In the film, Old Man Marley was Kevin's neighbor. He was called "the South Bend Shovel Slayer", and was said to have murdered his family and half of the people on the block with a snow shovel back in 1958 by Kevin's older brother Buzz. He was also said to have kept his victims in his garbage can full of salt, and that the salt was supposed to have turned the dead bodies into mummies. When Kevin heads outside, saying that he is not afraid anymore, he screams upon seeing Marley, turns and runs back inside his house, afraid.