Julian Browning, born 1912, was a devoted employee of the Universal Palace Theater, until his untimely accidental death by hanging in 1940 while dealing with an unruly theatergoer. Persisting in an undead state, he inhabited the theater for another seventy years, an urban legend, doing away with rude patrons who violated the rules of his beloved theater. In 2009, the Usher was recuited by the fear deity Adaru to serve as the Host for the 19th annual October spook-fest Halloween Horror Nights. Adaru relocated he and the entire Universal Palace Theater to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Since then, the Usher has served as one of the event's recurring Icons, summoning classic figures from the silver screen to terrorize parkgoers. He has taken very readily to the role of showman, thrilling, shocking, and even horrifying visitors with staged murders. Between park appearances and his local TV news and radio interviews, he has grown to relish his newfound celebrity status, although he sometimes clashes with his fellow icons.
Several years prior to Usher joining HHN, Artie Collins, film columnist and horror movie afficionado, recieved an invitation to a mysterious series of midnight showings at the Universal Palace Theater - "100 Years of Horror". He befriended the event's equally mysterious host over their shared love of old spooky movies, without realizing that he was none other than the murderous undead Usher rumored to haunt the theater. When this eventually did come to light, it was a frightening revelation for Artie, who is not generally on board with murder, but he was already too fond of Julian for it to change much. Artie eventually ended up accompanying the Usher to Orlando. While not directly involved with Halloween Horror Nights, Artie does get free tickets every year.