Characters

This isn’t just a festival. It’s a living, breathing prison world — and it’s crawling with legends, ghosts, rebels, and madmen. Behind every barbed-wire fence and shadowed corner, there’s a story waiting to be uncovered. Meet the inmates, the wardens, the outlaws and the cursed souls who roam the grounds of Alcatraz. Each one plays a part in the chaos, the mystery, and the fight for control. Some seek revenge. Others redemption. And a few… just want to watch it all burn. These are their stories.

THE STORY OF OFFICER NICE & FRANK LEE MORRIS

On June 11th 1962 three men escaped from the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the only ones ever to succeed. Brothers John William Anglin and Clarence Alfred Anglin, both sentenced to 35 years for armed bank robberies, and 31 years old Frank Lee Morris, convicted for armed robbery and trafficking narcotics. Many years later the two brothers were supposedly located in Brazil but Frank Lee Morris was never seen again. The official County records of the escape state that the officers opened fire on Morris while chasing Morris through the FLORIDA swamps. And that it would be impossible for him to have survived the multiple hits. His body however, was never found. The legend goes that the ghost of Frank Lee Morris is restlessly roaming the swamps at night.

Chased by a particular guard with the nickname of “Officer Nice”. Frank Lee Morris descended from a family of outlaws and mental patients and many of his auntsesters spent most of their lives in mental institutions or prisons. In 1850, his great grandfather Joshua Abraham Norton, declared himself Emperor of the United States. He started printing his own money and demanded that the US Senate would be dismantled. Loved by the people, ridiculed by the authorities. He also claimed to have dug a secret tunnel under the San Francisco bay to Alcatraz Island, which served as a psychiatric hospital at that time. Since the tunnel location was probably passed on from father to son, law enforcement suspected Frank Lee Morris to be the brain behind the 1962 escape. And who is this particular guard that is still haunting Morris? In 1867 his great grand father, Joshua Abraham Norton, was arrested by a police officer called Armand Barbier and incarcerated against his will to a mental institution other than Alcatraz. He swore that he would get revenge on Armand Barbier and all of his descendants. The leading officer of the police force that chased the three men in 1962 was the great grand son of Armand Barbier. His colleagues called him “Officer Nice”

THE STORY OF SHENANDOAH

Shenandoah is born under the first full moon of 1973. Her parents see a golden future for her as a lawyer but the rebellious Sioux beauty has plans of her own. Shortly after her 18th birthday, she slips away in the night and hits the road. Penniless, she slowly works her way from Yankton, South Dakota, to the East Coast. When she finally arrives in Ohio she lands a gig as a pole dancer in a strip club. By 1994 she is the owner of the Wild Horse Saloon, a nightclub in Knoxville, Tennessee known as a favourite haunt of the local underworld. Then one fateful evening in walks Frank Lee Morris, who is still hunted by super cop Officer Nice. It’s a match made in hell… Nine months later she gives birth to SpiDer and then turns her criminal mind to acquiring El Presidio, an infamous dive on the wrong side of town. Fast forward to 2016. On the run from the law, Shenandoah and a grown-up Spider skip the country and set up shop on the other side of the Atlantic. The new El Presidio, a lair frequented by thieves and cutthroats, is now part of the infamous Alcatraz Festival. Trouble has come to town… The mother-and-son tandem rules El Presidio with an iron fist. A word to the wise: don’t look too deeply into Shenandoah’s eyes unless you’re prepared to pay the price…

THE STORY OF SPIDER

A cheap dive that smells of ruin and corruption, on the road to Perdition… Somewhere along this road, under a blue moon, a beautiful Sioux girl called Shenandoah gave birth to Frank Lee Morris’s bastard son. She named him SpiDeR because he was always crawling around the basement of El Presidio, the bar she now runs. As the madame and mastermind behind a decadent brothel she didn’t have much time for him so SpiDeR was mainly raised by her girls, earning him the nickname ‘son of a thousand hookers’. In his early teens SpiDeR claimed the alleys around the bar as his hunting ground, scamming locals and patrons out of their money and peddling dope. At just sixteen years old, SpiDeR gunned down the sheriff of the shithole town of Perdition and pinned the badge on his own chest, allowing his mom to expand her whorehouse empire. The ‘deranged ranger’ now mainly roams the Southern States, seeking revenge on his father. All he remembers of dear old dad is the abuse and molestation he inflicted on his mom… By the way, SpiDeR also has a score to settle with officer Nice because he blames him for the broken home he grew up in…

THE STORY OF ZANAZABAR

August, 2024. Shenandoah and her beloved son SpiDeR are out of control. Back at the El Presidio, the fearsome mother & son tandem rages unchecked, sparking one brawl after another. The infamous bar at Alcatraz has a bad enough reputation as it is and after yet another smash-up it’s Officer Nice himself who steps in and threatens to shut the bar down permanently. After his latest rampage, SpiDeR is sentenced to two years in prison and Officer Nice warns Shenandoah needs to clean up her act or she won’t be far behind. The warning doesn’t fall on deaf ears and she decides to go see an old friend. As things stand, it’s actually an advantage that she has to travel all the way to Tibet to find him. Putting a few thousand miles between herself and Officer Nice will help settle things down. She knows he’s itching to throw her behind bars but she’s fairly confident the lawman will have no appetite to follow her into the Tibetan highlands. The friend in question goes by the name of Zanazabar. Of course, this isn’t his real name but Shenandoah’s 52-year-old ‘close friend’ has meanwhile built a new life for himself as a monk. Back in the day, when he was still called Jack White, he and Shenandoah met in Tennessee and quickly became an item. In fact, that was not too long before she crossed paths with Frank Lee Morris. Like Shenandoah’s life, Jack White’s track record is one of alcohol abuse and odd jobs until, in a rare moment of clarity, he decides to make some radical changes and enters a Tibetan monastery. There, he is initiated in the art of meditation. He finds mental peace, and more importantly, he finds himself. For Shenandoah, Jack White aka Zanazabar is her last lifeline. However, it doesn’t take her long to find out ‘ole Jack’ has a few skeletons in his closet…