Viktor Kane (1881-1939)
Childhood
Viktor Kane was born on January 8, 1881. Viktor had a twin brother named Vincent who died at the age of three. Vincent was Mother’s favorite because Viktor reminded her of his father, who she hated. Vincent’s death caused Mother to go mad and she believed that Vincent’s spirit latched itself onto her son’s doll. She believed that the doll was her dead son and forced Viktor to watch over and always keep his brother with him. This led to Viktor being bullied and punished throughout his childhood.
The Lincoln Mill
In his teenage years, Viktor began working at his grandfather’s textile mill. Viktor kept to himself and learned how the mill operated. After the death of his grandfather, Viktor took control of the mill.
Viktor ran the mill until the Great Depression hit in October 1929. Times were tough and the conditions worsened for the workers. The workers demanded higher pay and better working conditions. Around this time, several workers were killed in an overnight machine accident. Viktor feared the mill would be forced to shut down if he didn’t do something about it.
With the help of Edwin Leech, his Night Watchman, they hid the bodies in the basement. When one worker named Lester discovered the bodies, Lester was knocked unconscious. Viktor didn’t know what to do with Lester so he chained him up in the basement and cut his tongue out. Viktor was fascinated with Lester’s suffering.
The Hidden Chamber
Viktor devised a plan to study human suffering and began construction of the hidden chamber. Viktor recruited Dexter, the mill manager, to report the noncompliant workers and he recruited Gretchen, the textile designer to design their body mutations. One by one, workers were abducted, locked up, and tormented in the chamber below the mill. Workers were turned into puppet abominations and became part of Viktor’s experiment in human suffering.
It’s believed that a dark force or demon possessed Viktor. It is unclear how or when it got there but its name is Corruptis and it spreads ‘the corruption’ – a dark force that infects the minds of the living.
Viktor’s Death
Viktor and his accomplices kept the operation a secret throughout the 1930s. With a lust for power, Gretchen killed Viktor in February 1939. Gretchen’s control was short-lived, having killed herself several months later. It’s believed that Viktor’s spirit returned after his death, possessed Gretchen, and was behind the massacre of her allies. The ghost of Viktor Kane still haunts the mill and inflicts fear on the mill’s modern day visitors.
