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Major Bakersfield

From Split LongWays

Played by: Sam Morrison

First appeared in: Mister Corbitt

A veteran ravaged by The Great War. Lost his wife near the end of New Jerusalem along with one of his eyes. 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.

Appearances