Earl Firefly

Earl Firefly, also known as The Professor, is a fictional serial killer featured in Rob Zombie's 2003 horror film House of 1000 Corpses. He is the patriarch of the depraved Firefly family.

Biography
Little is known about the history of Earl Firefly, and what is known is subject to interpretation. One account asserts that he may have been responsible for the murderous lifestyle that the Firefly family engaged upon. According to his wife, Mother Firefly, Earl wasn't always "bad", but he did have violent spells and was even responsible for pouring gasoline on his young son, Tiny, and setting him on fire. It may have been this same incident that caused severe third degree burns all across Earl Firefly's body.

By 1977, Earl was no longer living with the Firefly family, and was instead living in the tunnels that ran beneath Deadwood. Known as the Professor, he was the assistant to the psychotic surgeon known as Doctor Satan. While working for Doctor Satan, Earl required a special respirator device and wore night vision goggles so that he could see in the dark tunnels.

The Professor helped Doctor Satan perform exploratory brain surgery on a hapless youth named Jerry Goldsmith and he terrorized Jerry's friend Denise Willis when she had the misfortune of being trapped in Doctor Satan's tunnels. The Professor chased after Denise, swinging a massive ax at her. While lunging at her, he missed his target, but struck a support column with his ax, causing a section of the roof to collapse down on top of him. Earl survived the incident however and soon returned to Doctor Satan's waiting room.

Notes & Trivia



 * The nickname "The Professor" is derived from a character played by Harpo Marx in the 1930 Marx Brothers comedy film Animal Crackers.


 * On the House of 1000 Corpses DVD director's commentary, Rob Zombie confirms that Mother Firefly's husband Earl and the Professor are the same person.


 * According to Rob Zombie, Mother Firefly is a compulsive liar, so it is unclear whether Earl was actually responsible for Tiny's disfigurement.


 * Stuntman Jake McKinnon had difficulty seeing through his goggles and nearly hit Erin Daniels with his ax. The item he was wielding was a real ax and not a prop.