Major Bakersfield

Played by: Sam Morrison

First appeared in: Mister Corbitt

A veteran ravaged by The Great War. Lost his wife, Elizabeth Brown Bakersfield, near the end of New Jerusalem along with one of his eyes. The hunt for her killer drives his story in Radio Man. Is not opposed to torturing people.

Owner and proprietor of Guns, Chicks and Ammo.

Really, really likes nice glasses.

In Mister Corbitt he is introduced as Major Frederick Aloisius Bakersfield, one of the neighbors who gathers at Tallahassee Turner's house. He is the investigators' arsenal and muscle, and he carries "Old Reliable", a human-catching net.

Season 1: Mister Corbitt

101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

While the neighbors visit Corbitt, the Major snoops through the front of the house. He independently repeats Dom Druncard's idea of throwing a hat out of the guest room window and escalates by throwing out a second hat and a pea coat, adding to the growing pile of outerwear on Corbitt's lawn.

102: Neighborhood Watch

He sets up on the roof of Dr. Simeon's house with binoculars and a large period camera. When the light in Corbitt's window comes on he accidentally fires a flash photograph at Corbitt's house, revealing the group's position, then fumbles his stealth roll and slides off the roof into the yard, injuring himself.

103: Usual Suspects

Bakersfield and Simeon go back into Corbitt's yard, and when the back door is locked Bakersfield simply kicks it in. They are caught on the staircase by a responding officer and march outside at gunpoint. At the police station he gives the most coherent account of the night: Corbitt arriving with the package, the bone in the garden, and Dom going into the house and never coming out. Tallahassee blames him for breaking his camera.

104: Attic Window

He and Simeon research the bone in Simeon's library, then take it to Dr. Puerto Rico at Miskatonic University. The photograph from the camera he dropped from the roof shows the face in Corbitt's attic window.

105: Radical Medicine

Bakersfield takes Simeon to his army surplus store, where the shopping trip becomes a small private arsenal: revolvers, shotguns, a long gun, rope, first aid gear, a hatchet and dynamite from his personal stash, plus a human-catching net, justified by his "Mr. Nettie Hands" war stories. Back on the road they find Tallahassee wandering naked under Corbitt's influence, and Bakersfield tackles him with the net.

106: The Miskatonic Mangler

With Billy and Dom, he tracks Randolph Tomaszewski to Crenshaw and waits in the alley with Old Reliable. When Tomaszewski flees down the fire escape, the Major ambushes him from behind a dumpster, nets him and wrestles him to the ground despite Tomaszewski's switchblade. Tomaszewski is briefly stashed in the car trunk.

107: Fates and Retribution

After Simeon drinks the purple vial and collapses, Bakersfield improvises first aid with rags and towels from the kitchen, which stops some of the bleeding, with a further kit from Mary Beth. The next morning, when the group talks of blowing up Corbitt's business, he drily remarks "so now you guys want my involvement". He questions why Simeon drank the vial and judges that Simeon is being genuine. The group arms itself with shotguns, revolvers, dynamite and an elephant gun.

108: Head of the Beast

In Corbitt's house, Bakersfield searches the main floor for doors, and runs upstairs when Dom is attacked by the head-creature. He tries to grab it, but is unable to pull it off. He searches the attic with Dom, copies down botany notes mentioning a substance called "soma", and, inspired by the journals' references to the basement, re-searches the lower floor and finds a concealed locked panel beside the stairs.

109: For Whom the Dice Rolls

He keeps his cool at the sight of the creature through sheer wartime nerve, blasts large chunks out of it with his shotgun, and is nearly devoured when it grabs him with several arms. He holds its ringed, tooth-lined maw back by jamming his elephant gun sideways across its mouth until Dom kills it. In the epilogue he goes home to wash up, drinks from one of his nice glasses, and takes Dom back to his house; he settles into the certainty that when something is wrong in the world, his job is to make it right.

Notable quotes

• "They didn't call me Mister Catchyhands in the war for nothing."
• "They didn't call me The Actor in the war for nothing."
• "They didn't call me Mister Nettyhands in the war for nothing."

In 203: A Night With No Moon he leads the basement group upstairs, slams the door of Dr. Webb's room as the dead light races toward him, then fires into the ceiling and shouts at it to draw it away from Simeon. His shot at the light from the top of the basement stairs has no effect, though it makes the light pause. He later claims his net was blessed by a priest as "the holy net of Antioch", then takes the silver coffer from Tallahassee and runs outside to open it.

In 204: Night of the Living Dead Light he runs at the dead light with the open silver box to scoop it up like a net, but only burns his fingers for two points of damage. He patches up Simeon, Dom and himself with first aid on the drive to the cafe. He later checks the powder room and follows footprints around the back of the building before losing them in the mud, and bandages the wound on Winifred Brewer's head.

In 205: Lights Out he edges along the wall to help Amelia up while Tallahassee distracts Mary, and later handcuffs Mary after she is tackled. He draws the ritual symbol on her forehead in blood and breaks her nose with a punch when she kicks at him. When Dom is entranced by the dead light, he punches him, shoves Mary to the ground and takes the open coffer from him.

In 301: No Rest for the Wicked he leads the group to the cabin of his old army friend Grant Jameson, then reveals that three days earlier he questioned Corbitt at the Arkham Sanatorium. Corbitt told him that others were after his work and that the investigators were far behind, so he insists that they leave for New Jerusalem at once. He needles Tallahassee about running when the going gets tough. After the campsite he fails his Sanity roll and finds his Colt in his hand without remembering drawing it.

In 302: The Huggening he joins Tallahassee at the general store and tries to restrain Ike Watson from behind and whisper a warning in his ear, but he fumbles the grab and Ike shoves him into the porch railing. He introduces himself to Mayor Jedediah Marsh as a Great War veteran and urges the group to stick together after spotting Ike and Levi trailing Tallahassee.

In 303: The Grand Slam he suggests that Ezra Denny call his new all-day breakfast a "grand slam" instead of a "home run," and he becomes the first recipient of a Grand Slam at Denny's. At the Shofar he finds the screaming Tallahassee in the darkroom. After seeing the photos, he points out that the creatures look nothing like the one Corbitt built, orders everyone to stay armed at all times, and calls for "a show of force" at Mordecai Shep's shack. With night falling, he insists that the group sleep in one room for Tallahassee's sake.

In 304: Pet, Cemetery he brings the bottle to the group's table with Percival Warthrop and rouses everyone at 0700 hours. He asks Delilah Bevins whether her missing friend Hannah Russell "may have bought the farm," and at the cemetery he leads the way to the tombs on the north side.

In 305: The Shining... Skin he scoops the burned papers from the hidden laboratory into a sack. Shown the strange dog tag from one of the bodies, he says it is no military tag he has ever seen and suggests that it must belong to some top-secret branch of the military.

In 306: Cellar Door he searches the wrecked Russell farmhouse with Tallahassee Turner and Dom Druncard. In the barn's storm cellar, his loud caw draws out a headless, shark-mouthed creature. After a moment of shock, he runs up with flashbacks to the trenches, jams his shotgun between the creature's eyes and kills it with a point-blank blast.

In 307: Smooth Criminal he comes out of the root cellar covered in the creature's blood and shows the others the kill. He poses for a photograph with his cavalry saber stuck in the carcass. He also confirms, from his study of the spellbooks, that the runes on the fragment are binding runes.

In 308: Infestation he and Billy McConnell are the first to hear men screaming inside the Motley Hill Sanatorium. During the escape his thrown stick of dynamite slips from his hand and lands at the top of the basement stairs. It explodes just as dozens of creatures burst out of the building.

In 309: Boom Goes the Dynamite he draws Old Reliable on Mayor Jedediah Marsh and intimidates him into admitting that he was paid to watch Corbitt and help Goodman Gray. He lights a stick of dynamite to press for more, but Gray arrives and silences the mayor first.

In 310: Salem's Lot he reveals that he learned a spell from Corbitt's journals that summons a winged beast to obey a single command. As night approaches, he remembers his friend Grant Jameson, holed up in a cabin an hour north. Bound by his vow to the men under his command, he borrows Percival Warthrop's car and leaves to bring Jameson back.

In 311: Beefing the Defenses he drives north toward Grant Jameson's cabin, passing the Layton Farm without stopping, and casts Summon the Steed of Stars on the way to call the steed Slotty Botfast. He completes the spell, barely, as he reaches the cabin, while screeches and roars approach through the woods.

In 312: Edge of Sharkness he reaches Grant Jameson's cabin and is cut off from his car by the creatures. The two men barricade themselves inside, and Bakersfield kills one creature with a point-blank shotgun blast through the window slats.

In 313: The Arrival he loses his left eye when a dynamite blast blows the windshield of Percival Warthrop's car in on him and Grant Jameson. Half-blinded, he fights off the two remaining creatures at the cabin with his Colt and the car. His summoned steed, Slotty Botfast, crushes the last one and flies both men back toward New Jerusalem.

In 315: Legends Never Die he flies over the burning town on Slotty Botfast, an eye bandaged, and comes down on the south side of Denny's Tavern as the creatures converge on it.

In 316: The Last Stand he rides Slotty Botfast into a creature charging Tallahassee Turner and kills it with both barrels, then leads the group's last stand behind Denny's Tavern and supplies its dynamite. In the episode's closing teaser he returns home to find his wife dead.

In 401: Static Prevails he rides in silence to the Riverview Apartments, now with a patch over his missing eye, and says that he has brought his net. He examines the body of a dead man in an apartment full of radios and finds puncture wounds like those of an ice pick, which he tells Billy McConnell look exactly like the ones on the Major's wife.

In 402: Criminal Energy he joins the break-in at the Pawn and Prawns, searches the shop's ledger and leaves with it. Over breakfast at the diner, the table notes that he is taking his wife's death hard, and the Keeper recalls how he found his wife on the kitchen floor.

In 403: I Will Steal You Back he goes with the others to the Pawn and Prawns, where he draws his 1911 on the shop's owner, Hiram Hopkins, and rolls Intimidate with a bonus die until Hiram admits that he lied about the watch. In the car he wonders whether Mayor Sidel is connected to the "RG" on the watch and suggests finding out who works closely with the mayor. He then goes with Dom to take the watch to Cortex Studios. At the morgue, Dr. Jared Sylvester says that John Johnson's stab wounds look very much like those found on the Major's wife about five weeks earlier.

In 404: Episode IV he and Dom drive to Cortex Studios on West Armitage Street, where a row of nice glasses makes him look away in rage and sadness before his face goes blank again. He says he is not worried about posing as police and is there for answers, and asks the watchmaker Jelty about John Johnson and the "Radio Man," and about the boaters. After Jelty names Raymond Goddard as the watch's owner and gives them his address, the Major says he has heard of the wealthy Goddard family but knows nothing about them. The autopsy report gives his late wife's name as Elizabeth Brown Bakersfield.

In 405: Be Sensible he and Dom drive toward the south side of town to Raymond Goddard's house. When Dom says he is worried about him after the pawn shop, he answers that he has "never been more dialed in," and that it is personal this time but he is ready. At the house he draws his 1911, pushes his way in and takes a wallet showing that the man who opened the door is Devin Black, not Goddard. He kicks Devin's legs out from under him for an extreme success on Brawl, then spends Sanity to cut his neck and stab him in the shoulder, dropping to 35 Sanity, and asks whether Devin's people killed Elizabeth Bakersfield. He finds a switchblade and a dog tag on Devin and says "You work for Goodman Gray," and when Devin starts to struggle he knocks him unconscious.

In 406: Pain he carries the unconscious Devin Black into the hallway and lays him on the stairs while Dom answers the door. Dom then slaps him across the face over how he treated Devin, and the two argue: the Major says that he never meant to murder Devin, only to press him, that Dom's way was not working, and that they have done worse, citing what they did to Mary from the diner. At Pizza Dragons he has a welt across his bad eye. He tells the others that the mayor and Goodman Gray are definitely involved, shows the octopus dog tag that was taken from Devin, and goes with Dom and Tallahassee to O'Malley's.

In 407: Coffee & Cigarettes he goes with Dom and Tallahassee to O'Malley's cafe to question the barista Sheamus O'Malley about Harman Vance. He introduces himself as Aloysius Bakersfield, a retired major, tells Sheamus that he is trying to track down his wife's killer, and says that, as the saying goes, the enemy of his enemy is his friend. He asks whether Harman left the O'Malleys' work by his own choice, succeeds on a Psychology roll to see that Sheamus is nervous because he is telling the truth, and gives Sheamus his card. The group finds a note signed RG in Harman's jacket and heads for East Water Street.

In 408: In the Same Room he goes with Dom and Tallahassee to the house on East Water Street and goes around the back, reminding them how he caught the Miskatonic Mangler. He wheels the trash can to the front, finds the back door unlocked and opens the front door to let the others in. He fails Spot Hidden twice and trips on a runner carpet that will not move, then helps Dom pull it up to find the blood beneath. He follows the streaks of blood out the back door, fails another Spot Hidden roll and loses the trail in the small fenced backyard that leads to the river and a little pier.

In 409: Pass the Baby he comes back in from the backyard as Dom phones the Gazette and gives his name to Ricky Dubois over the line. He touches Tallahassee's shimmering skin and calls it "super stiff diamondy skin." He locks the front door while Dom phones the police and suggests that they head out the back door and down toward the river. When the men outside start toward the house he draws his 1911 to cover Tallahassee from the doorway, then runs out the back to look for a boat. After hearing the gunshots he goes to the pier, sees a man in a little boat on the river and waves and shouts for help until the man turns toward him. He runs back to the house to tell the others they have a boat, scoops up the wounded Dom and carries him to the pier, then turns to cover Tallahassee with his 1911. In the boat he rolls a 70 on First Aid and stabilizes Dom, and afterward teases him as a "baby boy" while Dom protests.

In 410: Just Watch the Fireworks he carries the wounded Dom into Simeon's study "like a baby," lays him on the couch and tucks an afghan around him, saying "I already did patch him up." He listens as Dom works through the case and asks what his wife could have had in common with the other victims. When Dom names Randolph Tomaszewski, the Major says "I should have killed him when I had the chance," and points out that Tomaszewski was Corbett's puppet. Later he and the others go after Simeon when he runs out of the study.

In 411: Higher Devotion he waits with the others in Simeon's bedroom. At the end of the episode he goes downstairs to answer the ringing phone in the dark living room, and after static and breathing a voice on the line says "Corbett": it is Bernard Corbitt calling.

In 412: My Enemy he has stayed up all night guarding the others, so the Keeper puts him under house rules for exhaustion. At the Arkham Sanatorium he tells Corbitt "you belong in here," and Corbitt says he does want to kill him, "just not yet." He then goes with Dr. Simeon to Guns, Chicks and Ammo for supplies and a jeweler's kit for the medallion.

In 414: Delivery he gathers the medallion supplies and more weapons at Guns, Ammo and Chicks, which has been closed since his wife's death. When Simeon shoves him over and flees, he nets the car's spare tire and is dragged down the street by his ankle before pulling himself up onto the back bumper. He follows Simeon to the Goddard house, and there Billy chokes him unconscious.

In 415: Night Drive he wakes up tied to a chair at the Goddard mansion and is questioned by Devon Black, who stabs him in the shoulder with a switchblade after he tries to bite Black's hand. He works the knife free, cuts through his ropes and waits behind the door to ambush whoever comes in.

In 416: Feeling Lucky he takes Devon Black hostage with Black's own switchblade, threatens Erastus Goddard, and leaves the Goddard mansion warning Black that he will put him in the ground if they meet again.

In 417: Believe in What You Want he smuggles the medallion chain in his mouth and argues that their quarry should die for killing his wife, before exhaustion finally takes him on Simeon's couch.

In 418: Here it Goes he hears Billy's plea against killing their quarry, still asking who "Freddy" is.

In 419: Through he takes the medallion from Corbitt, punches him in the face, and shoots a knife-wielding inmate dead on the sanatorium's third floor.

In 420: Clarity he applies the binding medallion, then kills their quarry with his trench knife. In a bout of madness he hunts for Corbitt, shooting inmates and Tallahassee, before Simeon calms him.

In 601: The Big Easy he arrives in New Orleans on January 2, 1926, following Goodman Gray's lead on Corbitt, with Tallahassee, Grant Jameson, Dr. Shrimp Puerto Rico and Devin Black, and the group checks into the Hotel Couronne Creuse, where Corbitt stayed as "Victor Franks."

In 602: What's in the Box? he and Jameson search the hotel roof where Gray's agent Saavedra died.

In 603: The Disembodied Artist he wakes to gunshots, helps fight the horse-headed Axe Man in the lobby, is thrown into the front desk, and finishes the creature with point-blank shots from his 1911. When it begins to rise again he tries to dismember it with its own axe, but it catches the handle, and he leads the retreat.

In 604: The Safe House he keeps watch at Dr. Isaiah Calhoun's safe house above the Golden Lily speakeasy.

In 605: The Green Wave he, Jameson and Devin question Brigitte Girouge at La Maison Rouge.

In 606: Clever Girl Cali he joins the others at Tulane, where they pool their findings about the Brotherhood of Orion.

In 607: Astronomy Lessons he meets Professor Merriam Goodwin, who says that Nathaniel Vane Orialis introduced her to Pepin and Duret.

In 608: Jazz Hands he phones the reporter Ricky "Jazzman" Dubois, who is in New Orleans covering the murders, and trades the promise of an exclusive for Detective Russo's address.

In 609: Meridian he searches Detective Russo's house and the Meridian House with the others.

In 610: Observatory he joins in planning the ritual to seal the gate.

In 611: The Bonnaroo House he slams and barricades the office door against the Axe Man, then frees his leg from the rotten observatory floor in time to escape.

In 612: Russo's Tale he introduces Ricky "Jazzman" Dubois to the group, and Ricky gets them in to see Inspector LaGrasse.

In 613: The Gear Up his net catches on a ceiling fan at the police station and hauls the Axe Man into the air. He arms himself with his Enfield, his Colt, his trench knife and three sticks of dynamite.

Appearances

• 101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• 102: Neighborhood Watch
• 103: Usual Suspects
• 104: Attic Window
• 105: Radical Medicine
• 106: The Miskatonic Mangler
• 107: Fates and Retribution
• 108: Head of the Beast
• 109: For Whom the Dice Rolls
• 201: Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
• 202: The Good Doctor
• 203: A Night With No Moon
• 204: Night of the Living Dead Light
• 205: Lights Out
• 301: No Rest for the Wicked
• 302: The Huggening
• 303: The Grand Slam
• 304: Pet, Cemetery
• 305: The Shining... Skin
• 306: Cellar Door
• 307: Smooth Criminal
• 308: Infestation
• 309: Boom Goes the Dynamite
• 310: Salem's Lot
• 311: Beefing the Defenses
• 312: Edge of Sharkness
• 313: The Arrival
• 315: Legends Never Die
• 316: The Last Stand
• 401: Static Prevails
• 402: Criminal Energy
• 403: I Will Steal You Back
• 404: Episode IV
• 405: Be Sensible
• 406: Pain
• 407: Coffee & Cigarettes
• 408: In the Same Room
• 409: Pass the Baby
• 410: Just Watch the Fireworks
• 411: Higher Devotion
• 412: My Enemy
• 414: Delivery
• 415: Night Drive
• 416: Feeling Lucky
• 417: Believe in What You Want
• 418: Here it Goes
• 419: Through
• 420: Clarity
• 601: The Big Easy
• 602: What's in the Box?
• 603: The Disembodied Artist
• 604: The Safe House
• 605: The Green Wave
• 606: Clever Girl Cali
• 607: Astronomy Lessons
• 608: Jazz Hands
• 609: Meridian
• 610: Observatory
• 611: The Bonnaroo House
• 612: Russo's Tale
• 613: The Gear Up