How did Lock, Shock, and Barrel die

Once kids get tired of the sappier Christmas movies, they move on to Tim Burton’s 1993 stop-motion fantasy, The Nightmare Before Christmas. As dark as the 76-minute film is, though, there’s a lot left to viewers’ imaginations. For example, we never find out how the ghoulish residents of Halloween Town died … or even if they are, in fact, dead.

Reddit user ImAPotatoF–kYou, however, got that conversation going in the Fan Theories forum. This Redditor thinks Sally’s line, “I had a vision,” hints at her death. “Sally may have been suspected of witchcraft when she was living (due to her being able to see the future) and she was dismembered as a punishment for being a ‘witch,’” they wrote. “Not to mention, she does know her way around herbs (nightshade, witch hazel, etc.).”

A commenter on the post, a Redditor named theknightinthetardis, linked to a Tumblr post theorizing about the possible deaths of some other characters in the film — including Jack Skellington, Dr. Finklestein, the Mayor of Halloween Town, and Oogie Boogie. None of those characters appear to have died peacefully.

Jack was burned alive, this Tumblr author posited, since Jack is just a skeleton in the movie, and since we see him go up in flames at the beginning. Dr. Finklestein was poisoned, which is why none of Sally’s poisoning attempts seem to have much of an effect on him.

The Mayor, meanwhile, probably died of a broken neck since his head seems to do a 180-turn at the slightest provocation. Lock froze to death, which explains his pale skin and blue lips.

Oogie Boogie was skinned alive, which is why he’s just a burlap sack with insects for innards. And Zero the dog was electrocuted (the fact that he looks like smoke and his jack-o-lantern nose illuminates like a lightbulb may have clued us in).

So these are some nightmares before Christmas, right? Of course, it’s entirely possible these beloved characters aren’t dead humans at all but an entirely different species of life. Either way, let the record show, that Tumblr user does cite “You ruined my childhood!” as one of the most frequent responses to his post.

Nightmare Before Christmas: How they died

To explain this, we just put this on a while ago and I couldn’t help but realize that everyone in Halloween Town is either dead, or something that never was alive (save probably the werewolf, witchs, and lake monster.) So I got to thinking, “How did they die?” And I realized there are small little hints in everything.

Click below to read my logic in their deaths.

Jack: Remember in the beginning how he stuck a torch in his mouth? Well the fire covered his body fairly fast, even for a body made of straw. When you burn a human body for too long all that’s left is the bone. Everything else is gone.

Sally: I think that’s a bit self explaining. She can fall to pieces and come back together.

Finklestein: It’s been mentioned that Sally has poisoned him on several occasions. Well, being dead poison wouldn’t really affect him much. Except that if it were to be what had killed him, that would explain why he’s affected. But he’s already dead, probably why he only get’s knocked out and get’s a severe headache.

Mayor: I figure the Mayor is/was bi-polar. This is supported by his mood change. He has the two faces. And when he’s happy, even the slightest thing can tip the balance and his head twists around to show his sad/angry face. Now, I figure his neck was broken because of that fact. To change moods he can’t just frown like everyone else in Halloween Town. His neck practically breaks and twists a full 180.

Lock: I suspect him of being frozen mainly due to his lips. When people are frozen alive their lips turn blue and their face turns pale or even paste white. He also chose his costume to be a devil. Something that revolves around heat, showing a strong desire to be warm.

Shock: Her lips are pretty much just pale. Kind of purple. Which happens when you die of any cause aside from three things: Burning, freezing, and drowning. Which means that she died either a very natural death (unlikely for a child) or she took her own life. I took this a step further after I read trouble-making-trio’s headcanons. In which he points out that Shock shows a desire to go against any kind of intimidating figure. However, she doesn’t show that kind of desire in the film towards Oogie. (Perhaps in life they were close or something. I’m unsure about that.)

Barrel: As I said in Shock’s reasoning, when you are drowned your lips change color. They become green in fact, and your hair has a slightly sea weed look to it. Just like Barrel’s. Your body also doesn’t decompose the same way in water. The skin tends to cling to it more, and Barrel chose his costume to be a skeleton. Perhaps an inner wish that he had been given a proper burial?

Oogie: I suspect what I do for him not because of his death, but because his body is sewn together around the edges, his skin is instead burlap, and his innards are insects. Insects are natures cleaners. Perhaps he was skinned and then left in the ground? His innards may be the very swarms of insects that devoured his skinned corpse. So in death they had to come together to allow his body to be whole. Being without skin he needed something to hold it all together. Insects as large as his cannot get through tightly sewn burlap.

Zero: I suspect electrocution because the first thing that would leave coming out of the body is smoke. The poor dogs mind would be just in tact enough to see some of it, and likely think something along the lines of “That’s me now.” And seeing as Zero’s body holds a strong resemblance to smoke, there’s that. I first suspected maybe he was Jack’s dog that died in the fire with him. I still think he was Jack’s dog in life as well as death, but I come to the conclusion of electrocution because of his nose. Look at it. It looks like a lightbulb. And it lights, which would mean he has to have electricity coursing through him.

How did shock from Nightmare Before Christmas died?

Are Lock Shock and Barrel siblings?

Why are they named Lock Shock and Barrel?

How did Oogie Boogie die when he was alive?