The Story Behind Spencer's Burnt Face On General Hospital

Spencer Cassadine grew up rich and entitled on "General Hospital." Spencer is the son of Nikolas Cassadine and Courtney Matthews (Alicia Leigh Willis), and he never got to know his mother because she died when encephalitis broke out in Port Charles. As a little kid, the part was played by Nicholas Bechtel from 2013 to 2020. A precocious child, Spencer was always getting into mischief, and was involved in a cute love triangle with Emma Drake-Scorpio (Brooklyn Rae Silzer) and his cousin Cameron Webber (then Michael Leone).

He and Cameron vied for Emma's affection, and as the elementary school drama went on, his friend Josslyn Jacks (then Hannah Nordberg) also had a crush on Cameron. Spencer and Emma started dating, but she soon decided to be with Cameron. A hurt Spencer swore he would win back her affections, and he and Joss worked together to break them up.

They concocted a scheme to make Emma dump Cameron. Spencer held a lavish birthday party for himself at Wyndemere mansion intended to get Emma to see that he was the boy she should be with. Cameron felt bad as Emma was impressed by Spencer, but fortunately Josslyn was able to console him. On his way out of the event, Cameron didn't realize that he'd accidentally knocked a candle over, nor the danger that would ensue.

Cameron Webber went home and told his mother, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst), how he felt bad that Emma chose Spencer over him. He was unaware that he'd inadvertently started a small fire at Wyndemere. Meanwhile, as Emma and Spencer danced in the empty party room, the fire slowly got more intense. Spencer exclaimed that it was the best birthday he'd ever had. After they finished, Emma smelled smoke, and the two turned around to see the DJ table on fire. Spencer grabbed her hand, and he rushed her away from the blaze. Emma exclaimed that they needed to find his father in order to alert the fire department. Spencer realized a boxing robe that his uncle Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) had given him was in danger of burning, and despite Emma's protests, he ran back for it.

He grabbed the robe, just as a burning lighting rig fell to the floor. The fire raged out of control and Emma called to him. Spencer yelled that he was trapped with no exit, so she ran to get help. She found Nikolas (then Tyler Christopher) and her father, Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson), screaming that there was a fire and Spencer was in trouble. Spencer realized he was trapped, so he swatted at some of the flames with his robe. This was a bad idea as the robe caught fire, so he screamed for help.

Nikolas ran to find Spencer while Patrick called 911. A crying Emma told him she didn't know how it started, but Spencer made sure she got out. Patrick grabbed the girl and fled the house. With Emma in a safe place, he ran back in, and worked with Nikolas to extract Spencer from the burning room. They rushed outside, and Spencer was still unconscious with burns on his face. He was eventually taken to Shriner's Hospital for Children in Boston, where they successfully treated him. After going home, he donned a Phantom of the Opera-style mask to hide what he believed was a horrible disfigurement.

Some time later, as Spencer was feeling sorry for himself, the ghost of his mother Courtney Matthews appeared to him, and told him it didn't matter what people looked like on the outside, but rather what was on the inside. He was eventually brave enough to remove the mask and realized there was almost no scarring on his face. 

Ava Jerome (Maura West) had also badly been burned in a fire, and after Spencer was all healed up,  he visited her in the hospital. At the time, Ava had gotten close to Nikolas, but she and Spencer had been grieving because they believed he was killed by Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart). She and Spencer were able to connect in a touching moment, with no idea that events to come would make them enemies.