Pepper The Pinhead On American Story Is Based On This Real-Life Performer…

Here’s a great post. Since various combinations of “Pepper the Pinhead on American Horror Story Asylum” has probably been one of (if not the #1) top search term that lands horror fans on Horror Boom for the past month, I still wonder what her make-up process is, and if any wanted to see how her make-up was done. This great post from Laurie Kendrick briefly discusses that, but also the real life person Pepper is based on, Simon Metz (I never knew “Schlitze” was a man, which is kind of embarrassing since I consider myself a subject matter expert and big fan of the movie since I read about it in 1980. Then I discovered the Ramones connection and that took my obsession to a whole new level. I was actually too scared to see it after I read Stephen King’s vivid, horrifying description of the seminal film in his non-fiction book, Danse Macabre.

At the time, I didn’t want to see anything that gave Stephen King nightmares. Anyway, I’ve read several books on what were oh-so-compassionately termed Freak Shows and the actual people who performed in them. This is a great read on the subject of the movie and “Schlitze”. I have more information on the subject, but that’s for later, and Ms. Kendrick does a much better job here than if I worked on a piece full-time for a week. Check it out – and I agree. May Schlitze Surtees rest in peace. He’s more than earned it.

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Laurie Kendrick

A year ago—maybe longer—I wrote a post about a genetic condition commonly known as “Pinhead Syndrome”. And since the premier of American Horror Story: Asylum its been receiving renewed interest.

Actress, Naomi Grossman endures grueling hours of special make up, putting on oversized clothes and prosthetic application to transform into Pepper, a patient incarcerated in the edifice which serves as this season’s main character: an asylum called Briarcliff. Pepper is microcephalic.

In the simplest of terms, the character has a considerably smaller head than normal, due to a smaller than normal brain case. She seems gentle and playful but as we learned in the first episode this season, she has a very violent past. She drowned her nephew and cut off his ears. But we later learn, that her brother in-law committed the murder and mutilation and blamed it on her because of her disability.