They say the O’Carrolls had a vampire numbered among them; Tadhg O’Carroll, so cursed for killing his own brother, the priest Thaddeus.

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They also say the Bartletts had a son favored by Charlemagne, until struck on the head with a golden chessboard and killed by a jealous rival.

 

At some point, these two families combined (possibly forming unstoppable vampire chess players). From working the silver mines of Ireland's Offaly and Tipperary counties, their descendants emigrated to the coal mines of southern Illinois, and then on to Chicago. That’s where Bart Carroll came in, smashing these two family names together into one slightly confusing personal name.

 

Bart attended the University of Wisconsin and later the University of Washington (for that nice “UW” synergy), settling in the Pacific Northwest where he now toils in the mines of digital marketing. In previous incarnations, he worked in London as the world's slowest bartender, and spent two years in the Peace Corps, teaching ESL in Sichuan, China. He is still afraid of the dark after watching Poltergeist as a child, and once struck out in Little League while simultaneously getting hit by a pitch.