Pinhead was originally the English-born Elliot Spencer, who was a captain in the military and participant in World War I. During the war, Elliot would witness and experience many atrocities, which would cause him to lose faith in humanity and God.[1] Traveling to India after the war in 1921,[1] Elliot purchased the Lament Configuration, a puzzle box and gateway to Hell created in the 18th century by a Frenchman named Phillip Lemarchand. Solving the box, Elliot had his flesh pierced by hooked chains that shot out of it and was dragged to Hell. In a chamber in the Labyrinth Hell, Elliot had a grid-like pattern carved into his head with nails subsequently being driven into intersections of the grid. At first pained by these mutilations, Elliot grows to relish in them. Losing the memories of his past life, Elliot was transformed into a Cenobite, one of a group of beings which serve the Hell god, Leviathan.