Joyland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Madame Fortuna

Devin recounts the story of his summer at Joyland, commencing with the departure of his girlfriend, Wendy Keegan, who headed off to school in Massachusetts. Looking for a summer job and encouraged to look out-of-state he found an ad in "Carolina Living"; he ended up heading out to Joyland, an amusement park/fairground down the coast.

He took the job, working as a Happy Helper, and took up accommodations near the beach (with Emmalina Shoplaw). A few odd things crop up, however. When speaking to Rosalind Gold, the Jewish woman who plays Madame Fortuna, he's told that a woman with dark hair is in his past-- he takes this to mean that Wendy is, perhaps, no longer in his future. On the same creepy note, the dark ride (a haunted house) in Joyland has a bloody past. Of course it does.

Answer: Team Beagle

Devin was told the story about the haunted house ride by Ms. Shoplaw and, without sparing the details, she talked about how a young woman named Linda Gray was killed while riding the dark ride, her throat slashed with a razor and dumped over the tracks by someone who was allegedly her boyfriend.

The murderer escaped and she was found nearly a day later. Devin brushes this aside. When he headed home from spring break and finishes his exams, Devin (not knowing at the time), saw Wendy one final time and moved in at his new beach house.

In the short time before starting his job, he met Tom and Erin, two other students looking for money and taking jobs at the park. It turned out they were on the same team, working together (Team Beagle). They had their training and the mantra of 'selling fun as a business' instilled into them before they begun their work, starting with a lesson from Gary Allen, the man running the bang-shy.

Answer: Carolina Spin

Devin learned how to run the Carolina Spin on his first day working with carny veteran Lane Hardy, but he was especially skilled at wearing the fur and working as Howie the Happy Hound. In his first week, he was asked to don the suit and perform in front of Brad Easterbrook and, improvising, he was able to find his inner dog and entertain the children at the park's daycare. Despite the horrible heat, Devin found the job fun, almost like a true calling. One month into playing Howie, Devin saw the girl with the red hat.

Devin recounts the past. Wendy broke up with him in his first month at Joyland to be with a Dartmouth guy who played lacrosse. Many years later, Tom died of a tumor in 1992; Erin is still alive and they still talk.

Answer: Red hat

At the end of June, Lane Hardy and Rozzie Gold took Devin aside and told him to eat; he was losing weight over Wendy and it was so close to the 4th of July that he would be dead if he wore the fur in such heat. Roz knew it would've been a girl keeping him all tied up emotionally. She also took the time to remind him of impending dangers, one involving a girl with a red hat and the other involving a boy with a small dog.

The next week, the girl with the red hat, Hallie Stansfield, appeared. When she started choking on a hot dog, Devin performed the Heimlich maneuver, in the Howie costume, to save her life. He ended up in the paper. Due to the amazing publicity Devin provided to Joyland, Brad Easterbrook vowed that he would owe him a favor of any sort (provided he'd show for a conference the next weekend in the suit). The Hallie's parents offered Devin a cash reward, he tore up the cheque, an act he would later regret (but, of course, he was young and naive).

Answer: Tom

On one of their few days off, Devin, Erin, and Tom decided to visit the scream-shy, the Haunted House, once and for all to see if the rumours were true and they would be able to see the ghost of Linda, the girl who was killed inside years ago. When they take the ride, to the others' surprise, only Tom claims to have seen her; this is backed up when he specifically notes that she was wearing a blue Alice band, a fact that not many people knew about.

Devin spoke to Madame Fortuna shortly thereafter seeking answers. When he asked if she was a fraud, she handed him a sealed note with his name on it and he proceeded to take Brad up on his favour-- he wanted to work at Joyland full-time, taking a year off school to maintain the park in the off-season. In the days leading up to Labor Day, Tom and Erin both departed for Rutgers, leaving Devin alone at Joyland with a few other carnies. During her send-off, Devin asked Erin to do something for him.

That winter, Brad Easterbrook would die on New Years down south; the park wouldn't be the same without him. Over the break, Devin finally saw the boy with the dog walking on the beach. When he took a walk through the scream-shy for the first time, alone, he never saw Alice but he felt something distinctly odd about the spot where she was supposedly killed.

Answer: Jesus Christ

After encountering the boy, his mother, and his dog repeatedly on the boardwalk, Devin decided to help them fly the boy's kite on the beach. As it turned out this was the boy from Madame Fortuna's fortune; he was sick with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy and only had a few years to live. He introduced himself as Mike and his mother was Annie. After successfully flying the kite, Annie thanked Devin for his help and, to his surprise, invited him back for smoothies the next day. Soon, he became close with the mother and son. During a quick conversation with the boy, Devin realized that, due to pneumonia the previous year, he only had a few months to live. Mike also informed him of a cryptic bit of info: "it's not white." Out of thankfulness for Annie's treat, Devin suggested bringing Mike to Joyland, even though it was closed, though she didn't feel it would be safe.

That week, Devin got a bit more insight into the duo-- his landlady, Mrs. Shoplaw, referred to Annie as the ice queen and noted that her father was famous televangelist Buddy Ross, a supposed religious miracle worker. He never really forgave his daughter for turning her back on God and, in fact, believed that her sinful ways caused Mike's disorder.

Answer: Eddie

Heading into the park one morning, Devin waved hello to Eddie but got a weird response back-- Eddie was having a heart attack. In an attempt to save his life, Devin called for help and gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. During this he had to know-- he pulled off Eddie's gloves to find severe psoriasis. He later visited Eddie at the hospital to find that he had survived the incident.
Leaving the hospital, Devin found Annie waiting for Mike to complete a test and, after a brief argument with Mike, she decided that they would take Devin's offer up to visit Joyland despite her son's condition. That night, Mike called Devin to inform him that while part of the trip is for his mother's sake, it's really to help the girl who died there-- Linda Gray.
For his heroic act (again), Devin was allowed to give the tour to Annie and Mike. Before that, however, Tom and Erin decided to stop by for a visit, coming from Wilmington for a week. And Erin had some research to divulge.

Answer: All of them were done at the same time a certain traveling carnival company was in town

Erin and Devin, getting a bit of time to themselves, headed to the park alone to discuss the research Devin asked for in regards to Linda Gray's murderer. As it turned out, several murders could have been tied to Gray including four others at amusement parks with similar MOs. All of these murders, judging by the ads in the papers they were posted in, were connected to Manly Wellman's Show of 1,000 Wonders.

In addition, some tattoos considered to be permanent on the killer's hands were actually temporary tattoos-- in one case it was a bird and in another it was a coptic cross. Over eight years and three states, several girls were killed.

The conversation ended when Fred Dean came by to pick up some paperwork. In the next few days, both Erin and Tom had to leave. Tom politely asked Devin not to ask Erin to go on any crime-solving sprees and Devin agreed to the request. Finally, the day came for the visit and Devin took Mike, Annie, and Milo to Joyland. Upon their arrival, Fred and Lane put on a show to make the day perfect.

After several rides it became clear that Mike was starting to wear out but before they could go, Devin had to dress up in the Howie outfit one last time.

Answer: Rifles

After coming out of the park with Devin as Howie the Dog (and Mike knowing), the group took a ride on the Carolina Spin to end their amazing day. Before leaving, however, Fred Dean told them to take a few shots at the shooting gallery. Mike was too tired to hit many targets, but Annie, a former professional rifle shooter, was able to hit most of the targets despite being out of practice. Before leaving, the ground noticed Milo far away at the horror house and, to everyone's surprise, the ride turned on despite being closed down. When Devin checked on the place, he found a car in the station with a blue Alice band in the seat.
Dropping Alice and Mike off at home, Mike warned Devin once more that "It's not white" and said he heard the ghost of Linda Gray when they left the park saying "Thanks, and be careful." Apparently, Mike helped her find the doorway and freed her from the house.
Annie decided that day to let her father back into Mike's life although they would be leaving for Chicago in a week so that Mike could see the doctor. Before Dev left, she took him upstairs.
That night, during the storm, Devin decided to consider the evidence given to him by Erin. As soon as he realized a connection, the phone rang-- it was the killer. If Devin didn't meet him at Joyland, he would murder Annie and Mike. Leaving a note behind for Ms. Shoplaw, Dev drove over to the park.

Answer: Lane Hardy

As it turned out, Lane Hardy was the killer. Upon arriving at Joyland, Devin was approached by the once-charming Lane and held at gunpoint. The two of them hopped into the Carolina Spin for a little ride. Devin revealed that he only knew it was him that night since, in Erin's pictures, he noticed Lane's hat tilting from side to side, much like he did regularly at the park. Additionally, like the tattoos, his hair colour was fake-- he dyed it black but it was really white or blond.
Devin angered Lane to provoke him into making a move but it didn't matter-- with one precise shot from Annie and her rifle, Lane was felled and Dev's life was saved. Annie turned off the ride and they were able to call the police. Annie said it was Mike who warned her.
Before Mike headed to Chicago he told Devin that it was a man's ghost who told him what was happening in time and not Linda Gray. As it turned out, while the trio visited the park that day, Eddie Parks died of a heart attack in the hospital.

That spring, Devin went back to college; Mike died that spring in Chicago; Joyland closed two year later, brought down by bigger parks. Reuniting on the boardwalk, Dev and Annie (and Milo) brought Mike's ashes and the Jesus kite. While Annie let her son's ashes go into the water, Devin flew the kite higher and higher over the park one last time.