Pepper (disambiguation)

American Horror Story
Pepper is a fictional mental patient and a recurring character on the FX Network television series American Horror Story. Played by actress Naomi Grossman, she was introduced in the premiere episode of season two of the show, "Welcome to Briarcliff". Grossman later reprised the role in season four of the show, which takes place before Asylum chronologically.

Pepper suffers from Microcephaly and is often referred to in the show as the "Pinhead". Pepper is a patient at Briarcliff Manor - a lunatic asylum in Massachusetts that operated during the early-mid 1960s. Pepper projected a playful, yet simple-minded demeanor, but her seemingly diminished intellect increased to normal levels after an encounter with Doctor Arthur Arden's sub-human medical experiments.

Pepper was committed to Briarcliff sometime around 1964 after being accused of drowning her sister's son and cutting off his ears. However, Pepper cared deeply for her nephew, sharing a bond with him due to his deformity and was framed for the murder and mutilation by her sister and brother-in-law who became burdened with Pepper's presence around their household.

Pepper was generally docile and was allowed to walk about the common areas of the asylum as well as the hospital grounds. She was the first patient to greet Lana Winters when she arrived to write an article on Briarcliff's accomplishments. The hospital's administrator, Sister Jude Martin warned Lana that Pepper was not the harmless creature she appeared to be and claimed that she was actually quite dangerous.

Shortly after Halloween, a strong nor'easter blew through the area and Sister Jude decided to host a movie night to keep the patients calm until the storm passed. In the middle of the screening, Pepper exclaimed that she had to pee and ran out of the common room. When she failed to return, Sister Jude mistakenly believed her to be an escapee.

Pepper became the caregiver of another patient named Grace Bertrand and assisted in mid-wifing her child.

Pepper died under unknown circumstances in 1966. Sister Jude Martin, having now been a patient at Briarcliff for the past several years was unaware of her death for over a year. In her mind, she believed that Pepper and she were friends who played Candyland together in the common room.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Pepper is a fictional murder victim and supporting character featured in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series. Played by actress Erica Leerhsen, she appeared in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Pepper was a hippie girl who was hitchhiking through West Texas in 1973. On August 18th, a van of youths including Kemper, Erin, Morgan and Andy picked her up in El Paso on their way back from Mexico. Pepper developed an attraction to Andy and felt that their meeting up was "synchronicity". As the group traveled on to Travis County, Pepper and Andy spent most of the time in the back of the van making out.

On August 18th, the group picked up a hysterical teenage girl walking down the road. They were all fairly concerned about her appearance, and the situation only worsened when the girl produced a revolver and blew her brains out. Everyone freaked out, but Pepper seemed to take it the worst, and was either too high, or too emotionally unstable to contain herself.

The group stopped at the Cele Community Center in the hopes of getting some help, or at the very least, reporting the incident. Pepper and Erin also tried to avail themselves of the outhouse out back, but after seeing how filthy it was, decided otherwise. Peppper then sprayed down the inside of the van with air freshener.

She journeyed along with the group to the Old Crawford Mill, where they had hoped to find the local sheriff to aid them. Instead, all they found was a strange little boy named Jedidiah, who told them that the sheriff was at home getting drunk.

The group eventually found themselves at the Hewitt residence. One by one however, each of them began turning up missing. It wasn't until nightfall that Pepper realized that the family was a group of psychotic cannibal serial killers. When one of their clan, Thomas Hewitt, came after Erin and she, they tried to escape in Kemper's van, but this proved fruitless. Pepper tried running away from him, but Thomas caught up to her, and ran a chainsaw through her back while she was lying face-down in the dirt.