Firefly family

The Firefly family is a clan of loosely-related individuals who existed as brutal violent serial killers in the town of Ruggsville, Texas throughout the 1970s. Their actual surnames are unknown. They began using the "Firefly" alias at the suggestion of a man who called himself Otis B. Driftwood. All of the family members, including Otis, adopted aliases based upon film characters originally portrayed by comedian Groucho Marx. The Firefly name came from a character named Rufus T. Firefly from the 1933 film Duck Soup.

The Family That Slays Together
The eldest member of the group was a man known affectionately as Grandpa Hugo. Very little is known about this individual, save that he is likely the father of Eve Wilson, who had since adopted the nickname Mother Firefly. It is believed that Grandpa Hugo may have had some connection to a psychotic surgeon named S. Quentin Quale, who carved himself legendary status under the pseudonym Doctor Satan. Some sources suggest that Hugo may have actually been Doctor Satan, while others assert that he masqueraded as him on occasion.

Eve Wilson, aka, Mother Firefly, was a former prostitute who had sired children through various fathers. One of these men, presumably named Rufus, gave her a son who was known as Rufus Firefly, Jr. (or RJ). Another man, Earl, who may have been Eve's common law husband, was the father of Tiny. When Tiny was a young boy, Earl suffered a psychotic break, poured gasoline on his son and set him on fire. Tiny survived, but suffered third degree burns over his entire body.

Around the year 1947, Eve Wilson was involved with a man named Johnny Lee "Cutter" Johns. Together they had a daughter named Vera-Ellen. Cutter stayed with Eve for some time to help her raise their child, but eventually separated from her to pursue his own ambitions. Cutter eventually became a local celebrity going by the name of Captain Spaulding (another Marx reference) and established a roadside attraction known as Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen. Vera-Ellen, nicknamed Baby remained at home and grew up with her half-siblings Rufus, Jr. and Tiny.

The Drifter
At some point in the mid 1960s, the family meant Otis B. Driftwood. Otis quickly became very close with Eve Wilson, Cutter and Baby. Insinuating himself into the family, he often bickered with Cutter over who should be the authoritative figure in the household. It was Otis who convinced the others to assume aliases based on Groucho Marx characters. Rumor has it that Otis and Vera-Ellen joined a cult worshiping Doctor Satan, but were later kicked out after Otis stabbed a cult leader to death.

By the 1970s, the Firefly family members had developed a depraved lifestyle which consisted of kidnapping, torture, mutilation and murder. As late as 1977, the Fireflys were responsible for the disappearances of more than seventy-five people, most of whom were teenage girls.

House of 1000 Corpses
In October of 1975, Captain Spaulding met four youths named Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles, Jerry Goldsmith and Denise Willis, who came into his museum and went on a trip on his "Murder Ride". Jerry and Bill were interested in the legend of Doctor Satan, and Spaulding gave them directions to a cemetery where the infamous doctor was allegedly buried. Little did they know that Spaulding was actually sending them directly into the hands of the Firefly. Mother Firefly invited them into her home and took particular interest in Jerry Goldsmith, while her daughter Baby had fun flirting with Bill Hudley, much to the chagrin of Bill's girlfriend, Mary. They staid for an awkward candle-lit dinner in which Mother made everyone at the table, including their guests, wear bizarre masks while they ate. Following the meal, Grandpa Hugo hosted a special "Showtime" event in which Baby Firefly performed a vaudeville-style dancing act on stage. She again flirted with Bill Hudley, which enraged Mary Knowles and the two women came to blows.

The four guests were asked to leave, but they did not get far. Otis, Rufus and Tiny ambushed their vehicle on the road and took them all captive. Otis engaged in his more creative passions and dismembered Bill, reconfiguring his limbs into a freakish, sideshow attraction that he dubbed Fish Boy. Baby entertained herself by partially scalping Jerry Goldsmith.

On Halloween night, the Fireflys dressed Jerry, Mary and Denise in adult-sized rabbit costumes and marched them out to a nearby cemetery. Otis donned black and white skull makeup and administered over a strange, occult ritual. Mary tried to flee, but Baby chased her down and stabbed her to death. Otis, Rufus and Mother took Jerry and Denise, locked them inside a coffin and lowered them into the underground tunnels dominated by the true Doctor Satan. They then burned Mary's remains in a ritualistic funeral pyre.

The Devil's Rejects
In the Spring of 1978, the Ruggsville County Sheriff's Department had enough evidence on the Firefly family to begin making arrests. On May 18th of that year, they raided the Firefly ranch and engaged in a shoot-out with the depraved family. Rufus, Jr. was killed during the fire fight and Mother Firefly was arrested. Otis and Baby managed to escape and Tiny was elsewhere at the time of the siege.

Otis and Baby took refuge inside the Kahiki Palms Motel where they tortured and killed the room's present occupants, Roy Sullivan, Gloria Sullivan, Adam Banjo, Wendy Banjo and a roadie named Jimmy. They reunited with Captain Spaulding and the three stole a van and drove to a brothel owned by Spaulding's brother, Charlie Altamont.

During this time, Sheriff John Quincy Wydell, brother of Firefly victim George Wydell had interrogated Mother Firefly and learned the truth about his brother's death. This knowledge drove him over the edge and he stabbed Mother Firefly to death inside the interrogation room. He then hired two bounty hunters named Rondo and Billy Ray Snapper to help him capture the remaining family members.

The following evening, Wydell and the bounty hunters (who went by the collective name of The Unholy Two) raided Charlie's Frontier Fun Town brothel and captured Baby, Otis and Spaulding. He brought them back to the Firefly ranch where he tortured them at length. He stapled photographs of the Fireflys' victims to Otis and Baby's chests and zapped Captain Spaulding with a cattle prod. He then let Baby go with the intent of hunting her down and set the farmhouse on fire with Otis and Spaulding still trapped inside. Wydell shot Baby in the leg and tried to strangle her to death, but Tiny Firefly appeared and snapped Wydell's neck, killing him. He then set Spaulding and Otis free. Tiny knew that his family members would not likely survive the night due to their wounds as well as their fugitive status. No longer wishing to live, Tiny stayed inside the house and elected to burn to death rather than live alone.

Otis, Baby and Spaulding took Charlie Altamont's Cadillac and drove on through morning. The next day, they spotted a police roadblock and knew that this was the end of the road for them. They decided to go out guns-blazing and charged the barricade. All three of them died in a hail of police gunfire.