George Denbrough's Murder

Six-year-old George Denbrough chases a paper boat made by his brother Bill down a rain-swollen gutter on Witcham Street during the 1957 flood. The boat disappears into a storm drain, where a clown named Pennywise the Dancing Clown appears, offering George his boat and a balloon. When George reaches in, the clown seizes his arm and rips it off, killing him. Dave Gardener finds George's mutilated body. The boat, waterproofed by the brothers, sails out of Derry and is never seen again. This murder initiates the cycle of terror that will culminate in the summer of 1958.