed "Crimson Smile Carnival" outside Tulsa. Their station wagon is found with cotton candy stuck to the upholstery. It smells... wrong. Sweet, but with a copper undertone. The children's half-eaten treats show unusual red streaking. Local police find nothing but a single shoe, child-sized, near the woods behind the carnival grounds.

The hunger awakens...

1963: Nevada 'Incident'

Three men in black suits visit the carnival outside of Searchlight, Nevada. Military credentials. No names given. Mordecai is seen injecting something into his neck afterwards—a blue-green serum that makes his veins glow beneath his skin. Family's appearances begin to... shift. Martha's smile extends nearly to her ears. The children's movements become too fluid, joints bending in impossible ways. Four locals go missing during the carnival's three-day stay.

The transformation accelerates...

1967: The Breach

Kansas Highway Patrol reports "impossible" phenomena during confrontation with carnival workers. Officer Daniels' final radio transmission: "Their faces are coming off... there's something underneath..." Second officer found catatonic, repeating "the painted smiles move by themselves." Carnival disappears overnight, leaving behind three patrol vehicles with seats soaked in blue fluid. Laboratory analysis inconclusive. Samples degraded unusually fast.

The veil thins...

1968: Containment Failure

Complete communication blackout. Last known sighting near Chimera Lake, Utah. Military cordon established but finds nothing. Three search teams enter the cave system where carnival equipment was discovered. None return. Recovered camera footage shows only static with occasional frames of distorted, elongated figures. Operation officially terminated Dec 13, 1968. Area remains restricted under guise of "environmental hazard."

They are loose...

Papa Mordecai Barlow (The Ringleader)

Mordecai Barlow


Born sometime around the Great War, they say. Worked odd jobs in traveling shows – freak shows, medicine shows, anything that moved. Learned the carny trade young. Strong as an ox, quick with a hammer (or fist). Met Martha working a rigged ring toss game in '48. Said her smile was the only prize he ever truly won... though he preferred the ones he carved himself later.

MILITARY RECORD [PARTIAL]

SUBJECT: BARLOW, M. [REDACTED]
SERVICE: US ARMY, 1942-1945
UNIT: [REDACTED] SPECIAL OPERATIONS

NOTES: SUBJECT DEMONSTRATED UNUSUAL TOLERANCE TO [REDACTED] DURING OP. STILLWATER. RECOMMENDED FOR CHIMERA PHASE 1 TRIALS BY DR. [REDACTED]. PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATIONS SHOW SADISTIC TENDENCIES WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS.

STATUS: HONORABLY DISCHARGED 1945. MARKED FOR CIVILIAN MONITORING.

Mama Martha Barlow (The Matriarch of Malice)

A farmer's daughter who ran away to join the circus. Sweet on the surface, but there was always something... brittle underneath. Excellent seamstress – patched up costumes and, occasionally, other things. Her pies were famous on the circuit, though some ingredients weren't listed on any recipe card. Started wearing the clown makeup full-time around '61. Said it "kept the real face safe."

Martha Barlow
Mama's Special Meat Pies Recipe

Lilybeth Barlow
(Daddy's Little Nightmare)

The elder child, born '52. Quiet, watchful. Loved dolls, especially ones that looked disturbingly realistic. Developed a fascination with anatomy early on, helped Pa Barlow with 'show prep'. Her clown persona, "Giggles," was known for a high-pitched laugh that often coincided with someone backstage having an 'accident'. Listen closely, maybe you can still hear it...

Lilybeth Barlow at play
SCHOOL RECORD FRAGMENT

Student: Lilybeth Barlow
Grade: 3 (attended sporadically)
Notes from teacher (Miss Winters):

Lilybeth is a quiet child with troubling tendencies. Her drawings are
disturbing - human figures with their insides exposed. When questioned, she explained in alarming detail what each organ was. School pets disappeared whenever the carnival was in town. I've contacted the authorities regarding my concerns, but the family moved on before any investigation. The other children are afraid of her laugh.

Miss Winters resigned shortly afterward.
Her replacement found a small doll resembling
Miss Winters in Lilybeth's desk
- with pins in its eyes.

Junior Barlow (Mama's Boy)

Born '55. Less outwardly aggressive than Lilybeth, more... unsettlingly vacant. Mimicked his parents' movements. Obsessed with ropes, knots, and how things held together (or came apart). His clown act involved elaborate, often dangerous-looking, escape artistry. Sometimes, the volunteers didn't quite 'escape'. He just smiled his painted smile.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION [1966]

PATIENT: BARLOW, J.

AGE: 11 (APPEARS PHYSIOLOGICALLY 15-17)

WEIGHT: 140 LBS

TEMP: 95.2°F (BELOW NORMAL)

NOTES: SUBJECT DISPLAYS UNUSUAL JOINT FLEXIBILITY. SKIN ELASTICITY BEYOND NORMAL PARAMETERS. BLOOD WORK REVEALS [REDACTED] ANOMALIES CONSISTENT WITH GAMMA-7 EXPRESSION. PUPILLARY RESPONSE ABNORMAL - POSSIBLE SECONDARY EYELID?

RECOMMENDATIONS: CONTINUE MONITORING. INCREASE SERUM DOSAGE 15%. CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL BETA IF CHANGES ACCELERATE.

Mama's Diary - Fragments Recovered

Found tucked inside a hollowed-out Bible. Pages stained and brittle.

June 10, 1961 Mordecai came back late. Smelled of cheap whiskey and something coppery. Said he 'disciplined' that roustabout who looked at me funny. Roustabout ain't showed up for work today. Mordecai just polished his hammer. Painted a new, wider smile on his mask tonight. Said it felt right. Kids slept soundly. Good kids.
September 3, 1963 Lilybeth brought me a 'present'. A bird, but its wings were put on backwards. She giggled and said it looked prettier that way. Such imagination! Junior spent all afternoon tying knots in Pa's rope. Tied one around the stray cat's neck. Said he was 'practicing for the big show'. Had to remind him not to practice on things we might need later. Mordecai watched them both. He was so proud. His real smile, the one under the paint, showed for a second. It's all teeth.
July 18, 1965 - [REDACTED] Town, Somewhere West Left last town quick. Sheriff asked too many questions about the missing couple near the edge of the woods. Said they just 'moved on'. People move on all the time. We help them sometimes. Mordecai says the road calls. Says the paint needs fresh coats. Says the smiles need to be BRIGHTER. REDDER. He keeps talking about the special project... the one the man in the black car mentioned back in Nevada... makes him jittery. Makes his laugh sound like rocks grinding. What project? What man?
October 31, 1967 - Hiding It's happening faster now. My skin feels too tight. The children's eyes change when they think I'm not looking. Something moves under Junior's face. The men in suits found us again yesterday. Brought more of the blue serum. Mordecai took three doses. Said we needed to be "ready for the final phase." His arms are longer today. I caught Lilybeth staring at her reflection, pulling at her cheeks like they might come off. I'm scared. Not of what we've done. Of what we're becoming. they're inside us now. they speak through our mouths sometimes.