Captain Spaulding

This is one clown you don't want to run into in a pitch-black alley. Rob Zombie developed Captain Spaulding, a fictional clown who also happens to be a mass murderer. He appears in the Rob Zombie horror films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and 3 from Hell and is portrayed by the late, great Sid Haig. In the animated movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Haig also provided the voice for Captain Spaulding. The persona is portrayed as a filthy, deadly clown.

Captain Spaulding is distinguished by his sour disposition and less-than-stunning clown makeup. He is a clown you don't want to bring over for a birthday party because he is also a murdering sociopath who lacks empathy.

In the movie House of 1000 Corpses, Spaulding plays the owner of a Texas petrol station that also serves fried chicken. The location also houses Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen, a roadside haunted house attraction. The business is attacked by robbers at the start of the movie, who Spaulding shoots dead. Later in the movie, when four individuals learn about Dr. Satan's local lore while visiting his business, Spaulding points them in the direction of the homicidal Firefly family. The relationship between Spaulding and the Firefly family is left unclear for the majority of the movie.