It's Halloween and the freaks refuse to perform because of a superstition long-held among the carnies regarding Edward Mordrake. Legend has it that performances on Halloween night summon Mordrake's spirit and his demonic side cannot rest until it takes a spirit back to Hell.

As the freaks celebrate amongst themselves, Jimmy comes in heavy from Meep's death. While the freaks revel and Jimmy mourns, Dot tells them all they should be ashamed. 

As the freaks bury Meep, Mystic Miss Esmerelda arrives looking for a job. She reads for Elsa and convinces the show's proprietor that she's the real thing and earns herself a place in the cabinet. She's actually part of a team looking for a specimen to sell to a museum. 

Ethel learns that she has cirrhosis after years of heavy drinking and that she has six months to a year to live. The doctor tells her not to drink under any circumstance and she breaks down in tears, sad because he's the first doctor to treat her with respect. When she returns to the camp, she pours herself a drink and tells Jimmy not to question her about it.

She later asks Dell, who turns out to be Jimmy's father, to watch out for their son and urge him to find a place in the regular world. 

Twisty uses the day as an opportunity to terrorize people in the next town over and search for more victims while Dandy Mott throws a tantrum over his mother's choice of Halloween costume and then decides he'll become a clown. 

Elsa performs on Halloween and the spirit of Edward Mordrake enters the camp. He appears to Ethel as a series of apparitions and then speaks to her, eventually determining she is not the one who will die that night.