Album of Mike's father

Will Hanlon's Derry album is a meticulously compiled collection of photographs, newspaper clippings, and woodcuts that spans over two hundred years of Derry's history. Mike Hanlon brings the album to the Barrens in early July 1958, after recognizing the clown from the Fourth of July parade in one of its pictures. The album becomes a crucial piece of evidence for the Losers' Club, confirming that the entity they are hunting is not a recent phenomenon but a recurring presence that has haunted the town for centuries.

Contents and Historical Scope

The album contains a diverse array of materials, from a woodcut dating to the early or mid-1700s showing a funny fellow juggling oversized bowling pins in a muddy street, to a "foolcard" from 1856 depicting a shell-game player who is unmistakably the clown. A clipping from the Derry News in 1891, celebrating the opening of the Kitchener Ironworks, shows the clown turning a handspring for a group of children. A photograph from 1933, captioned "Repeal in Derry," captures the clown drinking champagne from a lady's high-heeled shoe outside Wally's Spa. A 1945 news photo of the V-J Day parade includes the clown in the background, wearing his silver suit with orange buttons. The album also includes a picture of the Bradley Gang shootout, where a clown in farmer's biballs and white greasepaint was seen shooting from a window, floating without a shadow. Mike's father, Will Hanlon, acquired these items over years of collecting from yard sales, secondhand shops, and trades with other collectors, driven by a fascination with the town's layered history.

The Moving Picture and Its Impact

When Mike shows the album to the Losers' Club in the Barrens, the 1945 parade photograph begins to move. The parade marches forward, and the clown, after performing antics, shinnies up a lamppost and presses its face against the protective plastic sheet covering the page. The plastic bulges outward, and the clown's face morphs into the Teenage Werewolf, the leper, the mummy, and the dead boys, screaming threats at the children. Stan Uris slams the album shut in terror, but Bill Denbrough insists they all saw it, solidifying their shared experience of the entity's reality. This event, following Bill's story of George's moving photograph and Eddie's account of the leper, cements the group's understanding that they are dealing with a single, shape-shifting entity.

The Album's Role in the Losers' Quest

The album provides the Losers with historical proof that the entity has been active in Derry for centuries, appearing every twenty-seven years or so. It shows the clown present at key moments of violence and tragedy in the town's past, from the Ironworks explosion to the Bradley Gang massacre. This historical context transforms their personal encounters from isolated nightmares into a pattern, reinforcing their belief that they must act. The album also contains a picture of the Standpipe, which triggers Stan Uris's memory of his own terrifying encounter with dead boys there. By connecting their individual experiences to a larger, documented history, the album galvanizes the Losers' Club, turning their fear into a determined resolve to confront the entity.

The Album's Fate and Symbolic Significance

After the Losers' final confrontation with It in August 1958, the album is left behind. In 1985, when the adult Losers reunite, the album's power is reasserted when a police photograph of George Denbrough's school picture—the same one that had moved in Bill's room—is found near a victim's body. The album thus serves as a tangible link between the past and present cycles of horror. It represents the accumulated memory of Derry's dark history, a history that the town's residents actively forget. For the Losers, it is both a weapon of knowledge and a burden, a reminder that the evil they faced is not a one-time aberration but a recurring curse that demands their return.