Candyman, then known as Daniel Robitaille, was the son of a prosperous slave during the Civil War. This status enabled him to be accepted into white society and become a very well-known portrait artist. Many wealthy landowners would hire him to create portraits of themselves and their offspring.
In 1890, Daniel fell in love and fathered a child with a white woman named Caroline, who he had been hired to paint a portrait of. Once the affair was unveiled Caroline’s father, Heyward Sullivan coordinated a lynch mob to hunt Daniel down.
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During the attack, they cut off his right hand and smeared it with honey stolen from a near by bee yard. The bees then swarmed onto Daniel and stung him to his death. His corpse was then burned, and his ashes were spread across the area of a shanty town known as Cabrini-Green.
Legend goes that if you say his name 5 times while looking into a mirror – Candyman will appear. He will then kill the summoner with the hook that has been jammed into the stump of his right arm where his hand used to be. His signature killing method was using his hook to slice his victims from their groin up to their throat.
Candyman - In Literature
1984 Books of Blood Volume 1 through Volume 6 – British author Clive Barker
In the short story “The Forbidden”, Candyman is described as having waxy yellow flesh, thin blue lips and glittering eyes. He is also described as wearing patchwork clothing and having a hook in the place of his right hand. There is also mention of bees, but his origins are were never brought up. His scent was like that of candyfloss and the mere doubting of his existence was enough to draw him out.
Candyman - In the Movies
CANDYMAN
1992 Starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons & Vanessa Williams
Helen Lyle, a semiotics student undertakes writing a thesis about the legend of the Candyman and how the residents of Cabrini-Green have learned to cope with the hardships of residing there.
CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH
1995 Starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart & Veronica Cartwright
Schoolteacher Annie Tarrant’s father is murdered while investigating the deaths of three men – all three deaths had similarities to the Candyman murders.